Assange Left Extradition Appeal Hearing He Was Attending Via Video Link From London Prison

LONDON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2021) WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange left the extradition appeal hearing he was attending on Wednesday via video link from Belmarsh prison after briefly listening to the US prosecutors� arguments against a UK district judge's decision to hand him in to the United States.

Assange, who was wearing a light color shirt and a black face mask, was first shown on the screen as he was struggling to listen to what was being said at the court room, and then stood up and left.

There was no explanation from the court clerk managing the live streaming about the reason behind the whistlblower�s decision to leave the hearing.

At the start of the two-day trial at London's Royal Courts of Justice, Assange's lawyer Edward Fitzgerald told court that his client "doesn't feel able to attend the proceedings.

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Some minutes later, the Australian whistleblower was shown, though briefly, on the screen, a Sputnik correspondent attending the hearing via streaming confirmed.

From October 27-28, the UK High Court is scheduled to consider the US government's appeal challenging the January ruling by a UK district court judge against extraditing Assange to the US, citing his health and the risk of suicide in the US prison system.

The whistleblower is wanted by the United States on espionage charges after WikiLeaks published thousands of classified documents that shed light on alleged war crimes committed by American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He faces up to 175 years in solitary confinement inside a top security American prison if convicted in the United States.