Julian Assange 'denied access' to lawyers in UK
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Source: PA Images
UK prison authorities are restricting Julian Assange's access to legal counsel as the Wikileaks founder prepares for his extradition trial, his lawyers say.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is being denied access to his lawyers by British prison officials, a court has heard.
The Australian appeared cleanly-shaven and dressed in a navy suit and grey t-shirt in Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday for an administrative hearing.
He's been charged in the US with 17 counts of spying and one count of computer hacking in relation to WikiLeaks' release of thousands of classified Pentagon files regarding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, most of which were allegedly provided by former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
Julian Assange gestures to the media from a police vehicle on his arrival at Westminster Magistrates court.
Getty Images Europe
Assange's supporters in the public gallery, who included British rapper M.I.A., silently waved and raised fists to him and he smiled and nodded before giving them a two-fingered salute.
District Judge Vanessa Baraitser told defence lawyer Gareth Pierce her team would only be given one hour to serve evidence to Assange due to a backlog of 47 people in holding cells at the courthouse.
"It set us back in our timetable enormously," Ms Pierce told the court.
"We will do our best but this slippage in the timetable is extremely worrying."
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She said her client had only been allowed two hours with his legal team since he last appeared in court in December.
Ms Pierce described how the administration of Belmarsh prison, where he's being held, had been obstructing access to her client to the point where even US government lawyers had even been trying to assist.
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She warned that denying Assange his "human right" to legal access was nearing the possibility of requiring a judicial review.
Judge Baraitser adjourned the case until later on Monday afternoon in the same court to allow the defence team to review case evidence with Assange.
Source AAP - SBS
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