Thread by @rebecca_vincent

On the way back to the Old Bailey this morning to try again to monitor the US extradition hearing in the case of @wikileaks publisher Julian Assange. The court has severely restricted NGO access, so it is very uncertain whether my @RSF_inter colleague @cmihr & I will get in. 1/

The court has refused to recognise or accommodate the role of professional NGO observers, so we are left to compete for spaces in the public gallery, which has been limited to 2 to 5 people, despite the fact that there are 36 seats in that part of the overflow courtroom alone. 2/

On day 1, we finally got in due to the intervention of the German embassy & political observers. On day 2, I was able to monitor the afternoon session thanks to the kindness of an activist who had queued for hours & gave me his seat so we could tell the world what’s happening. 3/

Make no mistake: the public has the right to know what is happening in this case. And what’s at stake is not just the fate of Julian Assange, but journalism & press freedom itself. Ultimately it’s the public’s right to information that will suffer. My comments for @RSF_inter👇 4/

https://twitter.com/RSF_inter/status/1303422863429509121

Yesterday Professor Mark Feldstein said to the court: “To criminalise news-gathering, to criminalise publishing, is to criminalise journalism itself”, a statement that we very much share at @RSF_inter. If the US government is successful, this will not stop with Julian Assange. 5/

Here’s hoping that some combination of our extensive efforts will result in court access today. But it shouldn’t be this difficult. This has never been our experience in any other case, anywhere. I’ll update once we know what’s happening - but we lose our devices if we get in. 6/

We’re in a similar position to yesterday. Two activist heroes have queued from the wee hours & are giving us their spots. They want us to be able to speak out for everyone. Journalists have also said this - we are their eyes & ears. We take this v seriously & will do our best. 7/

Thank you so much Jamie (@rubio49158845) and Sandra! We are so grateful for your kindness and efforts to #FreeAssange! 8/

However, as with every other aspect of this process, it’s not so straightforward. We are third and fourth in the queue, and will only get in at 11 am if some mysterious “VIPs” don’t turn up (they didn’t yesterday). No one knows who they are. 9/

Still no sign of the “VIPs”, but court management has now decided we must wait outside until 12 pm to see if they show - meaning all of this effort will result in one hour max in court before the lunch break (followed by more queuing). Death by a thousand cuts...10/

Still here. We’re not going anywhere. #FreeAssange 11/

We finally got in - as noted by @dhbln, 110 minutes into this morning’s proceedings. Thanks so much to Dustin and other political observers who keep fighting for our access from inside the courtroom. 12/

https://twitter.com/dhbln/status/1303654013683064833

We were able to monitor about 45 minutes of Professor Paul Rogers’ testimony, in which he spoke of his belief that the US case against Assange is politically motivated. We won’t monitor this afternoon, but I’ll be back in the morning to try again. 13/

I spoke to @DEAcampaign about our observations from this morning. That’s all for now - but we reiterate our call to #FreeAssange! /14

https://twitter.com/DEAcampaign/status/1303678928331173888

Oh...lots of rumours circulating about who these mysterious no-show “VIPs” are...