Hacker News Reader

Comment by Tomte | Hacker News Reader

The article is about England...

Why have you been downvoted? You are correct. This extradition hearing, and the alleged mistreatment of Mr. Assange, is taking place in London under British authorities.

From the day 1 proceedings [0]:

> Normal courts in this country are public buildings, deliberately placed by our ancestors right in the centre of towns, almost always just up a few steps from a main street. The major purpose of their positioning and of their architecture was to facilitate public access in the belief that it is vital that justice can be seen by the public... When enquiring about facilities for the public to attend the hearing, an Assange activist was told by a member of court staff that we should realise that Woolwich is a “counter-terrorism court”. That is true de facto, but in truth a “counter-terrorism court” is an institution unknown to the UK constitution. Indeed, if a single day at Woolwich Crown Court does not convince you the existence of liberal democracy is now a lie, then your mind must be very closed indeed.

Something very fishy is going on here, it seems. So while the proceedings might appear to be above board, it seems that Mr Murray (the reporter here) is convinced of otherwise:

> It’s the Lubyanka.

[0] https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/02/your-man-in-...

Several famous courts are or were historically attached to prisons in the UK, eg Lancaster Assizes which were connected to a prison inside Lancaster Castle and were frequently used for high security trials. The Old Bailey (the Central Criminal Court) is built in the former Newgate Prison.

I don't think this is anything to be concerned about - and I believe building courts attached to prisons where people are held pending arraignment or trial is common practice in many countries for the same practical reasons, including some which are arguably in the interests of the defendants (it facilitates a speedy trial for example and can offer them and their defence team better physical security where they might be widely hated eg terrorist suspects or high profile murder trials).

if we are splitting hairs, it's not England but the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

There is a legal jurisdiction called England (or England and Wales), though. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own separate legal systems (Wales is pretty close to identical to English law and for most purposes England and Wales are the same jurisdiction, NI is quite similar to English law and Scotland is quite different).

I'm not sure if it's quite as distinct here where it's an extradition hearing though.

I think it goes without saying that the UK is becoming less and less the kind of place that any freedom-loving person would want to visit. Living in Europe, I am aware of a number of people who have decided to have nothing more to do with the place, and these are wealthy, educated, business leaders.

I can't imagine where this is going to lead if Assange is not freed as a result of these proceedings. We are watching the West eat itself.

There have been significant cutbacks in the criminal justice system in England and Wales over the last decade or so - ironically by the party of "law and order".

I can strongly recommend the book by the Secret Barrister:

https://thesecretbarrister.com/

>Woolwich Crown Court

".. if a single day at Woolwich Crown Court does not convince you the existence of liberal democracy is now a lie, then your mind must be very closed indeed."

I can’t imagine freedom-loving people choosing to live in hateful, racist places that are found all over Europe.

https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2018/being-black-eu#Tab...

Perhaps Europe could learn a thing or two from US culture.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com