Assange’s lawyer says US ‘boldly’ misstates facts about his conduct

London — On Tuesday, the second day of Julian Assange’s extradition hearing in Britain, a lawyer accused the US of “boldly and blatantly” misstating facts about the WikiLeaks founder’s conduct .

Assange faces charges under the US Espionage Act for the 2010 release of a trove of secret files detailing aspects of US military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Washington claims the Australian helped intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal the documents before recklessly exposing confidential sources around the world. But defence lawyer Mark Summers argued much of the 18-charge US indictment Assange will face if extradited is “provably wrong”, adding elements are “lies, lies and more lies”.

Summers said Assange had tried to warn the US government that the cache of sensitive diplomatic cables were about to be published online. “The gates got opened not by Mr Assange or WikiLeaks but by” the journalists, who were working with Assange to release the information, Summers said.

“It’s difficult to conceive of a clearer example of an extradition request that boldly and blatantly misstates the facts as they are known to be to the US government,” he told a packed courtroom in southeast London.

“You will have to determine in due course whether it is fair, accurate and proper,” Summers told the judge.

Assange spent much of the past decade holed up in Ecuador’s London embassy to avoid separate legal proceedings in Sweden but Washington is now seeking his transfer to stand trial.

The extradition hearing at Woolwich Crown Court, next to the high-security Belmarsh prison where he is being held, is expected to last five days before reconvening in May. Assange listened impassively on Tuesday as dozens of protesters rallied for a second day outside.

WikiLeaks initially worked with newspapers to publish details from the leaked US state department and Pentagon files, which caused a sensation — and outrage in Washington. Summers said the partnership with media outlets had led to a rigorous redaction process that included liaising with US officials to ensure sources’ names were not revealed.

“That process involved the US government and state department feeding suggested redactions to the media,” he said. But Summers said a 2011 book by a journalist from The Guardian revealed the password needed to access the database of unredacted source names and ensured the cache eventually found its way online.

He told the court that Assange had made a phone call to the White House alerting US officials of the imminent release on various websites, allegedly warning: “Unless you do something, then people’s lives are put at risk”.

“The notion that Mr Assange deliberately put lives at risk by dumping an unredacted database is knowingly inaccurate,” Summers said.

‘Entirely wrong’

The Guardian later said in a statement that “it is entirely wrong” to say the 2011 book led to the publication of unredacted US government files.

“The book contained a password that the authors had been told by Julian Assange was temporary and would expire and be deleted in a matter of hours,” it said. “The book also contained no details about the whereabouts of the files.”

On Monday James Lewis, a lawyer for the US, accused Assange of risking the lives of intelligence sources by publishing classified documents. “The US is aware of sources whose unredacted names and/or other identifying information was contained in classified documents published by WikiLeaks who subsequently disappeared,” he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, lead defence lawyer Edward Fitzgerald complained that Assange had been stripped naked twice and handcuffed 11 times coming and going from the court proceedings. He warned that his treatment could “impinge on these proceedings” and asked judge Vanessa Baraitser to give “an indication to prison authorities” that the regime should be relaxed.

Baraitser said it was a matter for prison officials, adding that she does not have the authority to instruct them on how to treat detainees. She said that she would expect Assange to be treated fairly and like anyone else.

Assange could be jailed for 175 years if convicted on all 17 Espionage Act charges and one count of computer hacking.

AFP