2024-03-26 18:22:03
Time.news – No extradition for Julian Assange, at least for now. There British justice asked in fact to United States new guarantees on treatment reserved for the founder of Wikileaks without which he will not grant extradition. British judges have granted three weeks to the American authorities, who intend to try the Australian journalist for one massive leak of confidential documents, to ensure that Assange can benefit from the First Amendment of the US Constitution which protects freedom of expression.
According to the decision of judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson, “if these guarantees are not presented” within the three-week deadline granted by British justice, Assange will be able to appeal against his extradition, accepted in June 2022 by the London government. If the United States submits the securities, the court will have to decide whether they are satisfactory or not. The US judicial system is calling Assange to account for the publication since 2010 of over 700,000 classified documents on the country’s military and diplomatic activities, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among them is a video showing civilians, including two Reuters journalists, killed by gunfire from a US helicopter gunship in Iraq in July 2007.
Assange was arrested by British police in 2019 after spent seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden in a rape investigation, which was closed in 2019. There have been many calls for US President Joe Biden to drop the 18 charges brought against Assange during Donald Trump’s first term under the US Espionage Act 1917. In recent weeks, relatives and friends of Assange, held for five years in London’s Belmarsh maximum security prison, have warned of his deteriorating health. His defense also warns of the risk of suicide in the event of extradition.
The Australian was absent for medical reasons at the February hearings, where dozens of supporters turned out to express their support. During the last two days of arguments, his lawyers argued that this trial against him is “political” and that an extradition would endanger his health and even his life. According to his lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, the Australian is on trial for “ordinary journalistic practices” consisting of “obtaining and publishing information”. For this reason, his client faces a disproportionate sentence in the United States and “there is a real risk that he will suffer a flagrant denial of justice,” he added.
Lawyer Clair Dobbin, representing the US government, argued that Assange had “indiscriminately and knowingly published the names of individuals who served as sources of information for the United States.” “It is these facts that distinguish him from other media outlets and not his political opinions,” she said. In January 2021, British justice initially ruled in favor of the WikiLeaks founder. Speaking of the risk of suicide, judge Vanessa Baraitser then refused to authorize the extradition. But that decision was later reversed. The United States has tried to allay fears about the treatment Assange would receive in the event of extradition and has assured that he will not be locked up in a maximum security prison and that he will have the right to necessary clinical and psychological assistance. Washington has also opened the door for Assange to serve his eventual sentence in Australia. In his home country, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently denounced the persecution of Assange by the American justice system and Parliament adopted a motion calling for an end to this persecution.
– Risk of suicide –
Numerous voices have urged US President Joe Biden to drop the 18 charges brought against Assange during Donald Trump’s first term.
In recent weeks, people close to Julian Assange, who has been held in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison for five years, have warned that his health is deteriorating. His defense also highlights the risk of suicide in case of extradition. Ill, he was absent from the February hearings, where dozens of his supporters showed their support.
During the two days of hearings, Julian Assange’s lawyers tried to convince the judges that the case against him was “political” and that extradition would endanger his health and even his life. The Australian is being prosecuted for the “normal journalistic practice” of “obtaining and publishing information”, his lawyer Edward Fitzgerald argued.
his client faces a disproportionate sentence in the United States and “there is a real risk that he will suffer a blatant denial of justice,” he added.
Lawyer Clair Dobbin, representing the US government, argued that Assange has “indiscriminately and knowingly published the names of individuals who have been sources of information for the United States.” “It is these facts that distinguish him (from other media), not his political opinions,” the lawyer argued.
In January 2021, the British courts initially ruled in favor of the WikiLeaks founder. Citing the risk of suicide, judge Vanessa Baraitser had refused to give the green light to the extradition. However, the decision was later reversed.
In an effort to reassure the public about his treatment, the United States said he would not be incarcerated at the ADX maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado, nicknamed “Alcatraz of the Rockies”, and that he would receive the necessary clinical and psychological care. The Americans had also raised the possibility that he would ask to serve his sentence in Australia. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently denounced the US prosecution of Assange and the Australian Parliament passed a motion calling for it to end.
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