Sick Assange absent at key hearing against extradition to U.S.
The Hindu
Julian Assange absent from London court hearing final appeal against US extradition for publishing classified information.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was on Tuesday absent due to illness from a London court hearing his final appeal against extradition to the United States to face trial for publishing secret military and diplomatic files.
Opening the two-day hearing in Mr. Assange’s absence, his lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said his prosecution could not be justified.
Washington wants the Australian extradited after he was charged there multiple times between 2018 and 2020 over WikiLeaks’ 2010 publication of files relating to the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“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,” Mr. Fitzgerald said.
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