Julian Assange ‘has suffered enough’, his lawyers tell …

London:Julian Assange has suffered enough and shouldnt face prison for absconding from justice, his lawyers have told a court.

The Wikileaks editor is depressed, in constant pain from an infected tooth, and has been stuck in the Ecuador Embassy in Londons Kensington far longer than the maximum 12-month jail penalty for breaching bail, his barrister said.

On Tuesday Assange lost a legal bid at Westminster Magistrates Court to quash the arrest warrant that has awaited him since he entered the Ecuador embassy in June 2012.

However his lawyers immediately launched a new push to end the UK governments attempt to bring him to justice arguing that it is against the public interest to punish him for refusing to leave the embassy.

It is a criminal offence for someone on bail to refuse to surrender to police without reasonable cause and Assange refused to leave the embassy despite a court order for his arrest.

But Assanges barrister Mark Summers QC told Judge Emma Arbuthnot that it was not in the interests of justice and proportionality to bring an action against Assange.

Assange went into the embassy after he exhausted his line of appeal against a decision to extradite him to Sweden to face rape allegations.

Get the latest news and updates emailed straight to your inbox.

Sweden last year ended its investigation into the allegations, and the European arrest warrant against Assange was cancelled. However the British warrant for his arrest still stood and judge Arbuthnot said she was not persuaded it should be quashed simply because the underlying investigation had stopped.

Mr Summers said Assange was not thumbing his nose at justice and his five and a half years in the embassy were adequate if not severe punishment for the actions that he took.

Assange had genuine fears later proved correct that the US were keen to prosecute him over his work with Wikileaks, Summers said.

If arrested he would face rendition to the USA, treatment similar to that meted out against Wikileaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning and possible persecution, indefinite solitary confinement and the death penalty, Summers said in a written submission.

Former army private Chelsea Manning, who spent seven years in military prison for leaking classified documents to Wikileaks, recently announced she is running for a seat in the US Senate.

The FBI director had recently told Congress Assange would be arrested as soon as he stepped outside the embassy, and there was a sealed indictment against him, Summers told the court.

A United Nations tribunal had ruled that Assanges situation amounted to arbitrary, unreasonable, unnecessary and disproportionate detention.

Mr Summers also argued that it was not Assanges fault the Swedish investigation had dragged on so long. Sweden had decided to drop its arrest warrant in 2012, but emails uncovered by an Italian journalists Freedom of Information request had revealed that a British prosecution lawyer persuaded them to insist that Assange leave the embassy.

He also submitted a medical report about Assanges deteriorating health.

Judge Arbuthnot said the health issues were not that bad, but he had a real problem with a tooth (which) must be agonising.

Summers said Assange was in constant pain, regularly suffered respiratory infections and had significant depression.

The issue is whether he has been punished enough for what he did, Summers said.

Judge Arbuthnot said it was a very interesting case.

She will rule on the public interest application on February 13.

Outside court, Assanges lawyer Jennifer Robinson said whether or not the warrant is quashed Assange would not leave the embassy until he had an assurance he wouldnt be extradited to the US.

Mr Assange remains willing to answer to British justice in relation to any argument about breaching bail, but not at the expense of facing injustice in America, she said.

This case is and always has been about the risk of extradition to the United States and that risk remains real.

Ecuadors Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Tuesday saying the government of Ecuador would maintain international protection for Assange as long as the danger to his life persists and they were still trying to find a satisfactory solution to the situation.

Link:
Julian Assange 'has suffered enough', his lawyers tell ...