Thread by @StefSimanowitz

COUNTDOWN TO JUSTICE?

Preliminary High Court hearing in the #JulianAssange case on 11 August

Prosecutors for the US govt are expected to challenge the grounds on which it can appeal against the refusal to extradite #Assange

The US was granted permission on 3 of the 5 grounds

"The goal is justice, the method is transparency. It's important not to confuse the goal & the method." - #JulianAssange

Powerful essay written by fo @Scottludlam on the fight to #FreeAssange & the dangerous precedent #Assange’s extradition would set.
themonthly.com.au/issue/2021/aug…

Last year, @amnesty, @RSF_inter & others faced barriers accessing the #Assange hearing

Amnesty observe trials all over the world - from Guantanamo Bay to Bahrain, Equador to Turkey - & are are recognized as experts in fair trial monitoring

Yet in UK...

"Outside it was a carnival. Inside of the court it was a circus" (2020)

There were multiple technical difficulties, a COVID scare & numerous procedural irregularities—including the decision to withdraw permission for @amnesty to observe #Assange's hearing newsweek.com/assange-extrad…

If #Assange is extradited it will have far reaching implications, setting a chilling precedent for the protection of those who publish classified information in the public interest

@amnesty have applied to observe #JulianAssange hearing on Weds 11 Aug.

I’ll be outside the court

Obama opened the investigation into #JulianAssange

Trump brought charges against him

It's now time for Biden to do the right thing & end this farcical prosecution

Ahead of tmw's hearing @amnesty renews call on @JoeBiden to drop charges against #Assange
amnesty.org/en/latest/news…

A day before the hearing at the High Court tmw, it appears that journalists & legal observers have still had no confirmation that they will have access to the proceedings

This is not the first time such barriers have been experienced

Amnesty have applied to observe the hearing.

UPDATE: @amnesty's legal observer has been granted access to the #Assange hearing which starts at 10.30am tmw

I will be outside the High Court live-tweeting

For the best updates & analysis follow
@rebecca_vincent
@MaryKostakidis
@kgosztola
@SMaurizi
@Tareq_Haddad
@StellaMoris1

“Populations don’t like wars. They have to be fooled into wars....Nearly every war that has started in the past 50 years has been a result of media lies.” #JulianAssange

Preliminary hearing of appeal against decision not to extradition #Assange begins tmw

It’s ironic that no one responsible for starting the illegal war that cost at least million lives & led to potential war crimes in Iraq & Afghanistan has been held to account. Yet #JulianAssange - the publisher who exposed these atrocities - is in the dock. #Assange @StellaMoris1

#BREAKING: I’m hearing from several journalists that they haven’t been granted even video access to the #JulianAssange hearing

Are you one?

@ilFattone’s @SMauriz👇

“You have to realise that having as little press coverage of the #Assange case as possible is a precise strategy”

“Looking at the mirror is always hard, especially so if such introspection leads to the conclusion that one's ‘democratically’ elected govt regularly engages in terrorism abroad.” #JulianAssange, @wikileaks

It is a journalist’s JOB to hold up the mirror.

#Assange's case matters & should matter to you

The idea that journalists should be prosecuted for receiving classified information makes the already perilous situation facing journalists working to expose the crimes & corruption of govts, more difficult.

The US promises not put #Assange in a maximum security facility or subject him to Special Administrative Measures BUT reserves the right to break this promise

"This undermines the intn'l prohibition on torture" @amnesty's @JuliaHall18 tells @SMaurizi
amnesty.org/en/latest/news…

“The US govt case against #JulianAssange is a frontal attack on the right to publish what the public has a right to know: the cornerstone of what makes a country free & open” @StellaMoris1

Outside the High Court

Protesters, police, dangerous drivers & the world’s media
#Assange

The Espionage Act was introduced in in 1917 to deter people from revealing govt secrets which endangered the security of America

Journalists & publishers exposing things that are in the public interest shouldn’t be prosecuted under this Act
@maxmoratti69 on @BBCScotland #Assange

“#JulianAssange’s case is important to journalists everywhere because the right to freedom of expression means that no journalist or publisher should face charges simply for publishing information that a govt doesn’t want in the public domain.”

@amnesty’s Simon Crowther #Assange

UPDATE: #JulianAssange is not attending the hearing in person but by video link from Belmarsh prison

Lord Justice Holyrode opens by explaining today’s hearing is simply to decide if the two grounds that the US have not been granted permission to appeal on, can go ahead #Assange

“No cause is a lost cause if it is a just one.”

Eric Levy (93) is one of the bravest men I know

Not only was he one of the hundreds of Human Shields who went to Iraq in 2003 to try & stop the illegal war & protect Iraqis, he was one of the few that stayed throughout Shock & Awe

“Some of the bombs landed close to the refinery, but I don’t remember being afraid,” Eric told me when I interviewed him for @VICE 10 years after the Iraq War

At the #Assange hearing in 2020, I asked him what thought ‘courage’ was

This was his answer👇 vice.com/en/article/kw5…

“It is astounding how much #JulianAssange seems to have aged in the space of six months. Puffed-up face & tired eyes. Hair & beard growing unruly. Very sad state of affairs.” @Tareq_Haddad

Journalists express concern at the deterioration of #Assange’s appearance. #AssangeCase

“If we can only live once, then let it be a daring adventure that draws on all our powers. Perhaps as an old man I’ll accept suffering with insouciance. But not now. Men in their prime, if they have convictions, are tasked to act on them.” #JulianAssange

“The US govt is trying to extradite #JulianAssange & put him in prison for the rest of his life for the best work @wikileaks ever did. Work that that won awards in every country.”

@Snowden speaking to @joerogan
about #Assange & the #AssangeCase in 2020.

#Assange turned 50 in jail last month

@Snowden has been "working from home since the Obama admin"

@xychelsea spent 7yrs behind bars

It’s ironic that no one responsible for war crimes in Iraq & #rAfghanistan has been punished, yet the people who exposed the crimes, are targeted

In Britain, a proposed new secrecy law would make it a crime for journalists to embarrass the govt by publishing leaked official documents

Whistleblowing would be put in the same category as spying for foreign powers punishable with 14yrs in jail #Assange
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

UPDATE: Judgment coming at 2pm

Today’s main argument from the US centred around questioning the impartiality of #JulianAssange’s expert witness who omitted any mention of his two young children

He admitted this was a mistake but did so for privacy & safety reasons. #AssangeCase

“The criminalisation of whistleblowers & investigative journalists has no place in a democracy. Condemning #Assange would not only endanger his life but also fundamental principles of press freedom.”@IFJGlobal #JulianAssange #AssangeHearing #AssangeCase ifj.org/media-centre/n…

#BREAKING: Judge grants US leave to appeal on both the grounds raised (that Judge Baraitser erred in her overall assessment of medical expert evidence & that the expert witness testimony can be further discussed

Date for next hearing 27 - 28 October 2021 #Assange #AssangeHearing

Simon Crowther, @amnesty’s legal advisor explains why the #AssangeCase matters so much for freedom of expression & human rights & why Amnesty International are calling on the US & UK to drop the charges against #JulianAssange. #Assange #AssangeHearing

“I think #JulianAssange will walk free in October because the case is so overwhelming in his favour in terms of
real law & natural justice...& if doesn’t the whole system is a disgrace.” @johnpilger on his belief that the extradition case against will #Assange fail. #AssangeCase

“We continue to call on the US govt to simply drop the case against #Assange...We believe #JulianAssange should be released on substantive grounds & he certainly shouldn’t be extradited.”

@RSF_inter’s @rebecca_vincent at the end of today’s #AssangeHearing. #AssangeCase

Almost 20 years after 9/11 & the start of the "war on terror”, the Taliban are closing in on Kabul & a million Iraqis lie dead

After all the bloodshed, all the counter-terror laws, all the crackdowns, all the surveillance, all the craven compromises, is the world a better place?

Julian sat on a tatty red sofa in a turquoise room in Belmarsh prison, his hair long, his face behind a mask

His left leg was crossed over his right, & his foot swung as he listened to the lawyers discuss his children, his relationship & his most intimate mental states.
#Assange

“The whole universe is a worthy opponent, but try as I may I can not escape the sound of suffering. Perhaps as an old man I...will accept suffering with insouciance. But not now; men in their prime, if they have convictions are tasked to act on them.” #Assange

Bertrand Russell👇

Tonight, Italian state TV @RaiTre broadcasts a documentary on #JulianAssange & @wikileaks

@Presa_Diretta’s @IaconaRiccardo explores the reasons behind #Assange prosecution

Interviews w/ @StellaMoris1 @suigenerisjen @NilsMelzer @AitorxMartinez & @SMaurizi

“The Internet, our greatest tool of emancipation, has become the most dangerous facilitator of totalitarianism we’ve ever seen. It is a threat to human civilization.” #JulianAssange

Documentary: “it is understandable why the US want to destroy #Assange”