The US informs UK HC that Assange went beyond journalism and endangered life

LONDON: Attorneys for the US government said on Wednesday that Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, ought to be charged with espionage in the US as he endangered innocent people’s lives and went beyond the bounds of journalism in his attempt to get, pilfer, and disclose secret US government secrets.
In response to Assange’s defense team’s desperate attempt to prevent his extradition from the UK to the US, the attorneys testified before the British High Court.

Assange has been detained in a British high-security jail for the last five years due to a protracted legal battle; his attorneys are requesting that the HC let him to file one more appeal.
Due to the 52-year-old Australian’s website disclosing a vast amount of top-secret US information over 15 years ago, he was charged with 17 counts of espionage and one count of computer abuse. According to US authorities, Assange placed lives in danger by allegedly encouraging and assisting US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to steal military records and diplomatic cables that WikiLeaks eventually released.
By releasing the thousands of documents, lawyer Clair Dobbin warned HC that Assange had harmed US security and intelligence services and “created a grave and imminent risk”—a risk that could result in the arbitrary detention of innocent people, many of whom were living in war zones or under oppressive regimes. Dobbin went on to say that Assange was “going a very considerable way beyond” the scope of a journalist collecting material when he encouraged Manning and others to get into government systems and steal from them.
Assange is “not someone who has just set up an online box to which people can provide classified information,” she said. “The allegations are that he sought to encourage theft and hacking that would benefit WikiLeaks.”
On Tuesday, Assange’s attorneys said that Assange is being targeted by the government for his “exposure of criminality on the part of US govt on an unprecedented scale,” which includes deaths and torture. Assange might “suffer a flagrant denial of justice” if he is extradited to the US, according to attorney Edward Fitzgerald.
Claims that Assange is being punished for his political views via the use of a “tool of oppression” were dismissed by Dobbin. She said that despite US government modifications during the legal dispute, the prosecution’s strategy is grounded in the law and the facts. According to her, WikiLeaks did not need to release private information, including the identities of people who could be in risk. She claimed that there are no legal repercussions for media organizations that withheld information from the public before disclosing it.
Due to his illness, Assange missed court on both Wednesday and Tuesday.
The court may issue a ruling at the conclusion of the hearing on Wednesday, but it is more likely to deliberate for a few weeks before making a decision.