Wikileaks founder put people at ‘grave and imminent risk’, court hears – live

US authorities are opposing Mr Assange’s bid for an appeal, telling the court his case is “unarguable” and should not be allowed to proceed to a full hearing.

Lawyer Clair Dobbin KC, for the US, urged the judges to consider the “fundamental assumption of good faith” on the part of states with which the UK has “long established extradition relations”.

“The US is one of the most long-standing partners of the UK,” she told the court. She insisted that then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser, in her 2021 ruling, had “rejected outright” that that the appellant should treated as a journalist of someone akin to a journalist, adding that US law did not protect journalists from breaking the law.

Clair Dobbin KC, for the US, told the court the US prosecution of Mr Assange was “based on law and evidence” and not his political opinions.

She insisted that the WikiLeaks founder put people at “grave and imminent risk” by including the names of individuals who assisted the US in unredacted classified documents which he “indiscriminately and knowingly” published to the world.

“These were documents that disclosed to the world the unredacted names of human sources who had provided information to the US,” she said, adding that this separates Mr Assange from the New York Times and other news outlets which also published information exposed by WikiLeaks.

She added that WikiLeaks and Mr Assange had explicitly solicited classified documents and sought to recruit and work with computer hackers to obtain information illegally.

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”.

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.”

Hundreds of protesters braved the wet weather to rally in support of Julian Assange on the second day of a last-ditch appeal bid.

Supporters carrying banners and yellow ribbons gathered outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, where the WikiLeaks founder’s legal team are seeking permission to appeal his extradition to the US to face spying charges.

Crowds were chanting “free, free Julian Assange” and “no extradition” as the doors to the historic court were opened on Wednesday.

High Court judges Dame Victoria Sharp and Mr Justice Johnson are expected to hear submissions for the US on the final day of the two-day hearing.

It comes after lawyers for Assange insisted his prosecution Mr Assange is “state retaliation” by the US and he is at risk of a “flagrant denial of justice” if he is extradited in a hearing on Tuesday.

Julian Assange’s extradition hearing is entering its second and final day today, following a highly interesting opening day on Tuesday.

Hundreds of supporters, including his wife Stella Assange and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, gathered outside the Royal Courts of Justice at the start of a two-day hearing on Tuesday.

Ahead of the hearing, Ms Assange told the crowd: “They just cannot get away with this. Julian needs his freedom and we all need the truth.”

Mark Summers KC told judges Dame Victoria Sharp and Mr Justice Johnson that the US prosecution of Mr Assange would be retribution for his political opinions, meaning it would be unlawful to extradite him under UK law.

The barrister 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.”

Read the full story by The Independent’s Crime Correspondent Amy-Clare Martin:

Julian Assange missed the first day of his extradition hearing on Tuesday due to illness, his lawyer said.

Assange, 51, has been held in London’s high security Belmarsh Prison for almost five years while US authorities seek to extradite him to face trial on espionage charges linked to the publication of hundreds of thousands of documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

In a January 2021 ruling, then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser said that Assange should not be extradited, but authorities in the US subsequently brought a successful challenge against this decision.

Lawyers for deeply controversial figure Assange will now ask for the go-ahead to challenge the original judge’s dismissal of other parts of his case against extradition in the two-day hearing.

The barrister said at the outset of the hearing on Tuesday that the Wikileaks founder is not attending the hearing as he is unwell.

It comes after his brother, Gabriel Shipton, told TalkTV that Assange’s health was “delicate” and “deteriorating” ahead of the hearing.

The United States’ bid to prosecute Julian Assange is “state retaliation”, the High Court has heard in his final bid for an appeal in the UK.

The WikiLeaks founder faces extradition to the US over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information following the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents 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.

Read the full article here