US TO BEGIN UK APPEAL AGAINST EXTRADITION OF WIKILEAKS FOUNDER JULIAN ASSANGE

Mon 25 October 2021:

After the ruling in January, Washington said it was “extremely disappointed” by District Judge Vanessa Baraitser’s decision, which was based on Assange’s risk of suicide.

It is attempting to reverse that decision during a two-day hearing beginning Wednesday, arguing that the judge “didn’t appreciate the weight” of expert evidence that stated he was not in danger of taking his own life during his request for an appeal.

Instead, it alleged that the judge was “misled” by Assange’s psychiatric expert Michael Kopelman’s testimony.

Despite the fact that his extradition has been halted, Assange has been denied bail pending the conclusion of the appeal due to concerns that he will flee, and is being imprisoned at London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison.

He is wanted in Washington on 18 counts related to Wikileaks’ 2010 release of 500,000 secret files detailing military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

If convicted in the United States, he faces a maximum sentence of 175 years in jail.

Judge Baraitser rejected US experts’ testimony that Assange would be protected from self-harm, noting that others such as disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein had managed to kill themselves in custody despite wardens’ supervision.

“For this reason I have decided extradition would be oppressive by reason of mental harm and I order his discharge,” she said.

Assange was arrested in London on April 11, 2019, and sentenced to fifty weeks in prison for jumping bail in 2012, when he took refuge inside the Ecuadorean embassy in the British capital to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was facing sexual assault charges that were later dropped by a Swedish court.

The whistleblower is wanted by the US on espionage charges after WikiLeaks published thousands of classified documents that shed light on war crimes committed by American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He faces up to 175 years in solitary confinement inside a top security American prison if convicted in the US.

CIA Plotted To Kill Him – Fiancée

Assange, an Australian national, has a vocal campaign of supporters, led by his fiancee Stella Moris, a former member of his legal team who is the mother of his two young boys.

Julian Assange’s fiancée, Stella Moris, told media on Saturday that it would be “completely incomprehensible” if the UK court agrees to extradite the WikiLeaks founder to the United States after revelations that the CIA allegedly plotted to kidnap and assassinate the whistleblower in 2017 while he was hiding in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

“Since the revelation that the CIA plotted to kill Julian inside the embassy it would be completely incomprehensible that the UK would ever agree to an extradition,” she told media.

IMAGES: #FreeAssangeNOW march, London, 23/10/21. @StellaMoris1 (Julian’s partner), @johnmcdonnellMP & rapper @Lowkey0nline join a protest calling for release of @wikileaks founder Julian Assange, whose extradition hearing takes place next week. pic.twitter.com/oizhqv1GuW

— Ron F (@TheWeeklyBull) October 23, 2021