UK Pro-Assange Campaign Slams AG Barr's Reissued Extradition Request as 'Jeopardy' for Hearing

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is being prosecuted by the United States for “compromising classified information”. The leaked documents, among other things, purportedly show war crimes committed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

A UK campaign demanding an end to the "political persecution" of Julian Assange has slammed a re-issued extradition request allegedly made by US Attorney General William Barr as "instrumentalising the UK justice system to avoid political embarrassment ahead of the US election". 

"Given that the replacement extradition request contains the same 18 charges and 175-year sentence, the purpose appears to be to force a postponement to the extradition hearing and as part of a larger PR strategy", the campaign said.

According to a press release by the campaign "Don't Extradite Assange", the new extradition request contains the same accusations levelled at Assange in the first request: a 175-year sentence and 18 charges.

"170 years relate to receiving and publishing the so-called Chelsea Manning leaks, which revealed evidence of war crimes and serious human rights violations. The lesser charge carries a 5-year sentence and is not clearly defined", the statement described the re-issued request.

Assange was reportedly informed about Barr's move on 13 August - only three weeks before his full extradition hearing is set to take place on 7 September. According to the campaign's statement, the re-issued request only wants Assange's hearing to be postponed until after the US presidential election.

"The question is, why is the Trump administration afraid of Julian's case being heard before the US election?", "Don't Extradite Assange" quotes WikiLeaks ambassador Joseph Farrell as saying.

No New Charges, Again? 

In late June, the United States rolled out a superseding indictment against Assange, which as well brought no new charges. 
The move was denounced by Assange's defence team as something done for "political purposes", as Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, insisted "the political nature of the entire thing is becoming more and more clear to everybody".

"A superseding indictment is supposed to do what it says on the tin, it's supposed to replace the existing indictment", said Hrafnsson. "But the US has no new charges to bring, and they can't even be bothered to send the court or the defence team the document".

Apart from a series of new indictments regularly coming from the United States, the defence team is experiencing difficulties in even meeting with their client, as, according to the campaign's statement, Assange hasn't been able to see his lawyers since March, and his family is also unable to visit him. 

Assange's Arrest

The WikiLeaks founder had been residing at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012, where he sought asylum to avoid extradition to Sweden on allegations of rape, which he denied.
In April 2019, after the Ecuadorian government withdrew the asylum, saying that the country had "reached its limit on the behaviour of Mr Assange", he was dragged out of the premises and arrested for "failing to surrender to the court" over a 2012 warrant.

Washington is seeking Assange's extradition to prosecute him over publishing leaked documents that purportedly revealed war crimes committed by the US in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Cuba. The WikiLeaks founder could face 175 years in federal prison on 18 charges after receiving the so-called Chelsea Manning leaks, over 700,000 classified or sensitive military or diplomatic documents.

Manning, who was sentenced to 35 years in military jail for the leak, was credited with exposing US human rights violations and potential war crimes in Iraq, among other abuses. She refused to testify before the grand jury investigating Assange. 

In March, a US court released her, ordering her to pay $256,000 in trial fines.