Julian Assange will remain behind bars even when his jail term ends to prevent him going on the run again.
The WikiLeaks co-founder is due for release next week, but faces extradition to the US.
A judge has ruled there are substantial grounds for believing the 48-year-old would abscond, as he did in 2012 by taking shelter in the Ecuadorian embassy - where he stayed for seven years.
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"In my view I have substantial ground for believing if I release you, you will abscond again," said district judge Vanessa Baraitser.
Assange's lawyer also reportedly didn't even make an application for bail, "perhaps not surprisingly in light of your history of absconding in these proceedings", said Baraitser.
But WikiLeaks on Twitter said the judge "preemptively refused bail before the defence requested it".
Assange faces 18 charges in the US related to his organisation's leaking of classified documents.
Swedish investigators have also again looking at the rape allegations which first saw Assange go on the run in 2010.
He is currently being held in Belmarsh, a prison in London's southeast.
Newshub.
