Inside Julian Assange’s extradition ruling

Julian Assange spoke solely as soon as, quietly, in the course of the court docket listening to that was attributable to determine his long-running battle in opposition to being extradited to the US.

Protesters shouted for his or her hero outdoors, as the worldwide media assembled, and supporters – and detractors – world wide waited with bated breath for the consequence.

But within the eye of the storm, Assange sat silently within the centre of a surprisingly intimate Old Bailey court docket listening to.

Because of coronavirus restrictions, solely simply over a dozen individuals had been current as District Judge Vanessa Baraitser delivered her ruling.

Assange, in a navy swimsuit and a darkish inexperienced face masks, arrived within the dock with a jumper thrown round his shoulders for heat.

The WikiLeaks founder sat in silence all through the hour-long listening to, being requested solely to verify his identify and date of start, as his fiancée appeared on.

For the Assange camp, the listening to didn’t begin properly. For greater than 40 minutes, District Judge Baraitser dismissed argument after argument made by the defence group.

She threw out claims that his extradition to the US can be illegal beneath the phrases of a treaty, would violate freedom of speech and different human rights, was politically motivated or would punish mere investigative journalism.

Suggestions {that a} US jury can be biased, or that Chelsea Manning’s proof was a results of torture, and that Assange wouldn’t be protected by the US structure got quick shrift.

District Judge Baraitser additionally rejected ideas that the size of time because the leaks made the extradition unjust, and instructed the court docket that the affect on his associate and kids was “nothing out of the ordinary”.

Assange’s extradition gave the impression to be a foregone conclusion because the choose stated he had “sacrificed the safety of individuals” named in leaked paperwork and induced some to flee their dwelling international locations with their households.

But the listening to took an abrupt flip when the choose began to handle the 49-year-old’s well being, which had been a core concern raised not solely by his authorized group, but additionally by human-rights teams and United Nations consultants.

Lengthy extradition proceedings heard how Assange may very well be held beneath “special administrative measures” earlier than trial, after which on the ADX Florence jail in Colorado.

The court docket additionally heard that Assange had been beneath a care plan for prisoners prone to suicide or self-harm since arriving at HMP Belmarsh in April 2019, and had instructed workers of plans to finish his life.

Psychologists discovered that he suffers from a recurrent depressive dysfunction, which is usually accompanied by psychotic options, in addition to autism spectrum dysfunction.

The district choose instructed the court docket that if despatched to the US, Assange can be in “conditions of near-total isolation” and with out the components wanted to mitigate his suicide threat.

As she defined that the circumstances meant the extradition was legally “oppressive” and couldn’t be allowed, Assange’s fiancée broke down in tears and hugged the editor-in-chief of  WikiLeaks, Kristinn Hrafnsson.

Assange barely reacted and didn’t remark to the three journalists allowed within the court docket as he was led again right down to the cells.

He may have recognized that the choose’s findings weren’t the top of his authorized battle, and US authorities instantly introduced their choice to enchantment.

It was attributable to take one other two days at the very least earlier than a court docket would take into account releasing Assange on bail, and the authorized saga will proceed lengthy after that.

For his supporters, Assange stays a campaigner for reality and accountability, an investigative journalist, a hero for freedom of speech.

The disclosures by defence analyst Chelsea Manning in 2010 and 2011 uncovered battle crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, together with footage of American troopers killing unarmed civilians from a helicopter.

But to his detractors, Assange stays a prison, a hacker, a narcissist and a liar, regardless of District Judge Baraitser’s ruling.

Speaking outdoors the court docket, his fiancée Stella Moris, stated the court docket had recognised the  “seriousness and inhumanity” of what Assange faces within the US.

Ms Moris, who has two sons with Assange, appealed for Donald Trump to finish the prosecution and “let our little boys have their father”.

She accused the US authorities of eager to “punish Julian and make him disappear into the deepest, darkest hole of the US prison system for the rest of his life”.

Ms Moris stated the ruling was the “first step towards justice in this case”, however sounded a word of warning for jubilant supporters.

“As long as Julian has to endure suffering in isolation as an unconvicted prisoner at Belmarsh prison, as long as our children continue to be robbed of their father’s love and affection, we cannot celebrate,” she stated. ”We will have a good time the day he comes dwelling.”