{"id":362980,"date":"2021-10-26T23:32:45","date_gmt":"2021-10-26T23:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shadowproof.com\/?p=222307"},"modified":"2021-10-26T23:32:45","modified_gmt":"2021-10-26T23:32:45","slug":"a-guide-to-the-u-s-governments-appeal-in-the-assange-extradition-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/10\/26\/a-guide-to-the-u-s-governments-appeal-in-the-assange-extradition-case\/","title":{"rendered":"A Guide To The U.S. Government\u2019s Appeal In The Assange Extradition Case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
[Editor’s Note: I expect to be credentialed to remotely cover the Assange appeal hearing on October 27-28 and will have live updates on proceedings that can be followed on Twitter from @kgosztola<\/a>] <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n On October 27, the High Court of Justice in the United Kingdom will hear the Crown Prosecution Service argue on behalf of the United States government that a lower court improperly blocked the U.S. from extraditing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The proceedings in London are expected to last two days and will involve five grounds for appeal that were previously approved by the High Court of Justice. (Two were reinstated by the court after a hearing on August 11.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n District Court Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled<\/a> on January 4 that Assange\u2019s mental health was such that it would be \u201coppressive to extradite him\u201d to the U.S. But two days later, she accepted the U.S. government\u2019s objections and ordered him to remain in jail while her decision was appealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Assange is detained at Her Majesty\u2019s Prison Belmarsh in London, a high-security prison where he has been held since he was expelled from the Ecuador Embassy on April 11, 2019. He faces 18 charges\u201417 of which are charges under the Espionage Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Espionage Act is a U.S. law passed in 1917 that the Justice Department has increasingly wielded against media sources who share \u201cclassified\u201d documents or talk about sensitive information with journalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because Assange is the first publisher to be charged under the law, press freedom organizations around the world have roundly condemned the political prosecution. It also is part of a troubling development where the U.S. government increasingly seeks to impose its domestic laws on foreign nationals. Assange is an Australian citizen and has no ties whatsoever to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each of the charges, aside from a conspiracy to commit a computer crime offense, solely relate to the documents that were submitted by U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning to WikiLeaks in 2010: the Iraq and Afghanistan War Logs, the U.S. State Embassy cables, and the Guantanamo Files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The general allegations in the indictment against Assange directly criminalize the publication of information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corruption has marred the case at every stage. Yahoo! News reported<\/a> in late September that CIA Director Mike Pompeo obsessed over Assange after WikiLeaks released CIA files in 2017 exposing the agency\u2019s cyber warfare capabilities. Agents sketched out plans to kidnap or even kill Assange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The CIA backed an espionage operation against the Ecuador embassy that was conducted<\/a> by Undercover Global. They collected legally-privileged conversations among attorneys and broke into the personal devices of guests visiting Assange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The FBI worked with an informant<\/a> named Siggi Thordarson, a serial liar and sociopath who embezzled funds from the WikiLeaks store and sexually preyed on underage boys. He fabricated allegations against Assange that were later retracted in an interview with an Icelandic reporter. Icelandic authorities jailed Thordarson on September 24 to stop him from perpetrating additional financial fraud schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Assange\u2019s personal archive, confidential medical data, and legally privileged materials were seized<\/a> from the embassy following his arrest and handed over to the FBI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, President Joe Biden\u2019s administration has pressed onward with the case against Assange, refusing to answer questions from reporters about why they will not drop the charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n The following is a guide to each of the grounds for the U.S. appeal that the Crown Prosecution Service will present to the High Court of Justice. Assange\u2019s legal team will have an opportunity to respond to each argument. It is based on the submissions to the appeals court from the Crown Prosecution Service and Assange’s legal team.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n