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Julian Assange

Something Changed In The Assange Case

May 23, 2024 Craig Murray, Consortium News. , , , ,
In the normal run of things, if a very senior judge instructs you to give an assurance to their Court, it would probably not be wise to avoid giving the assurance, to devote a huge amount of text to trying to obscure the fact you have not given the assurance, and then to lecture the judge on why they were wrong to ask for the assurance in the first place. Most lawyers would probably advise against that course of conduct. But this did not deter the fearless James Lewis KC, back to lead for the United States prosecution against Julian Assange, eyes twinkling and his neat nautical facial hair having grown rather wilder, as though he had decided to assume a piratical air to match his reckless conduct of the case.

The Slow-Motion Execution Of Julian Assange Continues

May 21, 2024 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. , , ,
The decision by the High Court in London to grant Julian Assange the right to appeal the order to extradite him to the United States may prove to be a Pyrrhic victory. It does not mean Julian will elude extradition. It does not mean the court has ruled, as it should, that he is a journalist whose only “crime” was providing evidence of war crimes and lies by the U.S. government to the public. It does not mean he will be released from the high-security HMS Belmarsh prison where, as Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, after visiting Julian there, said he was undergoing a “slow-motion execution.”

Assange Wins Right To Appeal On First Amendment Issue

May 20, 2024 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. , , , ,
The High Court in London on Monday granted Julian Assange the right to appeal the order to extradite him to the United States on the grounds that the U.S. did not satisfy the court that it would allow Assange a First Amendment defense in a U.S. court. “We spent a lot of time listening to the United States putting lipstick on a pig, but the judges didn’t buy it,” Stella Assange told reporters outside the court building. “As a family we are relieved but how long can this go on? The United States should read the situation and drop the case now.” Assange has been imprisoned in London’s notorious Belmarsh Prison for more than five years on remand pending the outcome of his extradition. 

What To Expect At Julian Assange’s Appeal Hearing On May 20

May 19, 2024 Assange Defense. , , , ,
On Monday, May 20th, the UK High Court will decide whether Julian Assange will be allowed to appeal the decision allowing his extradition before the UK Courts. The High Court will first hear arguments from the defense and the prosecution regarding the “assurances” provided by the U.S. Julian Assange’s final appeal hearing was held on February 20th​ and 21st​ this year, upon which the judges made a ruling on March 26th​, provisionally allowing Julian Assange to appeal the decision to extradite him to the U.S., but only if the U.S. doesn’t provide sufficient assurances that he will not be sentenced to death and that he will be allowed to rely on the First Amendment that is, his right to free speech.

Media Freedom Faces Unprecedented Threats Globally

May 4, 2024 Abdul Rahman, People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , ,
Journalists and independent media outlets are facing an unprecedented decline in press freedom and a rise of state repression all across the world, according to the annual report published by Reporters without Borders (RSF) on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on May 3. RSF claims that the physical security of journalists continues to be the main threat to press freedom, noting that over 100 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israel in Palestine in the last seven months of war in Gaza. RSF’s World Press Freedom Index of 2024 notes with worry that in most of the countries, political authorities supposed to protect press freedom, have emerged as the primary threat and the world has seen a “worrying decline in respect for media autonomy.”

Call To Action For Julian Assange

April 29, 2024 Assange Defense, Popular Resistance. , , , , ,
Assange’s legal team has the right to challenge the credibility and validity of the U.S. assurances filed on February 24, 2024. The U.S. would then have a right to reply to Assange’s legal submissions to the court, which will hold a hearing on May 20, 2024, to determine whether or not to accept the U.S. assurances. If the court does, Assange can be put on a plane to the U.S. theoretically that day. If not Assange would be granted a full appeal against the Home Office’s 2022 order to extradite him. We are calling for a MAYDAY FOR JULIAN.  This is an action you can do from the comfort of your home. All we are asking is for you to make just 6 calls per week.

Assange Assurances: An Australian Response

April 25, 2024 CN Live!, Consortium News. , , ,
Some members of the Australian legal, political and diplomatic community are troubled by a U.S. assurance that signals Julian Assange would be “potentially very greatly prejudiced” in a U.S. court, as British judges anticipated, given that foreign nationals who acted abroad do not have constitutional rights. Stating that Assange is able to “seek to rely” on such rights as the First Amendment, the assurance makes no mention of what is “long-settled” law, according to Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the Supreme Court USAID v. Open Society case of 2020. This and other precedents establish that he could be denied these rights.

CIA Director Claims Lawsuit Over Spying On Assange Visitors Could Damage Security

April 19, 2024 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. , , ,
CIA Director William Burns claimed that a lawsuit involving alleged spying on Americans, who visited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, must be dismissed or there could be “serious” and “exceptionally grave” damage to the “national security of the United States.” In a declaration [PDF] that invokes the “state secrets privilege,” Burns also maintained that the CIA could not provide any explanation in open court for why the agency believes damage could occur if the lawsuit proceeds. “[T]he complete factual bases for my privilege assertions cannot be set forth on the public record without confirming or denying whether CIA has information related to this matter and therefore risking the very harm to the U.S. national security that I seek to protect,” Burns added.

US Government Rejects Australia’s Call To End Assange Case

April 17, 2024 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. , , , ,
Faced with a deadline set by the British High Court of Justice, the United States Embassy in London submitted “assurances” to potentially avoid an appeal in the case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The assurances come days after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Australia government asked the U.S. to offer Assange, an Australian citizen, a “felony plea deal” that would allow him to return home. Instead of ending the case, the U.S. State Department provided a diplomatic note to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that contained assurances related to issues raised by Assange’s legal team and upheld by the High Court.

How Britain Would Be Obliged To Free Julian Assange

April 12, 2024 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. , , , , ,
President Joe Biden’s remark on Wednesday that his administration is considering ending the prosecution of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange appears based on a calculation that the U.S. could lose in court on Assange’s appeal against Britain’s order to extradite him. The High Court of England and Wales in its ruling last month has given the United States until Tuesday to assure Assange will not face the death penalty or the court would have no choice but to follow the law and free Assange. The two-judge panel also ruled the U.S. must provide a First Amendment guarantee equivalent to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights

Biden Is ‘Considering’ Dropping Assange Case

April 11, 2024 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. , , , ,
President Joe Biden said Wednesday his administration is “considering” Australia’s request that the case against Julian Assange be dropped. Biden’s remark came in response to a reporter’s question at the White House on Wednesday. The news came in a tweet from  Kellie Meyer, a reporter for News Nation, who quoted a White House pool report from the Japanese prime minister’s visit. The exchange between the reporter and Biden was captured on video.

UK Court Gives Biden Chance To Dodge Assange Appeal

April 1, 2024 Marjorie Cohn, Truthout. , , , ,
WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange is closer than ever to being extradited to the United States for trial on 17 counts under the Espionage Act and one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion over WikiLeaks’s 2010-2011 revelation of evidence of U.S. war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay. He faces 175 years in prison. “This is a signal to all of you that if you expose the interests that are driving war they will come after you, they will put you in prison and they will try to kill you,” said Stella Assange, Julian’s wife, of his prosecution.

Julian Assange’s Basic Press Freedoms Are Still In Danger

March 31, 2024 Chip Gibbons, Jacobin. , , ,
On March 26, 2022, the UK High Court issued a decision about whether journalist Julian Assange could appeal his extradition to the United States. The United States is seeking to put the WikiLeaks founder and Australian journalist on trial for exposing US war crimes and abuses of power. After a nearly five-year legal process, during which a UK judge blocked Assange’s extradition only for a higher court to reverse, the UK High Court in February held two days of hearings on whether Assange had the right to appeal his extradition on a myriad of grounds, including press freedom and free expression concerns.

Extradition Removes CIA’S ‘Rationale’ For Assassinating Assange

March 29, 2024 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. , , , ,
While recognizing that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had valid grounds to appeal extradition to the United States, the British High Court of Justice refused to consider “fresh evidence” involving the CIA. On March 26, the High Court granted Assange a limited appeal but adjourned the decision so that the U.S. government could submit "assurances" related to the court's concerns. The High Court astonishingly stated [PDF] that the “extreme measures” considered by the CIA were intended to keep Assange from fleeing to Russia. If he was “lawfully” in U.S. custody after extradition, there would no longer be a risk that the agency would kidnap or assassinate him.

The Crucifixion Of Julian Assange

March 28, 2024 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. , , ,
Prosecutors representing the United States, whether by design or incompetence, refused — in the two-day hearing I attended in London in February — to provide guarantees that Julian Assange would be afforded First Amendment rights and would be spared the death penalty if extradited to the U.S. The inability to give these assurances all but guaranteed that the High Court — as it did on Tuesday — would allow Julian’s lawyers to appeal. Was this done to stall for time so that Julian would not be extradited until after the U.S. presidential election?
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