25 March 2020|The Interregnum|Mohamed Elmaazi
Julian Assange’s lawyers filed an emergency bail application at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 25 March 2020 on the basis that the imprisoned journalist’s health and well-being is at imminent risk.
Featured image via Mohamed Elmaazi
Judge Vanessa Baraitser refused an emergency bail application made on behalf of Julian Assange at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 25 March 2020.
*BREAKING*Judge Baraitser refuses #JulianAssange's emergency bail application on the grounds that the govt will be taking all necessary precautions to protect prisoners from #COVID2019 & #Assange's past absconding when he was previously on bail. Details to follow. @SputnikInt pic.twitter.com/n5oEfTEzo2
— M. A. E. (@MElmaazi) March 25, 2020
Barrister Edward Fitzgerald QC attended the hearing in person on behalf of Assange who remains on remand at Belmarsh maximum security prison. Other legal representatives, including counsel acting for the US, joined the hearing via telephone link.
After listening to detailed arguments from representatives of the US government as well from Fitzgerald Judge Baraitser concluded that, “as matters stand today this global pandemic does not of itself yet provide grounds for Mr Assange’s release”.
Assange’s defence argued that, like most prisoners, the WikiLeaks publisher is at high risk of contracting COVID-19, and that he is vulnerable to suffering a more severe form of the illness should he be infected.
People in detention settings are some of society's most vulnerable and disadvantaged. COVID-19 does not discriminate nor should our response to it. The lives of those in custody and detention must be protected and their human rights upheld. Pls RT briefing https://t.co/SGmyNGDwh3
— Deborah Coles (@DebatINQUEST) March 25, 2020
Fitzgerald argued that people who are suspected terrorists have been able to remain out of prison with conditionalities that satisfy the Home Office and that the same could be done with Assange who is not alleged to be a threat to national security.
The Court also heard that Assange can’t prepare his defence properly as the prison is now in lockdown due to COVID-19, with a week -long queue for prisoners to use video link services.
At the end of the hearing Judge Baraitser read from what appeared to be a pre-written decision:
“It is government’s responsibility to protect both the vulnerable and those outside the category and I have no reason to doubt that Public Health England will provide the [appropriate] advice to the government [in terms of how to ensure the health and well-being of the prison population]”, she said
Baraitser decided that, “[a]s matters stand today this global pandemic does not of itself yet provide grounds for Mr Assange’s release”.
She briefly outlined what she considered to be the history of what led Assange to take refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy, along with his arrest and conviction for absconding while on bail. Baraitser recognised that there is, “a presumption in favour of bail for all those like Assange not convicted of an offence”. Whilst contending that, “No court wishes to keep a person in custody, and even less so during an emergency” she concluded that “Mr Assange’s passed conduct shows the length he is prepared to go to avoid extradition proceedings”.
In reaching her decision the judge emphasised the Swedish extradition case during which Assange ultimately sought refuge in Ecuadorian Embassy:
“After a warrant was issued for his arrest he remained unlawfully at large for many years, he has every reason to [try and abscond]”.
She added that in her view:
“there are substantial grounds to believe if I released him today he would not return to face his extradition hearing…”
Despite Fitzgerald’s insistence that there are scores of potential measures which could ensure Assange’s compliance Baraitser concluded that:
“There are no conditions that could allay this concern and this application is therefore refused”.
After the hearing was over Fitzgerald said the defence team would likely be appealing the judge’s decision.
Edward Fitzgerald QC: Julian Assange’s Life is At Risk if He Isn’t Released, There Are Precautions Which Can Be Taken
Fitzgerald told the Court that three separate medical professionals found that Assange was at increased risk of contracting a more severe form of COVID-19.
The doctors’ evidence states that while Assange is, “not in a typical high risk group… it is likely that Mr Assange is at increased risk for the following reasons”:
- He had four separate episodes of respiratory tract infections while at the embassy;
- He suffers from premature osteoporosis;
- He suffers the effects of isolation for almost 8 years; and
- The current lockdown will only exacerbate his depression.
COVID-19 “is a condition which is about the loss of ability to breath with a history of respiratory tract infections documented contemporaneously by doctors”, Fitzgerald reminded the Court.
Fitzgerald also argued that the fact that Assange previously absconded while on bail was different from the current situation because, in part because of his weakened state, but also because the UK, unlike Sweden, has a history of resisting extradition to the US in certain cases. He also noted that Assange would be restricted to a premises far from London with his partner, children and father.
“In 2010 when Assange technically violated his bail conditions, “he did have recourse to remedies under international law, seeking sanctuary and being granted it, that is important that he was granted asylum in accordance with international rules of law… its right that it was contrary to domestic law, and punished and sentenced and served that sentence. [But] the present situation is totally separate, fundamentally and drastically altered by current crisis”, Fitzgerald argued.
“We respectfully say the focus of someone in his vulnerable position, with his family ties here, is on survival not on absconsion”, he said.
Fitzgerald also argued that human rights considerations must form part of the judge’s decision making process. This would include the risk of COVID-19 posed to Assange’s health and the lockdown’s effect on his ability to properly prepare his defence.
US Government: Assange Will Abscond If He is Released on Bail, He Isn’t At Increased Vulnerability Due to COVID-19
Counsel for the US government Clair Dobbin made representations via telephone link during which she argued against Assange being released. She said that according to the Bail Act 1976, the arrangements of protection for those in prison is up to the Ministry of Justice not a judge.
She also noted that it’s been widely reported that the government may start releasing people on temporary licence after risk assessments have been done. “It’s not for any court to pre-empt any decision which the Ministry of Justice may make in this respect”, Dobbin argued. She told the Court that the, “health of an individual won’t be relevant to the risk of a defendant absconding”. She added that, “there are substantial grounds for believing that Mr Assange, if on bail, would [abscond], would commit other offences or otherwise obstruct the course of justice”.
“He’s already indicated that he is willing to go to almost any lengths to avoid being extradited to the US. We say that the risk of flight is insurmountable”, Dobbin stressed. She pointed to the fact that Assange had been previously granted bail in the Swedish extradition proceedings, and despite the assurances given and security in place, he absconded while on bail.
“Mr Assange regards himself above the law and no cost is too great… in terms of him avoiding being sent to the United States”, she told the Court.
“We rely not only on the risk of flight but also the risk of further offences”, Dobbins said, adding that, “He has been tested before and he has failed”. Dobbins emphasised that in the US government’s opinion COVID-19 has, “no bearing on the risk of Assange absconding should bail be granted”.
“Obviously the risk of getting it and the risk of getting seriously ill are two very different things” she said. “The fact that he has depression, again, we say that depression is not a known factor which predisposes one to getting a severe form of COVID-19″. Mr Assange does not appear to have any diagnosis of any serious illness”.
Dobbin repeated the argument that, “it is not the function of this court to ensure that prison conditions comport with [Human Rights].
COVID-19 Has Been Confirmed Among Prisoners in England
Assange completed his sentence for skipping bail in September 2019 but has been forced to remain in Belmarsh prison by the Courts as he challenges his extradition to the US. He attended this latest hearing from prison via video link.
On 24 March 2020 English and Welsh prisons closed to visitors for the day after it was confirmed that four prisoners had contracted COVID-19 in four separate prisons. HM Prison and Probation Service have since stated that visitation is suspended until further notice. The president of the Prison Governors Association recently warned that prisoners will likely die from COVID-19 due to the overcrowding and subpar conditions throughout the prison estate in England and Wales.
Nearly 200 doctors have called for the WikiLeaks to be released due to his vulnerable state and the increased threat of COVID-19 . A petition has also been launched by WikiLeaks‘s official Don’t Extradite Assange campaign calling for the award-wining journalist, and all other vulnerable prisoners, to be released. If he is extradited to the US Assange faces up to 175 years in prison on Espionage related charges relating to his role in publishing classified US documents which revealed war crimes and other criminality perpetrated by US-led forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and US-occupied Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.