+ Reply to Thread
Page 9 of 31 FirstFirst 1 9 19 31 LastLast
Results 161 to 180 of 612

Thread: Current Wikileaks and Assange News & Releases

  1. Link to Post #161
    United States Avalon Member Arcturian108's Avatar
    Join Date
    9th August 2015
    Location
    Blue Ridge Mountains
    Language
    English
    Posts
    943
    Thanks
    9,912
    Thanked 8,329 times in 930 posts

    Default Re: Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

    I have written to Assange twice at Belmarsh Prison, and recently included a powerful symbol to help him heal. Here is the symbol I sent to him:
    https://www.seraphimblueprint.org/Se...ymbols-Quotes/

    If anyone wishes to send him encouragement, here is his address:

    Julian Assange
    DOB 3 July 1971
    Confinement # A9379AY
    Belmarsh Prison
    Western Way
    Thamesmead, London SE28 0EB
    United Kingdom

  2. The Following 10 Users Say Thank You to Arcturian108 For This Post:

    Bill Ryan (19th November 2019), BMJ (14th December 2019), Cara (20th November 2019), Franny (19th November 2019), Hervé (28th November 2019), Kate (21st November 2019), Kryztian (27th November 2019), mountain_jim (20th November 2019), raregem (19th November 2019), Tintin (20th November 2019)

  3. Link to Post #162
    Croatia Administrator Franny's Avatar
    Join Date
    3rd January 2011
    Location
    Island Time
    Posts
    3,133
    Thanks
    53,112
    Thanked 14,316 times in 2,099 posts

    Default Re: Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

    That was kind and thoughtful of you to send him something Arcturian108 I'm sure it helps him to know many out in the world care about him.

    Thanks for the address!
    A million galaxies are a little foam on that shoreless sea. ~ Rumi

  4. The Following 10 Users Say Thank You to Franny For This Post:

    Arcturian108 (19th November 2019), Bill Ryan (19th November 2019), BMJ (14th December 2019), Cara (20th November 2019), Hervé (28th November 2019), Kate (21st November 2019), Kryztian (27th November 2019), mountain_jim (20th November 2019), raregem (19th November 2019), Tintin (20th November 2019)

  5. Link to Post #163
    Norway Avalon Member
    Join Date
    19th February 2011
    Age
    42
    Posts
    821
    Thanks
    16,435
    Thanked 4,441 times in 780 posts

    Default Re: Current Wikileaks and Assange News & Releases

    WikiLeaks UPDATE: 23 November, 2019

    Internal OPCW E-Mail (link)

    OPCW management accused of doctoring Syrian chemical weapons report

    Wikileaks today publishes an e-mail, sent by a member of an OPCW fact-finding mission to Syria to his superiors, in which he expresses his gravest concern over intentional bias introduced to a redacted version of the report he co-authored.

    The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons sent a team of experts to investigate allegations that a chemical attack took place in the Syrian city of Douma on the 7th of April 2018. The author of the e-mail was a member of that team and claims the redacted preliminary version of the report, misrepresents the facts he and his colleagues discovered on the ground. The e-mail is dated 22nd of June. It is addressed to Robert Fairweather, Chief of Cabinet, and forwarded to his deputy Aamir Shouket and members of the fact-finding mission to Douma.

    He says this misrepresentation was achieved by selective omission, introducing a bias which undermines the credibility of the report. Further it is claimed that crucial facts, that have remained in the redacted version:

    Quote “...have morphed into something quite different to what was originally drafted.”
    This is said to have been done at the behest of the Office of the Director General (a post that was held by Turkish diplomat Ahmet Üzümcü at the time, he has since been replaced by Spaniard Fernando Arias).

    The attack in question was widely attributed to the Syrian Army, based on reports by rebel forces that were present in Douma at the time, and this assertion was backed up by the United States, British and French governments.

    These three countries carried out air strikes against Syrian government targets in response, on the 14th of April 2018. This was before the fact-finding team had gained access to the site in Douma, the mission there was delayed for nearly two weeks by entrenched rebel fighters and subsequent clashes between the rebels and government forces that moved into the area.

    Upon arrival the team found much of the physical evidence, including the bodies of the deceased, was no longer available. It was alleged that 49 had died and up to 650 had been seriously affected by a weaponized chemical gas released in a specific area of rebel-held Douma on that day in April. Rebels claimed the gas came from cylinders dropped from aircraft, clearly implicating Syrian government forces who had complete air superiority.

    The redacted report seemed to support these conclusions but the author of the released e-mail outlines some specific aspects of it which he considers: “particularly worrisome.”

    Firstly, there is a statement in the redacted report. It states that there is sufficient evidence to determine the presence of “chlorine, or another reactive chlorine-containing chemical.”

    The e-mail points out that this was:

    Quote “likely one or more chemicals that contain a reactive chlorine atom. Such chemicals could include… the major ingredient of household chlorine-based bleach. Purposely singling out chlorine gas as one of the possibilities is disingenuous.”
    The redacted report also removed context from a claim in the original draft, which concerned the likelihood of the gas having emanated from cylinders found at the scene in Douma. The original text is said to have purposely emphasised that there was insufficient evidence to affirm this being the case. This is “a major deviation from the original report” according to the author.

    He also cites problems with paragraph in the redacted version, which states:

    Quote ”based on the high levels of various chlorinated organic derivatives detected in environmental samples”.
    This is said to overstate the case. According to the e-mail:

    Quote “They were, in most cases, present only in parts per billion range, as low as 1-2 ppb, which is essentially trace quantities.”
    One piece of evidence, which was shown on news networks across the world, was a video said to show victims being treated in a hospital in the aftermath of the attack in Douma. The symptoms shown were, however, not consistent with what witnesses reported seeing that day. A detailed discussion of this was apparently omitted from the redacted version of the OPCW report.

    The e-mail states:

    Quote “Omitting this section of the report (including the Epidemiology which has been removed in its entirety) has a serious negative impact on the report as this section is inextricably linked to the chemical agent identified… In this case, the confidence in the identity of chlorine or any other choking agent is drawn into question precisely because of the inconsistency with the reported and observed symptoms. The inconsistency was not only noted by the fact-finding mission team, but strongly supported by three toxicologists with expertise in exposure to chemical warfare agents.”
    Yet another point of contention is the placement and condition of the cylinders reported to have contained the chemical agent. It has been alleged that their condition may not be consistent with having been dropped from the air, compared to damaged in the immediate surrounding area. This was discussed in an unreleased engineering report from OPCW that was leaked and Wikileaks published in October 2019 and indicates it is unlikely the cylinders were air-dropped (see previous release: OPCW Whistleblower Panel on the Douma attack of April 2018)

    Sections discussing this are largely absent from the redacted report. “This information was important in assessing the likelihood of the ‘presence’ of toxic chemicals versus the ‘use’ of toxic chemicals,” states the e-mail.

    The author ends his letter with an appeal to the management to allow him to attach his differing observations to the document.

    The annual conference of the states parties of the OPCW that is composed of representatives of all member states of the convention starts Monday November 25th in The Hague.

    Media partnership and coordination: La Repubblica (Italy), Stundin (Iceland), Der Spiegel (Germany), Mail on Sunday (U.K.)

    Source

  6. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to Sophocles For This Post:

    Bill Ryan (24th November 2019), Cara (25th November 2019), Franny (24th November 2019), Hervé (24th November 2019), onawah (24th November 2019), Tintin (24th November 2019)

  7. Link to Post #164
    Moderator (on Sabbatical) Cara's Avatar
    Join Date
    12th February 2014
    Location
    Dubai, United Arab Emirates
    Language
    English
    Posts
    1,431
    Thanks
    9,850
    Thanked 7,481 times in 1,331 posts

    Default Re: Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

    So was this the plan all along? Leave Assange "in limbo", deprive him of any ability to influence, keep his health marginal to worsening until he dies?



    Quote Mikhail Molchanov ☭
    ‏@MA_Molchanov
    15m15 minutes ago
    The British establishment is eager to kill #Assange in prison to please their American patrons. The death caused by "poor health" would satisfy everyone. Except all the decent folks on the planet.

    Quote Sputnik
    Verified account@SputnikInt
    OPINION: ‘Symbol of dystopian times’: #Assange’s treatment in Belmarsh and media sets dangerous precedent
    https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201...URL_shortening
    @wikileaks #JulianAssange
    *I have loved the stars too dearly to be fearful of the night*

  8. The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to Cara For This Post:

    Bill Ryan (27th November 2019), BMJ (14th December 2019), Franny (28th November 2019), Hervé (28th November 2019), Kryztian (27th November 2019), mountain_jim (27th November 2019), Tintin (27th November 2019)

  9. Link to Post #165
    Moderator (on Sabbatical) Cara's Avatar
    Join Date
    12th February 2014
    Location
    Dubai, United Arab Emirates
    Language
    English
    Posts
    1,431
    Thanks
    9,850
    Thanked 7,481 times in 1,331 posts

    Default Re: Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

    A statue of Julian Assange has been unveiled in Berlin (there is also one of Edward Snowden and a third person I do not know):

    *I have loved the stars too dearly to be fearful of the night*

  10. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to Cara For This Post:

    Bill Ryan (28th November 2019), BMJ (14th December 2019), Franny (28th November 2019), Hervé (28th November 2019), meeradas (28th November 2019), Tintin (28th November 2019)

  11. Link to Post #166
    Australia Avalon Member BMJ's Avatar
    Join Date
    4th May 2010
    Posts
    1,866
    Thanks
    47,641
    Thanked 11,349 times in 1,707 posts

    Default Re: Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

    Quotes from Nil Melzer, Craig Murrey on the railroading of Julian Assange and it's impact and the torture at the hands of the penal system, and a petition by 60 doctors to the government to provide immediate medial treatment for Julian.

    Doctors Warn! Political Prisoner Assange May Die, Needs Immediate Care, Signs of Torture

    Sarah Westall
    According to eye witness accounts and 60 medical doctors from around the world, Julian Assange needs immediate medical attention or he will die in prison.

    Torture experts claim Assange shows signs of torture, including drugs, isolation, and various forms psychological abuse.

    The treatment of Julian Assange points to a more disturbing trend of extreme persecution of whistleblowers and journalists.
    In hoc signo vinces / In this sign thou shalt conquer

  12. The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to BMJ For This Post:

    Cara (2nd December 2019), Franny (4th December 2019), Hervé (1st December 2019), Philippe (1st December 2019), Tintin (4th December 2019)

  13. Link to Post #167
    UK Moderator/Librarian/Administrator Tintin's Avatar
    Join Date
    3rd June 2017
    Location
    Project Avalon library
    Language
    English
    Age
    54
    Posts
    5,447
    Thanks
    64,676
    Thanked 46,617 times in 5,415 posts

    Default Re: Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

    This is what greets visitors to Belmarsh Prison in south London.

    From Craig Murray's blog and extracted from John Pilger's speech given at #FreeTheTruth, also in London, recently:

    "I joined a queue of sad, anxious people, mostly poor women and children, and grandmothers. At the first desk, I was fingerprinted, if that is still the word for biometric testing.

    “Both hands, press down!” I was told. A file on me appeared on the screen.

    I could now cross to the main gate, which is set in the walls of the prison. The last time I was at Belmarsh to see Julian, it was raining hard. My umbrella wasn’t allowed beyond the visitors centre. I had the choice of getting drenched, or running like hell. Grandmothers have the same choice.

    At the second desk, an official behind the wire, said, “What’s that?”

    “My watch,” I replied guiltily.

    “Take it back,” she said.

    So I ran back through the rain, returning just in time to be biometrically tested again. This was followed by a full body scan and a full body search. Soles of feet; mouth open.

    At each stop, our silent, obedient group shuffled into what is known as a sealed space, squeezed behind a yellow line. Pity the claustrophobic; one woman squeezed her eyes shut.

    We were then ordered into another holding area, again with iron doors shutting loudly in front of us and behind us.

    “Stand behind the yellow line!” said a disembodied voice.

    Another electronic door slid partly open; we hesitated wisely. It shuddered and shut and opened again. Another holding area, another desk, another chorus of, “Show your finger!”

    Then we were in a long room with squares on the floor where we were told to stand, one at a time. Two men with sniffer dogs arrived and worked us, front and back.

    The dogs sniffed our arses and slobbered on my hand. Then more doors opened, with a new order to “hold out your wrist!”

    A laser branding was our ticket into a large room, where the prisoners sat waiting in silence, opposite empty chairs. On the far side of the room was Julian, wearing a yellow arm band over his prison clothes.

    As a remand prisoner he is entitled to wear his own clothes, but when the thugs dragged him out of the Ecuadorean embassy last April, they prevented him bringing a small bag of belongings. His clothes would follow, they said, but like his reading glasses, they were mysteriously lost.

    For 22 hours a day, Julian is confined in “healthcare”. It’s not really a prison hospital, but a place where he can be isolated, medicated and spied on. They spy on him every 30 minutes: eyes through the door. They would call this “suicide watch”.

    In the adjoining cells are convicted murderers, and further along is a mentally ill man who screams through the night. “This is my One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” he said.

    When we greet each other, I can feel his ribs. His arm has no muscle. He has lost perhaps 10 to 15 kilos since April. When I first saw him here in May, what was most shocking was how much older he looked.

    We chat with his hand over his mouth so as not to be overheard. There are cameras above us. In the Ecuadorean embassy, we used to chat by writing notes to each other and shielding them from the cameras above us. Wherever Big Brother is, he is clearly frightened.

    On the walls are happy-clappy slogans exhorting the prisoners to “keep on keeping on” and “be happy, be hopeful and laugh often”.

    The only exercise he has is on a small bitumen patch, overlooked by high walls with more happy-clappy advice to enjoy ‘the blades of grass beneath your feet’. There is no grass.

    He is still denied a laptop and software with which to prepare his case against extradition. He still cannot call his American lawyer, or his family in Australia.

    The incessant pettiness of Belmarsh sticks to you like sweat."


    --------------

    Both Craig and John made impassioned speeches at that event and they can be listened to and watched, below:

    John Pilger




    Craig Murray

    “If a man does not keep pace with [fall into line with] his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” - Thoreau

  14. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Tintin For This Post:

    BMJ (14th December 2019), Cara (4th December 2019), Franny (4th December 2019), Philippe (4th December 2019)

  15. Link to Post #168
    United States Avalon Member onawah's Avatar
    Join Date
    28th March 2010
    Language
    English
    Posts
    22,208
    Thanks
    47,682
    Thanked 116,097 times in 20,639 posts

    Default Re: Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

    RT-UN Torture Rapporteur "Julian Assange’s Detention Has No Legal Basis"
    Nov 30, 2019

    Going Underground on RT

    "On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to the UN Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer on the ongoing detention of Julian Assange. He says Julian’s detention has no legal basis, explains why the UK’s treatment of Julian is tantamount to torture, why Julian won’t face a fair trial in the US if he is extradited and more! Next we speak to former Ecuadorean Foreign Minister under Rafael Correa, Guillaume Long. He discusses the letter signed by 60 doctors raising the alarm that Julian Assange could die if his current treatment continues, the right wing coup that overthrew elected Bolivian President Evo Morales, the battle the left is facing in Latin America with US-backed right wing governments and more!"

    Each breath a gift...
    _____________

  16. The Following 11 Users Say Thank You to onawah For This Post:

    Andre (17th February 2020), Ba-ba-Ra (12th December 2019), Bill Ryan (11th December 2019), BMJ (14th December 2019), Franny (11th December 2019), Kryztian (12th December 2019), mountain_jim (16th December 2019), palehorse (18th May 2020), Philippe (11th December 2019), Sunny-side-up (9th March 2020), Tintin (12th December 2019)

  17. Link to Post #169
    UK Moderator/Librarian/Administrator Tintin's Avatar
    Join Date
    3rd June 2017
    Location
    Project Avalon library
    Language
    English
    Age
    54
    Posts
    5,447
    Thanks
    64,676
    Thanked 46,617 times in 5,415 posts

    Default Re: Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

    It's getting late here and like many of us here on the forum I have been very concerned with how our Hervé may be getting along; fingers crossed, very tightly, he'll be okay That does seem to be really very much more important than anything else right now.

    However, I did want to also try and update any of you who may be interested in Julian's plight as another story of critical import, lest we may have forgotten, and this is the best and most up to date news I can glean so far. (Minor sub edits from the original re syntactic and typographic anomalies.)

    The hearing was today.

    -------------------------------------------------

    Source: Defend Wikileaks

    Assange’s Defense Outlines Extradition Arguments

    A case management hearing was held this morning in London for imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who appeared via video link from Belmarsh prison. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser confirmed that Assange’s full extradition hearing will begin on 24 February 2020, but it will now take place over three or four weeks rather than the initially scheduled five days.

    Assange’s defense team outlined the main arguments it will make and witnesses it will call at the full hearing in February. Lawyers announced they will argue that the US-UK Extradition Treaty should not allow Assange’s extradition because it includes an exemption for political offenses.
    “We say that there is in the treaty a ban on being extradited for a political offence and these offences as framed and in substance are political offences,” Assange’s lawyer Edward Fitzgerald told the court.
    The defense will also include evidence of prejudicial statements from US government officials against Assange, along with information resulting from Chelsea Manning’s US court martial.

    Barry Pollack, representing Assange in the United States, said,
    “Mr. Assange’s legal team today previewed the powerful reasons he should not be extradited to the United States to face prosecution under the Espionage Act for publishing truthful, newsworthy information that exposed wrongdoing by the United States government.”
    Assange’s legal team will present medical evidence as well. Assange’s deteriorating health conditions, particularly since entering solitary confinement on the health ward at Belmarsh, have been of ongoing concern. Following a medical visit in May, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer wrote that Assange was suffering from psychological torture. Last month, more than 60 doctors signed an open letter calling on Belmarsh to release Assange to [so he could] receive proper medical care immediately, warning he could die in prison without adequate treatment.

    Finally, Assange’s defense will include evidence from the Spanish investigation into the surveillance of UC Global, a private security company which spied on Assange’s legal, medical, and personal visits in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and [who] sent recorded material to the CIA.

    UC Global director David Morales has been arrested in Spain in connection with the illegal surveillance, an astonishing intrusion of Assange’s privacy. Assange is due to testify by video link in the Spanish trial tomorrow.

    Assange’s next extradition hearing is scheduled for 23 January 2020.
    Last edited by Tintin; 20th December 2019 at 01:25.
    “If a man does not keep pace with [fall into line with] his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” - Thoreau

  18. The Following 9 Users Say Thank You to Tintin For This Post:

    Bill Ryan (25th December 2019), BMJ (25th December 2019), Franny (20th December 2019), Gemma13 (16th January 2020), Gracy (20th December 2019), mountain_jim (20th December 2019), onawah (20th December 2019), Philippe (20th December 2019), Victoria (17th January 2020)

  19. Link to Post #170
    Croatia Administrator Franny's Avatar
    Join Date
    3rd January 2011
    Location
    Island Time
    Posts
    3,133
    Thanks
    53,112
    Thanked 14,316 times in 2,099 posts

    Default Re: Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

    I'm with you Tintin, we love and respect them both though Hervé is a little nearer to us than Julian. We are happy and grateful Hervé is being taken care of; and sad Julian is not allowed to get the medical help he needs.

    It appears they are doing a slow, 'soft' kill with him and he will be the example for all true journalists to observe and learn from.
    A million galaxies are a little foam on that shoreless sea. ~ Rumi

  20. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to Franny For This Post:

    Bill Ryan (25th December 2019), BMJ (25th December 2019), Kryztian (20th December 2019), mountain_jim (20th December 2019), Tintin (20th December 2019), Victoria (17th January 2020)

  21. Link to Post #171
    United States Avalon Member onawah's Avatar
    Join Date
    28th March 2010
    Language
    English
    Posts
    22,208
    Thanks
    47,682
    Thanked 116,097 times in 20,639 posts

    Default Re: Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

    SOMETHING BIG IS ABOUT TO DROP FROM WIKILEAKS: ROBERT DAVID STEELE
    December 21, 2019
    XX2 report
    Summary from Alexandra Bruce:
    https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/som...t+David+Steele

    "Former military intelligence and CIA officer, Robert David Steele joins Dave at the X22 Report to discuss all things coup d’état but I’ve set the inpoint to where he talks about the possibility of a wild card WikiLeaks data dump next February when Julian Assange is expected to be extradited to the US from prison in the UK.

    “Imagine a WikiLeaks dump on the 15th of February…everything WikiLeaks has on Hillary Clinton and John Brennan and others. In other words, this is an extrajudicial dump that immediately goes public…

    “I personally think that Julian Assange is much more clever than people realize and he has much more information that people realize and even though he is somewhat tainted by reports of Mossad and CIA control and he is alleged to be in very poor condition and MI6 is obviously desperately afraid –

    “I mean, it’s now clear that Great Britain and Israel were the two countries that interfered in the 2016 election…I think that England is on notice and there are things that could come out that would cause the American public to become so very angry with Great Britain and so very angry with all political parties, that it could possibly lead to some kind of totally unanticipated Black Swan event…

    “From where I sit, the Clintons are merely one of many CIA co-optees. Bill Clinton was created by the CIA and Hillary Clinton was created by the CIA. We now know that Barr worked for the CIA as a law student and we now know that CIA appears to have many, many people who are recruited in their university years and then they’re scattered across the country…

    “We need to overhaul the CIA and the FBI in ways that people cannot begin to comprehend…

    “Let’s start with blackmailing judges all across the United States of America in order to cover up their profiteering from child trafficking and drug trafficking…

    “There are ten different CIAs. There’s the drone-assassination CIA, the safari club-rendition-and-torture CIA, there’s multiple CIAs operating overseas and then there’s at least two, if not three domestic CIAs – and some of those CIAs may be rogue CIAs, that Gina Haspell knows nothing about – or chooses not to know anything about.

    “In my judgment, we do not have justice in the United States of America. Rogue elements of the US government are doing more harm to Americans than all criminal cartels combined…

    “Legal elements of the CIA get a taste of the illegal profits that are possible and then they start using the legal side of CIA under pretext and they start using military transportation and military bases to smuggle guns and gold and cash and small children and drugs and so what you have, here is I think you have a spectrum that runs from legal to grotesquely illegal and I don’t think anyone has mapped this out and that’s what needs to happen.

    “If Donald Trump wants to take down the Deep State, he needs to do two things: he needs to close down all US military bases overseas, which are being used as lily pads for illegal activities and he needs to cut the intelligence community by 70 percent, consolidate the remaining pieces at CIA, eradicate all CIA domestic operations.

    “I would abolish the FBI and start over. I mean, the FBI was founded by a pedophile that pioneered political blackmail, J Edgar Hoover. That is a legacy I
    don’t like.” "



    X22Report Spotlight
    Today's Guest: Robert David Steele
    Website:
    http://robertdavidsteele.com

    *********************************************************
    My Take:

    (Steele describes himself as having "unflinching integrity"... I don't think anyone but a narcissist would say such a thing.
    He also says that a billionaire approached him and asked him if he wanted to buy FOX News and CNN.
    Probably he misspoke--I don't think he made billions as a CIA operative, but he didn't correct himself, nor did the interviewer ask him about it, which struck me as odd.
    Also what appears to be a rather self-serving mention of things he would like to do if he had adequate funding ( so obviously he's not a billionaire!)
    But otherwise some interesting opinions and information, though it seems unlikely that many of his suggestions to Trump will be followed.
    He doesn't seem to think that Trump is vulnerable or has handlers too, like all the other politicians, which seems very unlikely to me--wealth only buys so much.
    If Roy Cohn were still alive, Trump would probably be keeping him very busy, but I don't think he would be listening much to Steele. See: https://projectavalon.net/forum4/show...=1#post1328414
    He says Assange is "alleged" to be very ill, but I think that's pretty much a foregone conclusion; not much discussion otherwise of Assange or Wikileaks.)
    Last edited by onawah; 25th December 2019 at 01:05.
    Each breath a gift...
    _____________

  22. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to onawah For This Post:

    Bill Ryan (25th December 2019), BMJ (25th December 2019), Dennis Leahy (28th December 2019), Franny (24th December 2019), mountain_jim (30th December 2019), Tintin (28th December 2019)

  23. Link to Post #172
    United States Avalon Member onawah's Avatar
    Join Date
    28th March 2010
    Language
    English
    Posts
    22,208
    Thanks
    47,682
    Thanked 116,097 times in 20,639 posts

    Default Re: Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

    Good news for Assange?
    Dec 21, 2019
    Gordon Dimmack

    ( Judge admits the case is complicated, w/ fundamental questions on law and justice, will take more time than one week, but refuses to improve prison conditions for Assange. More newspapers are coming out in favor of Assange, but his health continues to decline. )
    Last edited by onawah; 26th December 2019 at 03:03.
    Each breath a gift...
    _____________

  24. The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to onawah For This Post:

    Bill Ryan (25th December 2019), Dennis Leahy (28th December 2019), Franny (28th December 2019), mountain_jim (30th December 2019), Tintin (28th December 2019)

  25. Link to Post #173
    United States Avalon Member onawah's Avatar
    Join Date
    28th March 2010
    Language
    English
    Posts
    22,208
    Thanks
    47,682
    Thanked 116,097 times in 20,639 posts

    Default Re: Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

    I think it's a good idea to keep the points in mind that Miles Mathis makes about ex-CIA operatives ( if there is such a thing, considering the saying "once CIA, always CIA"), when reading anything by R.D. Steele, including post #244, above. SEE: http://mileswmathis.com/chem2.pdf
    Each breath a gift...
    _____________

  26. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to onawah For This Post:

    Bill Ryan (28th December 2019), Dennis Leahy (28th December 2019), Franny (28th December 2019), mountain_jim (3rd January 2020), Tintin (1st January 2020), Victoria (17th January 2020)

  27. Link to Post #174
    Croatia Administrator Franny's Avatar
    Join Date
    3rd January 2011
    Location
    Island Time
    Posts
    3,133
    Thanks
    53,112
    Thanked 14,316 times in 2,099 posts

    Default Re: Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

    It just keeps getting worse...

    ‘I’m slowly dying here’: ‘sedated’ Assange tells friend
    ... during Christmas Eve call from UK prison as health concerns mount


    Julian Assange sounded like a shell of the man he once was during a Christmas Eve phone call, British journalist Vaughan Smith told RT, noting the WikiLeaks founder had trouble speaking and appeared to be drugged.

    Assange was allowed to make just a single call from the maximum security Belmarsh prison in southeast London for the Christmas holiday, hoping for a reminder of the world beyond his drab confines of steel and concrete.

    “I think he simply wanted a few minutes of escape” and to revive “happy memories,” Smith told RT, adding that Assange had spent the holiday at his home in 2010. The brief conversation was far from cheerful, however, with Assange’s deteriorating condition increasingly apparent throughout the call.

    He said to me that: ‘I’m slowly dying here.’

    “His speech was slurred. He was speaking slowly,” the journalist continued. “Now, Julian is highly articulate, a very clear person when he speaks. And he sounded awful… it was very upsetting to hear him”

    Also on rt.com Assange CANNOT be extradited because of treaty between US-UK argues legal team

    Though Assange didn’t say it out loud during the call, Smith said he believes the anti-secrecy activist is being sedated, noting that “It seemed pretty obvious that he was,” and said others who visited Assange were of the same opinion.

    Smith isn't the first to raise this issue, but British authorities have so far refused to divulge whether Assange has been given psychotropic drugs in prison, insisting only that they aren’t “mistreating” him. But given that he is “being kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day,” with requests by numerous doctors to examine his physical condition denied, Smith said he has a hard time taking the officials at their word.

    “Julian was extremely good company over Christmas in 2010,” the journalist said, but the man he talked to on the phone last week sounded like a different person. “I just don’t understand… why he’s in Belmarsh Prison in the first place. He’s a remand prisoner. He’s not a danger to the public."

    Also on rt.com Julian Assange will ‘disappear for the rest of his life’ inside ‘inhumane’ US prison, UN envoy warns… if he makes it that far

    Belmarsh is a Category A prison – the highest level in the UK penal system – intended for “highly dangerous” convicts and those likely to attempt escape, typically befitting murderers and terrorists. While Assange meets none of those criteria and was initially locked up for a minor offense of skipping bail, he was nonetheless thrown in Belmarsh and punished as if he were a violent, hardened criminal. He now awaits proceedings for extradition to the US.

    The explanation may be as simple as taking revenge against somebody who dared to speak truth to power, Smith believes, and to make an example for anyone who might follow Assange’s lead in fighting state and corporate secrecy.

    “What is clear that what is happening to Julian is much more about vengeance and setting an example to dissuade other people from holding American power to account in this way,” he said.

    [Assange] delivered a discussion, a debate about what transparency should look like in the digital age... The debate got quashed it never really happened, instead he’s being victimized... That’s’ why he’s in Belmarsh.

    Going forward, Smith said it will be important to continue pressuring the British government to answer a litany of questions about Assange, his treatment in prison and his health, as well as to push for an “independent assessment” of the situation. Confined in one form or another since taking refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in 2012 and now denied the ability to defend himself in court, Assange should finally receive a fair hearing.

    “This whole thing, really we need to be asking more questions. This needs to be held much more in the open... Julian has had his freedom compromised for nearly a decade now,” Smith said. “It’s completely disgraceful. This is bullying. He deserves better.”

    Video can be accessed at source link below.

    (Source: rt.com; December 31, 2019; https://on.rt.com/a85u)
    A million galaxies are a little foam on that shoreless sea. ~ Rumi

  28. The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to Franny For This Post:

    Bill Ryan (1st January 2020), ByTheNorthernSea (1st January 2020), Ivanhoe (1st January 2020), mountain_jim (3rd January 2020), onawah (1st January 2020), Philippe (1st January 2020), Satori (16th January 2020), Tintin (1st January 2020)

  29. Link to Post #175
    UK Moderator/Librarian/Administrator Tintin's Avatar
    Join Date
    3rd June 2017
    Location
    Project Avalon library
    Language
    English
    Age
    54
    Posts
    5,447
    Thanks
    64,676
    Thanked 46,617 times in 5,415 posts

    Default Re: Current Wikileaks and Assange News & Releases

    [STATEMENT] JOURNALISTS SPEAK UP FOR JULIAN ASSANGE

    Link to statement: https://speak-up-for-assange.org/jou...u=1&cf_id=1469

    Link to sign: https://speak-up-for-assange.org/

    This may only apply to a relatively small number of us here (as journalists), and consequently, as one of those, I have signed this now.

    The statement text reads as follows and is as accurate a summary as you'll find anywhere

    --------------------------------------------
    Julian Assange, founder and publisher of WikiLeaks, is currently detained in Belmarsh high-security prison in the United Kingdom and faces extradition to the United States and criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act. He risks up to 175 years imprisonment for his part in making public the leak of US military documents from Afghanistan and Iraq, and a trove of US State Department cables. The ‘War Diaries’ provided evidence that the US Government misled the public about activities in Afghanistan and Iraq and committed war crimes. WikiLeaks partnered with a wide range of media organizations worldwide that republished the War Diaries and embassy cables. The legal action underway against Mr Assange sets an extremely dangerous precedent for journalists, media organizations and the freedom of the press.

    We, journalists and journalistic organizations around the globe, express our grave concern for Mr Assange’s wellbeing, for his continued detention and for the draconian espionage charges.

    This case stands at the heart of the principle of free speech. If the US government can prosecute Mr Assange for publishing classified documents, it may clear the way for governments to prosecute journalists anywhere, an alarming precedent for freedom of the press worldwide. Also, the use of espionage charges against people publishing materials provided by whistleblowers is a first and should alarm every journalist and publisher.

    In a democracy, journalists can reveal war crimes and cases of torture and abuse without having to go to jail. It is the very role of the press in a democracy. If governments can use espionage laws against journalists and publishers, they are deprived of their most important and traditional defense – of acting in the public interest – which does not apply under the Espionage Act.

    Prior to being moved to Belmarsh prison, Mr Assange spent more than a year under house arrest and then seven years inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he had been granted political asylum. Throughout this time he was subjected to serious violations of his human rights, including having his legally privileged conversations spied on by organizations taking direct instruction from US agencies. Journalists visiting were subjected to pervasive surveillance. He had restricted access to legal defense and medical care and was deprived of exposure to sunlight and exercise. In April 2019, the Moreno government allowed UK law enforcement officers to enter the Ecuador embassy and seize Mr Assange. Since then he has been held in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day and, according to visitors, is “heavily medicated”. His physical and mental health have seriously deteriorated.

    As early as 2015 the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) determined that Mr Assange was arbitrarily detained and deprived of his liberty, and called for him to be released and paid compensation. In May 2019, the WGAD reiterated its concerns and request for his personal liberty to be restored.

    We hold the governments of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Ecuador and Sweden accountable for the human rights violations to which Mr Assange has been subjected.

    Julian Assange has made an outstanding contribution to public interest journalism, transparency and government accountability around the world. He is being singled out and prosecuted for publishing information that should never have been withheld from the public. His work has been recognized by the Walkley Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism in 2011, the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, the Index on Censorship prize, the Economist’s New Media Award, the Amnesty International New Media Award, the 2019 Gavin MacFadyen Award and many others. WikiLeaks has also been nominated for the UN Mandela Prize in 2015 and for the Nobel Peace Prize seven times (2010-2015, 2019).

    Mr Assange’s reporting of abuses and crimes is of historic importance, as have been the contributions by whistleblowers Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning and Reality Winner, who are now in exile or incarcerated. They have all faced relentless smear campaigns waged by their opponents, campaigns that have often led to erroneous media reports and a lack of scrutiny and media coverage of their predicaments. The systematic abuse of Mr Assange’s rights for the past nine years has been understood and protested by the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists and leading human rights organisations. But in public discussion there has been an insidious normalising of how he has been treated.

    United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer investigated the case and in June 2019 wrote:

    “it finally dawned on me that I had been blinded by propaganda, and that Assange had been systematically slandered to divert attention from the crimes he exposed. Once he had been dehumanized through isolation, ridicule and shame, just like the witches we used to burn at the stake, it was easy to deprive him of his most fundamental rights without provoking public outrage worldwide. And thus, a legal precedent is being set, through the backdoor of our own complacency, which in the future can and will be applied just as well to disclosures by The Guardian, the New York Times and ABC News”.

    “By displaying an attitude of complacency at best, and of complicity at worst, Sweden, Ecuador, UK and US governments have created an atmosphere of impunity encouraging Mr Assange’s uninhibited vilification and abuse. In 20 years of work with victims of war, violence and political persecution I have never seen a group of democratic States ganging up to deliberately isolate, demonize and abuse a single individual for such a long time and with so little regard for human dignity and the rule of law.”

    In November 2019, Melzer recommended that Mr Assange’s extradition to US be barred and that he be promptly released. “He continues to be detained under oppressive conditions of isolation and surveillance, not justified by his detention status (…) Mr Assange’s continued exposure to arbitrariness and abuse may soon end up costing his life”, said Melzer.

    In 1898, French writer Émile Zola wrote the open letter J’accuse…! (I accuse) to warn about the wrongful sentencing to life in prison of a military officer named Alfred Dreyfus on espionage charges. Zola’s stance entered history books and still today stands for our duty to fight miscarriages of justice and to hold the powerful to account. This duty is as necessary as ever today, when Julian Assange is being victimized by governments and faces 17 charges[1] under the US Espionage Act, legislation that also dates back over hundred years.

    As journalists and journalists’ organizations that believe in human rights, freedom of information and of the public’s right to know, we demand the immediate release of Julian Assange.

    We urge our governments, all national and international agencies and fellow journalists to call for an end to the legal campaign being waged against him for the crime of revealing war crimes.

    We urge our fellow journalists to inform the public accurately about this abuse of fundamental rights.

    We urge all journalists to speak up in defense of Julian Assange at this critical time.

    Dangerous times call for fearless journalism.
    Last edited by Tintin; 16th January 2020 at 14:40.
    “If a man does not keep pace with [fall into line with] his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” - Thoreau

  30. The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to Tintin For This Post:

    Ba-ba-Ra (16th January 2020), Bill Ryan (16th January 2020), Billy (16th January 2020), BMJ (16th January 2020), Franny (9th February 2020), Gemma13 (16th January 2020), Philippe (16th January 2020)

  31. Link to Post #176
    Scotland Moderator Billy's Avatar
    Join Date
    27th January 2011
    Location
    Scotland
    Age
    69
    Posts
    6,749
    Thanks
    55,318
    Thanked 33,557 times in 5,028 posts

    Default Re: Current Wikileaks and Assange News & Releases

    Quote Posted by Tintin (here)
    [STATEMENT] JOURNALISTS SPEAK UP FOR JULIAN ASSANGE

    Link to statement: https://speak-up-for-assange.org/jou...u=1&cf_id=1469

    This may only apply to a relatively small number of us here, and consequently, as one of those, I have signed this now.
    We urge our governments, all national and international agencies and fellow journalists to call for an end to the legal campaign being waged against him for the crime of revealing war crimes.

    We urge our fellow journalists to inform the public accurately about this abuse of fundamental rights.

    We urge all journalists to speak up in defense of Julian Assange at this critical time.

    Dangerous times call for fearless journalism.[/COLOR][/INDENT][/INDENT]
    It looks like this is only for journalist world wide to sign.

    I also signed the letter and it was accepted by a confirmation email
    When you express from a fearful heart in the now moment, You create a fearful future.
    When you express from a loving heart in the now moment, You create a loving future.

    Have no fear, Be aware and live your lives journey from a compassionate caring nurturing heart to manifest a compassionate caring nurturing future. Billyji


    Peace

  32. The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to Billy For This Post:

    Ba-ba-Ra (16th January 2020), Bill Ryan (16th January 2020), BMJ (16th January 2020), Franny (9th February 2020), Gemma13 (16th January 2020), Philippe (16th January 2020), Tintin (16th January 2020)

  33. Link to Post #177
    UK Moderator/Librarian/Administrator Tintin's Avatar
    Join Date
    3rd June 2017
    Location
    Project Avalon library
    Language
    English
    Age
    54
    Posts
    5,447
    Thanks
    64,676
    Thanked 46,617 times in 5,415 posts

    Default Re: Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

    The Ellsberg precedent may offer a glimmer of light for Julian - we'll have to really hope that it does, although any optimism is tempered with a little caution. There may even be grounds to dismiss the case entirely.

    That would be quite something if that did in fact happen.

    As James Goodale writes in The Hill:

    After the trial [of Ellsberg] commenced in San Francisco, it was brought to the judge’s attention that the “White House plumbers” broke into the office of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist. Based on that information and other complaints of government misbehavior, including the FBI’s interception of Ellsberg’s telephone conversations with a government official, Judge William Matthew Byrne decided that the case should be dismissed with prejudice because the government acted outrageously.


    James makes this case citing UC Global, acting effectively as a sub-contractor on behalf of the CIA, undertaking spying activities for them while Assange was under house arrest in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

    There are definite parallels with Ellsberg's case.


    ________________________________________

    The article, in full, here:

    Will alleged CIA misbehavior set Julian Assange free?
    BY JAMES C. GOODALE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 01/13/20 10:32 AM EST

    A few days before Christmas, Julian Assange testified to a Spanish court that a Spanish security company, UC Global S.L., acting in coordination with the CIA, illegally recorded all his actions and conversations, including with his lawyers, and streamed them back in real time to the CIA. He will, at the end of February, make a similar complaint to a British extradition court about the CIA’s alleged misbehavior.

    Will such misbehavior, if proven, set Assange free?

    The Daniel Ellsberg case may be instructive. You may recall that after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the “Pentagon Papers” case, Ellsberg was indicted under the Espionage Act for leaking Pentagon documents to The New York Times and The Washington Post.

    After the trial commenced in San Francisco, it was brought to the judge’s attention that the “White House plumbers” broke into the office of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist. Based on that information and other complaints of government misbehavior, including the FBI’s interception of Ellsberg’s telephone conversations with a government official, Judge William Matthew Byrne decided that the case should be dismissed with prejudice because the government acted outrageously.

    For similar reasons, the case against Assange should be dismissed, if it reaches the U.S. courts.

    The “plumbers” were a covert group formed by the Nixon White House to stop leaks of information from the government, such as the Pentagon Papers. They are notorious for their burglary at the Watergate complex, which led to former President Nixon’s downfall. Approximately nine months before the Watergate break-in, the plumbers, led by former CIA agent E. Howard Hunt, burglarized a psychiatrist’s office to find information that could discredit Ellsberg.

    The CIA also was involved with the break-in. It prepared a psychiatric profile of Ellsberg as well as an ID kit for the plumbers, including drivers’ licenses, Social Security cards, and disguises consisting of red wigs, glasses and speech alteration devices.

    Additionally, the CIA allowed Hunt and his sidekick, G. Gordon Liddy, to use two CIA safe houses in the D.C. area for meetings and storage purposes. Clearly, the CIA knew the plumbers were up to no good. It is unclear whether the CIA knew Ellsberg was the target, but it would not have taken much to figure it out.

    The Spanish newspaper El Pais broke the story that UC Global invaded Assange’s privacy at the Ecuadorian embassy and shared its surveillance with the CIA. It demonstrated step-by-step, document-by-document, UC Global’s actions and its contacts with the CIA. UC Global reportedly installed cameras throughout Assange’s space in the embassy — including his bathroom — and captured Assange’s every word and apparently livestreamed it, giving the CIA a free TV show of Assange’s daily life.

    After reading El Pais’s series, you would have to be a dunce not to believe the CIA didn’t monitor Assange’s every move at the Ecuadorian embassy, including trips to the bathroom.

    Ecuador granted Assange asylum in their embassy for seven years, after he jumped bail in London to avoid extradition to Sweden for allegedly raping two Swedish women. (Those charges are now dismissed.) If you can believe it, Ecuador had hired UC Global to protect the Ecuadorian embassy and Assange. Not surprisingly, the CIA later made UC Global its spy to surveil Assange.

    When there was a change of administration in Ecuador, Assange’s asylum was withdrawn, and he was immediately arrested by British police at the request of U.S. officials. The United States subsequently indicted him for violating the Espionage Act, for publishing the very same information published roughly contemporaneously by The New York Times, The Guardian, El Pais, Le Monde and Der Spiegel. (Assange already was subject to a sealed indictment in the United States for computer hacking.)

    The behavior of UC Global and the CIA seems indistinguishable from the government’s behavior in the Ellsberg case, which a federal judge found to have “offended a sense of justice” and “incurably infected the prosecution” of the case. Accordingly, he concluded that the only remedy to ensure due process and the fair administration of justice was to dismiss Ellsberg’s case “with prejudice,” meaning that Ellsberg could not be retried.

    Can anything be more offensive to a “sense of justice” than an unlimited surveillance, particularly of lawyer-client conversations, livestreamed to the opposing party in a criminal case? The alleged streaming unmasked the strategy of Assange’s lawyers, giving the government an advantage that is impossible to remove. Short of dismissing Assange’s indictment with prejudice, the government will always have an advantage that can never be matched by the defense.

    The usual remedy for warrantless surveillance is to exclude any illegally obtained information from the trial, but that remedy is inapplicable here. The government’s advantage in surveilling Assange is not the acquisition of tangible evidence but, rather, intangible insights into Assange’s legal strategy. There is no way, therefore, to give Assange a fair trial, since his opponents will know every move he will make.

    When Assange begins his extradition hearing, this will be part of his argument — that the CIA’s misbehavior violates his human rights by depriving him of his right to a fair trial.

    The CIA will no doubt attempt to trump this argument by defending the surveillance on grounds of national security. This may be easier said than done, however: It is one thing to say the CIA can engage in surveillance abroad for its own intelligence-gathering purposes, and another to say it can listen to the private lawyer-client communications of a person against whom the U.S. government has an open criminal investigation.

    More to the point, it does not seem immediately clear why eavesdropping on conversations of legal strategy protects U.S. national security. In my experience in national security cases (I led The New York Times lawyers in the “Pentagon Papers” case), every time the government is backed into a corner in such cases, it will simply serve up a defense of “national security” because it is difficult to defend against such an assertion and the government, consequently, has the ability to trump every competing argument.

    Violation of Assange’s fair-trial rights is only one of many arguments he can make to defeat extradition. For example, he can argue that his health is so poor that he cannot survive extradition. His father has said Assange will die in prison, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur overseeing his case, Nils Melzer, believes Assange’s mental acuity has been damaged irreparably through “psychological torture.”

    Most importantly, Assange can assert that the action of the U.S. government is for its own political benefit. It is standard law that extradition be refused when a country seeks it in order to prosecute a political offense. In this case, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said the U.S. government would seek to shut down Assange for using “free speech values against us” and characterized Assange’s organization, WikiLeaks, as “a non-state hostile intelligence service.”

    That statement does not sound like the government wishes to convict Assange for violating U.S. national security laws as much as to get rid of Assange himself for disclosing embarrassing information that is detrimental to American diplomatic and political interests. Whether the actions the U.S. government takes against Assange constitute a “political” offense will be hotly contested.

    Former State Department and National Security Council legal adviser John Bellinger recently predicted on NPR a “battle royal because Assange and his lawyers will argue very forcefully that … the Trump administration is coming after him for political reasons.”

    No doubt there also will be a “battle royal” regarding whether the CIA can, with impunity, surveil Assange’s actions and conversations — including those with his lawyers — and then livestream those to its offices without being heavily penalized for its behavior. It would seem the only appropriate remedy for such outrageous conduct would be to set Assange free.

    ________________________________________

    James C. Goodale was the vice chairman and general counsel of The New York Times and is the author of “Fighting for the Press: The Inside Story of the Pentagon Papers and other battles.”
    “If a man does not keep pace with [fall into line with] his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” - Thoreau

  34. The Following 11 Users Say Thank You to Tintin For This Post:

    Ba-ba-Ra (16th January 2020), Bill Ryan (16th January 2020), Billy (16th January 2020), Franny (17th January 2020), Kryztian (16th January 2020), mountain_jim (16th January 2020), onawah (17th January 2020), Pam (17th January 2020), Philippe (16th January 2020), Satori (16th January 2020), Victoria (17th January 2020)

  35. Link to Post #178
    United States Avalon Member onawah's Avatar
    Join Date
    28th March 2010
    Language
    English
    Posts
    22,208
    Thanks
    47,682
    Thanked 116,097 times in 20,639 posts

    Default Re: Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

    Let's just pray that Assange doesn't get too poisoned or otherwise suicided before he has a chance to defend himself.
    Each breath a gift...
    _____________

  36. The Following 9 Users Say Thank You to onawah For This Post:

    Agape (18th January 2020), Bill Ryan (18th January 2020), Franny (17th January 2020), Iancorgi (17th January 2020), Kryztian (17th January 2020), mountain_jim (17th January 2020), Pam (17th January 2020), Tintin (17th January 2020), Victoria (17th January 2020)

  37. Link to Post #179
    United States Avalon Member onawah's Avatar
    Join Date
    28th March 2010
    Language
    English
    Posts
    22,208
    Thanks
    47,682
    Thanked 116,097 times in 20,639 posts

    Default Re: Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

    Julian Assange attends hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court
    Jan 13, 2020
    RT UK
    "New shots of Julian Assange who attended a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court today."

    (He was still able to smile, at least.)
    Each breath a gift...
    _____________

  38. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to onawah For This Post:

    Agape (18th January 2020), Arcturian108 (18th January 2020), Bill Ryan (18th January 2020), Kryztian (18th January 2020), mountain_jim (20th January 2020), Tintin (18th January 2020)

  39. Link to Post #180
    United States Avalon Member onawah's Avatar
    Join Date
    28th March 2010
    Language
    English
    Posts
    22,208
    Thanks
    47,682
    Thanked 116,097 times in 20,639 posts

    Default Re: Julian Assange arrested after Ecuador tears up asylum deal

    Assange 'denied access' to lawyers in UK
    Australian Associated Press
    Marty Silk
    Australian Associated Press16 January 2020
    https://au.news.yahoo.com/assange-de...9037--spt.html



    "Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been denied access to evidence and even basic items like paper and pens by British prison officials, putting his US extradition case on the brink of judicial review, his lawyer has warned.

    Solicitor Gareth Pierce was shocked to learn that District Judge Vanessa Baraitser only intended to allow the defence team one hour to review evidence with the Australian in the holding cells at the Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday.

    He's been charged in the US with 17 counts of spying and one count of computer hacking after WikiLeaks allegedly tried to help US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning conceal her virtual identity in the release of thousands of classified Pentagon files regarding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

    Some of those files have revealed US war crimes committed in both countries.

    Assange's supporters in the public gallery, including British rapper M.I.A., silently waved and raised fists to him and he smiled and nodded before giving them a two-fingered salute.

    Ms Pierce, who had expected to have a full day with Assange, explained that her team had previously been allowed just two hours to review evidence with him in prison.

    "It set us back in our timetable enormously," she told the court.

    "We will do our best but this slippage in the timetable is extremely worrying."

    Ms Pierce described how the administration of Belmarsh prison, where he's being held, had obstructed access to her client to the point where she had even had to approach UK government lawyers to assist.

    She warned that further denying Assange his "human right" to legal access was putting his case on the brink of a judicial review.

    Judge Baraitser adjourned the case until later on Monday afternoon to allow the defence team to review case evidence with Assange.

    In that second sitting, Ms Peirce said that she had only had an hour to speak to Assange.

    Wikileaks ambassador Joseph Farrell called Assange's severely limited access legal representation to date as outrageous.

    "Given the way Belmarsh is dealing with this, it's on the brink of judicial review," he told AAP.

    "To have three hours with your lawyers when you're facing 175 years in prison (in the US) is not acceptable."

    Academy and Grammy award-nominated hip-hop artist M.I.A., who visited Assange in prison last year, said authorities had even denied him simple things like a pen and paper.

    She said some books were denied as well due to concerns he could use them to secretly communicate with outsiders.

    "It blows my mind that England can have this going, and with the support of Australia," M.I.A. told AAP.

    Mr Farrell said given the amount of stumbling blocks presented to Assange it raised the question of whether the "biggest media freedom case this century" was actually a fair trial.

    "More importantly than all that, the fact that this is a trial at all is outrageous," he told AAP.

    "This is somebody who is in prison for exposing war crimes, for doing his job. He's in prison for the very same reason as he was given a Walkley Award. This is not something that should be allowed to happen."

    Assange's next hearing is scheduled for January 23. He is due to appear via video link from Belmarsh prison.

    Full extradition proceedings are expected to commence in February."

    (How I wish some benevolent ETs would just teleport him out of there to safety. Let's send him lots of love and light. )
    Each breath a gift...
    _____________

  40. The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to onawah For This Post:

    Bill Ryan (29th February 2020), Ewan (7th June 2021), Kryztian (19th January 2020), mountain_jim (20th January 2020), Philippe (18th January 2020), Stephanie (18th February 2020), Tintin (19th January 2020)

+ Reply to Thread
Page 9 of 31 FirstFirst 1 9 19 31 LastLast

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts