A lawyer representing the US Department of Justice told the UK High Court on Wednesday that Julian Assange can be safely held in a US prison, arguing that the district judge that ruled against his extradition at a previous trial was misled about the WikiLeaks founder's real mental condition
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2021) A lawyer representing the US Department of Justice told the UK High Court on Wednesday that Julian Assange can be safely held in a US prison, arguing that the district judge that ruled against his extradition at a previous trial was misled about the WikiLeaks founder's real mental condition.
"The approach of the judge focused on the ability to get around suicide prevention measures as opposed to focusing on the severity of his mental condition," lawyer James Lewis told the judges presiding over the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
In January, magistrate Vanessa Baraitser cited suicide risks to oppose the whistleblower's extradition to the United States, where he would stand trial for criminal charges related to alleged violations of the Espionage Act.
Lewis argued, however, that the judge gave too much weight to the assessment made by professor Michael Kopelman of King's College London on Assange's suicidal risk.
The lawyer for the US government also said that if extradited and sentenced in the United States, the WikiLeaks founder would not be held in the Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence, Colorado, nor subjected to harsh restrictions on his movement or solitary confinement.
The possibility that Assange would be subject to the so-called Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) was another argument raised by Baraitser to rule against his extradition.
The US prosecution also offered to send him to his native Australia to serve any prison sentence that might be handed out to him in the United States.
The whistleblower is wanted by the United States on espionage charges after WikiLeaks published thousands of classified documents that shed light on war crimes committed by American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He faces up to 175 years in solitary confinement inside a top security American prison if convicted in the United States.
Assange intermittently attended Wednesday's extradition appeal hearing via video link from the maximum-security prison in south east London where he has been remanded in custody since his arrest at the Ecuadorian embassy in April, 2019.
The appeal hearing will end up on Thursday with the presentation of arguments by the defense.
The High Court judges will then have from four to six weeks to decide whether to uphold the previous ruling against Assange's extradition or overturn her decision.
