By Neenah Payne
Julian Assange is an Australian publisher and creator of WikiLeaks who has been living in London for over 10 years. Assange was the whistleblower for many top stories including those leaked to him by Bradley/Chelsea Manning about the US murder of civilians in Iraq. The prosecution / persecution of Assange and other whistleblowers is a classic case of “Shoot the Messenger” rather than addressing the serious issues they raise. The Real Problem with Julian Assange is one of the best summarizes of Assange’s case. Judges at the United Kingdom’s High Court heard the case at the end of February, but delayed their ruling at least until March 4.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange makes last-ditch attempt to avoid U.S. extradition 2/20/24
A two-day hearing in a London court room began Tuesday over the fate of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. At stake is whether he'll be extradited to the U.S. on espionage charges. Carrie DeCell, a senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute, and Jamil Jaffer, a former senior counsel for the House Intelligence Committee, join William Brangham to discuss.
Julian Assange hopes to avoid U.S. extradition in final legal challenge (video) 2/20/24
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is attempting a final legal challenge to avoid being sent to the United States on spying charges. NBC News' Josh Lederman reports on when to expect a verdict from Assange's extradition hearing.
The video says judges delayed their decision at least until March 4 to review new written submissions.
U.K. High Court delays decision on extradition of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange
NBC News Foreign Correspondent Josh Lederman reports that, following two days of hearings, judges in the United Kingdom’s High Court announced that they will wait before releasing their ruling on the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States. No decision is expected before March 4 at the earliest.
The video below says judges delayed their decision at least until March 4 to review new written submissions.
The video below says the judges may make a decision in mid-March. If the decision goes against Assange, his wife Stella said they will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Julian Assange extradition hearing wraps up (video) 2/21/24
The extradition hearing for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange concluded Wednesday in the U.K., but a ruling isn't expected immediately. Judges are determining whether Assange will be granted a new appeal hearing against the British government's 2022 decision that he can be legally extradited to the United States. BBC News correspondent.
British Judges to Rule on US Extradition of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange 2/22/24
British judges are set to rule whether Julian Assange, the founder of the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, will be extradited to the United States after he launched a last-ditch legal bid this week to block the order, the latest chapter in a legal battle stretching back nearly 14 years.
U.S. prosecutors are seeking Assange’s extradition in relation to 18 federal charges relating to allegations of hacking and theft of classified material, after WikiLeaks published a trove of stolen U.S. diplomatic cables and military documents in 2010 relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Reserved judgement
The two-day hearing at the High Court in London concluded Wednesday and the two senior judges hearing the case are expected to deliver a ruling in the coming days or weeks. “We will reserve our decision,” judge Victoria Sharp said. It is unclear when she and fellow judge Jeremy Johnson will issue their decision.
Julian Assange makes last-ditch attempt in UK court to avoid extradition to the US 2/20/24
Julian Assange’s legal team returned to London’s High Court on Tuesday to fight for what could become his final attempt at avoiding extradition to the United States, where he is facing life in prison if convicted on espionage charges.
After a years-long battle, the 52-year-old WikiLeaks founder is down to his only remaining legal avenue in the British justice system and now just two UK High Court judges stand between him and a possible flight across the Atlantic.
The two-day hearing will examine whether the embattled Australian should be granted leave to appeal a 2022 extradition decision made by former UK Home Secretary Priti Patel. If the court’s decision goes against Assange, he must be extradited within 28 days. However, his legal team is expected to apply to the European Court of Human Rights for an intervention to ground the flight through a rule 39 order.
Assange is wanted by US authorities on 18 criminal charges relating to his organization’s dissemination of classified material and diplomatic cables in 2010 and 2011. Each of those counts carries a potential sentence of 10 years, meaning that if convicted, Assange could be sentenced to up to 175 years in prison.
Tuesday’s hearing is the latest stage in a convoluted journey that has left Assange incarcerated at Belmarsh, a high-security prison in the south-east of the British capital, years after an undignified eviction from London’s Ecuadorian embassy.
WikiLeaks’ Assange faces wait to find out whether he can challenge extradition to the US
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange won’t find out until next month at the earliest whether he can challenge extradition to the U.S. on spying charges, or if his long legal battle in Britain has run out of road. Two High Court judges said Wednesday they would take time to consider their verdict after a two-day hearing in which Assange’s lawyers argued sending him to the United States would risk a “flagrant denial of justice.”
Attorneys for the U.S., where Assange has been indicted on espionage charges, said he put innocent lives at risk and went beyond journalism in his bid to solicit, steal and indiscriminately publish classified U.S. government documents. Assange’s lawyers asked the High Court to grant him a new appeal — his last roll of the legal dice in the saga that has kept him in a British high-security prison for the past five years.
The judges overseeing the case reserved their decision, and a ruling on Assange’s future is not expected until March at the earliest. If judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson rule against Assange, he can ask the European Court of Human Rights to block his extradition — though supporters worry he could be put on a plane to the U.S. before that happens, because the British government has already signed an extradition order.
The 52-year-old Australian has been indicted on 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse over his website’s publication of a trove of classified U.S. documents almost 15 years ago. American prosecutors allege Assange encouraged and helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks published, putting lives at risk.
Lawyer Clair Dobbin, representing the U.S. government, said Wednesday that Assange damaged U.S. security and intelligence services and “created a grave and imminent risk” by releasing the hundreds of thousands of documents — risks that could harm and lead to the arbitrary detention of innocent people, many of whom lived in war zones or under repressive regimes. Dobbin added that in encouraging Manning and others to hack into government computers and steal from them, Assange was “going a very considerable way beyond” a journalist gathering information.
Assange was “not someone who has just set up an online box to which people can provide classified information,” she said. “The allegations are that he sought to encourage theft and hacking that would benefit WikiLeaks.” Assange’s supporters maintain he is a secrecy-busting journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. They have long argued that the prosecution is politically motivated and he won’t get a fair trial in the U.S.
Assange’s lawyers argued on the first day of the hearing on Tuesday that American authorities are seeking to punish him for WikiLeaks’ “exposure of criminality on the part of the U.S. government on an unprecedented scale,” including torture and killings. Lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said there is “a real risk he may suffer a flagrant denial of justice” if he is sent to the U.S.
Dobbin said the prosecution is based on law and evidence, and has remained consistent despite the changes of government in the U.S. during the legal battle. She added that the First Amendment does not confer immunity on journalists who break the law. Media outlets that went through the process of redacting the documents before publishing them are not being prosecuted, she said.
Assange’s lawyers say he could face up to 175 years in prison if convicted, though American authorities have said the sentence is likely to be much shorter. Assange was absent from court on both days because he is unwell, WikiLeaks said. Stella Assange, his wife, said he had wanted to attend, but was “not in good condition.”
Assange’s family and supporters say his physical and mental health have suffered during more than a decade of legal battles, including seven years in self-exile in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. “Julian is a political prisoner and he has to be released,” said Stella Assange, who married the WikiLeaks founder in prison in 2022. “They’re putting Julian into the hands of the country and of the people who plotted his assassination,” she added, referring to unproven claims by Assange’s lawyers that he was a target of a CIA plot to kidnap or kill him while he was in the Ecuadorian Embassy.
Supporters holding “Free Julian Assange” signs and chanting “there is only one decision — no extradition” protested outside the High Court building for a second day.
UK/US: Time to end prosecution of Julian Assange, UN expert says 3/1/24
A UN expert today expressed concern that the possible extradition and imminent prosecution in the United States of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could have serious implications for freedom of expression. “Gathering, reporting and disseminating information, including national security information when it is in the public interest, is a legitimate exercise of journalism and should not be treated as a crime,” said Irene Khan, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression.
The Australian editor, publisher and activist is awaiting the decision of the High Court in the United Kingdom on his appeal against extradition to the United States, where he is facing 17 charges under the 1917 Espionage Act for publishing classified information on the WikiLeaks platform. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison. “I am concerned about the use of the Espionage Act in this case, as this statute provides no protection for the publication of information in the public interest,” Khan said.
She noted that if extradited, Julian Assange would be the first publisher to be prosecuted in the US under the Espionage Act. “It would set a dangerous precedent that could have a chilling effect on investigative journalism in the United States and possibly elsewhere in the world,” the Special Rapporteur said. “International human rights law provides strong protections for whistle-blowers, journalistic sources and reporting in the public interest,” Khan said. “I call on the United States and the United Kingdom, which profess to uphold the right to freedom of expression, to uphold these international standards in the case of Julian Assange.” The expert urged the UK authorities not to extradite Assange and the US Government to drop the charges.
WikiLeaks’ Assange faces wait to find out whether he can challenge extradition to the US 2/21/24
Judges say WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange won’t find out until next month at the earliest whether can appeal extradition to the U.S. on spying charges WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange won't find out until next month at the earliest whether he can challenge extradition to the U.S. on spying charges, or if his long legal battle in Britain has run out of road.
Two High Court judges said Wednesday they would take time to consider their verdict after a two-day hearing in which Assange's lawyers argued sending him to the United States would risk a “flagrant denial of justice."
Attorneys for the U.S., where Assange has been indicted on espionage charges, said he put innocent lives at risk and went beyond journalism in his bid to solicit, steal and indiscriminately publish classified U.S. government documents. Assange’s lawyers asked the High Court to grant him a new appeal — his last roll of the legal dice in the saga that has kept him in a British high-security prison for the past five years. The judges overseeing the case reserved their decision, and a ruling on Assange's future is not expected until March at the earliest.
For More Information
Calls Grow To Release Julian Assange
When Free Speech Dies, The Killing Begins
New York Times Now Supports Julian Assange!
Real Reasons For Prosecution of Julian Assange
New Book Warns Julian Assange Is Being Tortured
Lawsuit Against CIA/Pompeo For Assange Surveillance!
Day Two Of Julian Assange's Last Stand In British High Court
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Neenah Payne writes for Activist Post
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