Tearful Assange tells court: I can’t think
Whistleblower struggles to say his name
SUPPORTERS of Julian Assange caused chaos outside court yesterday as the WikiLeaks founder continued his fight against extradition to the US.
The 48-year-old fought back tears and appeared to struggle to say his name as he appeared before a judge accused of leaking classified American military documents.
Dozens of protesters chanted ‘ Free Julian’ and waved banners outside the entrance of Westminster Magistrates’ Court throughout the morning.
Some wore fake prison chains and Assange masks with sticking tape over the mouth, while one had a large mocked-up whistle on his head to highlight his supporters’ view that he is a whistleblower.
Assange, who wore a dark blue suit over a light blue sweater and white shirt, told District Judge Vanessa Baraitser he is up against a ‘superpower’ with ‘unlimited resources’, before becoming emotional and saying: ‘I can’t think properly.’
The district judge refused to grant Assange’s lawyers more time to gather evidence and said the full extradition hearing would go ahead in February.
When the case management hearing was adjourned, Assange complained that he had not understood proceedings.
‘This is not equitable,’ he said. ‘I can’t research anything. I can’t access my own writing.’
The protesters chased a white van believed to contain Assange after he left the court at midday, forcing cars to swerve and requiring police to herd the activists back onto the pavement. He is being held at highsecurity Belmarsh Prison in Thamesmead, south London.
Former London mayor Ken Livingstone was among Assange’s supporters who packed into the court’s public gallery for the hearing. Emmy Butlin, from the Committee to Defend Julian Assange, said: ‘There is huge interest in his case with implications for free speech and freedom of the Press.
‘We think it’s atrocious what’s happening. He is a publisher, he shouldn’t be in Belmarsh prison. We’re also extremely concerned about his physical and mental situation.
‘We saw him today bearing the full brunt of the ordeal he has endured for the last seven years.’
Assange was jailed for 50 weeks in May for breaching his bail conditions after hiding out in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for nearly seven years to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex offence allegations.
Under sentencing rules, he was due to be released from Belmarsh prison last month, but a judge remanded him in custody because there were ‘substantial grounds’ for believing he would abscond.
Assange faces 18 charges in America, including allegations that he conspired to break into a Pentagon computer and worked with then US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to leak hundreds of thousands of classified documents.
In June, then home secretary Sajid Javid signed an order allowing Assange to be extradited to the US.
His stay in the UK is thought to have cost £16million in policing and other expenses. If his case goes to a series of appeals, it could last another six years and cost an estimated £600,000.
‘We think it’s atrocious’