or team's biggest differences on medical grounds while he spent nearly a year and a half in the belmarsh prison without presenting any evidence in court his health has been significantly deteriorating and he's been in and out of the medical ward belmarsh prison and in some court hearings he has not been able to be physically present due to his you know how i would also see the allegations even of torture within the belmarsh prison so that is a key line of defense for june a sarge and his legal team that will say he is not fit enough to go to the united states to face trial but also they will contend that the u.s. is seeking to prosecute your innocent for political offenses and that would exempt him from extradition according to the u.k. u.s. extradition treaty but the prosecution team will try to establish that you know saunders actions were not politically motivated and that he endangered lives by our releasing and publishing one of these classified top secret documents now we are just at day one of this week hearing is expected to last at least a month and will eventually decide whethe

he has been at the belmarsh prison for a year and a half and under lockdown because of covid. can you describe what it is like to see him now for the first time and what these charges are against him, including the new ones that were just brought? good morning, amy. timew julian for the first in six months as result of the covid. he has been incredibly isolated in prison. it was surprising to us he had lost a lot of weight. we have been tuning concerns about his health given the long-term impacts of being both inside the embassy and now in a high-security prison in the circumstances. you mentioned in your opening we have had not one but two indictments. he was arrested on a second indictment monday the department of justice issued in june. we were first told, no difference and now we are told those new allegations, which include allegations related to an episode providing assistance to the nsa whistleblower edward snowden, now are part of the case. this is part of what we say the u.s. government is trying to shift the goalpost, as it were. we heard from our defense counseling

prison for skipping bail back in 2012 but he has spent over a year and a half at the belmarsh prison and in fact not once has been any evidence has been presented in court now at this 11th hour last ditch effort we've seen a german m.p. called on the german government to now provide you in a song for the political asylum i call in the german government to julian assange political asylum in germany all within the european union and i ask my government if the german government can bring the russian alexina vanya to the shower to hospital in berlin why doesn't it make the same offer to the seriously ill to get a song on the key point for genocide just defense team is they'll go down the medical groups ground of course when julian was silent was at the belmarsh prison he was back and forth in and out of the medical ward he has been incredibly on well many people say his health has been deteriorating over the last few years and for many of the court proceedings he is not able to be there physically as well so his team would argue he's unfit to travel to the u.s. to face trial over in amer

prison for skipping bell back in 2012 but he has spent over a year and a half at the belmarsh prison and in fact not once has been any evidence has been presented in court now at this 11th hour last ditch effort we've seen a german m.p. called on the german government to now provide children a staunch with the political asylum. i call on the german government to julian assange political asylum in germany all within the european union and i ask my government if the german government can bring the russian to the shower to hospital in berlin why doesn't it make the same offer to the seriously ill julian assange. well already on day one of the extradition hearing we already have some key developments firstly the noise have informed the court that they've not been able to see judas are just the 1st time in 6 months we also understand that you're in a science has been sucked in a glass box very similar to the proceedings earlier this year in february just before the covert 19 pandemic that time you said he couldn't hear properly and almost compared to myself to nothing more than a spectato

prison for. 2012 of those that sentence has now things still you know so it was in belmarsh prison for now nearly over a year. and that's much to do with his silence his defense in court today that not only is this an obstruction of justice but also his health is really at the crux and core of this case as well because we know that's how it's been deteriorating over the past few years he's been in and out of the medical board belmarsh prison and his. who is would even argue that he's to on well to face trial in the united states we also understand that unison just noir has informed the court that this is the 1st time that they've seen him in the last 6 months we also understand that your innocence has been locked behind a glass box and yet again the last time back in february he was behind a glass box he complained that he was nothing more than a spectator at wimbledon and that he couldn't even hear the proceedings on his own case himself on top of that you're innocent just was also contend that the u.s. is seeking to prosecute for political offenses and that for years exempt from extr

prison for skipping back in 2012 he has sentenced but he is still being holed up in the belmarsh prison and that is the creation of around one and a half years in prison still to date no evidence being presented in court today is a really really important day for julian assange one of which the legal team is offensive to this assertion i say not just this in obstruction to justice but also his health is at the will of this very case because he has been in belmarsh prison for such a long time he's been in and out of the medical ward besser it's a huge part of the legal defense there in fact that they will also say that he is unfit to travel to the u.s. to face trial and contend that the u.s. is seeking to prosecute. for political offenses and therefore he would be exempt from extradition according to the u.k. and u.s. extradition treaty but prosecutors on the other hand trying to stop this that the crimes which the united states seeks to consolidate also equipment here in the u.k. and that judas are just options would not political and therefore he should face trial over that plus of cou

even though he's now said that sentence he was still kept in belmarsh prison it might want to. look at it evidence was a bit presented in court so this is going on vacation of imprisonment as one of 2 of us on this nichols. point all defense not just one obstruction of justice but also to the serious over the prostitute is in and out of the water out belmarsh prison so the team would get to the subject not in a fit state to face trial in the united states they will also contend that the u.s. is seeking to prosecute. a political offense as a whole that was september attacks addition to that u.k. u.s. extradition treaty however prosecutors would actually argue that these political aspects of the. laws by publishing these classified documents is a very complex case of the. this case of. the week that was mentioned those are going to college despite the campaign is outside the old bailey a day that we've been saying that the. campaign of the truth justice they all feel that it's not just you know such an adult to. read about. right let's all take him down as well that right that i'

a 52 week sentence at the belmarsh prison for skipping bell and 20 trout but what we're seeing now is that a german m.p. is urging the german government to actually brought him from its politicized. i cool of the german government to also julian assange political asylum in germany within the european union my government if the german government can bring the russian alexina vanya to the shard to listen why doesn't it make the same also it's the seriously ill to get a song. boat to the solyndra legal teams launches defenses may need based on his how not just this one patient of imprisonment being an obstruction of justice but also having a devastating impact on his health those well we know he's been in and out of the medical board out belmarsh prison many of his book receiving coming to the link is on the on a bit of a technology for the face of the being physically present if you are the well to be that aspect today that we're hearing that from judas on his noise doesn't hold up to the blood line that they feel in the present with that noise in the last 6 months and we know that your

that political asylum status and british authorities came in and ousted him and brought him to the belmarshrison co t the high-security prison in britain. the w would like to focus on larger implicationons of this ce since we only have a minute or two. the amamerican p press has remad in a statef denial for r 40 yearars, really, since my case. the e espionage e act has wordin ithahaca be aimed d directly ate jojournalists and pubublishers. until this c case, it is not doe so. now the american press is starining down t the barrel at e againsthe espionage a a american jouournalists a and blisishers werere doing journasmsm, for doining what t y do best at their bestt every da, get information thehe govnment doesn't want known to the public because of their wngdoing, there lies, their creses, whatever -- there are a lot ofof osose. at i is what is maly the secrecy system is intended to protect indefinitely. it i inot only american urnalilis, although the ameranan first amendndnt is at ake at ts right now and being attaeded. ifif juln iss exadited, it will leado prprosution here and probably con

observations by the un ruppert there on torture who detailed what he saw as torture of julian assange belmarsh prison the government also said judges are imposed and independent from government with any judgement based solely on the facts of the case and the a political lord of course u.k. prime minister boris johnson in a softer the break is respect to a man who knows all about wrongful detention talk he is of one of the exonerated central park 5 you spent over 70 is in juvenile detention for a crime he didn't commit and whose story is dramatized in netflix is a wall. winning show when they see us. was a pandemic no certainly no borders and just plotting to nationalities. has emerged with the we don't look like the whole world to. judge a. commentary crisis like this. we can do better we should. everyone is contributing it's your own way but we also know that this crisis will not go on forever the challenge is creating the response has been masked so many good people are helping us. it makes us feel very proud that we are in it together. you just have to fly between 2. enders fast as you can'

observations by the un repertoire on torture who detailed what he saw as torture of julian assange belmarsh prison the government also said judges are impartial and independent from government with any judgement based solely on the facts of the case and the a political law and of course u.k. prime minister boris johnson has previously said it's only right that julian assange finally faces justice joins us after the break as we speak to a man who knows all about wrongful detention talk to years of salaam one of the exonerated central park 5 you spent almost 7 years in juvenile detention for a crime he didn't commit and whose story is dramatized in netflix's award winning show when they see us. so we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy confrontation let it be an arms race. spearing dramatic development the only thing i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time to sit down and talk. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to get out of the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll s

after his arrest, assange was taken to belmarsh prison and sentenced to 50 weeks for skipping bail.es wants him sent there to face serious chances of attempted hacking and publishing secret material. and the reasons for that go back a whole decade. in 2010, the website assange founded, wikilea ks, published this video of a us apache helicopter in iraq. the footage shows 12 people being killed, including two reuters journalists. the file was leaked by chelsea manning, a former us army officer. it was just one small part of a huge cache of documents and diplomatic cables she passed to wikileaks. manning was later imprisoned on spying charges and has refused to testify againstjulian assange. i will not co—operate with this or any other grand jury. the us authorities now want to prosecute the wikilea ks founder on 18 separate charges. he is accused of trying to help manning access the pentagon computer network and of violating the us espionage acts by publishing secret material, including the full names of informants and sources. wikileaks said it only publish the full raw data after tw

the 49—year—old was brought to the central criminal court in a prison van from high security belmarshof hundreds of thousands of classified documents. there's been an increase in train services in england, wales and scotland, as schools reopen and people are encouraged to return to work. services are returning to around 90% of pre—pandemic capacity, with passenger numbers now back to about one—third of normal levels. our business correspondent theo leggett reports. the daily commute is coming back. from today, rail companies will be operating something close to a full service. commuting by train these days is very different from how it used to be, yet these passengers arriving at london liverpool street this morning seemed unconcerned. they have barriered off certain seats you cannot sit at, so it's maintaining spaces between everyone on the trains. i think you just have to get out, and then once you get out you kind of get rid of your fears. the new timetable has been designed to allow more people to travel while maintaining a degree of social distancing. although there still won't b