The court tech people from their living room: #AssangeCase
Tech issues are getting worse, we could hear Shenkman, now he's inaudible. #AssangeCase
The tech guys in the Crown Prosecution Service:
Mr. Shenkman has to hold his telephone to his ear for the next several hours and the sound is still isn't great.
Shenkman: The Espionage Act came to life what any scholar of the first amendment would say as one of the most repressive periods of the time. #AssangeCase
Shenkman: The espionage act is extraordinarily broad. It is one of the most contentious laws in the US. My opinion is consistent with what any serious scholar would say about the law. #AssangeCase
Shenkman: There is no precedent for any journalist being successfully prosecuted under this law. #AssangeCase
The espionage act is 'extraordinarily broad' it encompasses 'national defence information' which is much broader than classified information, it allows prosecution for non-classified information as well. #AssangeCase
Shenkman: No attempts to use the act to prosecute journalist have ever come to fruition because there were 1st amendment concerns, there has been opposition from the media, and there is no coherent way to draw a line between one journalist and all journalists. #AssangeCase
Prosecution: starts questioning by asking him if he represented #JulianAssange.
Shenkman: There was limited representation but that does not have any relation to the historical and legal framework that I'm providing to this court. #AssangeCase
Clair Dobbin from the prosecution is asking Shenkman about a bundle that was sent to him at 3am his time.
Shenkman has not seen it and was not aware of it. #AssangeCase
Dobbin refers to an article he co-wrote and where he is referred as member of #Assange's legal team.
Shenkman: I work with Michael Ratner dealing with questions of international law. The reason I have a byline on this piece is because I provided research on UN. #AssangeCase
Dobbin: You describe #Assange as being a victim of the UK, is that right?
Shenkman: That's right, I'm a human rights lawyer and every country has a duty to human rights.
Dobbin: Trying to disregard Shenkman's credibility by citing objectivity.
Shenkman: That's right and my historical analysis on the Espionage Act has nothing to do with other parts of this case, I don't write about Arbitrary Detention or the UK obligations on Human Rights.
The prosecution now moves on to ask the legendary question: Are you doing this pro bono I assume?
Shenkman: Why do you assume that?
Dobbin: I ask the questions.
Shenkman: I was just curious as to why you're asking, no I am being paid as I have taken time to do the report.
The prosecution is going on to questions that don't relate to the speciality of Shenkman, the judge has asked twice the relevance.
It all relates to the Obama decision not to prosecute Assange at the time.
Cont..
Shenkman: I can see your line of questioning lets get to the point, there simply was no indictment by the Obama administration. #AssangeCase
Dobbin: I'm going to move on to the area that you say you are an expert....
This questioning is painful!
Shenkman: The issues that you are raising right now are hypotheticals and I don't understand how I can contribute to that. #AssangeCase
Dobbin: Do you think that a government employee who steals government information are not entitled to first amendment defence.
Shenkman: I cannot answer these hypothetical questions.
Dobbin keeps on making hypotheticals and Shenkman keeps on debating that all of her questions depend on the situations.
Dobbins says to the judge I've ask the witness questions that require short answers.
Baraitser: I'm not going to hear that, I you haven't developed your case within your time and the witness has been as helpful as he can to you.
End court. #AssangeCase
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The Court will hear arguments against bail first.
Clair Dobbin: The high court can overturn the conviction, the court must be careful not to render the result academic. #AssangeCase
Day 17 of the #AssangeHearing, with three days left, open justice has not been done in these proceedings. The Judge blocked 40 political and NGO observers (including @amensty & @RSF_inter) from monitoring the most important #FreeSpeech trial of the century.
Thread:
Defence is reading from/summarizing a witness statement from war reporter Patrick Cockburn. He was in Kabul when the war logs were released, and he says they confirmed civilian casualties he and other journalists suspected. #AssangeCase
Cockburn's statement includes the importance of the war logs and Collateral Murder video to prove these incidents in the face of official denial.
Day 16 of the #AssangeCase proceedings. By this stage it is very likely that the 40 political observers that the judge arbitrarily banned from the observing proceedings virtually will not be allowed to do so. 4 left & I feel the decision was made before we started.
Thread:
We have Maureen Baird on the stand: 28 years experience with the Bureau of Prisons in various capacities, with her final positions as Warden and Senior Executive Service Warden at three various Federal Prisons. #AssangeCase
September 28th, day 15 of the #AssangeCase extradition proceedings. 40 political and #FreeSpeech advocate observers including @RSF_inter and @amnesty are still banned from observing the most important trial of our lifetime by Judge Baraitser without any explanation.
Thread:
Sorry for being a bit late, this morning the court heard from Yancey Ellis, US attorney, with experience of the federal prison system. He talked about how #Assange would be placed under a strict solitary confinement regime.
As a pre-trial defendant, Assange would be detained in the ADC for months or potentially years. Ellis: "I believe it's most likely" #Assange would be held in administrative segregation (ad-seg). #AssangeCase