Assange ‘warned US that lives were at risk’
WIKILEAKS FOUNDER Julian Assange phoned the White House to warn lives would be put at risk by the publication of documents online, a court has heard.
Assange, 48, is fighting extradition to the US to face trial on 18 charges over the leaking of hundreds of thousands of classified documents in 2010 and 2011.
He is accused of conspiring to steal from and hack into US Department of Defence computers, along with former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
Prosecutors claim he knowingly put hundreds of sources around the world at risk of torture and death by publishing unredacted documents containing names or other identifying details.
But Mark Summers QC, representing Assange, argued that the extradition request “boldly and brazenly” misrepresents the facts.
“You can accurately describe this chapter of the case as lies, lies and more lies,” he told Woolwich Crown Court, which is sitting as a magistrates’ court.
Mr Summers said WikiLeaks had begun redacting a tranche of 250,000 leaked cables in November 2010, working with media partners around the world.
Assange’s barrister Edward Fitzgerald QC complained of his client’s treatment inside highsecurity Belmarsh prison at the start of the second day of the hearing yesterday, as supporters’ chants could again be heard outside the building.
“Yesterday, Mr Assange was handcuffed 11 times and stripped naked twice at Belmarsh and put into five separate holding cells,” he said.
But District Judge Vanessa Baraitser said she has no powers to issue directions to the Prison Service and could only act if there is evidence Assange is unable to participate in the case.
Assange has been held on remand in Belmarsh prison since last September after serving a 50-week jail sentence for breaching his bail conditions while he was in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
He entered the building in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex offence allegations, which he has always denied and were subsequently dropped.
The case continues.