LONDON: A lawyer for Julian Assange on Monday claimed the United States’ bid to extradite him is part of President Donald Trump’s war on leakers and journalists, as the WikiLeaks founder’s full extradition hearing opened in Britain.

Julian Assange faces charges under the US Espionage Act for the 2010 release by his anti-secrecy website of a trove of files detailing the realities of US military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Julian Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson addresses the media at the end of day 1. #AssangeCase @SBSNews pic.twitter.com/c4zEjw68e4 — Ben Lewis (@benlewismedia) February 24, 2020

He spent much of the past decade holed up in Ecuador’s London embassy to avoid separate legal proceedings in Sweden, but Washington is now seeking his transfer to stand trial.

His lawyer Edward Fitzgerald argued the charges were politically motivated and that the US had reversed a 2013 decision not to charge Assange because Trump wanted to make an example of him.

President Trump came into power with a new approach to the freedom of the press, amounting effectively to declaring war on investigative journalists, he told a packed courtroom in southeast London.

Fitzgerald said his client was the obvious symbol of all that Trump condemned and that charging him for publishing state secrets was unprecedented.

The prosecution is being pursued ulterior political motives and not in good faith, he added. It is directed at him because of the political opinions he holds and that have guided his actions.

Assange sat impassively inside Woolwich Crown Court as a lawyer for the United States accused him of risking the lives of intelligence sources by publishing classified US government documents.

Also read: Trump plans to raise the issue of religious freedom with PM Modi during a two-day visit to India.

The United States is aware of sources whose unredacted names and/or other identifying information was contained in classified documents published by Wikileaks who subsequently disappeared, he said.

However, he noted the United States could not prove that their disappearances were directly linked to WikiLeaks.

Julian Assange is no journalist, Lewis added.

Protesters

Dozens of protesters gathered throughout the day outside the court, next to the high-security Belmarsh prison where Assange is being held, holding up banners and chanting loudly.

At one point during the proceedings Julian Assange, wearing a dark grey blazer and sweater over a white shirt and flanked by two security personnel, complained he was having difficulty concentrating due to the demonstrators’ noise.

I’m very appreciative of the public support, he said. I do understand that they must be disgusted by these proceedings.

WikiLeaks initially worked with a string of high-profile newspapers to publish details from the leaked State Department and Pentagon files, which caused a sensation and outrage in Washington.

One video from 2007 showed an Apache helicopter attack in which US soldiers gunned down two Reuters reporters and nine Iraqi civilians in broad daylight in Baghdad.

But after falling out with their editors, WikiLeaks released hundreds of thousands of documents in their original form including the secret identities of diplomats and local sources.

Assange, 48, could be jailed for 175 years if convicted on all 17 Espionage Act charges and one count of computer hacking that he faces.

It is the most serious phase of a long-running legal saga.

In 2010, Assange was accused of sexual assault and rape in Sweden, allegations he consistently denied. After a legal battle, it was ordered by a British judge to be extradited there.

Also read: U.S. border officials find a human brain in the package shipped from Canada.

To avoid extradition, he claimed asylum in Ecuador’s London embassy, where he spent seven years until Quito gave him up last year following a change of government.

The Swedish investigation has since been dropped.

Assange has since served a jail term for breaching his UK police bail but remains in Belmarsh prison awaiting the US extradition case.

Trump claim

In a new twist last week, Assange’s defense team claimed Trump promised to issue a pardon if Assange denied Russia leaked the emails of his 2016 election rival’s campaign although Assange has always denied that Russia had any part in the affair.

The White House called the claim another never-ending hoax and total lie but a judge agreed to add it to the case file.

In his courtroom remarks Monday, Fitzgerald said the US had used the threat of prosecution as extortion.

Noting Trump’s denial of a pre-emptive pardon offer, he added: Well he would, wouldn’t he?

Fitzgerald also detailed the testimony of a whistleblower witness two in Spain who worked at the company providing private security at the Ecuadoran embassy in London and allegedly set up a spying operation on Assange for the United States.

The lawyer said he plans to apply for the whistleblower’s evidence to be heard.