US: Free speech no excuse for crimes of WikiLeaks' Assange

LONDON (AP) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is not a free-speech champion but an ordinary criminal whose publication of secret documents put many people at risk of torture and death, a lawyer for the U.S. government said Monday as Assange's extradition hearing opened in a London court.

Assange's lawyer countered that the Australian computer expert was being victimized as a result of the "declaration of war on leakers and journalists'ť by the administration of President Donald Trump.

U.S. authorities want to try Assange on espionage charges over the 2010 publication of hundreds of thousands of secret military documents and diplomatic cables. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.

Lawyer James Lewis, representing the U.S. government, called WikiLeaks' 2010 document deluge 'œone of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States.'ť

'œReporting or journalism is not an excuse for criminal activities or a license to break ordinary criminal laws," he said.

Dozens of Assange supporters protested outside the high-security Woolwich Crown Court,chanting and setting off a horn as District Judge Vanessa Baraitser began hearing the case. Assange, 48, watched proceedings from the dock in the courtroom - brought there from Belmarsh Prison next door, where he has been imprisoned for 10 months.

Just before the lunch break, Assange complained that he was having difficulty concentrating and called the noise from outside 'œnot helpful.'ť

Assange has been indicted in the U.S. on 18 charges over the publication of classified documents. Prosecutors say he conspired with U.S. army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a password and hack into a Pentagon computer and release secret diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Assange argues he was acting as a journalist entitled to First Amendment protection, and says the leaked documents exposed U.S. military wrongdoing. Among the files published by WikiLeaks was video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack by American forces in Baghdad that killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists.

But Lewis said Assange was guilty of 'œstraightforward" criminal activity in trying to hack the computer. And he said WikiLeaks' activities created a 'œgrave and imminent risk'ť to U.S. intelligence sources in war zones, who were named in the documents.

"By disseminating the materials in an unredacted form, he likely put people - human rights activists, journalists, advocates, religious leaders, dissidents and their families - at risk of serious harm, torture or even death," the lawyer said.

Lewis said some informants and others who had been assisting the Americans had to be relocated after the leak, and others 'œsubsequently disappeared."

While acknowledging that U.S. authorities could not prove that anyone had been killed, Lewis said WikiLeaks' information had helped America's enemies. Documents from WikiLeaks were found in al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan after he was killed in a U.S. attack, the lawyer said.

Assange's lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, said it was unprecedented in the United States for a publisher to be prosecuted for disseminating leaked material.

'œJulian Assange has been made an example of," Fitzgerald said. 'œHe was the obvious symbol of all that Trump condemned."

The extradition hearing follows years of subterfuge, diplomatic dispute and legal drama that have led the Australian computer expert from international fame through self-imposed exile inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to incarceration in a maximum-security British prison.

Assange's legal saga began in 2010, when he was arrested in London at the request of Sweden, which wanted to question him about allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two women. He refused to go to Stockholm, saying he feared extradition or illegal rendition to the United States or the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In 2012, Assange sought refuge inside the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he was beyond the reach of U.K. and Swedish authorities.

For seven years Assange led an isolated and increasingly surreal existence in the tiny embassy, which occupies an apartment in an upscale block near the ritzy Harrod's department store. The relationship between Assange and his hosts eventually soured, and he was evicted in April 2019. British police immediately arrested him for jumping bail in 2012.

Sweden dropped the sex crimes investigations in November because so much time had elapsed, but Assange remains in prison as he awaits a decision on the U.S. extradition request.

An end to the saga could still be years away. After a week of opening arguments, the extradition case is due to break until May, when the two sides will lay out their evidence. The judge isn't expected to rule until several months after that, with the losing side likely to appeal.

If the courts approve extradition, the British government will have the final say.

Lewis, attorney for the American government, said it wasn't the role of the British court to determine whether Assange was guilty.

'œThis is an extradition hearing, not a trial," he said. 'œThe guilt or innocence of Mr. Assange will be determined at trial in the United States, not in this court.'ť