WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared in court today in London in hopes of delaying his US extradition case. The judge told Assange he will not have any extra time to gather evidence to help his case, and the hearing will start in February as planned.
Reports of the trial sounded grim, Assange was holding back tears while he spoke and told the court that he could not “think properly.”
Assange was taken from the Ecuadorian embassy in April, charged with skipping bail and sentenced to 50 weeks in Belmarsh prison. His sentence was up September 22nd but a judge ordered him to remain in prison while he awaited his extradition trial.
The US wants to extradite Assange and charge him with 18 counts under the Espionage Act, which could total 175 years in prison. The allegation is that Assange helped former Army intelligence analyst and whistleblower Chelsea Manning break into a Pentagon computer. President Obama commuted Manning’s sentence but she now sits in jail for refusing to testify against WikiLeaks in front of a grand jury.
Assange was asked if he understood the events in the court, that’s when he said, “Not really. I can’t think properly.” Then he appeared to make his case the best he could, “I don’t understand how this is equitable. This superpower had 10 years to prepare for this case and I can’t access my writings. It’s very difficult where I am to do anything but these people have unlimited resources.
“They are saying journalists and whistleblowers are enemies of the people. They have unfair advantages dealing with documents. They [know] the interior of my life with my psychologist. They steal my children’s DNA. This is not equitable what is happening here.”
Since Assange has been held in Belmarsh there have been reports that he experienced psychological torture. Just last week, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer and two medical professionals told reporters, “We came to the conclusion that he had been exposed to psychological torture for a prolonged period of time. That’s a medical assessment.”
Monday morning before the hearing Amnesty International released a statement that urged the British government to not extradite Assange. “The British authorities must acknowledge the real risks of serious human rights violations Julian Assange would face if sent to the USA, and reject the extradition request,” the statement read. “The UK must comply with the commitment it’s already made that he would not be sent anywhere he could face torture or other ill-treatment.”
God bless Donald Trump for standing up to the Deep state by prosecuting the person who is actually standing up to the Deep state. Trump 2020
Amen, Ten pledge allegiances in his honor.
This is absolutely nonsense .. Julian Assange’s health has deteriorated to the point that any extradition to the US – a country he’s never visited – would kill him. The UK has committed a crime in the way they’ve treated him. Torture, whether physical or psychological, is a crime against humanity, and the Brits know it. He hasn’t done anything wrong and he’s the publisher of Wikileaks. He’s also a native-born Australian citizen and the Australian gov’t has a duty to allow Assange back into the country and live out the rest of his life there.
Julian Assange may very well be the most important journalist of his generation, and these twisted vultures who strip his battered flesh from his brittle bones will pay for what they have done to him, in this life or the next. Karma will find them and even the score. F**k them and the global police state they serve.
Assange is more valuable as a living example, not a dead martyr.
Zombifying Assange is a seasonally correct compromise.
Karma moves too slow, or Assange was quite the character in a previous life.
“Manning was pardoned under President Obama”
I think her sentence was commuted and she didn’t receive a full pardon. That’s reserved for war criminals.
Obama commuted his sentence. It just showed that his tactics of getting a sex change got him out of prison. That kind of stuff works with liberals.
At least in your mind.
Chris Hedges , a few months ago:
We know what will be done to Assange. It has been done to thousands of those we kidnapped and then detained in black sites around the world. Sadistic and scientific techniques of torture will be used in an attempt to make him a zombie.Assange, in declining health, was transferred two weeks ago to the hospital wing of the prison. Because he was medically unable toparticipate when the hearing was initially to be held, May 30, the
proceeding was reset. Friday’s hearing, in which he appeared frail and
spoke hesitantly, although lucidly, set the timetable for his
extradition trial, scheduled to take place at the end of February. All
totalitarian states seek to break their political prisoners to render
them compliant. This process will define Assange’s existence over the
next few months.
The best hope for Assange is to come to the US and fight the charges, both at trial, and on appeal of any convictions. Delay does not do him any good.