Assange misses court hearing amid calls in Australia for his release

A coalition of Australian MPs, human rights advocates and journalists have called on their country’s government to intervene in the case of Julian Assange, who was said to be too ill to attend the latest court hearing of his extradition case.

The imprisoned WikiLeaks founder was unable to attend via video link because of ill-health and advice from his doctors, according to his partner Stella Moris.

(June 1, 2010)

WikiLeaks releases about 470,000 classified military documents concerning American diplomacy and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It later releases a further tranche of more than 250,000 classified US diplomatic cables.

(November 1, 2010)

A Swedish prosecutor issues a European arrest warrant for Assange over sexual assault allegations involving two Swedish women. Assange denies the claims.

(December 7, 2010)

He turns himself in to police in London and is placed in custody. He is later released on bail and calls the Swedish allegations a smear campaign.

(February 1, 2011)

A British judge rules that Assange can be extradited to Sweden. Assange fears Sweden will hand him over to US authorities who could prosecute him.

(June 19, 2012)

He takes refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He requests, and is later granted, political asylum.

(November 14, 2016)

Assange is questioned in a two-day interview over the allegations at the Ecuadorian embassy by Swedish authorities.

(January 19, 2017)

WikiLeaks says Assange could travel to the United States to face investigation if his rights are 'guaranteed'. It comes after one of the site's main sources of leaked documents, Chelsea Manning, is given clemency.

(May 19, 2017)

Swedish prosecutors say they have closed their seven-year sex assault investigation into Assange. British police say they would still arrest him if he leaves the embassy as he breached the terms of his bail in 2012.

(January 11, 2018)

Britain refuses Ecuador's request to accord Assange diplomatic status, which would allow him to leave the embassy without being arrested.

(February 13, 2018)

He loses a bid to have his British arrest warrant cancelled on health grounds.

(March 28, 2018)

Ecuador cuts off Assange's internet access alleging he broke an agreement on interfering in other countries' affairs.

(November 16, 2018)

US prosecutors inadvertently disclose the existence of a sealed indictment against Assange.

(April 2, 2019)

Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno says Assange has 'repeatedly violated' the conditions of his asylum at the embassy.

(April 11, 2019)

Police arrest Assange at the embassy on behalf of the US after his asylum was withdrawn. He is charged by the US with 'a federal charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for agreeing to break a password to a classified U.S. government computer.'

(May 1, 2019)

He is jailed for 50 weeks in the UK for breaching his bail conditions back in 2012. An apology letter from Assange is read out in court, but the judge rules that he had engaged in a 'deliberate attempt to evade justice'. On the following day the US extradition proceedings were formally started.

(May 13, 2019)

Swedish prosecutors announce they are reopening an investigation into a rape allegation against Julian Assange.

(June 13, 2019)

Home secretary Sajid Javid reveals he has signed the US extradition order for Assange paving the way for it to be heard in court.

(February 24, 2020)

Assange's extradition hearing begins at Woolwich crown court in south-east London.

After a week of opening arguments, the extradition case is to be adjourned until May, when the two sides will lay out their evidence. The judge is not 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.

Assange, 48, is wanted in the US to face 17 charges under the Espionage Act and conspiracy to commit computer intrusion after the publication of hundreds of thousands of classified documents in 2010 and 2011.

He is being held at Belmarsh prison in south London while the court system tries to reschedule his extradition hearing, which was postponed owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

Eight Australian MPs, four senators and a number of members of Australia’s legislature are among those who wrote to their foreign minister before Monday’s hearing and urged that a diplomatic representation be made to the UK government to ask that Assange be released on bail.

Citing the impact of Covid-19 in British prisons, they wrote: “The extradition hearings have been disrupted and delayed, leaving Mr Assange unable to have his case heard until September 2020 at the earliest, while deaths within the UK prison populations and illness amongst judicial and penal staff cohorts continue to rise.”

Assange’s full extradition hearing is set to take place on 7 September, having originally been scheduled for 18 May, although a crown court has not yet been found to take the case. A further administrative hearing is due to take place on 29 June. It was agreed at Monday’s hearing that psychiatric reports on Assange from the prosecution and defence are due to be presented to the court before the end of July.

Assange’s lawyers have complained that they have not had adequate access to their client, who was said to be at a heightened risk of contracting coronavirus because of an underlying lung condition. Journalists have also struggled to cover the case owing to barely audible phone links to administrative hearings, such as Monday’s.

Joseph Farrell of WikiLeaks criticised the fact that a time and place for the remainder of the hearing was yet to be announced by the judge after evidence was initially submitted over a number of days in February.

“The delay has been a punishment in itself,” Farrell said. “Whether Julian can get proper access to his legal team remains unlikely, as Belmarsh prison remains in full lockdown.”