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US ‘breached due process’ in spying operation against Julian Assange’s lawyers
https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252478786/US-breached-due-process-in-spying-operation-against-Assanges-lawyers
((Published: 18 Feb 2020 17:41 ))
The US breached WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s right to defence by recording confidential meetings with his solicitors and lawyers in the Ecuadorian Embassy, it was claimed today.
Jennifer Robinson, legal counsel for Assange, said a surveillance operation against him in the Ecuadorian Embassy was in breach of legal privilege and an abuse of process.
A company hired to provide security at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London is accused of recording Assange’s meetings – including legally privileged meetings and meetings with doctors – which were reported back to the US.
The surveillance operation, allegedly carried out by Spanish security company UC Global, is under investigation in Spain.
It is expected to be raised in a hearing at Woolwich Crown Court next week, when the US presents its case for extraditing Assange to the US to face up to 170 years in jail.
The US has charged Assange with 17 counts under the Espionage Act and one count of conspiracy to commit a computer crime.
The charges follow WikiLeaks’ publication of Afghanistan and Iraq military and diplomatic cables in 2010 and 2011.
Fair trial in doubt
Speaking ahead of the hearing at Woolwich Crown Court, Joseph Farrell, a WikiLeaks spokesman, said the surveillance operation against Assange and his lawyers raised questions about whether Assange would receive a fair trial.
“You had a security company working for the Ecuadorian Embassy that was recording all of his meetings, including his meetings with his doctors and his lawyers, including strategic legal discussions, so that completely destroys any element of client/attorney privilege,” he said.
Farrell said surveillance footage recorded Assange being visited by doctors and other medical professionals.
He said the breach of medical confidentiality had parallels with the CIA’s attempts to seize medical records of the Pentagon Papers whistleblower, Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked confidential papers about the Vietnam War in 1971.
“The CIA broke into his psychiatrist’s office and stole all his medical notes – that was what brought that entire case down,” he said.
The US has accused Assange of a hacking charge after WikiLeaks obtained hundreds of thousands of military and diplomatic papers from Chelsea Manning, an intelligence analyst in the US Army.
WikiLeaks editor in chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said there was no basis for the charge. “There is no need to worry about a hacking allegation as there simply was no hacking,” he said.
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Our own government, our own Intelligence "agencies" are guilty of crimes that need to be held accountable, whether total dismantling, tribunals, but Julian Assange is a big domino that [they] fear.