“Julian is a political prisoner and his life is at risk. What happened to Navalny can happen to Julian,” she told reporters outside court where a large crowd called for his release.
“He is being prosecuted for engaging in ordinary journalistic practice of obtaining and publishing classified information, information that is both true and of obvious and important public interest.”
Lawyer Edward Fitzgerald later described the case as a “legally unprecedented prosecution” and said that the 52-year-old faced a “real risk he will suffer a flagrant denial of justice” if he was extradited.
Assange was absent due to illness at the start of the two-day session. Fitzgerald told London’s High Court that the 52-year-old was “not well today” and would not be attending either in person or by video link.
Mr Assange is being prosecuted for engaging in ordinary journalistic practices of obtaining and publishing classified information which is true and of public interest
He has been held in a maximum-security jail in London ever since, even getting married there, while Britain finally approved his extradition to the US in 2022.
His legal team is trying to overturn that approval at a two-day hearing. Their argument is that previous judges failed to address their case that the extradition was politically-motivated and a deliberate attempt to punish and silence him for exposing US “state-level crimes”.
“Mr Assange is being prosecuted for engaging in ordinary journalistic practices of obtaining and publishing classified information which is true and of public interest,” Fitzgerald told the court.
‘Dragged on for too long’, Australia’s Wong says of Assange WikiLeaks case
‘Dragged on for too long’, Australia’s Wong says of Assange WikiLeaks case
He said, if convicted, Assange could be given a sentence as long as 175 years, but likely to be at least 30 to 40 years.
His colleague Mark Summers said there was evidence there had been a “truly breathtaking plan” to kidnap or murder Assange while he was in the Ecuadorian embassy, and former US President Trump had asked for “detailed options” to kill him.
“Senior CIA officials requested plans, the president himself requested on being provided with options on how to do it and sketches were even drawn up,” the lawyer said on Tuesday.
US says case misrepresented
In their written submissions, lawyers for the US said their case against him was “consistently and repeatedly misrepresented” by Assange’s legal team.
They said he was not being prosecuted for publication of the leaked materials, but for aiding and conspiring with former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to unlawfully obtain them, then disclosing names of sources and “putting those individuals at grave risk of harm”.
If Assange wins this case, a full appeal hearing will be held to again consider his challenge. If he loses, his only remaining option would be at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and Stella Assange said his lawyers would apply to the European judges for an emergency injunction if necessary.
‘Enough is enough’: Australian PM says no point in US pursuing Assange
‘Enough is enough’: Australian PM says no point in US pursuing Assange
WikiLeaks first came to prominence in 2010 when it published a US military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff.
Assange’s supporters include Amnesty International, media groups and politicians including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who last week voted in favour of a motion calling for his return to Australia.
Reporting by Reuters, Agence France-Presse, dpa