London: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared before a London court on Monday in connection with his US application for extradition. The hearing of the case was delayed due to the Corona Virus epidemic. Assange has been in a prison in Britain for almost a year and a half. Assange formally opposed the US demand before the criminal court in Old Bailey, requesting him to be extradited to face trial on espionage charges. Meanwhile, several dozen supporters, including fashion designer Vivian Westwood and Assange’s partner Stella Morris, gathered outside the courtroom and shouted slogans calling the prosecution a threat to freedom of the press.
Westwood said, “Julian Assange has lit the flame against corruption all over the world.” At the same time, US prosecutors have accused 49-year-old Australian Assange of 18 counts of espionage and computer misuse over the publication of intelligence US military documents by WikiLeaks more than a decade ago. A maximum of 175 years can be imprisoned under these charges. US officials have alleged that Assange, along with US Army analyst Chelsea Manning, duped the Pentagon’s computers and made public thousands of secret diplomatic cables and military files related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
On the other hand, Assange’s lawyers said that this is an abuse of power-driven political power which is an act of suppressing the freedom of the press and doing so would put journalists around the world at risk. He argued that the leaked documents only exposed the misdeeds of the US military.
Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson said before the court, “Such journalists and whistle blowers who disclose illegal activities related to companies, governments and war crimes should be protected from prosecution, accusing Assange of the kind of publication. went.”
