22 May 2024

The arguments were now at a close after just ninety minutes. Judge Sharp rose
and said she and Judge Johnson would return in ten minutes to explain what would
happen next.

In the end it took twenty minutes. When she returned, Judge Sharp had on her
most solemn face. She started off by saying that everybody should listen to
their decision in silence, and if anybody thought they could not do that, they
should leave the court now.

I have to confess, I worried. If they now ruled against Julian, extradition
could be immediate. He could literally be whisked straight to a military
airfield. Was Judge Sharp expecting protest?

Very quickly the fears were allayed. Sharp stated simply that the right to
appeal had been granted on grounds 4 and 5 of the applications - i.e. Freedom of
Speech and Discrimination by Nationality. She also stated explicitly that the
right to appeal applied to every count of the indictment, thus rejecting Lewis's
argument that some of the charges could not attract a freedom of speech defence.

The parties were given until 24 May to submit a joint memorandum on procedure
and timetabling for the appeal hearing.

It is very important to understand that all of the other issues have fallen away
and cannot be reintroduced. We are now down to the one narrow point on freedom
of speech and discrimination by nationality. But I do not see how the United
States escapes from this corner.

At the substantive appeal hearing, the issue, the arguments and the case law
will all be exactly the same as at this preliminary hearing. The only difference
will be the burden of proof. Here the defence only had to show there was an
arguable case of discrimination. At the substantive hearing they will have to
prove it is a winning argument.

But given the performances here and the fact the judges took only several
minutes - when everyone was expecting at least several days - to reject the US
prosecution arguments, I do not see how the USA can now win this.
-- Cont'd at https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2024/05/the-turning-of-the-tide/