WikiLeaks founder and Australian citizen Julian Assange’s hearing at the High Court of Justice in London today could be his last attempt to stop extradition to the United States for publishing hundreds of thousands of classified documents.
Assange’s lead lawyer told the court today, “Mr Assange is being prosecuted for engaging in ordinary journalistic practices of obtaining and publishing classified information which is true and of public interest,” maintaining Assange’s defense when he told a British court in 2019, “I do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many, many awards and protected many people.”
U.S. lawyers say Assange is not being charged for journalism, but allege he unlawfully obtained the classified documents while conspiring with hackers and former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Bradley “Chelsea” Manning.
Assange and WikiLeaks gained global attention when he published video recorded from a U.S. Army Apache helicopter committing what has been alleged by many as a war crime, murdering more than a dozen civilians, including two Reuters journalists — Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh.
