LIVE UPDATES: ASSANGE HEARING DAY SIXTEEN-Anonymous Witnesses to Detail
Alleged CIA Plot to Kill Assange
September 29, 2020
Consortium News is virtually "inside" the courtroom at Old Bailey, viewing
the proceedings by video-link and will file updates throughout Day Sixteen
of Julian Assange's resumed extradition hearing.
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
2:30 pm EDT: Judge Vanessa Baraitser has granted anonymity to two witness
from the UC Global Spanish security firm to have their testimony read in
court on Thursday regarding an alleged Central Intelligence Agency plot to
either kidnap or poison Julian Assange.
The two witnesses have already testified under protection in a Spanish court
case against David Morales, founder and director of UC Global. The company
was hired by the Ecuadorian government to provide security at its London
embassy, where Assange lived for seven years until his arrest last year.
According to press reports the witnesses testimony detailed how Morales was
working with "American friends," allegedly the CIA, to stream 24/7 video and
audio from Assange's chamber to the United States, including surveillance of
Assange's privileged conversations with his lawyers.
That would mean the government prosecuting Assange had eavesdropped on his
defense preparations, an offense that would normally get its case thrown out
of court.
The Spanish witnesses sought the same protection from Baraitser's court that
they enjoy in the Spanish court because of fear of retaliation from Morales.
Spanish police raided his home and found loaded arms with their serial
numbers filed off.
James Lewis QC, representing the U.S. government told the court he could not
get instructions from the Department of Justice on whether to challenge the
testimony on Thursday because of a "Chinese Wall" that is supposed to be
between the DOJ and other federal agencies, such as the CIA, to prevent
prosecutions from being politically motivated. (It is a a wall that has
holes. We've heard testimony in this case about that).
So there is the specter of damning testimony being read in Assange's
extradition case about the Central Intelligence Agency planning to kidnap or
poison Assange that will go unchallenged by the U.S. The prosecution will
be informed of the witnesses' identities and has 24 hours to vet the
witnesses.
Thursday should be the most explosive and perhaps most decisive day during
this proceeding.
8:10 am EDT: Just before lunch break the defense said it wanted to call
anonymous witnesses. Judge Vanessa Baraitser said she would determine
whether to accept anonymity when the court resumes.
In the morning session, Maureen Baird, former warden at the Metropolitan
Correctional Center (MCC) in Manhattan, testified that she believes Assange
would be put in isolation under Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) both
pre-trial in Alexander Detention Center and if Assange is convicted, in ADX
Florence, Colorado.
She said she based that belief on what U.S. Assistant Attorney Gordon
Kromberg had written about SAMs in relation to Assange. Baird, who oversaw
solitary confinement with SAMs at the MCC for up to 15 prisoners, said the
government usually doesn't mention SAMs in if they don't intend to use them.
In her experience, SAMs meant an inmate would be in his or her cell for 23
to 24 hours a day, would be let out once a day to an adjacent room where
they could, in Kromberg's words, "self-recreate" and would only be allowed
one 30-minute or two 15-minute phone calls a month with approved family
members.
Such calls had to be arranged two weeks in advance to get an FBI agent and
if needed, an interpreter, in place to monitor the calls. She contested
Kromberg's assertion that there was "free-flowing" mail service, saying each
piece of mail was screened, meaning a piece of mail could take months to be
delivered.
She said contact with other prisoners was strictly prohibited. Baird said
the number of prisoners under SAMs in the Manhattan facility increased after
9/11, "when everything changed" in the prison system. SAMs came into being
after the Oklahoma City bombing.
She said that SAMs was a directive from the Attorney General and thus its
implementation could not be modified at individual prisons. SAMs was the
same wherever it existed in the U.S., she said. She said she learned of SAMs
in other prisons when speaking with other wardens at national conferences.
"Mr. Kromberg suggested that when an inmate has twice a year review he can
challenge SAMs with a case manager, but as a case manager myself I saw that
nothing is going to happen," Baird said. "A case manager has no authority to
make any changes to SAMs."
Baird testified that while SAMs in solitary confinement as not supposed to
be punitive, but only to keep a prisoner from communicating with the outside
world for "national security" reasons-whether for terrorism or
espionage-that in effect being held under SAMs amounted to punishment.
She said it can lead to "severe depression in isolation, anxiety, paranoia,
weight loss," and is generally detrimental to mental health.
Fitzgerald asked her whether a prisoner subjected to SAMs could be
hospitalized if needed. "You would have to be almost dying to go to the
medical center," she said.
Baird also contested Kromberg's contention that there were group programs
for someone on SAMs. "They may get an extra phone calls," but "I don't see
where or how that happens because it defeats the entire premise of SAMs.
MORE
5:05 am EDT: Court is in session. First defense witness is Maureen Baird,
former warden at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Manhattan.
