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Wikileaks founder Julian Assange faces Christmas behind bars
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces Christmas behind bars waiting to find out if he will be extradited to the United States.
The 49-year-old was arrested on a fresh 18-count indictment, alleging a plot to hack computers and conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information, at the start of a four-week evidential hearing at the Old Bailey last month.
He is wanted in the US following the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents in 2010 and 2011 relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as well as diplomatic cables.
Judge Vanessa Baraitser adjourned the case on Thursday until January 4 when she will deliver her ruling on whether he should be extradited .
She remanded Assange, who has already spent 16 months at Belmarsh top security jail, in custody and said he will next appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court for an administrative hearing on October 29.
Speaking outside court, his fiancee Stella Moris, with whom Assange fathered two children during his seven-year stay at London’s Ecuadorian embassy, thanked supporters for helping “us continue this fight”.
“It’s a fight for Julian’s life, a fight for press freedom and a fight for the truth,” she said.
“This case is already chilling press freedom.
“It is a frontal assault on journalism, on the public’s right to know and our ability to hold governments, domestic and foreign, to account. Terrible crimes were committed in Iraq and Afghanistan and terrible crimes were committed at Guantanamo Bay. The perpetrators of those crimes are not in prison. But Julian is.
“Julian is a publisher. Julian is also a son, a friend, my fiancee and a father. Our children need their father. Julian needs his freedom. And our democracy needs a free press.”
Assange’s legal team called dozens of witnesses in a bid to persuade the district judge to block his extradition.
He denies plotting with defence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack an encrypted password on US Department of Defence computers and says there is no evidence WikiLeaks’ publications put US informants’ lives at risk.
His lawyers claim the prosecution under Donald Trump is politically motivated, after an investigation launched under President Barack Obama failed to bring charges.
His lawyer Jennifer Robinson described a meeting in August 2017 in which he was offered a pardon allegedly on behalf of Mr Trump to identify the source of the Democratic National Committee leaks to WikiLeaks which boosted him in the 2016 election in order to end speculation over Russian involvement.
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