Julian Assange In Court For ‘Gamechanger’ Hearing As US Seeks Overturn Of Extradition Ban
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who still languishes in London’s high security Belmarsh Prison, will appear in court on Wednesday and Thursday for a key hearing that could prove to be a potential gamechanger.
The court will decide among other things whether the US Justice Department’s assurances that he won’t face cruel confinement in the US should be extradited are convincing enough to overturn a prior ban on extraditing him. This is precisely what the US is seeking to do after gaining an appeal following the January decision of the High Court which said he’d be facing the American federal prison system’s strict, harsh confinement, likely at a place like ADX Florence supermax.
Ahead of the start of this week’s proceedings, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said it woudl be “totally unacceptable” and “unthinkable” for the London court to reverse the prior decision, lifting the extradition ban.
“It is unthinkable that the High Court will come to any other decision but to uphold the magistrates’ court decision. Anything else is totally unacceptable,” Hrafnsson said.
“It would be such a stain on the system in this country that I certainly hope there will be enough pressure and realization of how devastating it would be for this country if somehow the judge comes to the decision of reversing the magistrates’ court decision.”
Also not helping the case of the US prosecutor is the recent devastating Yahoo News investigation exposing details of an alleged CIA plot to either assassinate or kidnap Assange, and render him to US soil by force. Both Assange’s legal team and his family – especially his fiancé – have lately pointed out that the CIA revelations alone destroy Washington’s case and standing:
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