The Illegal States Actions Against Julian Assange
By: Ariyana Love
I attended an important meeting in London on September 27th that was hosted by Julian Assange Defense Committee (JADC) and Stop the War Coalition. The purpose of the meeting was to inform the public about key points with Assange’s case, in order to prevent show trials of Wikileaks founder through US Extradition.
There was an expert panel of guest speakers, seasoned Wikileaks defenders and close friends of Assange, each having a special and unique relationship to the pioneering Publisher.
The meeting kicked off with an interview with Jennifer Robinson, an Australian human rights lawyer and member of Assange’s legal team. She clarified what most people have already caught wind of, that the US indictment of Assange for 18 charges under the Espionage Act, is a political persecution not prosecution.
UN Torture Rapporteur and Law Professor, Nils Melzer, said in June that Assange has suffered “prolonged psychological torture” from a decades long defamation campaign waged by the world’s most powerful governments. He also said Assange must not be extradited to the US where he would face a “politicized show trial.”
The espionage charges against Assange are a total sham. The Espionage Act is a 100-year-old legislation intended to prohibit interference with US military operations and to prevent aiding and abetting enemies during wartime. The meaning of its language has been hotly contested in US courts ever since its inception.
This out of date legislation is now being used to indict Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, Whistleblowers who warned us about government corruption.
Essentially, the US is trying to convince us that Assange is a dangerous spy who committed an extraordinary act of terrorism.
Jennifer Robinson, an Australian human rights lawyer and member of Assange’s legal team, has confirmed that 17 of the “Espionage charges” are bogus and apply to any Journalist or news agency’s daily publications and activities. The 18th charge doesn’t even apply to Assange whose publishing record is impeccable. Assange is a card carrying member of the Union and published truthful source material that exposed war crimes activities committed by the US Government in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Robinson mentioned that the recent gestapo ABC media raids in Australia are connected to the persecution of Assange, since they too published information on war crimes in Afghanistan and emphasized that Australia is setting a dangerous precedent that can be used against all Journalists and the media.
Not only is Assange’s life on the line but so is Free Speech. Guest speaker, Patrick Henningsen, from 21st Century Wire, spoke about Lord Ahmed’s New Media Coalition which 30 Governments have signed a pledge to. Quoting Ahmed who said, “Media trade is the bedrock on which all other media is based,” Henningsen emphasized the fundamental necessity of Press Freedom to us all and encouraged Lord Ahmed to concentrate more energy towards defending Assange.
Quoting USA’s founding father, Thomas Jefferson, who said, “The beauty of speaking and writing guard our other freedoms” and “A free media is essential to a flourishing democracy,” Henningsen makes some crucial points.
“There is no protection for Journalists in the US because the 1st Amendment is at the mercy of the courts,” he continued by stating that “Security services have penetrated media agencies,” indicating a lengthy effort by the State to subvert Freedom of the Press. “This is really a case for Journalism worldwide.”
Henningsen stated the US Government is going after Assange while claiming it’s justified under “National Security.” But nothing is legal about these State actions. The UK’s persecution of Assange for supposedly “skipping bail” is in itself a contravention of international law since Sweden’s allegations were bogus all along and no charges were ever brought against him during this 9 year charade. In fact, the case was dropped 3 times due to insufficient evidence.
None of the States moves are legal. At this point Assange is being criminally incarcerated by the British Government solely on behalf of the US. Assange is not a US citizen and Wikileaks is not a US publishing company so there are no legal grounds for extradition.
The Geneva Convention’s non-refoulement legislation is a fundamental principle of international law which forbids a country receiving asylum seekers from returning or sending them to a country in which they would be in likely danger of persecution based on political opinion.
Clearly now a Political Prisoner, Assange is being held indefinitely, without due process in a so called Western “democracy.”
On September 22nd of this month, Assange’s sentence for a bail violation conviction ended but he was not released from HMP Belmarsh, London’s maximum security prison.
A surprise “technical hearing” was held at Westminster Magistrates Court on the 13th of September, where Assange was forced to appear through a video link. Before his lawyers were presented with an opportunity to file a bail application and without giving notice, another corrupted player, District Judge Vanessa Baraitser, preemptively announced that she would deny bail and continue to detain Assange in breach of the Geneva Convention. Assange’s case was not before her but she herself chose to deny his release from Belmarsh due to “absconding fears.” If Assange actually posed a danger of absconding tell me why he remained in the Ecuadorian embassy for 7 years?
The UK is not recognizing Assange’s asylum rights. His “arrest” by British forces on April 11th was arbitrary, meaning it was an illegal abduction in violation his human rights.
Are the British people really ok with their government entering a sovereign country and erasing entirely our international laws so that they can hand over Assange to his persecutors, for an extraordinary rendition?
State corruption
How many lies have come out of the Pentagon in recent years? Does anybody still trust the US Government?
Another speaker, Sheila Coombes, from the Stop The War Coalition and Media on Trial, provided us with excellent examples of US Government lies that were pushed by the MSM as a pretense to commit egregious Crimes Against Humanity through the invasion of sovereign nations.
These invasions by the way, were all at the behest of Zionist Israel. Snowden’s latest leak in June exposed that the NSA is forwarding all US citizens raw data, including US Government officials and Congress, to Israel. This includes citizens of other nations.
This criminal, Zionist military occupation in the Middle East has committed egregious Acts of War against the US, as the USS Liberty attacks demonstrate, proving they have no respect for any nation’s sovereignty.
Coombes reveals the US Government accused Libya’s leader Gaddafi, of giving viagra to his troops so they could conduct the “mass rape” of women. This lie was proliferated by The Guardian, who later betrayed Assange.
Another US Government lie that resulted in the illegal invasion of Libya, was that Gaddafi killed 6,000 troops. This lie was announced as fact at the UN Human Rights Council, while Amnesty broadcasted that lie. Coombes points out that in fact, there were only 110 deaths by Gaddafi troops proving that his military did not commit crimes of war. Mainstream media and US NGOs parroted this lie.
Assange and Wikileaks exposed that none of the regime change wars are natural but are in fact, a well planned sinister agenda of extremely corrupt US Government officials such as the serial murderer, Hillary Clinton, who led the US invasion of Libya.
Coombes also revealed the shocking truth about the US imposed no fly zones which are really about preventing nations from defending themselves against NATO bombing, as outlined in Maximillian C. Forte’s book, titled Slouching Towards Sirte: NATO’s War on Libya and Africa.
According to Coombes, the removal of a democratically elected leader in Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, resulted in a NATO base being established in Ukraine.
Just as the US Regime tried to pin their criminal coup in Ukraine on Russia, notice how they do the same with Assange in mainstream media smears about “Russian collusion.” That smear by the way, has been officially debunked and laid to rest thanks to independent media Journalists.
There’s a pattern here. When all else fails, blame Russia. The US Government tactics are synonymous with Israel’s motto, “By Deception Thou Shalt Do War,” inverting truth and using lies to divert the public’s attention away from their own criminal activities. How many millions of innocent civilian lives have been sacrificed on US Government lies?
Julian Assange is “one of us”
Emily Butlin from JADC, expressed how Wikileaks was a key independent media outlet that showed world leaders another narrative. She made a fundamentally crucial point by stating that Assange is “one of us.” He started from humble beginnings, used his skills and modest resources and created a drop box for people to submit documents, often anonymously. Wikileaks performed the sole function of the Free Press, independent from states and corporations who wish to crush media freedom.
As a Journalist, I can attest to the fact that information saves lives. In my own work as an example, when the US Government was dropping Rozol and other chemical weapons on Water Protector camps at Standing Rock in 2016, my release of an emergency medical warning resulted in hundreds, if not thousands of lives saved. Water Protectors who were coughing up blood from what was coined the “DAPL cough,” suddenly understood what was afflicting them and knew what to get tested for. Simultaneously, the US Government stopped deliberately poisoning American citizens resisting Big Oil, for fear of expensive legal proceedings that could follow now that protesters were informed.
Would you agree that Wikileaks has also saved lives? If it wasn’t for Assange wouldn’t we still be oblivious to the illegal US regime changes? Didn’t Wikileaks give us transparency of government when governments fail to do so? Haven’t they given us a chance to make informed decisions about who we let govern us?
The truth is, Wikileaks exposed US Government secrets that only threaten the lives of a few “elite” criminals using our taxes to invade sovereign nations for greed and a NWO system, while murdering millions of innocent people.
Wikileaks has presented us with an opportunity to save ourselves from more illegal invasions, like a looming “war” with Iran. Targeting Wikileaks is in itself an act of war. Unlike mainstream media Assange does not have power backers. Butlin says he’s being used as the “ice breaker,” to change the law for all of the rest of us. If we drop this ball and allow Assange to be extradited, the laws of Publishing will change forever. Human Rights and democratic process will become “extraterritorial,” allowing the US to grab anyone they want, who challenges their false narrative.
As Wikileaks stated, “such an extradition would effectively grant permission to the Trump Administration to dictate what can and cannot be published outside of its borders.” Essentially, this is a totalitarian deregulation of the world’s sovereignty.
Isolation and torture
According to Wikileaks, “Assange has been so isolated that he can lose track of the date and the day of the week. On his birthday, 3 July, Julian could hear that people had congregated outside of HMP Belmarsh Prison in London, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. Assange didn’t know that it was his birthday and only found out the next day, and then he realized that supporters had come to wish him a happy birthday.
Assange is being held in Solitary Confinement in Belmarsh Healthcare Unit, spending 21-23 hours per day in his cell. His moves are entirely controlled. Every time guards move him from his cell to an appointment or outside to exercise, the corridors are cleared and the prison goes on lockdown.”
On September the 28th, I attended a protest outside of Belmarsh Prison, with about 200 other people. Assange’s father, John Shipton, received the Gavin MacFadyen Award 2019, on behalf of his son. UK’s Chris Williamson MP gave a speech condemning the illegal imprisonment of Assange.
Assange will continue to be imprisoned in Solitary Confinement for at least five more months, until his extradition hearing which is currently scheduled for February of 2020.
Assange’s next administrative hearing is scheduled for 11 October 2019 at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
More Pertinent Links:
https://defend.wikileaks.org/2019/09/18/judge-uk-to-imprison-julian-assange-after-his-sentence-ends/
https://defend.wikileaks.org/prison-updates/#30-sept-2019
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About the Author: Ariyana Love is TLB Director of Middle East Rising, Goodwill Ambassador to Palestine (ICSPR), Chairwoman of an international foundation, a Human Rights Defender and Activist.
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