Posted on 01/04/2021 3:03:47 AM PST by RandFan
RULING:
*** EXTRADITION DENIED ***
AS IT HAPPENED...
*** COURT IN SESSION ***
@jamesdoleman
Judge now giving her decision...
She is going through the defence arguments and her conclusion, 1. Says the case is governed by the extradition act 2003 (the defence pointed to the political exception in the treaty) but she rejects this.
Judge says that the alledged offences go beyond "encouraging a journalist," and involved a conspiracy to crack secure passwords.
Judge: Next I’m to consider whether the offenses in the request would be offenses in the UK as well as in the US. Mr Assange’s conduct went beyond that of a journalist, in agreeing to help Ms Manning crack a password
Judge now going through the allegations against #Assange in relation to former US soldier Chelsea Manning.
Judge: For months Assange had been communicating with Manning. When told she had nothing left to give him, he said ‘curious eyes never run dry.’ After this comment she downloaded 100s of 1000s of State Dept cables
@kgosztola
Judge is repeating general allegations added in the superseding indictment issued in summer of 2020 and sprung on defense attorneys weeks before extradition trial.
Judge says that #Assange called for people to join the CIA so they could access confidential information, says this was "beyond investigative journalism."
@JohnWRees
Judge is just repeating the US case, including its most dubious claims, in #Assange case.
Judge says the right to free speech does not give anyone "unfettered discretion," to disclose any document they wish.
Judge: defense submits that by disclosing Manning’s documents, Assange was acting as a journalist & should be protected by free speech laws. The difficulty with this argument is it vests in Assange the right to sacrifice the safety of individuals named, in the name of free speech
Judge says that the Wikileaks disclosures led to up to 50 people who had assisted the US government to seek asylum in the United States.
Judge is recounting US govt claims of needing relocate named sources from the cables
Judge refers to Mr Assange’s ‘indiscriminate’ release of State Dept cables, contrasts with redacted cables published by other media outlets
Judge appears to have found Assange in violation of the UK Official Secrets Act.
If proven allegations "would therefore amount to offenses in this jurisdiction that would not be protected by his freedom of speech"
Judge says she is satisfied that the prosecution of Assange was not a political decision by the Trump administration, says Trump "repeatedly and publically praised him."
Judge says she will not look at allegations of US interference at the US embassy at the Ecuadorian embassy as this case is still ongoing in Spain.
Judge says US intelligence might have had legitimate reasons to monitor #Assange in the embassy as they may have legitimately considred him a threat to National security.
Judge rejects defence argument about the delay in prosecution saying there was a "great deal of data," for the authorities to look at and there was no evidence the defence was hampered.
@JohnWRees
This is an outrageously biased and unbalanced judgement.
Judge says any hurt caused to Assange's family by his extradition "is nothing unusual in these kind of proceedings."
Judge says she does not accept it would be impossible to find 12 impartial jurors in the Virginia justice system, or that the plea bargening system was unjust.
Judge says she finds no evidence the US prosecutors "have every intention of punishing Mr Assange"
Judge: no evidence that #Assange would not get a fair trial in the United States.
A US court will ensure that #Assange will get the legal protections in the constitution judge says.
Judge: US courts have held that those outside the US do not possess rights in the US. Mr Assange, when he faces trial, will be on US soil. No authority supports the assertion someone in his position would not have US protections. Reject defense arguments on Article 7
Judge "This court trusts that a US court wil properly consider Mr Assange's right to free speech."
Judge accepts Mr Assange suffers from Autism, and clinical depression, and is at risk of self-harm.
(judge going through some private medical information I'm not going to share)
Judge says that US prison conditions have been taken into account, as well as te risk of #Assange being put under "special administrative measures."
Judge reviewing evidence on Assange's suicidal ideation, time in HMP Belmarsh. 'The overall impression is of a depressed and at times despairing person'
Judge seems to accept Assange could well be sent to ADX Florence, that he would be held in serious isolation
Judge says Assange has the intellect and determination to get round suicide prevention measures.
DRAMA...
JUDGE: Extradition would be oppressive by reason of Assange’s mental health
The United States government's mass incarceration system just lost them their case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
*** EXTRADITION DENIED ***
Assange to remain in custody while the US government decide whether to appeal or not.
Defence ask for time to take instructions.
He is Australian, with wife or ex-wife, and possibly multiple children.
Sorry I thought you meant Assange... Manning is another story altogether.
Thanks, Yes I was referring to Manning, not Assange.
The judge seemed swayed by the fact that the CIA were out to get Assange and he would be at risk especially if sent to the Supermax prison in Colorado.
.
Pretty solid argument, given the suicide (and homicide for that matter) rates in US prisons...
One dirty little about the system. A lot of humans in long time lock-up develop mental health issues that manifest in many ways.
Can Trump even pardon him if he’s in the UK?
Assange might well get around the suicide restrictions.
Epstein did.
So to protect Assange from suicide, he can’t be extradited.
The Deep State wants to keep Assange quiet. They want to keep him in Britain so President Trump cannot pardon Assange and release him.
Assange will die in captivity.
We are dealing with liberal fascists.
Assange should have been extradited.
What a laugh.
Assange will now join Epstein and Scalia as people edited out of Progressive liberal fascist history.
Our prison system resembles the Soviet one more and more although its operators government and private will deny it.
Don’t underestimate the political power of the Prison Guard unions and private incarceration industry... those continuing morphing and metastasizing into ‘diversion program’ and now New York State with “medical Detention”.
Beware of psychiatric holds, ‘protective orders’, and that lovely crime that raises any assertion of rights or desire to NOT interact with law enforcement as the criminal act of “obstructing” or “interfering”... We can all be revenue sources and job security for them now...
Trump really has not used his pardon power very much. Why the delay on Assange?
GOOD!!!!!!!!
Free Julian!!!
His name was Seth Rich!
This is more pretzilian logic than even most Obama judges can come up with.
And our criminal DOJ has announced they will appeal.
I cannot understand why POTUS has not pardoned Assange. One of the disappointments of his Presidency.
And Baraitser’s ruling is just a cat playing with a mouse move. Julian should be released pending the appeal if she is not playing games.
The President of Mexico has just offered political asylum to Assange.
Epstein got around the suicide restrictions i.e., he was put in witness protection.
Everything.
The information Assange got from Manning was already available to the enemy just because Manning got it. Assange reporting it gave those agents who subsequently needed asylum a heads-up they might not have got if Assange had not published the information that was necessarily alredy available to those who had an interest in the elimination of those agents.
Regardless of the rightness or wrongness of Assange’s actions, this ruling is grotesque.
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