Assange Hearing
Lawyer Presses Parallels With Love Case
Edward Fitzgerald sought to compare Julian
Assange’s case with that of Lauri Love’s before
the judge who overturned Love’s extradition
order to the United States.
By Joe Lauria
Note from Tom : Consortium News and
Joe Lauria have done an exceptional job in
reporting on Julians plight and that of free
speech. We should provide whatever we can to
help
support them.
October 28, 2021 -- "Information
Clearing House -
"
Consortium News " -
Edward
Fitzgerald, a lawyer for imprisoned WikiLeaks
publisher Julian Assange, at the High Court on
Thursday sought to draw parallels with the case of
Lauri Love, a British hacktivist whose extradition
order to the United States was overturned, before
the very judge who took part in that decision.
Fitzgerald argued on
the second and last day of the U.S. appeal hearing
that the Assange and Love cases had many
similarities that the High Court should take into
account. He was addressing Lord Chief Justice Ian
Burnett, who ruled with another judge in 2018 that
Love should not be sent to the United States because
of a high risk of suicide.
The judge in the lower
court, Westminster Magistrate’s Court, had ordered
Love’s extradition, which the High Court overturned,
after which the U.S. dropped the charges of hacking
U.S government computers. In Assange’s case, the
judge in Westminster barred Assange’s extradition,
which prosecutors for the U.S. are trying to
overturn in the High Court.
Fitzgerald on several
occasions referred to the Love case. He pointed out
that both Love and Assange were diagnosed with
Asperger’s syndrome, which increases a risk of
suicide. And he said the High Court in Love had
looked into the future to see that extradition to
the U.S. would be oppressive because of the high
risk of suicide.
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James Lewis QC for the
prosecution had on Wednesday argued that a
determination of the risk of suicide could not be
predicted and had to be based on current medical
evaluations only. Fitzgerald contended that the
“predictive function is found in Love.” He said: “It
is legitimate for the court to determine whether
likely conditions would be exacerbated by the
conditions” of future imprisonment.
At that point Burnett
interjected from the bench to say that the district
judge in Love’s case had determined that he would
not succeed in committing suicide in a U.S. prison
because of preventive measures there. In Assange’s
case, the district judge Vanessa Baraitser, ruled
that those measures would not prevent Assange from
taking his own life.
“It is a completely
different case,” said Burnett in a remark that could
be interpreted in various ways. As he is the judge
in both cases it could have been an ominous
statement for Assange. However, Burnett was
referring to what the lower court had a ruled, a
decision he had a part in overturning.
Fitzgerald said that
Baraitser had ruled that prison conditions in the
U.S. were at the heart of Assange’s risk of suicide.
“She said conditions will make it worse and that is
quite analogous with the Lauri Love case,” he said.
Baraitser ruled that
Assange’s suicidal impulses were driven by his
mental disorders and not a rational decision,
Fitzgerald said. “I draw comparison with Love
because these are the same two disorders” and the
“same evidence” that these were two intelligence
individuals being driven to suicide by their mental
illness.
Fitzgerald in the
morning session also defended the decision of
defense witness Michael Kopelman to have excluded
the name of Stella Moris and the existence of her
two children with Assange from his preliminary
report because he was aware the CIA was spying on
the couple and had discussed a plot to kill or
kidnap him from the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Fitzgerald mentioned in court for the first time
last months report in Yahoo! News that
confirmed that the CIA had seriously considering
assassinating Assange.
The Assange lawyer also
sought to dismiss U.S. assurances made to the court
after the conclusion of the evidentiary hearing in
lower court that Assange would not be placed harsh
Special Administrative Measures (SAM) in the U.S.
Fitzgerald said that irrespective of where Assange
would be housed it was the “overwhelming effect on
his mental state of extradition” itself that
Baraitser ruled would spur his suicidal intentions
by “removing him from protective factors,
irrespective of SAMS.”
The hearing continues
this afternoon.
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