By Consortium News
UPDATED: WikiLeaks lawyer Jen
Robinson said Lady Emma Arbuthnot, the
judge presiding over Julian Assange’s
extradition proceedings who is embroiled
in a
conflict of interest,
will no longer be sitting on the case.
November 16, 2019 "Information
Clearing House" - Lady
Emma Arbuthnot,
the Westminster chief magistrate enmeshed in a
conflict of interest,
will no longer be presiding over the extradition
proceedings of imprisoned WikiLeaks
publisher Julian Assange, said WikiLeaks
lawyer Jen Robinson, at an event in Sydney on Friday
night .
“Yes, there was some controversy about her sitting
on the case,” Robinson said. “She won’t be sitting
on the case going forward.” Robinson told
Australian journalist Quentin Dempster at the event
that she was “not sure” who would take over from
Arbuthnot.
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Robinson made her remarks in response to a question
from the audience about Arbuthnot’s reported
conflict of interest in the case. Robinson did not
provide further details. She spoke in future tense,
but it is not clear if she was referring to
Arbuthnot maintaining supervision of the case while
turning over the courtroom duties to another judge,
which she did weeks ago, retaining the right to
influence rulings, or whether Arbuthnot has recused
herself from the case.
Consortium News
has contacted Robinson to provide clarification.
On Thursday, Matt
Kennard and Mark Curtis of the Daily Maverick reported:
“Lady Arbuthnot has recently appointed a district
judge to rule on Assange’s extradition case, but
remains the supervising legal figure in the process.
According to the UK courts service, the chief
magistrate is
‘responsible for… supporting and guiding district
judge colleagues.’”
The report said that
Arbuthnot’s husband, Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom, a
former British defense minister, “has financial
links to the British military establishment,
including institutions and individuals exposed by
WikiLeaks.” It said the judge herself had also
received gifts “including from a military and
cybersecurity company exposed by WikiLeaks.”
The Daily Maverick
reported
further on Friday:
“The son of Lady
Emma Arbuthnot, the Westminster chief magistrate
overseeing the extradition proceedings of Julian
Assange, is the vice-president and
cyber-security adviser of a firm heavily
invested in a company founded by GCHQ and MI5
which seeks to stop data leaks, it can be
revealed.
Alexander
Arbuthnot’s employer, the private equity firm
Vitruvian Partners, has a multimillion-pound
investment in Darktrace, a cyber-security
company which is also staffed by officials
recruited directly from the US National Security
Agency (NSA) and the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA).
These intelligence
agencies are behind the US government’s
prosecution of Julian Assange for publishing
secret documents. Darktrace has also had access
to two former UK prime ministers and former US
President Barack Obama.
The revelations
raise further concerns about potential conflicts
of interests and appearance of bias concerning
Lady Arbuthnot and the ties of her family
members to the UK and US military and
intelligence establishments. Lady Arbuthnot’s
husband is Lord James Arbuthnot, a former UK
defence minister who has extensive links to the
UK military community.
As far as is known,
Lady Arbuthnot has failed to disclose any
potential conflicts of interest in her role
overseeing Assange’s case. However, UK legal
guidance states
that “any conflict of interest in a litigious
situation must be declared.’”
This article was originally published by "Consortium
News" - -
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==See Also==
Declassified UK: The son of Julian
Assange’s judge is linked to UK intelligence establishment, staffed by officials
recruited from US intelligence agencies
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