WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange's US extradition hearing paused until May

A British judge on Thursday paused Julian Assange's extradition hearing following four days of intense legal wrangling over Washington's request for the WikiLeaks founder to stand trial there on espionage charges. Judge Vanessa Baraitser, who will ultimately rule on the controversial case, ordered the legal teams for the 48-year-old Australian and the US government to reconvene for briefcase management hearings in March and April.

The full extradition hearing is then set to resume for three weeks in mid-May, when witnesses will be called and cross-examined, with an eventual ruling expected by August at the latest. The judge refused a request Thursday by Assange's lawyers to let him sit with his defence team, and not in the secure glass-walled dock area of the courtroom when the hearing resumes.

The one-time hacker has repeatedly stood up and interrupted this week's proceedings to complain about being unable to hear the arguments or confer confidentially with his lawyers. "I'm not able to guide them," Assange said on Thursday, in his latest courtroom outburst -- which Baraitser has repeatedly advised him against making.

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Arguing the current set-up could impinge on Assange's right to a fair hearing, defence lawyer Mark Summers invited the judge to "permit him confidential, discreet access to his lawyers" by letting him sit alongside them. "Someone can be in custody in this room without being in that glass cabin," he said. But Baraitser refused the application, arguing various "sensible, proportionate measures" -- such as Assange passing notes to his team and requesting regular breaks -- would ensure he could participate.

"It's quite apparent to me... that you've had no difficulty at all attracting the attention of your legal team," she said. Assange faces charges under the US Espionage Act for the 2010 release of a trove of secret files detailing aspects of US military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as a single computer hacking charge. His extradition hearing inside Woolwich Crown Court, next to the high-security Belmarsh prison where Assange is being held, began on Monday.

Making the US government case, lawyer James Lewis accused the WikiLeaks founder of risking the lives of intelligence sources by publishing the classified US government documents. He also detailed the US claims that Assange helped US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to steal the documents before recklessly releasing them.

In response, lawyers for Assange argued the charges were "political", and that his extradition would violate international law and numerous treaties. They also accused the United States of "boldly and blatantly" misstating facts about his conduct, calling some of their claims "lies, lies and more lies". A ruling against Assange could see him jailed for 175 years if convicted on all 17 US Espionage Act charges and the hacking count.

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Julian Assange Case

The 48-year-old whistleblower currently imprisoned in Belmarsh is slapped with 18 charges in the United States including the Espionage Act, for conspiring to gain access into US military secrets between January and May 2010. If convicted, he will face up to 175 years in the US prison. 

Wikileaks, an anti-secrecy organisation, was founded in 2006 as a platform for whistleblowers to release classified information anonymously. By 2015, Wikileaks became a portal to publish over 10 million documents, including top-secret documents.  Ever since its launch in 2006, Wikileaks has published thousands of classified documents, disclosing the details from national security, war, politics to the film industry. In 2010, as per published files of WikiLeaks, Congress' Rahul Gandhi told the then US Ambassador at lunch that Hindu extremists groups post a greater threat to his country than the Muslim terrorists. 

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(with PTI inputs)