by Cathy Vogan at Consortium News
A clue to some of the legal arguments Julian Assange’s lawyers will likely make at a two-day hearing this week at the High Court in London is contained in a 150-page submission that a judge rejected last June.
Justice Jonathan Swift’s three-page ruling to deny Assange’s application to appeal is what the imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher wants reversed at the hearing beginning Tuesday at the Royal Courts of Justice.
If he is again denied leave to appeal, this time by two judges, Assange could theoretically be put on a plane to the United States as early as Wednesday night. But the decision could be delayed for months.
Assange initially won his case in the magistrate’s court in January 2021, where extradition was blocked on health grounds and the dangerous conditions in U.S. prisons. But the U.S. won on appeal in October 2021 when it belatedly issued “assurances” that it would not mistreat Assange in the U.S.
That led to the British home secretary’s decision in 2022 to extradite Assange to the United States, which Assange’s team seeks to appeal.
In the U.S. he would be put on trial for conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and for espionage in his publication of U.S. government secrets that covered up state crimes. If convicted, he could end up in a U.S. dungeon for up to 175 years — potentially a virtual life sentence.
Assange’s lawyers also want to appeal several points of law in the magistrate’s ruling that initially blocked extradition but which sided with the U.S.
In summarily denying Assange’s bid to appeal last year, Judge Swift wrote:…
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