WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange too ill to attend last-ditch hearing against extradition to US
- Washington has indicted the Australian multiple times over the publication of secret military and diplomatic files on the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
- His lawyers argue that he faces a ‘flagrant denial of justice’ in the US and could be given a ‘disproportionate’ decades-long sentence
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was absent from a London court due to illness Tuesday, as his lawyers launched what is likely to be a last bid to appeal against his extradition to the United States to face espionage charges.
Washington indicted the Australian multiple times between 2018 and 2020 over WikiLeaks’ publication of secret military and diplomatic files on the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
On the first of two days of evidence before two High Court judges, the 52-year-old’s leading lawyer said previous rulings contained “errors of law” and that the US charges against him are “political”.
“Mr Assange was exposing serious state criminality,” Edward Fitzgerald said, adding he is “being prosecuted for engaging in ordinary journalistic practice of obtaining and publishing classified information”.
“There is a real risk that he will suffer flagrant denial of justice” if sent to the US, Fitzgerald argued.
