(20 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
London – 20 May 2024
1. Stella Assange, Julian Assange’s wife, exiting court
++BLACK FRAMES++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Stella Assange, Julian Assange’s wife:
++SOUNDBITE INCLUDES LEAVING SHOT++
"The judges reached the right decision. We spent a long time hearing the United States putting lipstick on a pig but the judges did not buy it. As a family, we are relieved ++EXPLETIVE SHOUTED FROM CROWD++ but how long can this go on? The United States should read the situation and drop this case now. Now, is the moment to do it. Just abandon this shameful attack on journalists, on the press and the public that has been going on for 14 years. (UPSOUND of person, saying in Free Democracy, Free Assange, we love you Stella). This case is shameful and it is taking an enormous toll on Julian. He is under enormous pressure. He has been in Belmarsh Prison for over five years. It has been two years, two years since the order was issued. This case should just be abandoned. The Biden administration should have dropped it from day one. But now is a right moment for the Biden administration to drop it. So please, those in the United States who are in a power to make a decision, please just drop this case now. Don’t let this go on any longer, thank you."
STORYLINE:
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can appeal against extradition to the United States on espionage charges, a London court ruled on Monday — a decision that is likely to drag out further what has already been a long legal saga.
Assange’s wife, Stella, said the U.S. had tried to put "lipstick on a pig but the judges did not buy it."
She said the U.S. should "read the situation" and drop the case.
High Court judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson ruled for Assange after his lawyers argued that the U.S. government provided "blatantly inadequate" assurances that he would have the same free speech protections as an American citizen if extradited from Britain.
Assange, 52, has been indicted on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over his website’s publication of a trove of classified U.S. documents almost 15 years ago.
Hundreds of supporters cheered and applauded outside court as news of the ruling reached them from inside the Royal Courts of Justice.
"As a family we are relieved but how long can this go on?” Stella said, adding that the "case is shameful."
The Australian computer expert has spent the last five years in a British high-security prison after taking refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for seven years. Assange was not in court to hear the ruling because of health reasons, his lawyer said.
American prosecutors allege that Assange encouraged and helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks published.
Assange’s lawyers have argued he was a journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sending him to the U.S., they said, would expose him to a politically motivated prosecution and risk a "flagrant denial of justice."
The U.S. government says Assange’s actions went way beyond those of a journalist gathering information, amounting to an attempt to solicit, steal and indiscriminately publish classified government documents.
Assange’s lawyers say he could face up to 175 years in prison if convicted, though American authorities have said any sentence would likely be much shorter.
"This case should just be abandoned. The Biden administration should have dropped it from day one," Stella said.
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