Judge seating on the case to legally challenge the warrant for Assange’s arrest has ruled against dropping it. The hacker-turned-freelance journalist has been stuck in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012.
By Assange’s own understanding, just the first technical aspect of the legal challenge has failed. Judges will hear more on the case and decide on other points Tuesday afternoon, should he win, then the warrant is sponged. He took to Twitter to respond to the recent development ”Wall to wall fake news stating the government won today’s hearing. Nothing of the sort has happened. The hearing is still happening. Only one point has been ruled on”.
Senior District court judge Emma Arbuthnot in her ruling, said ”Having considered the arguments…. I am not persuaded that the warrant should be withdrawn.
Julian Assange,46, has been holed up at Ecuadorian embassy to avoid possible extradition to Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual assault. Prosecutors have since dropped all charges against him. But he has still not been able to leave the embassy premises as risk being picked by Met Police for violating conditions set for his UK bail.
The attorney of Assange, Mark Summers defended his client that the arrest warrant ought to be dropped for having ”lost its purpose and its function” referencing charges dropped in Sweden against Assange.
Shuffling through court documents submitted by Assange’s lawyer, ” Assange has spent five-and-a-half years in conditions which, on any view, are akin to imprisonment, without access to adequate medical care or sunlight, in circumstances where his physical and psychological health have deteriorated and are in serious peril”.
The prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, Aaron Watkins called Mr. Summers’ defense ”strange and untenable” and went ahead to say it was an attempt at ”contorting legislation” in order to let Assange walk out of the embassy. He further pointed out that ”Assange had been released on bail in proceedings; he was under a duty to surrender to the custody of the court and he failed to surrender at the appointed time for him to do so. Therefore the warrant stands”.
In December of last year, Assange was granted Ecuadorian citizenship. But the UK has refused to recognize his new diplomatic status which would have given him both legal and diplomatic immunity.
Wikileaks’ publication is responsible for one of the largest dump of US military secrets and cables back in 2010, even if his arrest warrants had been dropped, he could be extradited to the US to face charges under the Espionage Act. The UK authorities have neither denied nor confirmed if it has received an extradition warrant from the United States.
Neba Benson,
BaretaNews Foreign Correspondent/Analyst
