Day 3 of Julian Assange's extradition hearing at the Old Bailey is about to start at 10:30 am #Assange@ComputerWeekly
I will post updates in this thread as much as I can in between taking notes.
Yesterday Clifford Stafford Smith, founder of legal support organisation Reprieve gave evidence on the importance of WikiLeaks in exposing war crimes. #Assange@ComputerWeekly
The Judge threatened to exclude Assange from the hearings after he made a remark in court. Report on Clifford Stafford Smith's evidence here. bit.ly/2FiK7mM
Mark Feldstein, professor of broadcasting at the University of Maryland and journalism history also testified yesterday. He said that the charges against Assange were politically motivated. #Asssange@ComputerWeekly
Professor Paul Rogers told the court leaks by WikiLeaks confirmed the view of analysis that the war in Afghanistan had gone wrong from the start #Assange@ComputerWeekly
Leaks also lead to people reappraising the Iraq war. The WikiLeaks war logs showed that an additional 15,000 people had been killed previously known. That led to much greater caution from western governments in going to war
Rogers said that Assange formed the WikiLeaks party in 2012 to fight a seat in the Australian senate. His view was that he wanted much greater accountability and transparency for governments, NGOs and socieity
The success of WikiLeaks bringing things to the pubic attention is very dangerous for the Trump administration, Rogers told the court. There is a belief that Assange poses some sort of threat #Assange
"This does appear to be a political trial for many reasons" said Rogers. One of the main reasons for concluding that i that the previous Obama administration considered prosecuting Assange years ago and did not. #Assange
Trump takes exception to Obama and that would be one reason why Trump takes another view on Assange, Rogers said under cross examination by Mark Summers, representing #Assange
Court is about to resume. More later
There are technical problems as the court tries to link remotely to the next witness. #Assange
Prof Rogers said that Assange clearly has a political stance. It does not fit into conventional politics. He is coming from a liberal point of view. #Assange
Video link established. Court continues
Cross examination of Trevor Timm co-founder of the Freedom of the Press Foundation has finished #Assange
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1/ One of the world’s most prestigious general science journals, Nature, was the target of a two-year-long sustained and virulent secret attack by a conspiratorial group of extreme Brexit lobbyists with high-level political, commercial and intelligence connections.
2/ The group attempted to have Nature and its staff put under surveillance and investigated by MI5, MI6, the CIA, Mossad, and Japanese and Australian intelligence agencies. They met cabinet minister Michael Gove and asked him to arrange phone taps and electronic surveillance.
3. They called themselves the “Covid Hunters”. Their allegations against science reporting helped fuel an explosion in “lab leak” claims on right-wing conspiracy sites. They pushed their “extraordinary, true story” to a top Hollywood producer in 2020.
Breaking: The high court has granted the US leave to appeal the decision not to extradite #Assange on two further grounds of appeal. This includes challenging the use of evidence from defence expert Professor Matthew Kopelman over Assange's risk of suicide if extradited.
The High Court overturned a decision by Justice Jonathan Swift to reject 2 out 5 grounds of appeal put forward by the US government #Assange
Lord Justice Holroyde and Justice Farbey found the US had an arguable case that Kopelman did not act in accordance with his duty as an expert witness by omitting to disclose #Assange's relationship with his partner Stela Moris and their two children in his first report.
Today the US will begin the process of appealing against the UK court's decision not to extradite WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. The preliminary hearing is due to start at 10:30. I am reporting on the case by remote video link. I will post updates here. #Assange
This story summarises the main issues that are expected to be raised today.
The US is arguing for permission to challenge the evidence of medical expert, Michael Kopelman, head of neurospychiatry at King's College London in the Court of Appeal. Kopelman found that Assange had autism, recurring depression, and was at high risk of suicide if extradited.
Around 1600 Belgium police raided 200 premises this morning in one of the largest police operations the country has undertaken. Belgian police have refused to confirm or deny whether the raids are linked with the compromise of the secure phone network @SkyECCofficial#Encrochat
The raids took place between 0500 and 11 am this morning. More than 10 people have been arrested. @SkyECCofficial#Encrochat
Belgium police say it will take months to evaluate the information seized during the raids. @SkyECCofficial#Encrochat
Victory for journalists, press freedom after tribunal finds there is no reason to bar people from using the UK's freedom of information act simply because they are not in the UK. @SMaurizi@estelledehon@EmmanFre@benjameslucas
The decision comes after the First-Tier tribunal stayed 16 Freedom of Information by appeals by journalists and ordinary people, because they were either not UK citizens, or had UK nationality but were living abroad. @SMaurizi@estelledehon@EmmanFre@benjameslucas#FOIA
Today's decision means that the Freedom of Information Act will continue to operate as it always has done for the past 15 years. It is open to any person regardless of nationality or place of residence.@SMaurizi@estelledehon@EmmanFre@benjameslucas#FOIA
Good morning. Today a court will decide whether Julian Assange should be released on bail from Belmarsh Prison, following the decision by Westminster Magistrate's court not to extradite him to the US on espionage charges. #Assange#Assangetrail