As reported by NBC, the U.S. government intends to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for publishing classified documents that have put people’s lives at risk. This was stated by the lawyer representing the States, at the hearing on the issue of Assange’s extradition to the USA on Monday in a courtroom in London.
«Reporting or journalism is not an excuse for criminal activity or license for a violation of the ordinary criminal laws,» he said.
The US authorities want to prosecute Assange on charges of espionage, which carries a maximum penalty of 175 years in prison for the publication in 2010 of hundreds of thousands of secret military documents and diplomatic cables.
The extradition hearing came after many years of diplomatic disputes and legal scrutiny, which resulted in 48-year-old Australian from self-imposed exile in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to jail in a British prison.
Julian Assange appeared before a court in London on Monday to fight an extradition request from the U.S. https://t.co/6xOfPbcO7v pic.twitter.com/hM0jS2BpzE
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 24, 2020
Assange was indicted in the US for 18 charges of publishing documents. Prosecutors say he conspired with the analyst of US military intelligence to Chelsea manning to crack the Pentagon’s computer and releasing hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic cables and military documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Assange claims that he acted as a journalist entitled to the protection of the First amendment, and says that the leaked documents revealed the military violations of the United States. Among the files published by WikiLeaks was a video of the attack Apache helicopters in the United States on American forces in Baghdad in 2007 which killed 11 people, including two journalists from Reuters.
Journalistic organizations and civil liberties groups, including Amnesty International and «reporters without borders» say that the charges against Assange are creating a frightening precedent for freedom of the press.
Yellow vests & Assange supporters singing for Julian outside Woolwich pic.twitter.com/lr8cdnF87b
— Taylor Hudak (@_taylorhudak) February 24, 2020
Lawyer James Lewis, representing the US government, said that the British court should not determine the guilt or innocence of Assange.
«This hearing is about results, not trial, he said. — Guilt or innocence of Assange will be determined at a court in the United States, not here.»
Lewis added that Assange is guilty of direct criminal activity.
«Assange is seeking to protect freedom of speech not publishing classified materials he seeks to defend the publication of the sources of the names of the people that put themselves at risk to help the US and its allies — said the lawyer. Reportage or journalism are not a justification for criminal activity or license for a violation of the ordinary criminal laws.»
WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief gives an update of the defence arguments in #JulianAssange extradition proceedings. #DontExtraditeAssange pic.twitter.com/GGBQ8qHbhD
— Don’t Extradite Assange (@DEAcampaign) February 24, 2020
Supporters of Assange gathered outside the London courthouse with a strict regime. They can be heard in the courtroom. Some observers in the crowded room, waving and blowing kisses to Assange, who was sitting in the back of the courtroom.
Assange’s legal Saga began in 2010 when he was arrested in London at the request of Sweden, who wanted to question him on allegations of raping two women. He refused to go to Stockholm, saying that he feared extradition or illegal transfer to the United States or in an American prison camp in guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
In 2012, Assange sought shelter in the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he was beyond the reach of the authorities in the UK and Sweden.
For seven years, Assange led an isolated and every day more and more surreal existence in a tiny Embassy, which occupies a flat in a luxury block near the luxury Department store Harrods. Relations between Assange and the host eventually deteriorated, and he was evicted in April 2019. The British police immediately arrested him.
Sweden stopped the investigation of sexual offences in November. At the moment, Assange remains in London’s Belmarsh prison, pending extradition request in the United States.
For its supporters around the world, Assange remains a hero, but many others are critical to the way WikiLeaks publishes secret documents, not editing details that might endanger individuals.
WikiLeaks also accused that he is a conductor of Russian disinformation — and Assange has alienated some supporters by supporting populist politicians, including ardent advocate Brexit Nigel Farage.
After the hearings, the open arguments in the extradition case could be closed in may, when both sides will present their evidence. It is expected that the judge will make a decision only a few months, and the losing party can appeal.
