US to lay out case against WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange at extradition hearing

U.S. government and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will face off on Monday in a high-security London courthouse, a decade after WikiLeaks infuriated American officials by publishing a trove of classified military documents. A judge at Woolwich Crown Court will begin hearing arguments from lawyers for U.S. authorities, who want to try Assange on espion charges that carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.

extradition hearing follows years of subterfuge, diplomatic dispute and legal drama that have led 48-year-old Australian from fame as an international secret-spiller through self-imposed exile inside Ecuadorean’Embassy in s Londsy to incarceration in a maximum-security British prison. Assange has been indicted in U.S. on 18 charges over publication of classified documents. Prosecutors say he conspired with U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer and release hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic cables and military files on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

U.S. authorities say WikiLeaks’ activities put American lives in danger. Assange argues he was acting as a journalist entitled to First Amendment protection and says leaked documents exposed U.S. military wrongdoing. Among files published by WikiLeaks was a video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack by American forces in Baghdad that killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists.

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Journalism organizations and civil liberties groups including Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders say charges against Assange set a chilling precedent for freedom of press. “What we have is an assault on journalism,” left-wing Greek lawmaker Yanis Varoufakis said at an Assange support march in London on Saturday. “ only charge against Julian, hiding behind nsense of espion, is a charge of journalism.”

Assange’s legal saga began in 2010 when he was arrested in London at request of Sweden, which wanted to question him about allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two women. He refused to go to Stockholm, saying he feared extradition or illegal rendition to United States or U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In 2012, Assange sought refuge inside Ecuadorean Embassy, where he was beyond reach of U.K. and Swedish authorities.

For seven years Assange led an isolated and increasingly surreal existence in tiny embassy, which occupies an apartment in an upscale block near ritzy Harrod’s department store. Confined to building, he occasionally emerged onto a small balcony to address supporters and received visits from celebrity allies including Lady Gaga and “Baywatch” actress Pamela Anderson.

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relationship between Assange and his hosts eventually soured, and he was evicted in April 2019. British police immediately arrested him for jumping bail in 2012. Sweden dropped sex crime investigations in vember because so much time had elapsed, but Assange remains in London’s Belmarsh Prison as he awaits a decision on U.S. extradition request.

Supporters say ordeal has harmed Assange’s physical and mental health, leaving him with depression, dental problems, and a serious shoulder ailment. For his supporters around world, Assange remains a hero. But many ors are critical of way WikiLeaks has published classified documents without redacting details that could endanger individuals. WikiLeaks has also been accused of serving as a conduit for Russian misinformation, and Assange has alienated some supporters by dallying with populist politicians including Brexit-promoter Nigel Far.

Assange’s legal team insists American case against him is politically motivated. His lawyers say y will present evidence that Australian was offered a pardon by Trump administration if he agreed to say Russia wasn’t involved in leaking Democratic National Committee emails that were published by WikiLeaks during 2016 U.S. election campaign.

Assange’s lawyers say offer was made in August 2017 by n-Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who claimed to be acting on behalf of President Donald Trump. White House has called claim “a complete fabrication and a total lie.” Rohrabacher ackwledges discussing Democrat leak with Assange but denies offering a pardon from president.

An end to saga could still be years away. After a week of opening arguments, extradition case is due to break until May, when two sides will lay out ir evidence. judge is t expected to rule until several months after that, with losing side likely to appeal. If courts approve extradition, British government will have final say. case comes at a delicate time for trans-Atlantic relations. U.K. has left European Union and is keen to strike a trade deal with U.S. But relations between Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government and Trump administration have been strained by Britain’s decision to defy Washington and grant Chinese firm Huawei a role in building U.K.’s telecoms infrastructure.

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Anand Doobay, an extradition lawyer at firm Boutique Law, said Assange saga was an unusual, hard-to-predict case. “Very few cases raise this range of issues, where re are likely to be arguments about actual offenses he’s accused of committing and wher y amount to a crime in both countries,” he said. “re are arguments about his treatment in terms of fairness of his trial, conditions he’s going to be detained in, reasons why he is being prosecuted, his activities as a journalist.”

Julian Assange Case

48-year-old whistleblower currently imprisoned in Belmarsh is slapped with 18 charges in United States including Espion Act, for conspiring to gain access into US military secrets between January and May 2010. If convicted, he will face up to 175 years in US prison. 

Wikileaks, an anti-secrecy organisation, was founded in 2006 as a platform for whistleblowers to release classified information anymously. By 2015, Wikileaks became a portal to publish over 10 million documents, including top-secret documents.  Ever since its launch in 2006, Wikileaks has published thousands of classified documents, disclosing details from national security, war, politics to film industry. In 2010, as per published files of WikiLeaks, Congress' Rahul Gandhi told n US Ambassador at lunch that Hindu extremists groups post a greater threat to his country than Muslim terrorists. 

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(With AP inputs)