US agents wanted to test nappy DNA, court told at Assange hearing

A CLAIM that US agencies expressed an interest in testing DNA on nappies, when Julian Assange’s partner and children visited him in the Ecuadorian embassy, has been aired in court.

A judge found that even if the allegation were true, there was no reason to believe US agencies meant harm to Assange’s young family.

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser referred to the claim as she had turned down a bid to grant Assange’s partner anonymity, during a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

The court heard how the unnamed woman wished to lived “quietly” with her young children, away from the glare of publicity that Assange attracted.

Assange’s barrister Edward Fitzgerald QC had applied for the anonymity order after the woman made a statement in support of Assange’s earlier failed bail application.

Following a submission by the PA news agency via telephone conference to the court, Judge Baraitser ruled that the woman’s right to a private family life was outweighed by the need for open justice.

However, the judge delayed making the woman’s identity public until 4pm on April 14, pending a possible judicial review at the High Court.

During the virtual hearing, the judge also rejected a bid to delay Assange’s extradition hearing at Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court because of the coronavirus crisis.

Assange, 48, is being held on remand in high-security Belmarsh prison, in south-east London, ahead of the hearing fixed for May 18. He is fighting to avoid being sent to the US to face 17 charges under the Espionage Act.