WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told a London court that his life was “effectively at stake” as he battled being sent to the US to face charges that he endangered national security.
Appearing via video link from the high-security Belmarsh prison, Assange said observers “should not fall into believing that WikiLeaks is anything but a publisher”. He spoke after a judge at Westminster magistrates court ordered that his full five-day hearing should be fixed for 25 February next year.
The court appearance comes after home secretary Sajid Javid signed an order that lets an American bid to extradite Assange to formally proceed. Assange, in a gray shirt and wearing glasses, spoke at the end of the hearing to ask for details of the American indictment, which he’s yet to see.
The US has charged Assange with 18 counts related to endangering national security by conspiring to obtain and disclose classified information. He’s accused of working with former US army intelligence officer Chelsea Manning to get classified documents from databases containing about 90 000 Afghanistan war-related activity reports, 400 000 Iraq war-related reports and 250 000 state department cables.
The charges relate to one of the largest leaks of classified information in the history of the US, Ben Brandon, a lawyer for the American government, said.
Arrested
Assange was arrested in April inside the Ecuadorian embassy after taking refuge there in 2012. He is currently serving a 50-week sentence at Belmarsh for skipping bail and has been receiving medical treatment.
“This case is an outrageous and full-frontal assault on journalistic rights and free speech,” Assange’s lawyer Mark Summers said.
Swedish prosecutors have separately re-opened an investigation into rape allegations against Assange, which he denies. — Reported by Jonathan Browning, (c) 2019 Bloomberg LP