Julian Assange Today: Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize, John Shipton, EU Council and more

Updates on Julian Assange

In a tweet by Oscar Parilli, a senator in Argentina, stated the following:

Nominamos a #JulianAssange y WikiLeaks para el Premio Nobel de la Paz, como uno de los contribuyentes más importantes a la libertad de expresión y la transparencia en el siglo XXI, impactando directamente la paz global.

Translation below:

This makes 8 times I do believe. How can a man like Pompeo attack Assange with statements like selfish and arrogant as well as calling Wikileaks “a non-state hostile intelligence agency” which basically is calling them terrorists when Assange has been nominated that many times?
He did his job as a journalist as well as an editor. He is not arrogant and selfish but is called generous and humble by many who know him personally. To me, this attack by now Secretary of State was made to attempt invalidate #Vault7 and to take the focus off himself as CIA director and his agency for spying on American citizens. As well as a ploy to get vengeance on the editor. Pompeo is also the “diplomat” who helped coerce Ecuador by bribing them with a 5.6 billion IMF loan to end Assange’s political asylum at the embassy in London.

In other news, the EU council met earlier this week and has demanded the release of Julian Assange.

Even though the British government is leaving the EU they still have numerous trade deals in place. If they do not comply with this ruling, how will it affect their economy? How will other European countries and the world view their obvious human rights violations? (This includes their abduction of Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy).

Keeping him in Belmarsh, (nicknamed “Britain’s Gitmo” and “Hellmarsh”), which is a Category A prison, while he is on remand is not only a distorted atrocity but puts him in danger. Belmarsh holds terrorists murderers and rapists. Assange is an intellectual. He is gentle, kind and humble. He does not deserve to be in a supermax prison.
The U.N. has also called for his release several times as well as the Mexican President and other organizations.
However, Amnesty International refuses to back this up, claiming Assange’s case it not one of conscience. If this is not a case that Amnesty is willing to fight what the hell is?

In an article from Sputnik where John Shipton, Assange’s father, was interviewed, John states the following (article seen here):

Sputnik: And what was his condition like?

John Shipton:Pretty dire. [United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Nils] Melzer’s and the doctors’ – the 160 doctors, – analysis or diagnosis is pretty sharp.

Sputnik: Recently it was also announced that US government is lagging in its legal submissions in relation to the extradition case at least; the documents that it submitted to the relevant party senior in the UK, that the Trump administration is claiming that protections under the First Amendment of US Constitution as they relate to freedom of the press and freedom of speech, don’t apply to foreign journalists. Have you heard? Are you aware of that claim?

John Shipton:Yes, I see that they keep on extending their claims to continue with the judicial abduction of Julian. If I can make the point that over the last 10 years the United States has introduced a policy. The policy covers two areas. One is that of judicial abduction, rewriting extradition treaties between nations, any nation that they could rewrite to simplify extradition. The other is extrajudicial murder. So, in the case of judicial abduction, there is Mike Lynch, Julian Assange, Ola Bini, and the Chief Executive Officer of Huawei. They abduct people who are journalists or who have the knowledge of technology that the United States wants. The parallel policy is extrajudicial murder which we have just seen demonstrated with the murder of Soleimani. This is taking the United States outside the civilized family of nations. And they seem determined to plunder Europe and to extend their laws to every other nation in the world.

The U.S. empire, in an effort to win this battle over the free press, hired U.C. security systems out of Spain to spy on Assange, his lawyers, doctors, and visitors while in the Ecuadorian embassy. They turned over data monthly. This is a violation of lawyer-client privilege as well as doctor-patient privilege, not to mention an invasion of privacy.
When Daniel Ellsberg was charged under the Espionage for leaking the Pentagon Papers the case was dropped due to U.S. governmental misconduct because they were spying on Ellsberg and his lawyers. This case sets a precedent. Assange simply cannot be charged in this case due to government misconduct. The CIA spied on Mr. Assange and has all his data and the paperwork regarding this case, giving then an unfair advantage to prosecute.
If you think this case is a fair one, you have been misled. It is time the U.S. dropped its case and the U.K. freed Assange.

Should U.S. Lawyers in the Assange Case Be Disbarred For Violating the Constitution of the United States?

The answer is definitely, yes!  Here is why…

The U.S. government is attempting to set a dangerous precedent not only against journalists but its own Constitution by stating in last Thursday’s Assange hearing. They say that Julian Assange has no rights in this case as a foreigner. The problem with this statement is very clear. The Constitution of the United States was written to protect human rights against government that seeks to harm the individual.

The Founding Fathers had just declared independence from England who ruled them with an iron fist, taking away their rights while taxing them literally to death. After winning the Revolutionary War, those who fought so valiantly for their freedom and their rights wanted to make sure it could not be taken away. So they put together a Constitution and a bill of rights to protect the people.

Mind you, when they fought for independence they were not citizens of the United States yet. They didn’t just want to protect themselves but everyone. A key part of the Declaration of Independence says the following:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Notice there is no mention of those rights are not for certain people, but all men. You cannot bring a foreign national on to American soil and prosecute him under U.S. laws and not give him certain inalienable rights.

In an article in Forbes magazine seen Here:

How does the Constitution apply to a non-citizen?

The same way it applied to enemy combatants held at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay in a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Boumediene v. Bush, which held that the basic right of habeas corpus to challenge illegal detentions extends even to non-citizens on foreign territory. 

Also in an article seen here:

There is a misconception that the U.S. Constitution applies only to U.S. citizens. Some passages and phrases in our laws explicitly state only “citizens” are afforded certain rights, such as the right to vote. When the terms “resident” or “person” is used instead of citizen, the rights and privileges afforded are extended to protect citizens and non-citizens alike. Moreover, protections under the 14th Amendment ensure that no particular group is discriminated against unlawfully.

 

Bill of Rights

Nowhere in the first 10 amendments to the Constitution is the word “citizen.” Often it is written “The right of the people…” The Bill of Rights protects everyone, including undocumented immigrants, to exercise free speech, religion, assembly, and to be free from unlawful government interference.

 

Bill of Rights

Nowhere in the first 10 amendments to the Constitution is the word “citizen.” Often it is written “The right of the people…” The Bill of Rights protects everyone, including undocumented immigrants, to exercise free speech, religion, assembly, and to be free from unlawful government interference.

The fact is, our government thinks it can decide who has rights and who doesn’t as in the case of Mr. Assange.  If we allow them to do this to a foreign journalist then they can decide who else has rights including citizens of the United States.  The American lawyers in the case of Julian Assange are violating our rights by choosing to ignore the Constitution.  They are not the Supreme Court, they are simply lawyers.  In fact, not even the State Department or the president has a right to decide who is covered under the Constitution.  These lawyers should be disbarred for infringing on our Bill of Rights.

Yet another article from Learn Liberty as shown here makes the following statement:

Immigration restrictionists sometimes claim that noncitizens have no rights under the Constitution, and that the US government is therefore free to deal with them in whatever way it wants. At least as a general rule, this claim is simply false.

Noncitizens undeniably have a wide range of rights under the Constitution. Indeed, within the borders of the United States, they have most of the same rights as citizens do, and longstanding Supreme Court precedent bans most state laws discriminating against noncitizens. There is little if any serious controversy among experts over this matter. 

Simply put, the U.S. government and its lawyers in this case, are doing something very illegal by stating Assange has no free speech or free press rights.  Will Americans allow their government to destroy a man?  Will they permit such a travesty of justice to stand?  Will they allow the Constitution to be ignored?  Or will they fight against this precedent and stand up for their own rights in process?

Trump’s War on Journalism Is A War on the First Amendment of the Constitution

The Oath of Office as President of the United States:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

 

I voted for Trump. I supported him tooth and nail, but it has become evident through his attack on the press, that he has violated his sacred oath of office.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

By taking his sacred oath of office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, President Trump agreed to Uphold the First Amendment regardless. His war on journalism and the media is not only a violation of the Constitution but shows a great deal of disrespect for it.

In essence, Trump wants to silence any voice that either opposes him or exposes him. This isn’t just about mainstream media folks. This is about stripping the press’s right to publish. The president simply has no right to interfere with the free press or free speech regardless of whether it is aimed at him.
Quoted from Trump’s speech at the White House in July of 2019:

“To me free speech is not when you see something good and then you purposely write bad,” he insisted. “To me that’s very dangerous speech, and you become angry at it. But that’s not free speech.”From an article on Politico seen here:Having previously established himself the foe of the First Amendment—calling defenders of free speech on the internet “foolish people,” coercing White House staffers into signing nondisclosure agreements, attacking the mainstream press as the enemy of the people and urging the jailing of flag-burners—Trump has seemingly switched sides.
He even brought Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to the Oval Office recently to lecture him on how to run his platform, telling him the site was “very discriminatory” and “hard for people to sign on.” Accusing Twitter of “playing their political games” (on Twitter, no less), Trump writes, “No wonder Congress wants to get involved—and they should,” a statement that all but threatens regulation of speech.

In a recent article by the Intercept stating the A to Z reasons for impeachment (Which I disagree only with their statement on Roger Stone and Wikileaks) seen here:

MEDIA ATTACKS

Trump, as even Fox News host Chris Wallace observed last week, “is engaged in the most direct, sustained assault on freedom of the press in our history.” The president has asked the FBI to jail reporters who publish leaks, threatened to revoke the broadcast licenses of media organizations that criticize him, and relentlessly attacked and demonized journalists as “scum,” “slime,” “sick people,” “fake news,” and “the enemy of the people.” Members of the press have received death threats from people echoing the president’s vile language.

 

Trump has called the press, which would include independent journalists such as myself, “Enemies of the People.”  There is a long history behind this phrase going back to Roman times but in recent history, it was used by the NAZIS against the Jews, by Stalin and Lenin against those who opposed communism and used to label revolutionaries who were executed during the “Reign of Terror” in the French Revolution. Consequently, it was used to give anyone who opposed their government’s tyranny. This is a dangerous label to place on the press.

According to an article in the Business Insider seen here:

“The formula ‘enemy of the people was specifically introduced for the purpose of physically annihilating such individuals,” Khrushchev said in a 1956 speech to the Soviet Communist Party.

The question being raised then is if Trump intends to annihilate journalists. It appears so in his statement on Wikileaks in 2017:

“I think it’s disgraceful, I think there should be like death penalty or something,” Trump said during the quick exchange uncovered online by CNN’s KFile.”

With the founder of Wikileaks behind bars awaiting extradition to the U.S. to face 18 indictments under the antiquated Espionage Act, escalated by the Trump administration, it is obvious Trump is waging war not just on the press in his own country but worldwide. If Assange is extradited and convicted, it will set a precedent against anyone who speaks up against criminal activity by the U.S. government. This opens doors to all sorts of terrible atrocities being committed. Trump has managed in his hateful rhetoric of journalists who mostly just want to keep the People informed, in turning many against us, maybe even provoking violence. Many of us have received threatening letters and even death threats by simply reporting.
With journalists under fire, like Assange and Greenwald, and many being murdered like Khassogi and the journalists in Ecuador, to continue attacking the press is extremely dangerous.
The job of journalism was once viewed as holding the government accountable for its actions. Many of the founding fathers understood this as seen in the quotes below:

“No government ought to be without censors, and, where the press is free, no one ever will.”
Thomas Jefferson“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”~Thomas Jefferson

“The liberty of the press is essential to the security of the state.”
~John Adams

“Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government: When this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved.”
~Benjamin Franklin

“The freedom of speech may be taken away, and dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the slaughter.”— George Washington

A free press is essential to liberty and holding government accountable regardless of Donald’s hurt feelings. Any war on free press is a war on the Constitution and therefore is a war on its citizens who are protected by it. Trump has violated his oath of office by attacking the right to free press. The founding fathers would be disgusted by this onslaught and behavior from an elected leader.

Victory For Assange Supporters! Assange Moved Out of Solitary And More

It was announced today by Wikileaks Ambassador, Joseph Farrel, that due to pressure from prison inmates, his legal team and Assange supporters that Julian Assange was being moved from solitary confinement on Belmarsh’s “hospital ward” to a block with 40 other inmates. This is a win for all those fighting so hard against his belittling treatment while incarcerated.

We also learned in court on Thursday that the United States attorneys stated that Assange would not be given First Amendment rights under the Constitution.
However, they need to be reminded that the Constitution was written to keep the government in check and the government does not have the right to pick and choose who is covered by these inalienable rights.

According to the Declaration of Independence signed by the forefathers prior to the Constitution:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.-“

The Declaration does not say all men are created equal except foreign nationals nor does it say that there are certain inalienable rights given only to citizens. It specifically states ALL MEN. When the founding fathers wrote this statement they were British citizens declaring their independence from England. They knew that many people would come to the United States and the Constitution was written for all men and women.
Look up “subversion”. I don’t know who is driving the US prosecution of Julian Assange, but what could be more subversive than arguing that #1A restrictions on government don’t apply to foreign journalists?
Whoever is spearheading this approach – (President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Pompeo, Pence, William Barr, Brennan???) – is actively subverting the Constitution and Bill of Rights of the UnitedStates, & must be considered an Enemy Of The People.

Another question for the U.S. prosecuting lawyers is this: How can a foreign journalist be prosecuted under an antiquated Espionage Act but not receive the same rights given to citizens?

From Caitlin Johnstone:

“The First Amendment is not a set of special free speech privileges that the US government magnanimously bestows upon a few select individuals, it’s a limitation placed upon the US government’s ability to restrict rights that all persons everywhere are assumed to have.”

The fact is if the U.K. extradited Assange, it is not only violating human rights but targeting its own citizen journalists to be arrested for reporting any activity that the United States feels could be dangerous to it’s own interests which are basically crimes against humanity. By allowing Assange to face criminal prosecution for political reasons, they are in contempt of their own extradition laws. They will appear to enslaved to the United States which at one time, was the other way around.
The U.S. empire has simply become a tyrannical oligarchy that terrorized the world and wants to dominate all. The government and its agencies think they are above international law, practice government overreach in cases of what they call classified info, and have become what their founding fathers sought to prevent. There must be an uprising against this totalitarian regime and it must be brought under control before it destroys us all. Julian Assange is just a pawn in a bad game of 3D chess where the U.S. government is cheating.
We the People have taken one step to win by pressuring the U.K. into releasing him from solitary confinement, now we must continue in the battle and free him. We do it for him. We do it for Freedom.

The U.S. DOJ Is Refusing To Allow Assange To Be Protected Under First Amendment Rights

In British court today, a new affidavit states Julian Assange will not be protected by the First Amendment if extradited because he is a foreign national. This is absurd and directly threatens journalists worldwide. It will set a precedent that silences any objection to U.S. behavior through the press. Once that is established, it will be easier to also go after press in the States.

No one will be safe from the long arm of the U.S. DOJ. If the press can’t object to the behavior of the U.S. government, who can? This is the beginning of the end of free speech and free press.

From Caitlin Johnstone:

“The First Amendment is not a set of special free speech privileges that the US government magnanimously bestows upon a few select individuals, it’s a limitation placed upon the US government’s ability to restrict rights that all persons everywhere are assumed to have.”

 

John Rees  from the Defend Assange Campaign spoke afterward stating:

“They’re saying that if #JulianAssange is extradited he will immediately be placed under ‘Special Administrative Measures’. That means that he will not be able to speak to the press or the public, and neither will his legal team… He will be put in a black hole …”

According to an article I found here, the Geneva Convention clearly states in Rule 34:

Article 79 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I provides:

1. Journalists engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of armed conflict shall be considered as civilians within the meaning of Article 50, paragraph 1.

2. They shall be protected as such under the Conventions and this Protocol, provided that they take no action adversely affecting their status as civilians, and without prejudice to the right of war correspondents accredited to the armed forces to the status provided for in 4 A 4) of the Third Convention.

Referring to this statement, Assange became a citizen under this law by covering the Iraq War and Afghanistan War. If this is the case, legally, the U.S. cannot try him as a foreign national but must do so as a citizen. If the U.S. refuses to do so, they are violating the Geneva Convention which both the U.K. and U.S. signed and,are in agreement with. Here is another reason to not extradite Assange. Others I have defined in my article “Reasons Why Assange Should Not Be Extradited” seen here.

After the court hearing today, Krisstinn Hraffson made the following statement (article seen here): “On the one hand they have decided that they can go after journalists wherever they are residing in the world, they have universal jurisdiction, and demand extradition like they are doing by trying to get an Australian national from the UK for publishing that took place outside US borders,” he told AAP.

But then at the same time, they are not granting any foreign journalist the protection of the First Amendment.

“That’s extremely serious. That’s of grave concern to all journalists.

“We are seeing this incremental approach, a darkness flowing over journalism from that country, and it’s about time that journalists really united in resisting this.”
Assange’s extradition hearing will be in two parts. One week starting February 24th and 3 weeks starting May 18th.  Assange’s legal team have only been permitted to see Assange for a total of 4 hours since his imprisonment April 11th, 2018.

If Assange is extradited from the U.K., it will prove that their justice system is a farce and their government is simply a slave to the United States. People must rise up and oppose this before their rights are completely obliterated.
The question now is if the First Amendment doesn’t apply to foreigners, how can foreigners be subject to US laws, particularly when they neither live nor work in the United States?

First They Came For Assange: The War On Freedom

“In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own. Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech; a thing terrible to publick traytors.”

~Benjamin Franklin from the Dogwood Papers

Assange warned us before he was silenced. He told us after him there would be more. Journalists everywhere didn’t heed his warning nor did citizens. Today it was announced that Glenn Greenwald was arrested under the exact same pretext as Assange.
Now, I am going to tell you what will happen next….

First they came for the journalists. In pre-NAZI Germany, Hitler and his browncoats went after the newspapers first. Why? They knew by silencing the opposition who were writing about them, they could sell their propaganda machine to the masses and hide their hideous crimes at the same time.
Julian Assange is a journalist locked up for exposing U.S. war crimes. War crimes not unlike those committed by the Nazis. War crimes that involved innocent citizens based on their nationality and religion. The U.S. likes to call it a threat to national security in order to brainwash the minions into believing publishing documents that revealed their atrocities is illegal. They want you to think that publishing is a horrible crime against it’s citizens.
That is utter bullshit. The word propaganda doesn’t even cover the garbage they are spewing. It’s like saying as long as they call something classified it is above the law. They are saying they can do what they want, when they want, by labeling it Top Secret.
We the People own our government. The government does not own us. It is our right to know when wrong doing occurs regardless of if it is military or not. By charging Assange they are throwing it in our faces that they are above the law. After all, it was a military operation. This is exactly what NAZI Germany did.
Trump and his administration, as well as both presidents before him, have a set an extremely dangerous precedent by going after Wikileaks. They are violating the rights to free speech and free press, (which is covered in the First Amendment), not to mention the spying done to Julian Assange. If Assange is in fact found guilty under the Espionage Act of 1917, journalists worldwide who disclose evidence proving crimes by the United States will be arrested and prosecuted. This would give the U.S. free reign to do what it wants both abroad and within its borders. Does that scare you? It should.
Prosecuting Assange is destroying our rights to freedom. Think about it. Most tyrannical regimes didn’t just happen. They were built block by block by block until they reached insanity. Rome was not built in a day nor will complete domination by the United States CIA and the other U.S. agencies who are seeking ultimate world domination happen overnight.
I hear people talking about the NWO and a worldwide government and how we cannot allow it, yet these same people can’t see what their government is doing right under their noses. People, WAKE UP!!!

If you don’t like the freedoms you’ve lost now just wait ten years. Assange may not matter to you, you may not even like him, but he stands for something much bigger. His utter destruction is the beginning of the downfall of democracy and freedom. Soon, you will see more voices silenced. Then comes the rain…
Imagine a world where you are arrested for disagreeing with the government or simply stating your views.  I know you are saying, “It will never happen here.”
It is every day. You just don’t see it because it hasn’t happened to you. It is easy to ignore it if it’s not one of your own.
If we lose this battle, we lose our rights as individuals. We lose America. We will become one giant totalitarian society based on domination.
We are not just losing a genius who invented a better way to protect sources, who exposed crime on a worldwide scale, we are losing everything. Everything that the forefathers gave their very lives to. Everything that every lost soldier fought valiantly for. Freedom will be lost along with Julian Assange.

Did Belmarsh Irretrievably Show Its Hand By Not Allowing Assange Ample Time to See His Lawyers

In an extremely intelligent move yesterday on the part of Assange’s lawyers, they were able to have court adjourned because they needed him to sign papers due to not having ample time with their client. Apparently, Belmarsh has denied them access to their client repeatedly.

According to WSWS (link seen here):

It was revealed that, since his last hearing on December 19, Assange had been granted just two hours total to review that evidence with his legal team. What is being conducted in the British courts is not a trial but a legal farce, designed to cover up the lawless rendition of a political prisoner to a country that brazenly assassinates political opponents.
On Belmarsh prison’s continued refusal to allow Assange sufficient time to review his case with his lawyers, Peirce said, “We have pushed Belmarsh in every way” and indicated that the legal team were seriously considering launching a judicial review—”it is a breach of a defendant’s rights.”

His lawyer pointed out:
“The idea that somebody doesn’t have access to their lawyers when they’re facing a life sentence, when they have 175 years [of imprisonment] ahead of them, when the prosecution has had 10 years to mount the hardest case that they have with unlimited resources, and for somebody to have three hours with their lawyers in order to sign off on their future, it’s unacceptable.

With this blow to the U.K.’s treatment of Assange, his present prisons conditions and the fact that the CIA was spying on him through a Spanish security agency, if justice is served, Assange should easily go free. However, so far the U.K. has only shown blatant disregard for free press and true justice.

What is being conducted in U.K. court currently is not only an illegal farce but a circus to entertain those who oppose him. It is nothing but a show trial to send him to a country that illegally assassinates those they consider political enemies. In all likelihood, along with Assange, free speech will be martyred.

This is not a crime against one human but a crime against humanity!

Assange Seems to Have Found A Little Hope in Court today

After Judge Baraister realized how little time Belmarsh was allowing his lawyers to see him, she decided to allow him time with them today and on Thursday. It seems to have effected Assange in a positive manner. (See pics below).

Comparison photo below:

Also, Nils Melzer, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on torture, in recent tweets made the following statement:

#SRTorture to @foreignoffice: “The conduct of the UK Govt in the #Assange case severely undermines the credibility of the UK’s commitment to the prohibition of torture & ill-treatment, as well as to the rule of law more generally”

@foreignoffice: “UK does not participate in, solicit or condone torture”

Yet: Despite @UKParliament & #SRTorture appeals (https://t.co/ddaBHL3QtX) Govt refuses to prosecute those responsible for UK involvement in CIA torture & rendition 2001-10. @foreignoffice: “We take allegations of torture very seriously & investigate allegations against UK personnel”

Yet: UK Govt flatly refuses to discuss & investigate #SRTorture findings regarding the #torture of #Assange . @foreignoffice: “Journalism is not a crime!” (https://t.co/a97EAUOIeC).

Yet: The UK Govt arbitrarily detains, abuses & plans to extradite #Assange to the US under ‘espionage’ charges for publishing evidence of war crimes & corruption.

@foreignoffice: “The UK has a close working relationship with UN bodies & supports the important work of the #SRTorture”

Yet: Throughout 2019 the UKGovt has consistently ignored ALL allegations, concerns & recommendations submitted by #SRTorture.

@foreignoffice: “The UK is committed to the rule of law”

Yet: No branch of Govt seems to see any problem with #Assange’s most basic due process rights being consistently & blatantly violated by the UK

#SRTorture to @foreignoffice: “It is high time to quit talking the talk & start walking the walk!”

The U.K. has repeatedly ignored the U.N.’s repeated requests to free Assange. They ignore international law and human rights by their treatment of Julian Assange. As Nils said, “Its time to walk the walk.”

Letter From HM Prison and Probation Service Regarding Treatment of Assange

Recently I sent an email to the UK Prison service describing my concern over Julian Assange’s treatment in their prison.  I have attached this letter below:

Now keep in mind, I have sent a larger letter in the past.  Once again, their response is concerning.

So to my understanding, the UK does not consider 23 hours in a cell without reasonable contact with other humans solitary confinement?  Since when?  The definition of solitary confinement according to ncchc,org is:

Solitary confinement is the housing of an adult or juvenile with minimal to rare meaningful contact with other individuals. … Regardless of the term used, an individual who is deprived of meaningful contact with others is considered to be in solitary confinement.

In my return reply, I am going to add this definition and ask what exactly it means to be in a cell 23 hours a day without meaning contact in their definition.

The second issue they supposedly address in this letter is that it is not their responsibility to address his health issues.  So, we have learned it’s not the judge’s nor is it the Prison Services.  They basically tell you to contact the NHS England and Welsh department at gov.uk.  It seems no one there really take responsibility for anything except making sure their incarcerated are miserable.

Thirdly, this reply speaks of giving each individual 30 minutes in the library a week.  I hope you caught that.  30 minutes a week.  30 minutes. A week.  No one could properly prepare their defense in that amount of time.  No one.  Not even a genius like Julian Assange could prepare their defense in 30 minutes a week.  It absolutely astounds me.

Fourth, I want to point out that  he is in remand.  Remand is to imprison an individual until they go to trial.  This person is usually put in a lower security prison as they have not been to court yet.  They usually can wear their own clothes, (Julian’s clothes were taken by the Ecuadorian government and given to the U.S. as evidence, of what I don’t know). Usually, they get more visit time and more access to phones and the internet.  This isn’t so with Julian Assange.  He only got one call for Christmas.  He gets two 30 minute visits a week.  (By the way, 1 hour a week with visitors is not meaningful contact.

This letter baffles me and makes me wonder just what the U.K. thinks is justice and law and order.  Looking at the conditions Julian Assange is enduring also takes me aback as to what would happen to someone who isn’t as famous as him in British custody.  Also by sharing this letter, according to them, I am in violation of their copyright orders and:

Official/Official Sensitive/Secret/Top Secret

This e-mail is confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual to whom is is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this e-mail in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please contact the sender. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of HMPPS. Although this e-mail and any attachments are believed to be free of any virus or other defects which might affect any computer or IT system into which they are received, no responsibility is accepted by HMPPS, or its service providers, for any loss or damage arising in any way from the receipt or use thereof.

So I guess I am going to jail for sharing.

 

Who Really Is Responsible For the Incarceration and Torture Of Julian Assange

“There is no justice in a world run by corruption.” – Julian Assange

A lot of people point fingers over who is responsible for this travesty of justice. The fact is, there are a number of groups involved on both sides. However, the ones who actually pushed to have Julian Assange evicted with force and an IMF loan from the Ecuadorian embassy in London and reopened the case might surprise some.

We all know that the secret grand jury against Wikileaks was originally opened years ago after the release of Collateral murder and Cablegate. It sat idle until 2017 shortly after #Vault7 was published by Wikileaks and Julian Assange. #Vault7 and 8 further exposed the CIA’s spying on American citizens. Shortly thereafter, Jeff Session who was then Attorney General reopened the case.

In my article, “Who Was Really Behind the Silencing of Julian Assange?”seen here, I put together a link between the Trump administration and the ferocity of the desire of this administration in getting Assange.

In April of 2017, the Attorney General, Jeff Sessions stated it was a priority to arrest Assange as seen here . Mike Pompeo, Trump’s Secretary of State, who was CIA director at the time made this statement as seen here :

“WikiLeaks walks like a hostile intelligence service and talks like a hostile intelligence service,” Mr. Pompeo said.

But Mr. Pompeo’s harshest words were reserved for Julian Assange, calling the WikiLeaks founder a “narcissist” and “a fraud — a coward hiding behind a screen.”

Some say Trump will eventually pardon the Wikileaks founder. In my firm opinion, based on statements made by Trump himself, he never will free Assange. Here’s why I believe this.

President Trump gave Jeff Sessions the go ahead regarding the arrest of Julian Assange as well as seen here.

The US President performed a U-turn saying “it’s ok with me” if Julian Assange is arrested after praising WikiLeaks during his election campaign.

Also:

(link ) Here, as a business man, Donald Trump makes the statement:

“I think it’s disgraceful, I think there should be like death penalty or something,” Trump said during the quick exchange.

In a statement made shortly after the arrest of journalist Julian Assange, then press secretary for Trump, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, made this statement (you can find link here from NBC news):

“Look, clearly the president was making a joke during the 2016 campaign,” Sanders told “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace about Trump’s past praise for WikiLeaks. “Certainly we take this serious.”

In April 2019, Trump stated the following when asked about Julian Assange in an interview seen in USA today (link):

“I know nothing about WikiLeaks,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s not my thing.”

Trump said he didn’t know anything about Assange’s arrest and said what happens next is up to the attorney general.

“I know nothing really about it — it’s not my deal in life,” he said.

Funny how he loved Wikileaks prior to his election in 2016 when Assange was exposing the criminal activity of his rival, Hillary Clinton. It seems Trump flip flops when it serves his purpose.

Furthermore, both Pence and Pompeo met with Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno to discuss Assange prior to his eviction in 2017. Almost immediately after Assange was arrested, Moreno came to the US to receive the bribe money in the form of a 5.6 billion dollar IMF loan.

I supply these facts, so you can make your own decision. You decide. However the facts clearly show who is responsible for the violation of human rights, the torture and the arrest of a hero, Julian Assange.

Author’s Note: This one was a really hard one to write as I voted Trump and I have a great deal of guilt.