WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's possible final hearing challenging his extradition to the United States to face charges for publishing classified US military documents began Tuesday morning at the British High Court in London.
Members of the European Parliament are the latest to call on the UK to stop Assange's extradition and release him from custody. Assange's possible final appeal before two judges to block his extradition will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, although a full appeal hearing could be held in the future if she wins in court this week. If he is extradited to the United States after exhausting all his legal remedies, Assange would face a trial in Alexandria, Virginia, and could be sentenced to up to 175 years in a US maximum security prison.
His supporters in London, Washington, DC and cities around the world will hold rallies on Tuesday calling for Assange's freedom.
In a letter on Monday, 46 members of the European Parliament called on UK Home Secretary James Cleverly to “ensure the protection and safety of Julian Assange, release him from prison and prevent his extradition”, emphasizing that freedom of press and the public's right to be informed is at stake.
LETTER FROM AUSTRALIAN MPS URGING THE UK GOVERNMENT TO STOP THE EXTRADITION OF JULIAN ASSANGE TO THE UNITED STATES, CITING HEALTH CONCERNS
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's possible final hearing challenging his extradition to the United States to face charges for publishing classified US military documents began Tuesday morning at the British High Court in London. (Getty Images)
“Julian Assange has been part of the institution of a free press essential to any democracy by being at the forefront of investigative journalism,” the letter reads. “Through his work through WikiLeaks he has exposed some of the most significant acts of government corruption, including war crimes and human rights abuses.”
Assange, 52, faces 17 counts of allegedly receiving, possessing and communicating classified information to the public under the Espionage Act, and one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.
The charges were brought by the Trump administration's Justice Department over WikiLeaks' 2010 publication of cables leaked by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning that detailed war crimes committed by the U.S. government in Iraq, Afghanistan and the countryside. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The materials also exposed cases in which the CIA engaged in torture and rendition.
WikiLeaks' “Collateral Murder” video showing the US military shooting dead civilians in Iraq, including two Reuters journalists, was also released 14 years ago.
The members wrote that the Australian publisher is “currently the target of a legal attack that sets a precedent in which a democratic government can criminalize a publication of truthful information” and that the charges against it “raise serious concerns about undeniable implications and of long reach for the press. “Freedom and the exercise of investigative journalism.”
“If the United States succeeds in extraditing Assange, it will have redefined investigative journalism,” the members explained. “It will have expanded its judicial reach internationally and applied it to a non-U.S. citizen without a corresponding extension of First Amendment rights.”
Assange has been held in London's high-security Belmarsh prison since he was expelled from the Ecuadorian Embassy on April 11, 2019 for breaching bail conditions. He had sought asylum at the embassy since 2012 to avoid being sent to Sweden over accusations that he raped two women because Sweden gave him no guarantees that it would protect him from extradition to the United States. Investigations into the sexual assault allegations were eventually dropped.
While at the embassy, the CIA was exposed for spying on Assange and his lawyers. A judge recently ruled that a lawsuit filed against the CIA for spying on its visitors can move forward.
In 2013, the Obama administration decided not to charge Assange for the publication of classified cables by WikiLeaks in 2010 because it would also have had to charge journalists from mainstream media outlets who published the same materials, which has been described as “the problem of the New York Times.” Former President Obama also commuted Manning's 35-year sentence for Espionage Act violations and other crimes to seven years in January 2017, and Manning, who had been imprisoned since 2010, was released that same year.
UK HIGH COURT SETS DATE FOR JULIAN ASSANGE'S FINAL APPEAL CHALLENGING EXTRADITION FROM THE UNITED STATES
If extradited, Assange could be sentenced to up to 175 years in a maximum security US prison. (Jack Taylor/Getty Images)
Former President Trump's Justice Department subsequently moved to charge Assange under the Espionage Act, and the Biden administration has moved forward with his prosecution.
A U.K. district judge rejected the U.S. extradition request in 2021, saying Assange was likely to commit suicide if held in harsh U.S. prison conditions. The higher courts later overturned that decision after receiving assurances from the United States about his treatment, and the British government signed an extradition order in June 2022.
“The district judge initially denied his extradition on the grounds that the harsh conditions of isolation he would face in the US prison system would put his life at risk,” the letter from the members of the European Parliament reads. “This ruling was only overturned on appeal after the United States offered conditional assurances, which Amnesty International described as 'deeply flawed' since 'the fact that the United States has reserved the right to change its mind at any time means that these guarantees are not worth it.” they're written.”
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Jill Edwards, said earlier this month in addressing Assange's case that the “risk of being placed in prolonged solitary confinement, despite his precarious state of mental health, and of receiving a potentially disproportionate sentence raises questions about whether Mr Assange's extradition to the United States would be compatible with the UK's international human rights obligations, particularly under Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as with the respective articles 3 of the United Nations Convention against Torture and the European Convention on Human Rights.”
The letter from the members of the European Parliament said: “The UK authorities must match the seriousness of Mr Assange's situation with an appropriate level of protection, in line with the demands of the UN rapporteur on the recent declaration on the torture”.
BIPARTISAN CONGRESS RESOLUTION ASKS US OFFICIALS TO DROP CHARGES AGAINST ASSANGE
Last month, a group of Australian lawmakers wrote a letter to UK Home Secretary James Cleverly demanding that Assange's extradition to the United States be halted over concerns about his safety and well-being, urging the UK government to make an independent assessment of Assange's risk of persecution.
Assange's UK lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, has previously said she fears he “would not survive if extradited to the US”. His wife, Stella, told reporters last week that his life is at risk every day he remains in prison and she believes he will die if he is extradited.
Lawmakers in the United States and Australia have made multiple efforts over the past year to demand that Assange be released, including a vote last week in which the Australian Parliament overwhelmingly supported the call for the US and UK governments to put end to Assange prosecution.
“Regardless of where people stand, this cannot go on and on indefinitely,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told parliament.
Assange's supporters in London, Washington, DC and cities around the world will hold demonstrations on Tuesday calling for his freedom. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
No editor had been charged under the Espionage Act until Assange, and many press freedom groups have said his prosecution sets a dangerous precedent aimed at criminalizing journalism. US prosecutors and Assange's critics have argued that WikiLeaks' publication of classified material put the lives of US allies at risk, but there is no evidence that the publication of the documents put anyone in danger.
In 2022, the American and European media editors and publishers who worked with Assange in publishing extracts from the more than 250,000 documents he obtained in the Cablegate leak: The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El Country. – wrote an open letter calling on the United States to drop charges against Assange.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Under the Trump administration, the CIA allegedly had plans to kill Assange over the release of sensitive agency hacking tools known as “Vault 7,” which were leaked to WikiLeaks, Yahoo reported in 2021. The agency said the leak represented “the biggest data loss.” in the history of the CIA.”
The CIA was accused of holding talks “at the highest levels” of the administration about plans to assassinate Assange in London and allegedly followed orders from then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo to draw up “sketches” and “options” for kill. The agency also had advanced plans to kidnap and hand over Assange and had made the political decision to charge him, according to the Yahoo report.
WikiLeaks also published internal communications in 2016 between the Democratic National Committee and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign that revealed the Democratic National Committee's attempts to boost Clinton in that year's Democratic primary.
