US Government lawyers have told London’s high court that Julian Assange puts innocent lives at risk when he published classified military documents. They argued the action of the Wikileaks founder went beyond journalism and that he should face spying charges in the United States. After a two-day hearing the judges reversed their decision on whether to allow Assange a fresh appeal against his extradition.
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00:00 A wet winter's day in London could not deter hundreds of supporters of Julian Assange from
00:07 coming out in force. Among them, Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, who flew in for the day
00:16 from Australia to attend the High Court hearing.
00:19 It's even more important I think that there's an Australian parliamentarian here to bear
00:23 witness given the events of just last week when a thumping majority of the House of Representatives
00:29 voted in favour of the motion that this matter must be brought to an end.
00:35 This could be Julian Assange's last chance to prevent his extradition to the US where
00:40 he faces espionage charges.
00:42 He's a political prisoner and he needs his freedom. He has been in prison for five years.
00:47 Inside the court, lawyers for the US government said Assange did not behave like an ordinary
00:52 journalist and put lives of informants at risk. Saying that he indiscriminately and
00:58 knowingly published to the world the names of individuals who acted as sources of information
01:03 to the US.
01:05 Outside the court, Andrew Wilkie rejected that argument.
01:09 That's just a furphy by the US government now to say that Julian Assange put people
01:16 at risk and perhaps even had people killed. The official inquiries say that is not the
01:21 case.
01:22 Journalists around the world publish stories on the basis of these leaks. This was in the
01:26 public interest. We know about war crimes, human rights abuses. Yesterday we heard that
01:30 from the defence. These documents expose ongoing murders, renditions, torture.
01:34 The two High Court judges will now go away and consider whether they will grant Julian
01:38 Assange a full appeal hearing against his extradition. If that fails, his lawyers are
01:44 likely to take it to the European Court of Human Rights.
01:48 Until then, his supporters and the Australian government will continue to try and convince
01:53 the US to drop the charges.
01:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]