US argues case against Julian Assange as world rallies to his cause
Washington’s legal team accused Assange of putting people at ‘grave risk’ through WikiLeaks publications
Hearings were held on 21 February for the second and final day of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s appeal to avoid extradition to the US and continue pursuing his case in the UK.
Assange is facing deteriorating health conditions and has been unable to appear in court.
Clair Dobbin KC, a lawyer representing the US, told the court on Wednesday that the prosecution of Assange is “based on law and evidence,” not his political views.
She also claimed that Assange put people at “grave and imminent risk” by “indiscriminately and knowingly” publishing the names of individuals listed in unredacted, classified US documents.
“These were documents that disclosed to the world the unredacted names of human sources who had provided information to the US,” Dobbin argued.
She also said that Assange and WikiLeaks sought to work with hackers to gain access to information illegally.
In a written submission to the court, US lawyers referred to the leaks as “one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States.”
“It is specifically alleged against the appellant that by publishing this information on the WikiLeaks website, he created a grave and imminent risk that the human sources named therein would suffer serious physical harm,” the statement added.
One of Assange’s legal representatives, Jennifer Robinson, said in an interview on 20 February that no evidence exists to show that WikiLeaks’ publications harmed anyone.
His lawyers presented their arguments on the first day of the trial, 20 February.
They cited case laws stipulating that “the disclosure of state secrets must be weighed against the public interest of such disclosures,” according to Tareq Haddad, a seasoned journalist who has covered Assange’s case over the years.
He is being persecuted for an “ordinary journalistic practice” and would face “flagrant denial of justice” if extradited to the US, his lawyers argued at the UK High Court on Tuesday, referring to Washington’s bid to prosecute him as “state retaliation.”
His legal team fears he could be put on a plane to the US “within days” to face espionage charges if the court rules against him. According to his wife, lawyer Stella Assange, such a move would pose a threat to his life – as he is facing severe health conditions and major depressive disorder.
Assange is charged with violating the 1917 Espionage Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for releasing classified US military documents that implicate Washington in war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other charges.
He founded WikiLeaks in 2006. The non-profit publisher came to prominence in 2010 when it released a leaked video from inside a US helicopter as it attacked civilians and journalists in Iraq.
That same year, WikiLeaks released hundreds of thousands of US documents on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as thousands of US diplomatic cables.
The embattled WikiLeaks founder is currently being held at London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison.
Over the past two days, large crowds have shown up outside the UK High Court in support of Assange and his battle against extradition to the US.