Assange warned he will be removed from London court if outbursts continue
‘You will hear things, no doubt many things, you disagree with during these proceedings,’ judge tells Wikileaks founder
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A judge has told Wikileaks found Julian Assange to remain quiet or risk being thrown out of his own extradition hearing after he spoke from the dock and interrupted witnesses.
Mr Assange, who is fighting an attempt by US officials to extradite him to the country to stand trial on spying charges, was told by the judge it was within her power to continue without him if he continues to cut in when others spoke in the court.
Vanessa Baraitser briefly adjourned the hearing at London's Central Criminal Court after the 49-year-old interrupted defence witness Clive Stafford Smith as he gave evidence.
Addressing Mr Assange, the judge said: “You will hear things, no doubt many things, you disagree with during these proceedings. If you interrupt proceedings it is open to me to proceed in your absence.”
US prosecutors have indicted the Australian on 18 espionage and computer misuse charges over the publication of secret US military documents a decade ago on the Wikileaks website.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
Lawyers for Mr Assange, who claimed sanctuary in Ecuador’s London embassy for seven years before being carried out by officers, have argued the prosecution is a politically motivated abuse of power that will stifle media freedom and put journalists at risk.
The case had been due to be heard earlier in the year, but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Assange's lawyers have argued that he is a journalist entitled to the protection of America’s First Amendment, which protects free speech - adding that his work had helped uncover military wrongdoing.
The court heard from Mr Stafford Smith, who founded the nonprofit rights organisation Reprieve, that Mr Assange’s WikiLeaks website had helped to expose alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
However US authorities have alleged the Australian conspired with intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer and release hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic cables and military files on the nation’s military action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And in a new indictment announced in June Washington’s Justice Department expanded its case, accusing Mr Assange of recruiting hackers at conferences in Europe and Asia, recruiting a teenager to hack into the computer of a former WikiLeaks associate and conspiring with members of hacking groups known as LulzSec and Anonymous.
The case is due to run until early October, with the judge expected to take weeks or even months to consider her verdict ahead of any possible appeal.