Assange to Get Same Judge Who Sided with US on Appeal Over Medical Issues
October 21, 2021
The same judge that overturned an earlier High Court decision to exclude
Assange's health from the U.S. appeal will preside over the substantive
appeal hearing next week.
Lord Justice Timothy Holroyde
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
Lord Justice Timothy Holroyde, the High Court judge who reversed an earlier
court order to bar the U.S. from appealing Julian Assange's medical issues,
will preside over the substantive U.S. appeal hearing at the High Court next
week.
In January, lower court Judge Vanessa Baraitser refused the U.S. request to
extradite the WikiLeaks publisher because of his high risk of suicide and
the conditions of U.S. prisons. The U.S. applied to appeal that decision,
which was granted by the High Court in July. The court allowed three of five
grounds of appeal, excluding the matter of Assange's health.
The U.S. challenged that ruling and in an Aug. 11 High Court hearing,
Holroyde overturned the earlier court decision, siding with the U.S.
argument that Baraitser's finding on Assange's health could be appealed.
That will be the central argument in the two-day hearing beginning next
Wednesday at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. The U.S. says Assange is
not too ill to be extradited and has accused him of being a malingerer.
Joining Holroyde on the High Court bench will be Dame Judith Farbey, who
remained silent during the Aug. 11 hearing.
It is highly unusual for a judge who has already ruled in favor of one party
to continue on the bench, according to Consortium News legal analyst
Alexander Mercouris. In most cases, fresh judges would be brought in who
have had no part in earlier rulings for either side.
After the Aug. 11 hearing, Mercouris said Holroyde's "comments made it
clear" that he would not be part of the appeal panel. "If he does turn up
on the panel then that would be an extremely serious development," he said,
adding that it would be "open to legal challenge if he did." It is not known
at this time whether Assange's lawyers will challenge Holroyde's appointment
to the case.
After learning Holroyde would indeed oversee the hearing next week,
Mercouris said it was "extremely disturbing news" and "very worrying.
Nothing in this case is proceeding as it should do."
Holroyde is an exemplary product of the British establishment, which has its
own motives against Assange. He graduated from Bristol Grammar School and
studied law at Wadham College, Oxford. He became a Queen's Counselor in
1996, was appointed to the High Court in January 2009, was knighted in 2013
and admitted to the Privy Council in 2017.
