US begins legal appeal to get Julian Assange extradited
Lawyers for the US have told the High Court the judge who
blocked Julian Assange's extradition was misled by his psychiatrist.
The United States government is starting a legal appeal to
try to get the Wikileaks founder extradited.
In January, a court ruled Mr Assange could not be extradited
to the US due to concerns over his mental health.
Mr Assange is wanted over the publication of thousands of
classified documents in 2010 and 2011.
The US says the leaks broke the law and endangered lives but
Mr Assange says the case is politically motivated.
In the appeal against the January decision, barristers for
the US said it had given four clear assurances that he would be treated
humanely.
The district judge overseeing the USA's extradition appeal
at the start of the year, Vanessa Baraitser, said that while publishing on
Wikileaks the classified military and government documents that Mr Assange
released arguably amounted to a crime - including the disclosure of the
identities of Iraqis and Afghan citizens who had helped coalition forces - he
could not be transferred to the US because he was unwell and could take his own
life.
However, the US team, launching its appeal, said the
evidence was wrong and the Wikileaks founder could even serve a prison sentence
back home in Australia.
James Lewis QC, representing the US, told the Lord Chief
Justice and Lord Justice Holroyde the conclusion reached in January had been
wrong on legal and evidential grounds.
Mr Lewis said Mr Assange's psychiatrist had misled the
earlier judge and the US had also not been given an opportunity to answer the
judge's concerns.
Mr Assange, 50, is wanted in the US on allegations of a
conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information following
WikiLeaks' publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to
the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
The publications include the release in April 2010 of
footage showing US soldiers shooting dead civilians from a helicopter in Iraq.
Mr Assange has been held in Belmarsh Prison since 2019 when
he was carried out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London by police before being
arrested for breaching his bail conditions.
He had entered the embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sex offence allegations, which he has always denied and were eventually dropped.
At the outset of Wednesday's proceedings, Mr Assange's legal
team told judges their client had been asked not to attend the hearing by video
link because he was apparently not well enough to do so.
Later in the morning, Mr Assange chose to attend. He could
be seen sitting in a video link suite at the prison, wearing a light coloured
shirt and dark tie, with shoulder length hair and a black face mask around his
mouth.
Mr Lewis told the High Court that Washington had now given
four binding assurances as to how the hacker and activist would be treated:
The US would not impose a highly restrictive form of
solitary confinement on Mr Assange before or after trial - although it could do
so if he committed a further offence
Mr Assange could apply to serve a sentence in Australia and
the USA would agree to that transfer
Prison authorities would ensure Mr Assange would receive
"any such clinical and psychological treatment" that prison
clinicians recommended
In addition to this, Mr Assange would also not be sent to
ADX Florence, the United States' "supermax" isolated prison, reserved
for the worst offenders.
Mr Lewis said: "The assurances are clearing binding on
the United States."
He added: "The district judge's approach carries with
it the risk of rewarding fugitives for their flight, and of creating an anomaly
between the approach of the courts in domestic criminal proceedings, and in
extradition."
The High Court hearing is expected to end on Thursday and a
decision will be made at a later date.
Supporters, family members and friends of Mr Assange have
expressed their "outrage" after he was not allowed to attend his
court hearing in person.
His partner, Stella Moris, was outside the Royal Courts of
Justice in central London ahead of the hearing with other supporters of Mr
Assange who had gathered.
Ms Moris said: "I'm very concerned for Julian's health,
I saw him on Saturday, he's very thin.
"I hope the courts will end this nightmare, that Julian
is able to come home soon and that wise heads prevail.
"We're very concerned that he's not able to be here
today to give instruction to his lawyers, to be able to ask for clarifications
about what's going on in court.
"Julian should never be extradited."
Source BBC
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