Image by Antonio Marín Segovia via Flickr
with Chris Hedges
RT America on Dec 10, 2021
Wikileaks founder and journalist Julian Assange could soon be extradited to the United States for alleged crimes he committed publishing classified information. The UK’s High Court rejected a January decision refusing extradition of Assange after the US filed a request to have him sent stateside.
RT’s Shadia Edwards-Dashti reports from outside the courthouse. (:56) Then, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist & author, host of On Contact Chris Hedges joins In Question to discuss. (4:13).
Watch video here.
Assange can be extradited, says court
RT America on Dec 11, 2021
On the show, Chris Hedges discusses the British High Court ruling to allow the extradition of Julian Assange to go ahead with Joe Lauria, editor-in-chief, Consortium News.
On Friday the British High Court in London overturned an earlier lower court decision blocking the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States. The ruling sends the case back to Magistrate’s Court with instructions to allow the extradition to be approved or denied by the British Home Secretary Priti Patel.
The ruling, which included a decision to continue to hold Assange in a high security prison, is a severe blow to the Wikileaks co-founder’s efforts to prevent his extradition to the United States to face charges under the Espionage Act. The extradition is now in the hands of Patel, unless Assange’s lawyers, as expected, file an appeal to the U.K. Supreme Court. District court judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled in January that Assange could not be extradited because of inhumane conditions in U.S. prisons that would make Assange, who suffers from physical and mental health issues, a suicide risk.
The United States, in appealing the decision, gave assurances that Assange would receive adequate medical and psychological care and would not be subject to measures commonly used in high profiled cases such as prolonged isolation and Special Administrative Measures, known as SAMs, which impose draconian rules limiting any communication and allows the government to monitor meetings with attorneys in violation of attorney-client privilege. The U.S. attempt to extradite Assange has been widely condemned by civil liberties organizations including Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, the International Federation of Journalists, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Human Rights Watch, which have called it an existential threat to press freedom. If extradited to the United States Assange, who oversaw WikiLeaks publications of documents and videos that exposed U.S. war crimes and a range of other illegal and nefarious activities, faces a 175-year prison sentence. Transcript
See also:
Assange Plans To Appeal High Court Decision Backing Extradition To United States, by Kevin Gosztola
UK High Court Overturns Assange Win, by Chris Hedges
High Court decision “Grave miscarriage of justice,” says Julian Assange’s fiancée
From the archives:
Chris Hedges and Joe Lauria: The Extradition Hearing of Julian Assange
Kevin Gosztola: US Government’s Appeal Hearing In Assange Extradition Case: Day 1
Chris Hedges and John Pilger: The Appeals Hearing of Julian Assange
David Swanson and Margaret Kimberley: Powell, Obama, Alex Saab and Assange
Kristinn Hrafnsson: The US Govt Contemplated Killing Julian Assange With UK Complicity
Image by Antonio Marín Segovia via Flickr
Dandelion Salad 
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At each step of the unjust persecution of Julian Assange by the same war criminals WikiLeaks exposed, the global battle – between those wishing to maintain their impunity to harm and kill for accumulation of more wealth and power, and those standing with Assange in working to end criminals wars of aggression on Earth forever – becomes more easily recognized by humanity.
Those with the most aircraft carriers, bombers, jet fighters, missiles, drones, military bases, spy agencies and blackmail files win.
We need an American Bastille Day. But that depends on getting a lot more people to see what is really going on.