Share and Follow
Julian Assange ‘put lives at risk’ with the release of unredacted classified documents on his WikiLeaks site, the High Court has been told by lawyers for the United States.Â
Assange is in a last-ditch battle to avoid extradition to the US where he faces espionage charges after hundreds of thousands of leaked files relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
In a January 2021 ruling, then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser said that Assange should not be sent to the US, citing a real and ‘oppressive’ risk of suicide, while ruling against him on all other issues.
But later that year, US authorities won their High Court bid to overturn this block, paving the way towards Assange’s extradition.
The 52-year-old lawyers are asking the High Court to grant him a new appeal – his last legal roll of the dice in the long-running legal saga that has kept him caged at Belmarsh maximum security prison in south-east London for the past five years.
The Australian has been indicted on 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse over his website’s publication of classified US documents almost 15 years ago. His lawyers say he faces up to 175 in jail, meaning if he is extradited to America and convicted, he would likely die behind bars.Â
If his latest court appeal fight fails, he will be extradited within a month – unless his legal team can convince the European Court of Human Rights to intervene.Â
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gestures from the window of a prison van as he is driven out of Southwark Crown Court in London on May 1, 2019
Hundreds of protesters staged a rally outside of London’s High Court on Tuesday in support of AssangeÂ
Assange’s wife Stella, also joined the rally on Tuesday, giving an impassioned speech demanding her husband’s ‘freedom’Â Â
American prosecutors say Assange helped US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk.
US authorities are opposing Assange’s bid for an appeal, telling the court his case is ‘unarguable’ and should not be allowed to proceed to a full hearing.
At the start of the arguments on behalf of the US on Wednesday, Clair Dobbin KC said the plans to extradite and prosecute Assange are based on his alleged actions, not his political opinions.
She told the High Court in London that Assange faces allegations he encouraged and assisted Chelsea Manning in obtaining classified documents, including around 400,000 Iraq war-related activity reports and 250,000 US State Department cables, before publishing many of them through WikiLeaks.
Ms Dobbin said there were ‘profound consequences’, with some of the named sources in the documents, who had provided information to the US, facing arrest, the loss of assets, threats and harassment.
‘This wasn’t a slip, or an error, this was the publication of a vast amount of material unredacted,’ she said.
In written submissions, Ms Dobbin and James Lewis KC described the leak as ‘one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States’.Â
The Wikileaks founder is appearing in court for a two-day hearing which will determine whether he will be extradited to the US
Protesters from as far as Australia joined Tuesday’s demonstration outside the London court
They continued: ‘It is specifically alleged against the appellant that by publishing this information on the WikiLeaks website, he created a grave and imminent risk that the human sources named therein would suffer serious physical harm.’
The US authorities have denied that the decision to extradite or prosecute Assange is due to his political opinions.
Ms Dobbin said: ‘The administration in the US of course changed during these proceedings… but nonetheless the prosecution of the appellant remains in foot.
‘Because it is based on law and evidence, not political inspiration.’
During the first day of the hearing on Tuesday, Mark Summers KC argued the US prosecution of Assange would be retribution for his political opinions, meaning it would be unlawful to extradite him under UK law.
He said: ‘This is a paradigm example of state retaliation for the expression of political opinion.
‘The district judge did not address it – had she done so, it would have been fatal to her decision.’
The barrister later said that the original judge ‘rejected outright’ that Assange should be treated like a journalist ‘or what he did could fall under the ambit of responsible journalism’.
Hundreds of protester were seen supporting Assange during a rally outside the High CourtÂ
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 US government on an unprecedented scale,’ including torture and killings.
Barrister Edward Fitzgerald KC said Assange may ‘suffer a flagrant denial of justice’ if he is sent to America.
Speaking in the High Court during the opening day of his appeal hearing, Mr Fitzgerald KC said his extradition for ‘purely political offences’ was illegal and that ‘the secretary of state should have refused to authorise extradition.’Â
He said the decision breached of Article Four of the 2003 Anglo-US extradition treaty, which, he said, prohibited extradition on political grounds.Â
‘The offences with which Mr Assange is charged are all ‘political offences’, extradition for which is squarely prohibited by the terms of Article 4(1) of the Treaty,’ the barrister told the High Court.Â
The Australian’s legal team also accused American authorities of attempting a ‘breathtaking’ plan to ‘to kill’ or kidnap the WikiLeaks founder while he was sheltering in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Mark Summers KC said the plot ‘only fell apart when the UK authorities weren’t very keen on the thought of rendition, or a shootout, in the streets of London’.
The barrister argued the US prosecution of the WikiLeaks founder was retribution for his political opinions – which he argued would make it unlawful to extradite him – and that there were ‘red flags’ everywhere in the case.
‘This is a paradigm example of state retaliation for the expression of political opinion,’ he told the court, adding: ‘The district judge did not address it, had she done so, it would have been fatal to her decision.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the court to show their support to the Wikileaks founderÂ
Ms Assange spoke to protesters outside of court, having previously warned her husband ‘will die’ if he is extradited to AmericaÂ
Julian Assange, who faces espionage charges and up to 175 years in jail, pictured with his wife StellaÂ
Gabriel Shipton, Assange’s brother, was seen outside the High Court in London speaking to crowds on TuesdayÂ
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.
His legal team claimed the espionage charges against him were an unprecedented attempt by Washington to ‘criminalise journalism’, in retaliation for Wikileaks’ publication of the leaked documents.Â
The 52-year-old was not in court on Tuesday because he was unwell, his lawyer said. Stella Assange, his wife, said Julian 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 and the last five years in the high-security prison on the outskirts of the British capital.
Stella Assange, who married the WikiLeaks founder in prison in 2022 – said last week that his health has deteriorated during years of confinement and ‘if he’s extradited, he will die.’
Supporters holding ‘Free Julian Assange’ signs and chanting ‘there is only one decision – no extradition’ held a noisy protest outside the neo-Gothic High Court building for a second day on Wednesday.
Assange’s legal troubles began in 2010, when he was arrested in London at the request of Sweden, which wanted to question him about allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two women. In 2012, Assange jumped bail and sought refuge inside the Ecuadorian Embassy.
Assange, 52, is facing up to 175 years in jail for espionage – meaning if he is extradited and convicted, he would likely die behind bars.
The relationship between Assange and his hosts eventually soured, and he was evicted from the embassy in April 2019. British police immediately arrested and imprisoned him for breaching bail in 2012. Sweden dropped the sex crimes investigations in November 2019 because so much time had elapsed.
A U.K. district court judge rejected the U.S. extradition request in 2021 on the grounds that Assange was likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions. Higher courts overturned that decision after getting assurances from the U.S. about his treatment. The British government signed an extradition order in June 2022.
Meanwhile, the Australian parliament last week called for Assange to be allowed to return to his homeland.
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 two justices could deliver a verdict at the end of the hearing on Wednesday, but they’re more likely to take several weeks to consider their decision.
