Wikileaks grundare Julian Assange eftersökt för våldtäkt i Sverige

Conservative MP David Davis said: 'Good news Julian Assange's extradition has been blocked. Extradition treaties should not be used for political prosecutions.'

The decision was also welcomed by Labour MPs, including Richard Burgon and the former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott.

Mr Burgon said: 'It is entirely right that Julian Assange will not be extradited to the US. Julian Assange would have been extradited because, as a journalist, he dared to expose US war crimes.

'Any extradition would have been an unprecedented attack on press freedom.'

Ms Abbott called the decision an 'excellent ruling by the British judge'. She added: 'Congratulations to all the dogged campaigners on Assange's behalf.'

But the journalist Glenn Greenwald added a note of caution, saying the judge had endorsed most of the arguments put forward by the US in favour of extradition - including dismissing the idea that it was an attack on freedom of speech.

He said: 'This wasn't a victory for press freedom. Quite the contrary: the judge made clear she believed there are grounds to prosecute Assange in connection with the 2010 publication. It was, instead, an indictment of the insanely oppressive US prison system for security 'threats.'

Amnesty International tweeted: 'We welcome the fact that Julian Assange will not be sent to the USA, but this does not absolve the UK from having engaged in this politically-motivated process at the behest of the USA and putting media freedom and freedom of expression on trial.'

Judge Baraitser ruled that Assange risked being held under Special Administrative Measures (Sams), which would have seen him in solitary confinement with limited access to family and only two phone calls per month.

She said: 'Faced with the conditions of near total isolation without the protective factors which limited his risk at HMP Belmarsh, I am satisfied the procedures described by the US will not prevent Mr Assange from finding a way to commit suicide and for this reason I have decided extradition would be oppressive by reason of mental harm and I order his discharge.

'Despite his lighter spirit at times, he's a depressed and sometimes despairing man who is genuinely fearful of his future. He represents an unmanageable high risk of suicide, both in Belmarsh and the US.'

She revealed that in 1991 Mr Assange had tried to take his own life and that there was a history of depression in the family. His maternal grandmother and uncle both died by suicide, and Assange phoned the Samaritans most nights while in jail.

the judge had endorsed most of the arguments put forward by the US in favour of extradition - including dismissing the idea that it was an attack on freedom of speech.

He said: 'This wasn't a victory for press freedom. Quite the contrary: the judge made clear she believed there are grounds to prosecute Assange in connection with the 2010 publication