Julian Assange supporters march after two-day hearing in London

(21 Feb 2024) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS London, UK - 21 February 2024 1. Various of supporters of founder of Wikileaks Julian Assange, outside court as session ends 2. Wide of Stella Assange, wife of Julian Assange, and others at start of march, holding banner 3. Close of Stella Assange 4. Wide of start of march 5. Various of protesters marching holding signs and banners 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Simon Crowther, legal adviser, Amnesty International: "Today the U.S. legal team were responding to the arguments that were made by Julian Assange's legal team yesterday, and they were firstly arguing that it doesn't matter whether or not this case was political, that actually the UK is obliged to extradite either way. This is really a deeply flawed argument for two reasons. One is that Julian Assange was doing something that publishers and journalists do all the time. They receive classified material from a confidential source that exposes war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture, really grave issues in the public interest, and they publish them. And to prosecute a journalist under the guise of an Espionage Act for doing something like this is inherently political. The second reason why this is really quite a flawed argument for the US to make, is that there's an agreement between the US and the UK. There's a mutual extradition agreement, and it's absolutely clear that political offences can't be the subject of extradition request." 7. Various of protesters arriving in front of Downing Street ++NIGHT SHOTS++ 8. Stella Assange getting onto the stage 9. SOUNDBITE (English) Stella Assange, wife of Julian Assange: "Everything turns on the outcome of this case, whether states can criminalize journalism and put journalists in prison like they've been doing in the UK with an Australian citizen, a publisher who's won many, many awards for his journalism. And they've stuck him in the deepest, darkest hole of the UK prison system and threaten, and the US threatens to put him in the deepest, darkest hole of the US prison system for 175 years." 10. Various of crowds 11. "Free Assange" message being projected on building near Downing Street STORYLINE: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's supporters marched to 10 Downing Street as the UK High Court concluded a two-day hearing on whether to grant him a new appeal against his extradition to the United States. Assange won't find out until next month at the earliest whether he can challenge extradition to the U.S. on spying charges, or if his long legal battle in Britain has run out of road. Two High Court judges said Wednesday they would take time to consider their verdict after a two-day hearing in which Assange's lawyers argued sending him to the United States would risk a “flagrant denial of justice." Attorneys for the U.S., where Assange has been indicted on espionage charges, said he put innocent lives at risk and went beyond journalism in his bid to solicit, steal and indiscriminately publish classified U.S. government documents. Assange’s lawyers argued on the first day of the hearing on Tuesday that American authorities are seeking to punish him for WikiLeaks’ “exposure of criminality on the part of the U.S. government on an unprecedented scale,” including torture and killings. The lawyers asked the High Court to grant him a new appeal — his last roll of the legal dice in the saga that has kept him in a British high-security prison for the past five years. The judges overseeing the case reserved their decision, and a ruling on Assange's future is not expected until March at the earliest. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...