Julian Assange's extradition hearing to resume in UK after coronavirus delay

WikiLeaks founder and whistleblower Julian Assange’s extradition hearing, which was postponed due to coronavirus pandemic, is set to resume from September 7. The 49-year-old Australian is fighting an extradition request from the United States on the charges of violating the Espionage Act and conspiring to hack into classified government documents.

Assange is charged on 18 counts including computer intrusion, espionage for encouraging, receiving and publishing national defence information in cahoots with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. The WikiLeaks founder is kept in a maximum-security prison in southeast London and wasn’t granted bail on the basis of coronavirus transmission fears.

Updated indictment

In June, the US Justice Department said that Assange conspired with hackers affiliated to “Anonymous” and “LulzSec” to obtain classified information. The updated indictment by a federal grand jury charged Assange with offences related Assange’s alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States.   

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While the new indictment does not add additional counts to the prior 18 charges, the DOJ said in a statement that it broadens the scope of the conspiracy surrounding alleged computer intrusions with which Assage was charged earlier. According to the Justice Department, Assange communicated directly with a leader of LulzSec and provided a list of targets for the group to hack.

“Assange told the LulzSec leader that the most impactful release of hacked materials would be from the CIA, NSA, or the New York Times,” the statement read.

The department said that WikiLeaks obtained and published emails from a data breach committed against an American intelligence consulting company by an “Anonymous” and LulzSec-affiliated hacker. While Assange’s admirers hail him as a champion of free speech and a crusader against the abuse of power, critics say that publishing unredacted documents endanger the lives of intelligence sources in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

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(Image: AP)