Assange Denied Access To Evidence, His Lawyer Complains

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been denied access to evidence and even basic items like paper and pens by British prison officials, putting his US extradition case on the brink of judicial review, his lawyer Solicitor Gareth Pierce has warned.

Solicitor Gareth Pierce who is Julian Assange’s lawyer has complained that British prison officers stopped them spending adequate time with her client as the Wikileaks founder appeared in court ahead of his extradition hearing.

Officials at Belmarsh prison where he is held, have blocked Assange from seeing key evidence, Solicitor Gareth Pierce has complained.

Solicitor Pierce also stated that she was shocked to learn that District Judge Vanessa Baraitser merely intended to allow the defense team just one hour to review evidence with her client Assange in the holding cells at the Westminster Magistrates Court.

Assange has been charged in the United States on 17 charges of spying besides another charge of computer hacking in relation to WikiLeaks' release of thousands of classified Pentagon files regarding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, which revealed US war crimes committed by US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He has also been charged with WikiLeaks publishing ‘Vault 7’, which is a collection of thousands of documents about an alleged cyber-surveillance program by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) capable of compromising cellphones, smart TVs and computers with internet access produced by US companies, transforming them into microphones to spy on their users.

Solicitor Pierce, who had expected to have a full day with Assange, explained that her legal team had previously been allowed merely two hours to review evidence with him in prison.

She described how the administration of UK’s Belmarsh prison, where Assange is being held, had obstructed access to her client to the point where she had even had to approach US government lawyers to assist.

She warned that further denying Assange his “human right” to legal access was putting his case on the brink of a judicial review.

Assange's next hearing is scheduled for January 23. He is due to appear via video link from Belmarsh prison.

Full extradition proceedings are expected to commence in February 2020.