SAN FRANCISCO
Lee Heidhues 2.20.2024
The United States cannot call itself a beacon of human rights and press freedom as it pursues the extradition of Julian Assange from Britain.
Julian Assange shone a light on American perfidy in its overseas military intervention and catastrophic meddling in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Julian Assange made public, for all the world to see, the real militaristic bent of American foreign policy. It has never been about human rights and freedom. American policy is to protect American hegemony.
Excerpted from The Guardian 2.20.2024
Julian Assange faces the risk of a “flagrant denial of justice” if tried in the US, his lawyers have told a permission to appeal hearing in London, which could result in the WikiLeaks founder being extradited within days if unsuccessful.
Assange, who published thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, could be jailed for up to 175 years – “a grossly disproportionate punishment” – if convicted in the US, the high court heard on Tuesday.
Edward Fitzgerald KC, representing Assange, also argued that his client could be targeted by US state agencies for “extra-legal attack elimination” if he was extradited, particularly given “the real possibility of a return of a [Donald] Trump administration”.
Assange’s lawyers are seeking a full appeal hearing. If the two judges deny permission, all challenges in the UK courts will have been exhausted, leaving an intervention by the European court of human rights (ECHR) as Assange’s only hope to avoid extradition to the US.
Outside the court, scores of his supporters held placards and chanted, demanding his release. The WikiLeaks founder was granted permission to attend the two-day hearing but Fitzgerald said Assange was unwell.
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