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A British judge is giving the US government more reasons to appeal the refusal to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange because it argued that the original ruling relied on misleading witnesses in the court.
On Wednesday, two judges agreed to allow U.S. authorities to expand the grounds for appealing Baraiser’s decision to block extradition.
Magistrate Vanessa Baraitser (Vanessa Baraitser) Refuse In January of this year, Washington asked Assange to stand trial in the United States on charges of espionage and ruled that he was at serious risk of suicide.
However, Clair Dobbin, an attorney representing the US government who appealed the decision, said the judge “doesn’t pay attention” to the importance of expert evidence that Assange is not at risk of suicide.
Instead, the judge relied on evidence provided by Assange’s psychiatrist Michael Kopelman, Dobin told the London High Court.
She said that Kopelman admitted to misleading the court by “concealing” that his client raised the child while in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
“She really needs to ask why he wants to mislead her,” Dobin told judges Timothy Holroyde and Judith Farbey at the preliminary appeal hearing.
“Experts must not mislead for any reason.”
Full hearing in October
Judge Holroyde stated that it is unusual for the appellate court to reconsider the evidence of the expert witness after it has been accepted by the lower court.
But he said that given that a key expert did not disclose his knowledge of the relationship between Assange and his partner Stella Morris, it is controversial that the Court of Appeals may make a different assessment.
“My opinion is… the DJ (district judge) made a mistake,” he said.
He added that in the eyes of Assange’s supporters, the full hearing on the case is a major event for press freedom and will be held from October 27 to 28.
Prior to this, Assange himself was remanded in custody awaiting trial.
Free speech debate
Judge Baraitser initially concluded that when Assange faces the “bad conditions” that may be waiting for him in the US prison system, his mental health will deteriorate and “cause him to commit suicide.”
Assange is currently detained in the heavily guarded Belmarsh Prison in London. He has been charged with 18 charges in the United States for 500,000 secret documents detailing military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq released by WikiLeaks in 2010.
The 50-year-old Australian followed the court proceedings through a prison video link. He has long white hair, an unbuttoned white shirt, and an unbuttoned tie around his neck.
Morris, Assange’s fiancée and mother of his two young children, burst into tears after the ruling was issued, saying that he “has been facing constant threats to his life for the past 10 years.”
“These are not just legal provisions, this is our life. We have the right to survive, we have the right to survive, and we have the right to let this nightmare end once and for all,” she told reporters.
Dozens of Assange’s supporters, including the former leader of the main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, gathered outside the courtroom. Some waved placards that read “Free Assange” and “Enough for 10 years “.
Assange’s supporters and lawyers argued that he was a journalist and was entitled to the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech for publishing documents exposing U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
However, US government lawyers stated that the case was mainly based on “his illegal involvement” in the theft of diplomatic cables and military files by US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
After Sweden issued the first arrest warrant for Assange on allegations of sexual assault in 2010, he sought asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and stayed there from 2012 to 2019.
In April 2019, Ecuador, then ruled by right-wing President Lenin Moreno, revoked its citizenship. British police dragged Assange out of the embassy.
Despite preventing his extradition, Baraiser ruled in January that Assange must continue to be detained while the United States appeals the decision.
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