Julian Assange's concern is 'American injustice'

LONDON

Julian Assange’s concern has always been “facing the American injustice,” his lawyer said on Sunday.

Speaking on British Sky News television, Jenifer Robinson said Assange’s concern was never facing justice in the U.K. or Sweden.

“The fact is Julian [Assange] has never been concerned about facing British justice or indeed Swedish justice,” Robinson said.

“His case is and has always been about his concern about being sent to face American injustice,” she added.

She said Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy for 7 years under hard conditions because of “his concerns about being extradited to the US.”

She also said Assange has always been cooperative with Swedish authorities in their investigations about himself, but he only sought asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy when Sweden declined to give assurances about a possible extradition to the US.

Robinson also expressed their content about the support by British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Corbyn said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should not be extradited because he unearthed the U.S. atrocities shortly after his arrest last week.

“The extradition of Julian Assange to the U.S. for exposing evidence of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan should be opposed by the British government,” Jeremy Corbyn warned on Twitter.

Assange was arrested after Ecuador’s Embassy in London decided to expel him from their building on Thursday, ending his almost seven-year long stay.

British police said he was arrested for skipping his bail in 2012 and on behalf of the U.S. due to an extradition warrant.

Later, he was found guilty of breaking his bail terms in 2012 after failing to surrender to security services by the Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Judge Michael Snow at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court said he will be sentenced on May 2 at Southwark Crown Court, as Assange is now facing a prison term of up to 12 months.

The British judicial authorities will assess the extradition request from the U.S. starting with a video session on the same day.

Following Assange’s arrest, 70 MPs and peers also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May and called her to intervene with the extradition to the US to stop it.

Last week WikiLeaks said on Twitter that “a high level source within the Ecuadorian state has told WikiLeaks that Julian Assange will be expelled within ‘hours to days’ using the INAPapers offshore scandal as a pretext -- and that it already has an agreement with the U.K. for his arrest,” referring to documents allegedly implicating corruption by Ecuador’s president.

A Metropolitan Police arrest warrant was still in force after Assange absconded after his release on bail in 2010.

Assange has been holed up at the Ecuadorian Embassy in Knightsbridge, central London, for nearly seven years since claiming diplomatic asylum in June 2012 after being wanted by Swedish prosecutors for questioning over various alleged sexual offenses.

Sweden since dropped the charges against him, but Assange remained at the embassy, fearing extradition to the U.S. on charges over WikiLeaks’ release of sensitive US government files.

He was supposed to be extradited to Stockholm by British authorities before entering the embassy.