Ultimatum Needs To Be Issued To Britain For Forth With Release of Assange
WikiLeaks founder ‘too ill’ to attend extradition hearing in London via videolink
Assange’s lawyers have complained that they have not had adequate access to their client, who was said to be at a heightened risk of contracting coronavirus because of an underlying lung condition.
Journalists have also struggled to cover the case owing to barely audible phone links to administrative hearings, such as Monday’s.
Joseph Farrell of WikiLeaks criticised the fact that a time and place for the remainder of the hearing was yet to be announced by the judge after evidence was initially submitted over a number of days in February.
“The delay has been a punishment in itself,” Farrell said. “Whether Julian can get proper access to his legal team remains unlikely, as Belmarsh prison remains in full lockdown.”
India must rake up this issue forthwith with the British Government and ask them to release Assange.
A coalition of Australian MPs, human rights advocates and journalists have called on their country’s government to intervene in the case of Julian Assange, who was said to be too ill to attend the latest court hearing of his extradition case.
The imprisoned WikiLeaks founder was unable to attend via video link because of ill-health and advice from his doctors, according to his partner Stella Moris.
Assange, 48, is wanted in the US to face 17 charges under the Espionage Act and conspiracy to commit computer intrusion after the publication of hundreds of thousands of classified documents in 2010 and 2011.
He is being held at Belmarsh prison in south London while the court system tries to reschedule his extradition hearing, which was postponed owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
Eight Australian MPs, four senators and a number of members of Australia’s legislature, including Andrew Wilkie, George Christensen, Zali Steggall, Richard Di Natale and Adam Bandt, are among those who wrote to their foreign affairs minister before Monday’s hearing and urged that a diplomatic representation be made to the UK government to ask that Assange be released on bail.
Citing the impact of Covid-19 in British prisons, they wrote: “The extradition hearings have been disrupted and delayed, leaving Mr Assange unable to have his case heard until September 2020 at the earliest, while deaths within the UK prison populations and illness amongst judicial and penal staff cohorts continue to rise.”
Assange’s full extradition hearing is set to take place on 7 September, having originally been scheduled for 18 May, although a crown court has not yet been found to take the case. A further administrative hearing is due to take place on 29 June.
It was agreed at Monday’s hearing that psychiatric reports on Assange from the prosecution and defence are due to be presented to the court before the end of July.
