Thread by @SMaurizi

1. Day 5 Julian #Assange extrdition hearing: I will cover the hearing which is due to start in 30 min

2. Second week, Day 1, Julian #Assange extradition hearing is about to start. After a COVID scare last week, lawyers and clerks wear masks

3. Julian #Assange is wearing a mask

4. Judge Baraitser just said it’s inappropriate for witnesses to drink coffee while testifying, as @trevortimm did

5. I am aware how bizarre that a judge says it’s inappropriate that a witness drinks coffee while testifying, however this is what we just heard from judge Baraitser

6. US lawyer, Eric Lewis, ready to testify: audio is terrible

7. Eric Lewis, US lawyers has decades of experience in representing international clients such as Guantanamo detainee and investigative journalists. I am afraid audio from Mr Lewis side is terrible: I can barely understand him,
There’s a bad echo

8. US lawyer, Eric Lewis: it’s significant that Julian #Assange was NOT prosecuted under the Obama Admin

9. Eric Lewis: NO publisher was ever prosecuted in US for publishing truthful information. Under Obama, Julian #Assange was NOT prosecuted due to the “New York Time problem”: no way to prosecute JA unless NYTimes as well was prosecuted

10. Eric Lewis: Trump Admin focused on JA and WIkiLeaks very early. Mike Pompeo’s public declarations on #WikiLeaks as an hostile intelligence service is quite remarkable

11. Eric Lewis: curious how Jeff Sessions, Trump’s Attorney General, announced prosecutions before any charge

12. I am afraid the audio from Eric Lewis is literally terrible and I miss 50 percent of what Lewis says

13. Lewis: the 17 Espionage Act charges are an abuse of criminal law enforcement

13. Lewis: charging JA for the same facts which had been looked at for years and years (by the Obama Admin) is an abuse of prosecutorial power and a fundamental change of how the Trump Admin look at leaks and national security

14. Lewis confirms that if JA ends up extradited to the US he will be in prison in Alexandria, Virginia

15. Lewis: if detained in US, ADX Colorado, JA will be in isolation for long time, comes out for shower, often when other prisoners are sleeping

16. It’s such a disgrace that an important witness as Eric Lewis can be barely heard due to problems with audio!

17. James Lewis, US counsel, asks Eric Lewis: have you been a lawyer for JA? Are you paid as an expert to testify today?

18. James Lewis, US counsel, is trying to show Eric Lewis is NOT an unbiased expert because he wrote editorials and gave Interviews on why JA should NOT prosecuted

19 brilliant reply by Eric Lewis to the US counsel, James Lewis asking why haven’t you put in your affidavit those editorials in favour of JA, considering that as an expert you are supposed to be unbiased? because those op-Ed and interviews were in the public domain

20. James Lewis,US Counsel asks Eric Lewis:have you ever written articles on prison conditions which have been peer-reviewed? have you ever visited ADX Colorado(the supermax where JA would end up if extradited)?James Lewis is trying to show Eric Lewis’ expertise on prison is weak

21. James Lewis, US counsel, is trying to show that even if JA gets extradited to US and subjected to SAM( very restrictive measures, Speacial Administrative Measures), he won’t suffer lack of access to lawyers and other serious conditions

22. if JA ends up extradited to US, while in pre-trial detention, he will be held in the Alexandria city jail,Virginia, after trial in the supermax ADX Colorado

23. If extradited to US, JA Will be held in pre-trial detention in ADC: Alexandria Detention Center ( Virginia) in segregation. James Lewis,
US counsel asks Lewis: do you agree that there is no solitary confinement in ADC? Eric Lewis: NO

24. Even the judge Baraitser cannot hear the witness, Eric Lewis, properly. Audio is definitely bad with a terrible echo making life so hard

25. OMG if JA extradited, he will be at the ADC, Alexandria Detention Center, in Special Administrative Measures, breaks are provided BUT only when other prisoners are NOT around, hence breaks are allowed in the middle of the night when other prisoners sleep

26. Judge Baraitser asks James Lewis, US counsel, to stick to 30 min of cross-examination of witnesses. Lewis protests he cannot manage it

27. Pretty shocking how harsh prison conditions JA would face even in pre-trial at the Alexandria Detention Center,Virginia. It is NOT easy to shock me:in Italy we have the infamous 41bis regime for mafia bosses who, at least in one case, dissolved a child’s corpse in the acid.

28. James Lewis,US counsel, argues applications to the #EuropeanCourtofHumanRights to acknowledge SpecialAdministrativeMeasures as inhuman treatments were rejected.NOTE:my FOIA reveals when JA was under investigation in Sweden,there were talks to deny him chance to appeal to ECHR

29. It’s really annoying how my followers cannot properly read my tweets and threads: I have experienced such disruption for months

30. I have no idea why my tweets and threads get completely disrupted. Dozens of my followers have told me they have such problem

31. James Lewis,US counsel, keeps arguing #EuropeanCourtofHumanRights rejected applications saying SpecialAdministrativeMeasures(SAMs) contravenes article 3 of #EuropeanConventiononHumanRights. NOTE: my Foia shows in Sweden,there were officials ready to deny JA appeal to ECHR

32. To my followers contacting me because they cannot read my tweets and threads: I apologise, it does NOT depend on me. I have been experiencing such disruption for months

33. today’s hearing is crucial to understand how horrific the detention conditions of JA gets extradited to US

34. Well, James Lewis, US counsel,questions Eric Lewis’ qualifications to affirm that JA would not receive adequate mental care in US prisons. Eric Lewis: I rely on statements by Inspector General of Bureau Prisons

35. It’s very hard for witnesses to retrieve information on bundles instantaneously as the US counsel keeps asking questions so quickly

36. OMG James Lewis, US counsel, is questioning Eric Lewis as if he was student: he is checking his expertise on mental care in US prisons,in an attempt to show as an expert witness is not qualified

37. Wow: the audio has been completely disrupted.
It’s incredible to me how bad the audio.this is the country of GCHQ

38. We journalists have been disconnected from the court due to a tech problem, hope the hearing will restart soon

39. The court will resume at 2 pm London-time as the tech staff is trying to resolve the serious disruption of audio, which has been terrible from the very beginning of this session

40. We are now connected to the court again,hoping audio will be better and we can understand what the expert witness, Eric Lewis, says

41. Unfortunately we have been disconnected from the court again

42. I was just cut out of the videolink access:
It’s chaos

43. We are now back: connected to the court

44. Oh NO! Disconnected again: unbelievable

45. No connection whatsoever to the court: it appears completely disrupted

46. It seems like the whole videolink session is doomed: “invalid conference “

47. .@Williamrt @JeromeHourdeaux @kgosztola @MElmaazi @MaryKostakidis @auerfeld: has any of you been reconnected to the court? I have NOT

48. NO connection whatsoever to the court: I am trying to get tech assistance from the court helpline. Wonder why they cannot manage this

49. I really cannot believe that the United Kingdom, one of the biggest powers in the world, with prominent science and tech, has been unable to set up a decent videolink to allow journalists to cover the most important hearing for journalism in the last 5 decades. Unbelievable

50. I am STILL waiting to be reconnected to the court: the tech guys said “we are aware of a connection issue and trying to resolve”. Result: my access to the hearing is completely disrupted.

51. Connected to the court, finally!

52. Oh it’s such a disgrace! totally.I have been disconnected from the court again

53. It’s blackout: we haven’t been reconnected to the court, it’s hugely frustrating

54. I have no idea if these tech problems are due to UK courts’ poor tech skills or to hacking.
however I know that videolink is the ONLY option we journalists have to monitor the Julian #Assange hearing and if we lose it, there is nothing we can do. It would be a real disaster

55. We are in a limbo: waiting for any direction on whether the Julian #Assange hearing will restart at all today as we journalists have been disconnected from the court

56. now we have been connected to the court, BUT the hearing is over! It will restart tomorrow. Unbelievable