UK court sets Assange U.S. extradition hearing for February 2020

By Andrew MacAskill

 

Demonstrators hold placards as they protest outside of Westminster Magistrates Court, where a case hearing for U.S. extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is held, in London, Britain, June 14, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah Mckay

 

LONDON (Reuters) - The full extradition hearing to decide whether Wikileaks founder Julian Assange should be sent to the United States to face accusations including spying charges will take place in February next year, a London court ruled on Friday.

 

Assange, 47, faces 18 counts in the U.S. including conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law. He could spend decades in prison if convicted.

 

"It is important that people aren’t fooled into believing that WikiLeaks is anything but a publisher," said Assange, who appeared by videolink from a London prison, dressed in a grey T-shirt and wearing black-framed glasses.

 

"The U.S. government has tried to mislead the press," he told Westminster Magistrates' Court.

 

As Ben Brandon, the lawyer representing the United States, ran through a summary of the charges against him including that he had cracked a U.S. Defence network password, Assange said: "I didn’t hack anything."

 

Australian-born Assange came to prominence when WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables in 2010, angering Washington which said he had put lives at risk.

 

His supporters hail him as a hero for exposing what they describe as abuse of power by modern states and for championing free speech.

 

He spent almost seven years holed up in cramped rooms at the Ecuadorean embassy in London where he fled in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden where he was wanted for questioning over allegations of rape.

 

He was dragged from the embassy on April 11 and jailed for 50 weeks for skipping bail.

 

The United States has since charged Assange with numerous offences including espionage, saying he unlawfully published the names of secret sources and conspiring with ex-Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to obtain access to classified information.

 

Brandon said Assange's actions had been dangerous and "by publishing the unredacted material Mr Assange created grave and imminent risk that many intelligence sources, including journalists, human rights defenders and political activists would suffer serious physical harm or arbitrary detention."

 

However, Assange's lawyer Mark Summers said the charges were an "outrageous and full fronted assault on journalist rights and free speech" and that his client did not have access to a computer to allow him to follow the case.

 

He told the court that Assange, who had been too ill to attend the previous hearing in May, was receiving healthcare. He did not elaborate.

 

Judge Emma Arbuthnot said the full extradition case would be heard in the week starting Feb. 25 next year.

 

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said on Saturday that it was providing consular assistance to Assange and had sought assurances he would be treated appropriately under British law.

 

“Any extradition request is a matter for the UK authorities. The Australian government cannot interfere in another nation’s legal proceedings,” a DFAT spokesperson told Reuters via email on Saturday.

 

(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Stephen Addison and Michael Perry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-06-15

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Let him be extradited to the US so he can stand up there and plead his case and let the world know what are the reasons what he did and for what means and ends,, and if he's right and able to deliver a convincing arguments as to the righteousness of his deeds like he think he is, he then should be set free, otherwise, suffer the consequences of his folly...

Edited June 15, 20197 yr by ezzra

Presume he will not get early release on his 50 weeks because it is obvious should he get bail again on extradition treaty he would likely disappear, though I doubt any Embassy in London will take him in. 

Free Julian Assange...with every packet.

29 minutes ago, Basil B said:

Presume he will not get early release on his 50 weeks because it is obvious should he get bail again on extradition treaty he would likely disappear, though I doubt any Embassy in London will take him in. 

Send him to Sweden. 

10 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Free Julian Assange...with every packet.

If I buy two can I give him back?

Just now, Bluespunk said:

11 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Free Julian Assange...with every packet.

If I buy two can I give him back?

Looks like a bargain, as at least you end up with two packets. Go for it!

20 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

Send him to Sweden. 

The Sweds seemed to have pickled themselves on this issue but yes had they got their extradition request I would have thought it should take priority over the US request.

 

 

Pickled Rutabaga (Swede)

Edited June 16, 20197 yr by Scott

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

He could spend decades in prison if convicted

Repent at leisure then 

 

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The U.S. government has tried to mislead the press," he said

Whilst you haven't mislead anyone No .?

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

Let him be extradited to the US so he can stand up there and plead his case and let the world know what are the reasons what he did and for what means and ends,, and if he's right and able to deliver a convincing arguments as to the righteousness of his deeds like he think he is, he then should be set free, otherwise, suffer the consequences of his folly...

What are you on about?

 

He doesnt have to convince the court of anything. Prosecution is responsible to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he assisted Manning in getting the information.

 

his reasons or righteousness is totally irrelevant.

 

i do hope it is a public trial but think some of it may be private due to secret sensitivities of the charges.

Assange is a hero. He is persecuted because he was effective in singing the spotlight on the wrongdoing of governments who consider themselves above the law. We need a million Assanges and Chelsea Mannings to get rid of the stinking hypocrisy and lies emanating from US and UK governments.

8 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

Assange is a hero. He is persecuted because he was effective in singing the spotlight on the wrongdoing of governments who consider themselves above the law. We need a million Assanges and Chelsea Mannings to get rid of the stinking hypocrisy and lies emanating from US and UK governments.

 

Obviously, some posters prefer the less "hypocritical" approach taken by the likes of China and Russia.

 

5 hours ago, ezzra said:

Let him be extradited to the US so he can stand up there and plead his case and let the world know what are the reasons what he did and for what means and ends,, and if he's right and able to deliver a convincing arguments as to the righteousness of his deeds like he think he is, he then should be set free, otherwise, suffer the consequences of his folly...

And you truly believe that usa would give him a fair trail? It will be a media show with (probably) trumpy and his gang... usa already convicted him (of lesser crimes than trumpy) ????

he's still got a bit over 10 months; to manage getting some stealthy RFID chip inserted, so he (or at least Wiki) be able to publicly relay all his future Court proceedings to the world!

  The devious slaughtering secrets the US are trying to conceal are still fair game to the willing and able to reveal...

   they will definitely be mentioned in whatever Closed Court appearances J.A. makes... and he might even manage to be the one to splurge some of it out in his own defence

 

Assange just needs to convince Trump that he has "dirt" on Biden that will guarantee Trump's re-election in 2020.

Home free.

3 hours ago, Sujo said:

i do hope it is a public trial but think some of it may be private due to secret sensitivities of the charges.

It's not really "secret sensitivities of the charges" but of the evidence supporting the charges.

Evidence of a secret nature in a criminal trial is typically presented by the prosecution to defendant council in camera under sealed cover.

Also typical are prosecution redactions that might otherwise expose collection techniques and identify of parties involved in the collection/analysis. The judge is the ultimate decider on such matters but any decision can be appealed to a higher court.

FREE ASSANGE NOW !

he is a journalist who reported vile war crimes !!!

UK is in a very embarrassing situation, as they know they screw it up big time.



 

6 hours ago, Srikcir said:

Assange just needs to convince Trump that he has "dirt" on Biden that will guarantee Trump's re-election in 2020.

Home free.

no he needs to convince Trump he has the anal sex conversations from Stern available.