The British High Court on Wednesday allowed the US authorities to expand the grounds for appeals against the British court’s earlier decision to block extradition. WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange, He is wanted for espionage.
District Court Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled in January that Assange might commit suicide if held under harsh prison conditions in the United States. The U.S. government is calling for it.
Clair Dobbin, an attorney representing the U.S. authorities at the High Court hearing on Wednesday, stated that Assange “planned one of the largest data thefts in history” — not reaching the “severely ill” threshold. As for he can’t resist hurting himself.
She said that the decision not to prosecute or extradite individuals requires “a mental illness that has lost the ability to resist suicide.” She argued that Assange’s situation was not close to that nature, and he had not made any serious attempts in his own life before.
Dobin also tried to discredit the evidence from Assange’s psychiatrist and key witness, believing that he misled Pakistan by concealing the fact that the 50-year-old Australian gave birth to two children while he was hiding in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Reze.
On Wednesday, two judges agreed to allow U.S. authorities to expand the grounds for appealing Baraiser’s decision to block extradition. It is expected that a full appeal hearing will be held in October.
Since 2019, he has been imprisoned in the heavily guarded Belmarsh Prison in London. Assange, wearing a dark mask, listened through a video connection.
Outside the court, Assange’s partner Stella Moris (Stella Moris) described him as an “innocent person accused of journalism.”
“Every day this huge injustice is allowed to continue, Julian’s situation becomes more and more desperate,” Morris, who has two young children with Assange, told his supporters and reporters.
“Julian has been deprived of family love and affection for a long time. Julian and the children will never come back. This shouldn’t happen,” she added.
A group of protesters including Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the British opposition Labour Party, held up placards that read “Journalism is not a crime” and chanted “Free Julian Assange!” Under the watchful eyes of the police, With the sound of drums.
US prosecutors sued Assange on 17 counts of espionage and one computer abuse charge because WikiLeaks published thousands of leaked military and diplomatic documents ten years ago. These charges are punishable by up to 175 years in prison.
In January of this year, District Judge Baraiser accepted evidence provided by expert witnesses that Assange suffers from depression and autism spectrum disorder.She agrees that the conditions in American prisons will be very depressing, saying that he has a “real risk” and will be sent to the highest administrative prison in Florence, Colorado, which is the highest security prison in the United States.
But she rejected the defense’s argument that Assange is facing a politically motivated U.S. prosecution that will override the protection of freedom of speech. She said that the American justice system will give him a fair trial.
Assange’s supporters and lawyers argued that he was a journalist and was entitled to the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech for publishing documents exposing U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
However, US government lawyers stated that the case was mainly based on “his illegal involvement” in the theft of diplomatic cables and military files by US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
At the request of Sweden, Assange was arrested in London in 2010, and Sweden wanted to ask him about the allegations of rape and sexual assault by two women. In 2012, Assange gave up bail and sought asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he stayed in hiding for the next seven years.
Ecuador withdrew the asylum it granted him in 2019, and he was immediately arrested for breaching bail. Sweden abandoned sex crime investigations in November 2019 because time has passed.
Australia says Julian Assange of WikiLeaks can “go home” once the extradition case is over
Dobin, who represents the US government, said on Wednesday that, given that Assange has taken a “very long period of time” to avoid extradition, the need to review the January ruling was “substantially increased”.
She said: “He is willing to violate the law, whether it is the cost of maintaining his law and order in the embassy, and of course his own costs, there is no big price.”
The case is still going on, and the full appeal hearing is scheduled for October 27th.
© 2021 Canadian Press
