Julian Assange – live: Wikileaks founder misses first day of extradition 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.

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The WikiLeaks founder faces extradition to the US over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information.

Here is a timeline of some key dates spanning more than a decade of legal woes for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

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Julian Assange’s brother has said the WikiLeaks founder’s health is deteriorating in Belmarsh Prison as he prepares to face his final bid for appeal against extradition to the US.

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.

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Assange founded the website WikiLeaks in 2006. Using his computing skills, he created an online platform for people to anonymously submit classified leaks such as documents and videos.

Since its birth it has released around 10 million classified documents, including files on US military activities in the US.

It rose to prominence in April 2010 when it published a classified video showing a 2007 US helicopter attack in Iraq’s capital Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters journalists.

On the Afghanistan war, it’s claimed more than 90,000 classified US military documents were released and on the invasion of Iraq around 400,000 confidential US files.

The leaks, described as the largest security breaches of their kind in US military history, angered and embarrassed US politicians and military officials who claimed the disclosure put lives at risk.

But defenders of the website say it reveals unreported incidents including the killing of civilians.

If Julian Assange is extradited to America, that will be the end of democracy in Britain. Assange has done nothing wrong; we should all be very grateful for his exposure of the murderous actions of American troops.

America, in my opinion, does not have a justice system, it has a legal system designed purely for the enrichment of the legal profession. I have more respect for the “oldest profession” than I do for the legal profession. It should never be a question of whether it is legal or illegal, it should be a question of whether it is right or is it wrong.

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James Lewis KC, for the US, said in written submissions that Assange’s conduct is “consistently and repeatedly misrepresented” in the appeal bid.

The barrister described the amount of classified material provided to Assange as “unprecedented”, adding: “The appellant threatened damage to the strategic and national security interests of the United States and put the safety of individuals at serious risk.”

Mr Lewis, who is expected to make oral arguments on behalf of the US on Wednesday, added that the original judge ruled Assange was not being prosecuted for political reasons but “because he is alleged to have committed serious criminal offences”.

“This decision is unimpeachable and there is no error to show that the district judge got it wrong,” he continued.

He added that it was “simply not credible” that a journalist would be immune from criminal prosecution in these circumstances.

One speaker on a stage outside the Royal Courts of Justice welcomed protesters to the “most important freedom of speech case in the 21st century”.

He was greeted with cheers and claps from the crowd of protesters. Tim Dawson, deputy general secretary at the International Federation of Journalists, then took to the stage.

He said: “Be under no illusions, if this prosecution is successful, other vital cases will never come to light.”

“Free Julian Assange, support journalism and safeguard free speech,” he finished, to claps and cheers from the audience.

Jodie Asard travelled with her son from Adelaide, Australia, to support Assange’s appeal case.

Outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Ms Asard said: “We’ve come over from Australia to stand with our brothers and sisters here and to represent Australia and to make sure that the Australian Government knows that 88% of Australians want Julian Assange free and to be brought home.

“It’s probably the trial of the century to be honest in regards to free speech, free press and our right to know, so that’s why I’m here to stand with Julian and all these people here to call for him to be completely, safely released.”

Ms Asard added that the way Assange had been kept in a “three-by-two metre cell” in Belmarsh prison was “criminal”.

“He is being abused, in my opinion, institutionally abused by our Western governments,” she added.