London High Court: Assange Extradition Hearing Today

WikiLeaks founder and Australian citizen Julian Assange’s hearing at the High Court of Justice in London today could be his last attempt to stop extradition to the United States for publishing hundreds of thousands of classified documents.

Assange’s lead lawyer told the court today, “Mr Assange is being prosecuted for engaging in ordinary journalistic practices of obtaining and publishing classified information which is true and of public interest,” maintaining Assange’s defense when he told a British court in 2019, “I do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many, many awards and protected many people.”

U.S. lawyers say Assange is not being charged for journalism, but allege he unlawfully obtained the classified documents while conspiring with hackers and former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Bradley “Chelsea” Manning.

Assange and WikiLeaks gained global attention when he published video recorded from a U.S. Army Apache helicopter committing what has been alleged by many as a war crime, murdering more than a dozen civilians, including two Reuters journalists — Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh.

The outrageous part of the UK’s years-long “trial” to condemn Julian Assange to die in an American dungeon is that the victim of his “crime” (journalism) is a state rather than a person—the definition of a political offense, which the US-UK extradition treaty explicitly forbids.

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 20, 2024

Please SIGN THIS PETITION for the immediate pardon and release of Julian Assange, the publisher and activist who founded WikiLeaks and is now in jail facing life imprisonment and extradition. He’s a heroic whistleblower who stood up for democracy and against the surveillance… pic.twitter.com/mCl7RkrmD7

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) February 19, 2024

Julian Assange faces life in prison for exposing the truth.

Today we assembled outside the Royal Courts of Justice to oppose his extradition to the US.

Journalism is not a crime. Free Julian Assange. pic.twitter.com/nDVt3NCZSp

— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) February 20, 2024

Julian Assange exposed US war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond.

Because he exposed the truth, he faces life in a US prison.

So today, outside the Royal Courts of Justice, I said we must defend journalism, reject his extradition, and free Julian Assange. pic.twitter.com/AA03os6Ktx

— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) February 20, 2024