Julian Assange

[RTH10260]

FWIW

US. Case Against Julian Assange Falls Apart, as Key Witness Says He Lied to Get Immunity

Democracy Now!
Published on 28 Jun 2021

One of the main witnesses in Julian Assange’s extradition case has admitted he made false claims against Assange in exchange for immunity from prosecution, a bombshell revelation that could have a major impact on the WikiLeaks founder’s fate. Assange faces up to 175 years in prison if brought to the U.S., where he was indicted for violations of the Espionage Act related to the publication of classified documents exposing U.S. war crimes. According to a new article in the Icelandic newspaper Stundin, the convicted hacker Sigurdur “Siggi” Thordarson falsely claimed he was a prominent WikiLeaks representative instructed by Assange to carry out hacking attacks, but he was in fact only tangentially involved with the organization. The article suggests the U.S. Justice Department collaborated with Thordarson to generate the indictment for Assange that was submitted to the British courts. “This is just the latest revelation to demonstrate why the U.S. case should be dropped,” says Jennifer Robinson, a human rights attorney who has been advising Assange and WikiLeaks since 2010. “The factual basis for this case has completely fallen apart.”

[jcolvin2]

Marcy Wheeler thinks that the claim that Siggi's recantation of his prior testimony weakens the case against Assange is bullshit:
Link to EmptyWheel post about Sigurdur Ingi Thordarson

This is an article about Sigurdur Ingi Thordarson, AKA Siggi, the sociopath that Assange chose to hang out with for a period in 2010 to 2011, who does have a role but by no means the “main” role in the case against Assange. The journalists who wrote the article present as credible Siggi’s claim, from someone that everyone agrees is a pathological liar, that he’s telling the truth now, rather than when he testified to US authorities in 2019.

***

Except, Siggi retracts nothing substantive that is alleged in the indictment, so this drama is instead a demand that you accept the word of a liar rather than read the documents to show that the liar’s claims are irrelevant to the charges against Assange.

***

There’s no there there in this article. Moreover, all the claims in it — most notably, that Siggi is a sociopath and a liar — have been long known. What the article misunderstands is where Siggi’s testimony may be important, where it served to explain existing documentary files, and the many ways in which DOJ ensured it didn’t rely on such an easily discredited witness. The article also doesn’t understand how co-conspirator statements — statements that have already been made — get entered at trial.

You go to trial with the sociopaths that a target like Julian Assange has chosen to associate with, not with the Boy Scouts you’d like to have as witnesses. But this indictment relies on that sociopath far less than Stundin would have you believe, and Siggi’s purported retractions do very little to rebut the indictment or [UK extradition judge] Baraitser’s ruling about the case. More importantly, the article claims that the DOJ’s purported reliance on a sociopath is fatal, but their argument is based on the claims of that same sociopath.

[bob]

[RTH10260]

recent developments cause Pest & Efail mentioned the name

Julian Assange appeals to European court over U.S. extradition

By Michael Holden
December 2, 20228:53 PM GMT+1Last Updated 2 months ago

LONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange, who is battling extradition from Britain to the United States where he is wanted on criminal charges, has submitted an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the court confirmed on Friday.

Assange, 51, is wanted by U.S. authorities on 18 counts, including one under a spying act, relating to WikiLeaks' release of vast troves of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables which Washington said had put lives in danger.

Britain has given the go-ahead for his extradition, but he has launched an appeal at London's High Court, with the first hearing expected early next year.

Register for free to Reuters and know the full story

His legal team have also launched a case against Britain at the ECHR, which could potentially order the extradition to be blocked.

"We confirm that an application has been received," a statement from the court said.




https://www.reuters.com/world/julian-as ... 022-12-02/

[RTH10260]

Latin American Presidents Throw Weight Behind Campaign to Free Assange

ByTHE PRESS ASSOCIATION (Alan Jones, PA Industrial Correspondent)
January 22, 2023 at 4:53 PM GMT+1

Follow us at @BloombergUK and on Facebook, and wrap up your day with The Readout newsletter with Allegra Stratton.

The campaign to free WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is being stepped up following support from the presidents of all major Latin American countries.

The politicians have sided with the Free Assange campaign in urging US president Joe Biden to drop the charges and set him free.

Assange is being held in Belmarsh prison in London as he continues to fight being extradited to the United States.

WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson and WikiLeaks ambassador Joseph Farrell have held a series of meetings in recent weeks in Latin American countries including Mexico, Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina.

The Mexican president raised the issue of Julian Assange at a recent summit with Mr Biden, and has used his daily briefing to highlight his continuing "unjust detention".

Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said: "Assange needs to be defended by all of us who love democracy, who love freedom of the press, freedom of trade unions, who love freedom of organisation."

Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said: "If he (Assange) is taken to the United States and sentenced to the maximum penalty ... we must begin the campaign to dismantle the Statue of Liberty.



https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... an-assange

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Biden accused of hypocrisy as he seeks extradition of Julian Assange
Ad-hoc tribunal of legal experts and supporters pressures US administration to drop ‘attack on press freedom’

Chris McGreal
Fri 20 Jan 2023 23.12 GMT

Joe Biden has been accused of hypocrisy for demanding the release of journalists detained around the world while the US president continues seeking the extradition of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from Britain to face American espionage charges.

The campaign to pressure the Biden administration to drop the charges moved to Washington DC on Friday with a hearing of the Belmarsh Tribunal, an ad hoc gathering of legal experts and supporters named after the London prison where Assange is being detained.

The hearing was held in the same room where Assange in 2010 exposed the “collateral murder” video showing US aircrew gunning down Iraqi civilians, the first of hundreds of thousands of leaked secret military documents and diplomatic cables published in major newspapers around the world. The revelations about America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including alleged war crimes, and the frank assessments of US diplomats about their host governments, caused severe embarrassment in Washington.

The tribunal heard that the charges against Assange were an “ongoing attack on press freedom” because the WikiLeaks founder was not a spy but a journalist and publisher protected by free speech laws.



https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/ ... n-tribunal

[Dave from down under]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-09/ ... /102459642

Australian Julian Assange will fight to overturn a United Kingdom High Court ruling that rejected his appeal against extradition to the United States.

Key points:

The upcoming appeal is the last legal option for Julian Assange in the UK
The US is seeking to extradite him on charges of espionage and he faces 175 years in prison
The UK government signed the extradition order last year
The 51-year-old WikiLeaks founder is wanted in the US for espionage, where he faces 18 charges related to publishing of tens of thousands of military and diplomatic documents.

Mr Assange last year lodged an appeal in the United Kingdom's High Court after the UK government signed an order authorising his extradition to the US.

The court rejected his appeal in a three-page written decision from Justice Jonathan Swift issued this week.

The latest High Court decision means the WikiLeaks founder is "dangerously close" to being extradited to the US, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

[raison de arizona]

Editors and publishers of the five media organizations who first partnered with Julian Assange - The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, El País and Der Spiegel - call for his immediate release https://nytco.com/press/an-open-letter- ... t-a-crime/

[RTH10260]

Judges Block US Extradition of WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange—for Now
A high court in London says the WikiLeaks founder won’t be extradited “immediately” and the US must provide more “assurances” about any extradition.

DELL CAMERON MATT BURGESS
SECURITYMAR 26, 2024 6:53 AM

The UK high court has extended WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s hope to avoid espionage charges in the United States, allowing Assange to further challenge his extradition from the UK to the US.

In a ruling issued in London on Tuesday, two high court judges said that Assange will not be immediately extradited to the United States. In a press summary of the 60-page decision, the court said Assange has a “real prospect of success” in appealing his extradition order and that it requires the US and UK to make further “assurances” about his treatment if he were to be extradited.

“The Court has given the Government of the United States three weeks to give satisfactory assurances: that Mr Assange is permitted to rely on the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (which protects free speech), that he is not prejudiced at trial (including sentence) by reason of his nationality, that he is afforded the same First Amendment protections as a United States citizen and that the death penalty is not imposed,” the press summary says.

In what will be seen as a temporary reprieve for Assange, the judges said a further hearing will take place on May 20, 2024, after officials in the US have provided more information in response to the case. Judges Victoria Sharp and Adam Johnson said that if US officials cannot provide assurances about Assange’s treatment if he is extradited, then a full appeals hearing will take place. If this happens, there is a chance Assange will not be extradited.

The summary of the decision says that the UK government agrees there is a possibility Assange, who is Australian, “could” be charged with offenses that carry the death penalty, and, therefore, the court “considers it is arguable” the initial extradition order shouldn’t have been granted. The judges dismissed six of the arguments Assange’s lawyers made during the application to appeal, including that he faced prosecution based on his political opinions.

Assange’s extradition was first authorized by the British government in June 2022, more than three years after his arrest. The appeals process was repeatedly delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic and Assange’s own deteriorating health—a result, his doctors say, of his prolonged pretrial confinement and his previous stay in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he lived under asylum for nearly seven years.



https://www.wired.com/story/julian-assa ... wikileaks/

[RTH10260]

WikiLeaks’ Assange wins UK court bid to appeal extradition to US
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Monday won a bid to appeal against a UK court ruling that approved his extradition to the United States to face trial for breaking national security laws.

Issued on: 20/05/2024 - 15:36 Modified: 20/05/2024 - 16:42
By:
NEWS WIRES
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Two London High Court judges granted Assange permission to appeal, having previously asked Washington to provide "satisfactory assurances" about free speech protections at any US trial.

Those submissions were presented at a hearing on Monday, which the 52-year-old Australian did not attend.

Assange is wanted by Washington for publishing hundreds of thousands of secret US documents from 2010 as head of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.

Had he lost at Monday's hearing, Assange -- who has become a figurehead for free speech campaigners -- could have been swiftly extradited after a five-year legal battle.

Instead, he will now face another court battle in his long-running legal saga, after the UK government approved his extradition in June 2022.

Assange's wife Stella said outside court that the ruling "marks a turning point" and that "we are relieved as a family that the court took the right decision.

"Everyone can see what should be done here. Julian must be freed," she added.

Human rights monitor Amnesty International called the ruling "a rare piece of positive news for Julian Assange and all defenders of press freedom".

"The USA's ongoing attempt to prosecute Assange puts media freedom at risk worldwide. It ridicules the USA's obligations under international law, and their stated commitment to freedom of expression," said Simon Crowther, legal adviser at Amnesty.

In written submissions for the hearing, Edward Fitzgerald, representing Assange, accepted as "unambiguous" US government assurances that he would not face the death penalty.

But he queried whether his client could rely on the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which covers freedom of speech and freedom of the press, at trial.

James Lewis, representing the US government, told the court Assange's conduct was "simply unprotected" by the First Amendment.

It does not apply to anyone "in relation to publication of illegally obtained national defence information giving the names of innocent sources to their grave and imminent risk of harm", he submitted.



https://www.france24.com/en/europe/2024 ... tion-to-us

[RTH10260]

Surprise, surprise ...

note: picture of filing in article

Julian Assange released from prison, WikiLeaks says, after striking deal with US justice department
It is anticipated the WikiLeaks founder will plead guilty to violating US espionage law at a hearing in Saipan and will be allowed to return to Australia

Ed Pilkington in New York
Tue 25 Jun 2024 02.47 CEST

Julian Assange has been released from British prison and is expected to plead guilty to violating US espionage law, in a deal that would allow him to return home to his native Australia.

Assange, 52, agreed to plead guilty to a single criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents, according to filings in the US district court for the Northern Mariana Islands.

Wikileaks posted on social media a video of its founder boarding a flight at London’s Stansted airport on Monday evening and Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese confirmed he had left the UK.

Assange is reportedly travelling to a hearing on the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, where he will be sentenced at 9am local time on Wednesday (11pm GMT on Tuesday). According to Albanese, he is being accompanied by Australia’s high commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith.

“Regardless of the views that people have about Julian Assange and his activities, the case has dragged on for too long, there is nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration and we want him brought home to Australia,” Albanese said on Tuesday.

Under the deal, which must be approved by a judge, Assange is likely to be credited for the five years he has already served and face no new jail time.

In a letter to a federal judge in the district court for the Northern Mariana Islands, a senior justice department official said that he was being sent to Saipan because of its “proximity to the defendant’s country of citizenship”. The official added that once the sentencing hearing was completed, Assange was expected to travel on to Australia.

WikiLeaks said on X that Assange had left Belmarsh prison on Monday morning, after 1,901 days of captivity there. He had spent the time, the organisation said, “in a 2x3 metre cell, isolated 23 hours a day”.

Assange was set to be reunited with his wife, Stella, who confirmed on X that he was free. She thanked Assange’s supporters, saying “words cannot express our immense gratitude”.



https://www.theguardian.com/media/artic ... -australia

[raison de arizona]

Remember when Assange raped a woman in Sweden and had to flee to the Ecuadorian Embassy to avoid justice? Good times. Managed to run out the clock on that one. Remember when tfg had FOUR YEARS to pardon Assange, and he didn't? He had Bill Barr indict him, instead. Interesting, that, given Ramaswamy's position.

[pipistrelle]

He’s not a reporter.

[Maybenaut]

Commuting Chelsea Manning’s sentence was the only thing Obama ever did that truly angered me.

Her appeals were complete. The DoD has a memorandum of agreement with the Federal Bureau of Prisons where (most) military prisoners who have exhausted their appeals are transferred to the BOP. There are prisons in the BOP that house transitioning inmates.

[Dave from down under]

Pity he got away with most of what he did.

Sure you can just keep him for a few more decades?

[Sam the Centipede]

Oh dear, the Guardian's dictionary fails it again in Julian Assange walks free after pleading guilty to US espionage charge in Saipan court

He [Assange] was greeted by a hoard of foreign and local media but took no questions.

[raison de arizona]

[p0rtia]

Something untoward happening to Eric Lissan's Twitter account--at least as far as I can tell.