Julian Assange has arrived in the dock at the Old Bailey ahead of a rulign on whether he can be extradited to the US
Mask on. Suit and tie.
Has just stood up to give name and Date of Birth

District Judge Judge Vanessa Baraitser is speaking now. Has prepared a written judgement.
She won't read it all out, but says she will "touch" on some of the issues

The judge is focusing now on reported interactions between #Assange and Chelsea Manning, then a US army intelligence analyst, in 2010.
She refers to Assange's alleged comment to manning:
"Curious eyes never run dry in my experience.”

The judge said sending #assange to the US wouldn't breach a bar on extradition for 'political offences' She says his activities with Manning "went beyond the mere encouragement of a journalist"

One after another, the Judge is knocking down and rejecting arguments put forward by lawyers for #assange. Appears to be heading in one direction.

Judge says she found that the impact any extradition of Julian #Assange to the US would have on his partner and children is “sadly nothing out of the ordinary in the context of extradition proceedings”

Judge: The jury in a US case would be drawn from a pool that could include potentially millions of people and the US has measures in place to ensure impartiality
#assange

She found no credible assertions to back up suggestions that the US DoJ are intent on punishing #assange as harshly as possible.
In short, she had no reason to doubt that "the usual constitiutional & procedural protections" would be applied to a trial to ensure it was fair

Judge rejects suggestions that as a foreign national #Assange would not have constitutional protections
“This court trusts that a US court will proerly consider Mr Assange's right to free speech”
The courtroom camera has panned to him. He's sitting with his hands clasped on lap.

Judge is returning now to health of Julian #assange and accepts medical witness evidence, including that he has been significantly depressed in prison.
"The overall impression is of a depressed and somtimes despairing man who is genuinly depressed about his future"

Judge turns to likely conditions in US prison: "I considered there would be a real risk he would be detained subject to special administrative measures in the US"

Refers to comments by US SoC Mike Pompeo and reports that US viewed Wikileaks as an ongoing threat to national security. She also considered there to be a real risk that Assange would be held after trial in a so-called Supermax prison

Assange would be forbidden from commnuicating with other prisoners and a level of isolation would be maintained