5 December, 2011
The UK High Court of Appeal has ruled that one of the two points raised by Julia Assange’s team are of “general public importance” and should be considered by the Supreme Court. The point that succeeded was the question of whether a partisan public prosecutor is a ’judicial authority’ as required by the 2003 Extradition Act. The issue revolves around the notion there must be a separation between the executive and the judiciary when depriving a person of their liberty – in this case when the person concerned has not even been charged and the device used to deprive their liberty is extradition to another state. The court considered this to be a point of general public importance that may affect any person facing similar extraditions to the EU. The point transcended the facts of the case and the Supreme Court will decide whether it will allow the appeal, in principle in 14 days’ time. Mark Summers, representing Mr. Assange, said that since 2005, 60 different cases have challenged the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) at this court on the grounds that it had been issued by a prosecutor, and not by an independent and impartial member of the judiciary. .. full article here.
meanwhile… Respected Australian news anchorwoman Mary Kostakidis issues statement on failure of Gillard government to protect Assange/WikiLeaks http://t.co/zjzDoxQc.
Our government is failing to uphold basic human rights: freedom of expression and the presumption of innocence. Occasionally people say: “I support Wikileaks, but I don’t like Assange…” I think it’s important to understand that we can’t just defend the human rights of people we happen to like!
