[Peace-discuss] Assange hearing updates

[J.B. Nicholson]

Some Assange hearing updates I saw and related Assange views.

Consortium News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWMpPPh-_v0 -- Joe Lauria's report

Craig Murray
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/09/your-man-in-the-public-gallery-assange-hearing-day-15/

Shadowproof
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BuNAiiWnsY -- (from yesterday) Kevin Gosztola's report

https://shadowproof.com/2020/09/23/doctor-assange-aspergers-prison-extradition-trial/ 
-- "Doctor Diagnosed Julian Assange With Asperger’s Syndrome" begins:
> WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a form of
> autism, while detained in the Belmarsh high-security prison in London. This likely
> increases Assange’s risk of suicide if confined in restrictive prison conditions
> in the United States, according to a psychiatrist who testified at his extradition
> trial.
> 
> Dr. Quinton Deeley, who works for the National Health Service (NHS), conducted an
> Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) test on Assange and produced a
> report. He interviewed Assange for six hours in July.
> 
> Assange told Deeley he feared he would be held in isolation in a U.S. prison. He
> was afraid of the fresh indictment. He was also concerned about the fate of Joshua
> Schulte, who was held in harsh confinement conditions prior to his trial for
> allegedly disclosing the “Vault 7” materials to WikiLeaks. (Schulte’s case
> resulted in a mistrial in March.)
> 
> The U.S. Justice Department charged Assange with 17 counts of violating the
> Espionage Act and one count of conspiracy to commit a computer crime that, as
> alleged in the indictment, is written like an Espionage Act offense.
> 
> The charges criminalize the act of merely receiving classified information, as
> well as the publication of state secrets from the U.S. government. It targets
> common practices in newsgathering, which is why the case is widely opposed by
> press freedom organizations throughout the world.
> 
> In the cases of Lauri Love and Gary McKinnon, the U.S. government was blocked from
> extraditing them because the United Kingdom High Court of Justice (Love) and the
> British Home Secretary (McKinnon) recognized their Asperger’s syndrome would
> result in degrading or inhuman treatment that violated human rights.
> 
> Love was accused of hacking into systems controlled by the Federal Reserve, U.S.
> Army, and a number of other government agencies. McKinnon was accused by the U.S.
> government of the “biggest military computer hack of all time.”
> 
> Edward Fitzgerald represented Love, and he is part of Assange’s legal team, and
> the arguments against extradition that Fitizgerald put forward in Love’s case are
> nearly identical to the arguments in this case.
> 
> Particularly:
> 
> (1) The mere fact of extradition and detention in the United States would be
> likely to lead to a serious deterioration in the mental health of Mr. Love
> 
> (2) To the extent that suicide was prevented by Mr. Love being placed on suicide
> watch, the conditions in which he would be held on suicide watch, or in
> segregation, would lead to a serious and permanent deterioration in his mental
> health, which was also related to his physical health
> 
> Based upon the diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome, if extradited, Deeley determined
> Assange’s risk of suicide would be high under the circumstances. He “ruminates
> about prospective circumstances at length,” and it causes a “sense of horror.”
> 
> “He would find it an unbearable ordeal, and I think his inability to bear that in
> the context of [an] acute worsening depression would confer high risk of suicide,”
> Deeley added.
> 
> Assange views his predicament as “unjust” and an “intolerable ordeal,” according
> to Deeley. He believes an “example is being made out of him,” which “compounds his
> sense of its unbearability.” That greatly increases the suicide risk.


acTVism
https://youtube.com/watch?v=cqvPN8Rg2hA -- "Assange Update: Medical Experts Testify 
on Assange's Mental Health"

Matt Orfalea
https://youtube.com/watch?v=06NGN01FYuk -- War on Journalism: Bob Woodward & Julian 
Assange

-J