The Julian Assange court date has arrived to see if he will be extradited to US or not.
If he is extradited he will likely be tortured and may die.
In reference to section 81 of the UK Extradition Act of 2003, the question before the court is - is the prosecution motivated by a desire to silence Mr. Assange for his political opinions? The defence argues Mr. Assange is being prosecuted as a from of retaliation.
UPDATE from Taylor Hudak: I have been granted access to cover the appeal hearing of Julian Assange in the court on Feb. 20 and 21 in London.
Unfortunately, my colleagues who will be outside the jurisdiction of England and Wales have been denied remote access to cover the hearing. This includes many journalists who have been covering the case for years.
At the hearing, two High Court judges will review a previous decision in which a single judge denied Assange the possibility of an appeal. The two judges will determine if Assange has further opportunities to appeal before the UK courts or if he has exhausted all opportunities in the UK and thus must enter the extradition process.
During the two days, I will do my best to post relevant updates to this channel as well as my Twitter account.
I will produce video reports outside the court, which will be published at acTVism Munich in both English & German. Subscribe here to watch my reports: www.youtube.com/@acTVismMunich
@taylorhudak
In London on Sunday February 18, 2024
Timeline in court live February 20, 2024
9:30 am UK time - I have arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice to cover the first day of what may be Julian Assange's final appeal hearing in the UK. Court begins at 10:30am.
9:45 am UK time - I have made it into the court house am waiting to enter the courtroom. Photos and video are not permitted in the court house.
10:26 am UK time - I am in the courtroom in the front. It is full.
10:46am UK time - Assange hearing update: Mr. Assange, the defendant, is not present due to health reasons. The defense lawyer Fitzgerald addressed the court and outlined the several grounds for appeal. This includes ground 7, which states that it is a violated of article 4 of the US/UK extradition treaty and extradite for political offenses as in the case of Mr. Assange. Ground 5: Assange will not be protected by First Amendment rights and thus discriminated against since he is a foreign national. Ground 2: This is an unprecedented criminalisation of journalistic activity and the WikiLeaks published true info and was in public interest. (Court resumes now)
11:34 am UK time - Defence laywer Fitzgerald is explaining in-depth why the extradition of Mr. Assange to the US must be prevented on the basis that the requesting state (the US) has charged him with political offenses - espionage. Under article 4 of the UK/US Extradition Treaty it states extradition must be prevented if it is due to political offenses. The previous judges and their rulings cited domestic law - the UK Extradition Act of 2003, which does not include a clear provision that exempts extradition for political offenses. Fitzergerald argues that preventing extradition for political offenses is a historic principle enshrined in international extradition law.
12:25pm UK time -The second defence lawyer Mark Summers is addressing the court. He is reflecting on the work of WikiLeaks and Mr. Assange that exposed high level state criminality, which went unchallenged went brought before the District Judge when presented during the initial extradition hearing.
Summers cited the State Dept. Cables, which disclosed extrajudicial assassination, renditions, torture, dark prisons, rogue killings. This evidence was relied upon by foreign courts to prove war crimes. The (Iraq) Rules of Engagement which were part of the release of the Collateral Murder video, which showed US soldiers killing innocent civilians in Iraq. The events depicted in the video were covered up by the US government.
Summers references the Guantanamo Assessment Briefs, which disclosed the fact that detainees were renditioned, and they were subjected to torture. The Afghan and Iraq War Diaries disclosed torture and war crimes. Assange was invited to speak at the EU Parliament and UN to speak about these publications.
In reference to section 81 of the UK Extradition Act of 2003, the question before the court is - is the prosecution motivated by a desire to silence Mr. Assange for his political opinions? The defence argues Mr. Assange is being prosecuted as a from of retaliation.
For reference. This is section 81 of the UK Extradition Act 2003.
1:24 pm UK time -Defense lawyer Mark Summers explains the many red flags in this case.
He asks, what triggered the US to prosecute Mr. Assange six years after the publications? What did this say about the state’s motivations? Why did the US government choose to indict in 2016/2017?
The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced it was preparing to investigate due to the revelations by Wikileaks and Julian Assange. Shortly after the ICC announced its intention to investigate, officials in the US publicly condemned Mr. Assange as a political actor. The ICC would need to rely on Assange to conduct the investigation. In 2017, then-director of the CIA, Mike Pompeo, referred to WikiLeaks as a non state hostile intelligence agency.
Summers argued that the district judge erred in her judgment when did not take it into serious concern and considered it a “one-off.” However, this is in fact a phrase with legal significance. It encouraged and authorized hostility against Assange within the CIA.
We are on a lunch break and will return to court at 2pm.
2:00 pm - UK time -Court has resumed. Mark Summers for the defence continues his arguments.
2:35 pm UK time - I am having some trouble hearing the defence arguments. All people with laptops were instructed to sit in the back of court due to noise from typing. I am seated several rows behind the lawyer and am doing my best to hear and understand.
3:10 pm - UK time - Defence laywer Mark Summers argues that there is no evidence anyone has been harmed as a result of WikiLeaks publications. This was also addressed before the court at the first instance of extradition in February 2020.
Summers cites case law indicating that prosecuting a journalist for the obtaining and publishing classified material is unprecedented. And the risk of prosecution at the time of the publication of the material was unforeseeable.
4:30 pm UK time - The defence rests its case. Court is adjourned and will resume tomorrow.
Notice: Normally we would make a form for you all to sign but President Biden can only be contacted through WhiteHouse.gov contact form one at a time. You will have to write in directly using the link https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.
If it helps: please feel free to use or adapt this template:
To President Biden,
I join many others who strongly urge you to drop the charges against journalist and whistleblower Julian Assange. If he were to be extradited back to USA I believe it will constitute the crime of persecution and USA would be on the wrong side of history.
