During a telephone enquiry with Westminster Magistrates Court regarding legal developments widely reported about the Julian Assange case, I discovered that a previously unknown Case Management Court hearing would take place on Friday the 20th of September at 10 am. The Court Clerk could not give me any particular information other than the hearing was scheduled. My enquiries on the subject via e-mail to the Extradition Unit of the Westminster Magistrates Court gave no fruit as I received no reply. Still, I shared the information on twitter which prompted a small number of supporters to turn up on the day to check what was developing at the courts.

Here is what one of them Joe Brack had to say about the experience of attending the public hearing on Friday the 20th of September to keep up with development on the Julian Assange case.

I asked him to report for this blog, here is what he said:

20 Sept 2019
Julian Assange v Crown
Westminster Magistrates Court
Judge Lucy (to be confirmed)
Case Management Hearing

Four members of the Public in including JA supporters gained entry to Court 3 where the CPS lawyer mumbled Julian’s name, and Judge Lucy mumbled a response. Case over. What was agreed remains unclear. Julian’s lawyers were absent and no court official was aware of any detail. Two supporters were refused entry, being told the case was over(a lie) . It appears Julian case management was conducted serupticiously and with little or no public record.

The CPS acts in concert with the judiciary to thwart Julian Assange’s human rights, a right to a fair hearing, the right to legal representation and open and transparent justice.

Meanwhile outside there was some engagement with the public. One very informed lady knew of Julian’s plight and was very supportive. One gentleman looked at the Julian poster a made a cut throat gesture. Not sure if this was a criticism of US extradition or something sinister?

Another farcical misrule of law.

Joe, EF Press

Earlier that day outside the Court:

It is imperative that the Courts remain open to the public, as I wrote to my open letter to Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday 16th of September:

Perhaps it might be a good thing for the Extradition Unit to be issuing press releases on the Julian Assange case for the public to understand what is going on with the matter.

As the Courage Foundation reports:

An administrative hearing in Assange’s case is scheduled for 11 October at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, and a status update hearing is scheduled for 21 October.

Let’s do our best to attend these hearings and report back to the public any developments that come to our attention.