British ‘hacker’ Lauri Love, who won his fight against US extradition in the UK, says the chances of Julian Assange receiving a fair trial in America are “effectively nil.”
Speaking to RT UK about the WikiLeaks co-founder’s US extradition hearing, which has been delayed until February 2020, Love said he is facing an uphill battle to “take back the narrative” that’s been spread to the American public.
Love, 34, once faced US extradition to stand trial for allegedly hacking thousands of secure networks in the Federal Reserve, NASA and the FBI. The extradition order was quashed in 2018 by the UK’s Lord Chief Justice as it would not be in the “interests of justice” for a number of reasons, including the “high risk” that Love would harm himself.
Love estimates that Assange’s chances of also successfully beating his extradition case are strong, given the overwhelming public support he has in the UK. However, if the journalist loses his legal battle and is sent across the Atlantic, Love warns that he’s unlikely to fare well under the US justice system.
“The chances of a fair trial in the USA are effectively nil, 97 percent of federal criminal defendants do not get their day in court because they are bullied into taking the plea bargain,” said Love.
Given Assange’s reportedly already-declining health, Love worries that “even worse” conditions in US detention centers mean losing the extradition hearing could have dire consequences.
“I think we have to win here, if he is extradited I think it will end in tragedy. Not just for Julian as a human being, but for the world for having abandoned someone whose only offence was speaking truth to power,” he added.
Love said he believes one of the hardest elements for Assange is facing being locked up in inhumane conditions in the US “not because of any real justice but to send a message to other people that truth should not be told.”
Assange’s extradition hearing date was set last Friday after British Home Secretary Sajid Javid revealed that he had signed and certified the US extradition order papers. Assange’s lawyer, Mark Summers, said the case represents an “outrageous and full-frontal assault on journalistic rights.”
The US Justice Department has filed 18 charges against the 47-year-old, including one count of conspiring with Chelsea Manning, the former intelligence analyst and whistleblower, to gain access to the US Pentagon network. If convicted, Assange faces up to 175 years behind bars.
Assange is currently serving a 50-week prison sentence in the UK for jumping bail in 2012. He was arrested after spending six years living under asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
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