Julian Assange should be used as a pawn in the growing diplomatic row over the death of Harry Dunn, the teenager’s family have told Dominic Raab.
The Mail on Sunday can reveal that, in a meeting with the Foreign Secretary last month, the family demanded that Britain refuse a US extradition request for WikiLeaks founder Assange.
And they claim Mr Raab told them he was ‘reviewing all options’.
Relations between the family and the Government have cooled following this newspaper’s revelation that American fugitive Anne Sacoolas – who fled the country despite accepting responsibility for Harry’s death in a road accident last year – was a CIA agent.
Harry Dunn’s family demanded that Britain refuse a US extradition request for WikiLeaks founder Assange until Anne Sacoolas (right) is back in the UK during a meeting with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab last month. Harry, 19, is pictured left
Last month Washington refused a UK extradition request for Sacoolas to return to Britain to face justice over the crash outside a US spy base in Northamptonshire last August.
Her career in espionage is believed to be behind American officials’ blank refusal to send her back to Britain, but the family say they have been ‘misled’.
They are challenging the Government’s legal view that Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity in the High Court and have accused British officials of giving the police incorrect advice that allowed her to escape the country, and then of mounting a ‘cover-up’.
Dissident hacker Assange, who faces 175 years in prison in the US if found guilty of 18 national security charges, is due in Woolwich Crown Court tomorrow as the Government begins the process of handing him over to the Americans.
After spending nearly seven years holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Assange was arrested last April and has been detained at Belmarsh prison since.
But even if the UK courts approve his deportation, Home Secretary Priti Patel can over-rule them, and she is under mounting pressure to link his case to that of Sacoolas.
Dissident hacker Assange (pictured in January), who faces 175 years in prison in the US if found guilty of 18 national security charges, is due in Woolwich Crown Court tomorrow as the Government begins the process of handing him over to the Americans
Harry’s family claim Mr Raab told them he was ‘reviewing all options’ when they made the extradition demands. Allies of the Foreign Secretary admitted the Assange case had been raised by the at the meeting but insisted the two cases could not be linked
Harry’s family have demanded that ‘the UK authorities block any further extraditions to the US, including the one of Julian Assange, until such time as Anne Sacoolas is extradited and back on UK soil facing the justice system here’.
Their lawyer and adviser Radd Seiger said: ‘Despite its disgraceful refusal to extradite Anne Sacoolas, the US continues to seek the extradition of people in the UK such as Julian Assange. In doing so, they are demonstrating an extraordinary amount of hypocrisy.’
He added: ‘As Dominic Raab told us when we met with him on January 27, “we are reviewing all options”. We want him now to exercise the option of not extraditing Julian Assange to the US.’
Allies of Mr Raab admitted the Assange case had been raised by the Dunn family at the meeting but insisted the two cases could not be linked and extradition terms do not allow any ‘quid pro quo’. And a Cabinet Minister warned that blocking Assange’s extradition ‘would drop a nuclear bomb in an already frayed special relationship’.
The teenager’s family are challenging the Government’s legal view that Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity in the High Court and have accused British officials of giving the police incorrect advice that allowed her to escape the country (mother Charlotte Charles is seen left)
Separately, this newspaper can reveal that Mr Raab warned the family that Sacoolas’s links to the US government meant it was unlikely she would ever come back, but he stopped short of admitting she had been a spy. The family have branded the meeting ‘misleading’.
When asked by Harry’s father Tim if Sacoolas was ‘more than a spouse’ – after reports that her husband Jonathan was an intelligence officer – Mr Raab insisted she had merely previously worked for the US State Department. He said: ‘She was an official herself, well, she was at one point.’
Mr Raab went on to warn that Sacoolas’s links to the US government meant ‘she is one of theirs’, and ‘the shutters have gone down – I think it is as crude as that’.
It comes as the Foreign Affairs Select Committee today announces a parliamentary inquiry into diplomatic immunity and extradition. Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat said last night: ‘How are we going to rebalance our relationship?
‘We need those who could evade the law to stay and help families come to terms with their grief.
‘And we need balanced treaties so that Brits facing trial in the US are dealt with in exactly the same way as Americans accused of similar crimes in the UK.’
Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters and Vivienne Westwood join hundreds demanding Julian Assange is freed from jail and spared US extradition
By Harry Howard for MailOnline
Hundreds of people, including designer Vivienne Westwood and Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters, gathered in London on Saturday to protest against the extradition of Julian Assange and demand that he be released .
The Wikileaks founder has been held on remand in Belmarsh since last September after serving a 50-week jail sentence for breaching his bail conditions while he was in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
He entered the building in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex offence allegations, which he has always denied and were subsequently dropped.
Hundreds of people, including designer Vivienne Westwood and Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters, gathered in London to protest against the extradition of Julian Assange and demand that he be released
The Wikileaks founder has been held on remand in Belmarsh since last September after serving a 50-week jail sentence for breaching his bail conditions while he was in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Pictured left to right: Former Greek finance minister Yannis Varoufakis, Mrs Westwood, Wikileaks editor Kristinn Hrafnsonn, Mr Assange’s father John Shipton and singer Mr Waters
The 48-year-old is wanted in the US to face 18 charges, including conspiring to commit computer intrusion, over the publication of US cables a decade ago. If found guilty he could face up to 175 years in jail.
Amongst the crowds of protesters who gathered outside Australia house, was Mrs Westwood, 78, who was pictured wearing a head band emblazoned with the word ‘Angel’.
Also there was former Greek finance minister Yannis Varoufakis, 58, and musician Mr Waters, 76.
The 48-year-old is wanted in the US to face 18 charges, including conspiring to commit computer intrusion, over the publication of US cables a decade ago. If found guilty he could face up to 175 years in jail.
Amongst the crowds of protesters who have gathered outside Australia house, is Mrs Westwood, 78, who was pictured wearing a head band emblazoned with the word ‘Angel’.
Also there is former Greek finance minister Yannis Varoufakis, 58, and Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters, 76.
Mr Assange entered the building in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex offence allegations, which he has always denied and were subsequently dropped. Pictured: Mr Assange gestures to the media after he was taken to Westminster Magistrates court on leaving the embassy last year
The 48-year-old is wanted in the US to face 18 charges, including conspiring to commit computer intrusion, over the publication of US cables a decade ago. If found guilty he could face up to 175 years in jail. Pictured: One of the protesters at the gathering
Amongst the crowds of protesters who have gathered outside Australia house, is Mrs Westwood, 78, who was pictured wearing a head band emblazoned with the word ‘Angel’
Both men joined fashion designer Mrs Westwood, Mr Assange’s father John Shipton, and current Wikileaks editor Kristinn Hrafnsson in holding up a banner which read ‘Don’t extradite Assange’ in capital letters.
Other banners at the protest read ‘journalism is not a crime’, ‘free Julian Assange’, and ‘the truth will set you free’, although the latter had crossed out some of the words so it read, ‘the truth will get you jailed’.
Mr Assange’s father Mr Shipton gave a speech to crowds in Parliament Square.
He said: ‘I look over the crowd and see many familiar faces in the crowd and the press supporting Julian and I thank you.
‘I bring to you his affection, his nobility of purpose and his strength of character after nine years. I don’t really understand why Julian is in jail here.’
He described the imprisonment of the Wikileaks founder as ‘arbitrary detention.’
Also there is former Greek finance minister Yannis Varoufakis, 58, who was pictured amid the throngs of people
One of the banners read ‘Don’t extradite Assange’ and was emblazoned on the side of a van and also held up by Mrs Westwood, Mr Waters, Varoufakis Mr Assange’s father John Shipton, and current Wikileaks editor Kristinn Hrafnsson
Many protesters were wearing prisoner-style costumes and a series of masks, including one which depicted US President Donald Trump.
Speaking at the extradition protest, Sinthia Surace, 22, whose family fled the Sri Lanka civil war, said: ‘It took a lot of brave people to expose all the crimes impacting my community directly. That’s why I care about voices like Julian.
‘I don’t believe we should be punishing him for the wrong doings of the US government. He always says privacy for the citizen but transparency for the government, especially when it comes to human lives.’
Ms Surace said she believes ‘all the protesting and banging on HMP Belmarsh’s doors’ will make a difference for Assange.
Other banners at the protest read ‘journalism is not a crime’, ‘free Julian Assange’, and ‘the truth will set you free’, although the latter had crossed out some of the words so it read, ‘the truth will get you jailed’
Many protesters were wearing prisoner-style costumes and a series of masks, including one which depicted US President Donald Trump
The protesters gathered outside the doors of Australia House in central London and held placards, one of which read ‘crushing Assange is the start of the surveillance state’
The protest comes after Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell sparked fury from Jewish groups by comparing Mr Assange’s battle to evade extradition to the plight of a French soldier falsely accused of treason by anti-Semites.
The Labour shadow chancellor made the remark as he became the most senior politician to visit the Wikileaks founder in prison in London on Thursday.
He described US attempts to extradite the Australian as ‘the Dreyfus case of our age – a comparison with 19th Century French officer Alfred Dreyfus.
He was convicted of treason at an 1895 court martial on treason charges many felt were brought against him because he was Jewish.
Mrs Westwood has been a long-time supporter of Mr Assange and visited him when he was in the Ecuadorian embassy
Mr Assange’s father Mr Shipton (centre) gave a speech to crowds in Parliament Square. He said: ‘I look over the crowd and see many familiar faces in the crowd and the press supporting Julian and I thank you.’ Pictured: Wikileaks editor Mr Hrafnsonn, Mr Shipton, and Mrs Westwood
Veteran LGBT rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was also present at the protest. He held a poster which read: ‘No extradition! Julian Assange told the truth. He exposed US war crimes
He was later exonerated after a long campaign featuring intellectuals such as novelist Emile Zola, who wrote a famous denunciation of the prosecution case entitled J’Accuse (I accuse).
Labour has been engulfed by an anti-Semitism crisis under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and Mr McDonnell’s remarks prompted a furious backlash.
Karen Pollock, the chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: ‘Dreyfus was a French artillery officer falsely accused of treason because he was Jewish.
‘Go figure how or why John McDonnell could make such an inappropriate comparison with the Assange case. Outrageous, ridiculous and so deeply offensive.’
Mrs Westwood was also pictured speaking to media who had gathered to talk to protesters outside Australia House
Some of the protesters carried British and American flags which they handcuffed to themselves as they held posters and banners aloft
The protest comes after Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell sparked fury from Jewish groups by comparing Mr Assange’s battle to evade extradition to the plight of a French soldier falsely accused of treason by anti-Semites