• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Tuesday, July 5, 2022
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

Trump’s ‘War on Journalists’ Behind Assange Extradition Bid: Lawyer

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
02/24/20
in Featured, Media Freedom, World
Julian Assange

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange addressing the media from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in central London in February 2016. Photo: Ben Stansall, AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

A lawyer for Julian Assange on Monday argued that the United States’ bid to extradite him is part of President Donald Trump‘s “war on leakers and journalists,” as the WikiLeaks founder’s full extradition hearing opened in Britain.

Assange faces charges under the U.S. Espionage Act for the 2010 release by his anti-secrecy website of a trove of files detailing the realities of U.S. military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He spent much of the past decade holed up in Ecuador’s London embassy to avoid separate legal proceedings in Sweden, but Washington is now seeking his transfer to stand trial.

His lawyer Edward Fitzgerald argued the charges were “politically motivated” and that the U.S. had reversed a 2013 decision not to charge Assange because Trump wanted “to make an example” of him.

“President Trump came into power with a new approach to the freedom of the press … amounting effectively to declaring war on investigative journalists,” he told a packed courtroom in southeast London.

Fitzgerald said his client was “the obvious symbol of all that Trump condemned” and that charging him for publishing state secrets was “unprecedented.”

“The prosecution is being pursued for ulterior political motives and not in good faith,” he added. “It is directed at him because of the political opinions he holds and that have guided his actions.”

Assange sat impassively inside Woolwich Crown Court as a lawyer for the United States accused him of risking the lives of intelligence sources by publishing classified U.S. government documents.

Making the U.S. government case, James Lewis denied it was motivated by embarrassment over the WikiLeaks releases and wanted him over the “harm” caused by his disclosures.

Today was the first day of hearings in Julian Assange's extradition case.

A reminder: virtually every civil liberties org, press freedom group, & major news outlet has denounced the Trump admin's dangerous charges as a direct affront to press freedom. https://t.co/CbDnC8j4Kt

— Freedom of the Press (@FreedomofPress) February 24, 2020

“The United States is aware of sources whose unredacted names and/or other identifying information was contained in classified documents published by Wikileaks who subsequently disappeared,” he said.

However, he noted the United States could not prove that their disappearances were directly linked to WikiLeaks.

“Julian Assange is no journalist,” Lewis added.

Protesters 

Dozens of protesters gathered throughout the day outside the court, next to the high-security Belmarsh prison where Assange is being held, holding up banners and chanting loudly.

At one point during the proceedings Assange, wearing a dark grey blazer and sweater over a white shirt and flanked by two security personnel, complained he was having “difficulty concentrating” due to the demonstrators’ noise.

“I’m very appreciative of the public support,” he said. “I do understand that they must be disgusted by these proceedings.”

WikiLeaks initially worked with a string of high-profile newspapers to publish details from the leaked State Department and Pentagon files, which caused a sensation – and outrage in Washington.

One video from 2007 showed an Apache helicopter attack in which U.S. soldiers gunned down two Reuters reporters and nine Iraqi civilians in broad daylight in Baghdad.

But after falling out with their editors, WikiLeaks released hundreds of thousands of documents in their original form – including the secret identities of diplomats and local sources.

Assange, 48, could be jailed for 175 years if convicted on all 17 Espionage Act charges and one count of computer hacking that he faces.

Julian Assange appeared before a court in London on Monday to fight an extradition request from the U.S. https://t.co/6xOfPbcO7v pic.twitter.com/hM0jS2BpzE

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 24, 2020

It is the most serious phase of a long-running legal saga.

In 2010, Assange was accused of sexual assault and rape in Sweden, allegations he consistently denied. After a legal battle, he was ordered by a British judge to be extradited there.

To avoid extradition, he claimed asylum in Ecuador’s London embassy, where he spent seven years until Quito gave him up last year following a change of government.

The Swedish investigation has since been dropped.

Assange has since served a jail term for breaching his U.K. police bail but remains in Belmarsh prison awaiting the U.S. extradition case.

Trump Claim 

In a new twist last week, Assange’s defense team claimed Trump promised to issue a pardon if Assange denied Russia leaked the emails of his 2016 election rival’s campaign – although Assange has always denied that Russia had any part in the affair.

The White House called the claim “another never-ending hoax and total lie” but a judge agreed to add it to the case file.

In his courtroom remarks Monday, Fitzgerald said the U.S. had used “the threat of prosecution as extortion.”

Noting Trump’s denial of a pre-emptive pardon offer, he added: “Well he would, wouldn’t he?”

Fitzgerald also detailed the testimony of a whistleblower – “witness two” – in Spain who worked at the company providing private security at the Ecuadoran embassy in London and allegedly set up a spying operation on Assange for the United States.

The lawyer said he plans to apply for the whistleblower’s evidence to be heard.


More on the Subject 

Assange UK Bail Sentence ‘Disproportionate:’ UN Experts

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

US President Donald Trump
Opinion

Owning the Words and the Libs

by Stephen J. Lyons
June 16, 2022
migrants
Refugees

UK Vows to Send Migrants to Rwanda Despite Last-Minute Legal Challenges

by Staff Writer
June 14, 2022
refugees
Refugees

UK to Send Asylum-Seekers, Migrants to Rwanda

by Staff Writer
April 22, 2022
US Capitol riot
National

Trump ‘More Likely Than Not’ Obstructed Congress: US Judge

by Staff Writer
March 28, 2022
A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather on the West side of the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021
Opinion

How Praise and Blame Rhetoric Are Poisoning American Democracy

by Ryan Skinnell
November 2, 2021
Pro-abortion rights activists rally at the Texas State Capitol in Austin against SB8, September 11.
Featured

The Horrors of a Repressive Regime, American Style

by Stephen J. Lyons
October 26, 2021
Next Post
Flanked by Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades, (R), and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci (L), U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks a press conference in Geneva in 2017.

Human Rights Under Assault Worldwide: UN Chief

A protester displays a placard during a demonstration against India's new citizenship law

10 Killed, More Than 130 Injured in Anti-Muslim Delhi Riots

Recommended

Shireen Abu Akleh

US Says Al Jazeera Journalist Likely Shot by Israel But Not Intentionally

July 4, 2022
Google logo

Google to Pay $90 Mn in Settlement With App Developers

July 1, 2022
Mexico murdered journalists

Journalist Murdered in Mexico, 12th This Year

June 29, 2022
Spain migrants

Spain Prosecutor Opens Probe Into Melilla Migrant Deaths

June 28, 2022
Afghan refugees

Pakistani Migrants in Afghanistan Caught in Quake No-Man’s Land

June 27, 2022
Joe Biden climate summit

Biden Calls Clean Energy Matter of National Security in Face of Russia War

June 17, 2022

Opinion

US President Donald Trump

Owning the Words and the Libs

June 16, 2022
Officers in Uvalde, Texas, stand outside Robb Elementary School near a makeshift memorial for the shooting victims

Child Sacrifice Makes a Comeback

June 3, 2022
A Lebanese election official stands at a polling station

New Group Threatens Lebanese Elections… and Potentially Middle East Peace

May 18, 2022
A man holding a gun

Safely Back in USA, Land of Guns and Burgers

May 2, 2022
China Muslim Uyghurs

Unfair Politicization, Corruption, and the Death of Modern Olympism

April 23, 2022
Ukraine war

The Ukrainian Refugee Crisis and the Hierarchies of Western Compassion

April 20, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post