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Law360, London (April 27, 2020, 1:26 PM BST) -- A judge postponed on Monday the second part of the U.S. extradition case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in London, saying the coronavirus pandemic meant the hearing set for May could not go ahead.
The hearing due to begin in May has been put back at Westminster Magistrates' Court, as supporters of Julian Assange are pictured at an earlier hearing in London. (AP)
Judge Baraitser said it would not be appropriate for the case to go ahead if lawyers could not attend the hearing. The judge adjourned the case until May 4 to fix a new date, but warned that a three-week slot is not available until November.
Lawyers for Assange argued that COVID-19 restrictions have made it impossible for them to speak to him. Assange is being held at Belmarsh prison in southeast London while awaiting potential extradition to the U.S. on espionage charges over the publication of military and diplomatic cables almost a decade ago.
"Mr. Assange will be facing a David and Goliath battle with his hands tied behind his back," Assange's attorney Edward Fitzgerald said at the remote telephone hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court, at which journalists complained of being unable to hear the proceedings.
James Lewis, acting on behalf of the U.S. government, agreed that it would be unsafe for the hearing to proceed.
Judge Baraitser denied Assange bail in March, deeming him a flight risk after his lawyers had argued he was vulnerable to contracting the coronavirus in prison.
The 48-year old Australian national is wanted in the U.S. over allegations that he published hundreds of thousands of classified documents covering U.S. conduct in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and U.S. Department of State cables and files containing assessments of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
He is accused of encouraging leaks by former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning and of conspiring to hack into the U.S. Department of Defense computer system, in what the U.S. government insists is one of the largest compromises of classified information in U.S. history.
U.S. prosecutors alleged at a preliminary extradition hearing at Woolwich Crown Court in February that Assange had "knowingly endangered" American informants in Iraq and Afghanistan when WikiLeaks published a cache of 250,000 unredacted secret diplomatic cables online in 2011.
Assange's defense attorney described the case as being built on "lies, lies and more lies" at the February hearing, claiming the request to extradite Assange "boldly and brazenly" misrepresented the facts.
Assange is represented by Edward Fitzgerald QC of Doughty Street Chambers and Mark Summers QC of Matrix Chambers.
The United States of America is represented by James Lewis QC of 3 Raymond Buildings.
The case is United States of America v. Assange, case number 1900802699, in Westminster Magistrates Court.
--Editing by Ed Harris.
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