Stella Assange took to the stage outside the High Court
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Julian Assange is facing a second day in the High Court as part of long-standing battle against extradition to the US, where he is accused of leaking confidential military secrets.
He was unable to attend the first day of the hearing as his barrister told the court was too unwell.
The WikiLeaks founder is wanted by US authorities over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information following the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
Lawyers for the 52-year-old argued that if extradited, he would face a “flagrant denial of justice” by prejudiced judges, and was being prosecuted for an “ordinary journalistic practice”.
The two-day hearing comes after a judge ruled in January 2021 that Assange should not be sent to the US, given a real risk of suicide while ruling against him on all other issues.
However, this was successfully challenged by US authorities, which would have resulted in his extradition. Assange, who is currently based in HMP Belmarsh in south-east London, is now asking for the go-ahead to challenge the original judge’s dismissal of other parts of his case.
Assange misses first day of hearing due to illness
Julian Assange missed the first day of his extradition hearing on Tuesday due to illness, his lawyer said.
Assange, 51, has been held in London’s high security Belmarsh Prison for almost five years while US authorities seek to extradite him to face trial on espionage charges linked to the publication of hundreds of thousands of documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
In a January 2021 ruling, then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser said that Assange should not be extradited, but authorities in the US subsequently brought a successful challenge against this decision.
Lawyers for deeply controversial figure Assange will now ask for the go-ahead to challenge the original judge’s dismissal of other parts of his case against extradition in the two-day hearing.
The barrister said at the outset of the hearing on Tuesday that the Wikileaks founder is not attending the hearing as he is unwell.
It comes after his brother, Gabriel Shipton, told TalkTV that Assange’s health was “delicate” and “deteriorating” ahead of the hearing.
US bid to prosecute Julian Assange is ‘state retaliation’, court told
The United States’ bid to prosecute Julian Assange is “state retaliation”, the High Court has heard in his final bid for an appeal in the UK.
The WikiLeaks founder faces extradition to the US over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information following the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
In a January 2021 ruling, then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser said that Assange should not be sent to the US, citing a real and “oppressive” risk of suicide, while ruling against him on all other issues.
Read the full article here
The many twists and turns of Julian Assange’s lengthy fight against extradition
The WikiLeaks founder faces extradition to the US over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information.
Here is a timeline of some key dates spanning more than a decade of legal woes for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Read the full article here
Julian Assange’s brother says WikiLeaks founder is ‘suffering’ with health ‘deteriorating’ in prison
Julian Assange’s brother has said the WikiLeaks founder’s health is deteriorating in Belmarsh Prison as he prepares to face his final bid for appeal against extradition to the US.
In a January 2021 ruling, then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser said that Assange should not be extradited, but authorities in the US subsequently brought a successful challenge against this decision.
Read the full article here
Julian Assange’s wife appears to compare WikiLeaks founder to Alexei Navalny
Julian Assange’s wife appears to compare WikiLeaks founder to Alexei Navalny
Julian Assange’s wife appeared to compare her husband to Russian politician and Putin critic Alexei Navalny, whose death was announced last week as he served a sentence in a remote Arctic prison. The WikiLeaks founder, who has been held in London’s Belmarsh prison, is appealing against extradition to the US where he faces charges of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information after the publication of intelligence files on the website. “Political prisoners die in prison. That’s what happens. We’ve seen it just last week with what happened to Navalny, and what happened to Navalny could happen to Julian,” Stella Assange said on Tuesday (20 February).
What is WikiLeaks?
Assange founded the website WikiLeaks in 2006. Using his computing skills, he created an online platform for people to anonymously submit classified leaks such as documents and videos.
Since its birth it has released around 10 million classified documents, including files on US military activities in the US.
It rose to prominence in April 2010 when it published a classified video showing a 2007 US helicopter attack in Iraq’s capital Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters journalists.
On the Afghanistan war, it’s claimed more than 90,000 classified US military documents were released and on the invasion of Iraq around 400,000 confidential US files.
The leaks, described as the largest security breaches of their kind in US military history, angered and embarrassed US politicians and military officials who claimed the disclosure put lives at risk.
But defenders of the website say it reveals unreported incidents including the killing of civilians.
Letters: The treatment of Julian Assange could be the end of democracy
If Julian Assange is extradited to America, that will be the end of democracy in Britain. Assange has done nothing wrong; we should all be very grateful for his exposure of the murderous actions of American troops.
America, in my opinion, does not have a justice system, it has a legal system designed purely for the enrichment of the legal profession. I have more respect for the “oldest profession” than I do for the legal profession. It should never be a question of whether it is legal or illegal, it should be a question of whether it is right or is it wrong.
Read the full article here
Watch: Protests outside High Court where Julian Assange fighting US extradition
Lawyer for the US says Assange put ‘safety of individuals at serious risk'
James Lewis KC, for the US, said in written submissions that Assange’s conduct is “consistently and repeatedly misrepresented” in the appeal bid.
The barrister described the amount of classified material provided to Assange as “unprecedented”, adding: “The appellant threatened damage to the strategic and national security interests of the United States and put the safety of individuals at serious risk.”
Mr Lewis, who is expected to make oral arguments on behalf of the US on Wednesday, added that the original judge ruled Assange was not being prosecuted for political reasons but “because he is alleged to have committed serious criminal offences”.
Julian Assange is fighting against extradition to the United States (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
“This decision is unimpeachable and there is no error to show that the district judge got it wrong,” he continued.
He added that it was “simply not credible” that a journalist would be immune from criminal prosecution in these circumstances.
Assange supporters describe hearing as ‘most important freedom of speech case in the 21st century’
One speaker on a stage outside the Royal Courts of Justice welcomed protesters to the “most important freedom of speech case in the 21st century”.
He was greeted with cheers and claps from the crowd of protesters. Tim Dawson, deputy general secretary at the International Federation of Journalists, then took to the stage.
He said: “Be under no illusions, if this prosecution is successful, other vital cases will never come to light.”
“Free Julian Assange, support journalism and safeguard free speech,” he finished, to claps and cheers from the audience.
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2024-02-21 08:17:49Z
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