InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to US?

Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

Julian Assange To Remain Jailed After Serving Sentence ​

Link: https://www.activistpost.com/2019/0...GN&utm_term=0_b0c7fb76bd-e6aa881857-387291786
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September 14, 2019
By Tyler Durden

WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange was ordered to remain in prison once his 50-week prison sentence ends on September 22, over concerns that he will evade a US extradition request due to his “history of absconding,” according to the BBC.

The 48-year-old Assange was arrested on April 11th and found guilty of violating the terms of his bail conditions nearly seven years earlier, after he claimed asylum at Ecuador’s London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden where he was wanted for questining over an alleged sexual assault. On May 1, he was sentenced to 50 weeks in London’s Belmarsh Prison – however, the reason for Assange’s September release date (just 23 weeks later including time served) is unclear.

“In my view, I have substantial ground for believing if I release you, you will abscond again,” said Westminster Magistrates’ Court District Judge Vanessa Baraitser.

Over the summer his lawyer and supporters have reported the 48-year–old’s health has deteriorated rapidly amid solitary confinement conditions, with very limited contact to the outside world. He’s set for a full extradition hearing next year, February 25th, after his US extradition request was signed in June.

Shortly after Assange’s arrest, US prosecutors unsealed criminal charges accusing the WikiLeaks founder of helping for mer intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning crack a password stored on a Defense Department computer network, and that the trove of classified documents WikiLeaks subsequently published was a threat to US national security.

Assange appeared by video-link before District judge Vanessa Baraitser on Friday, the BBC reports. The judge told him, “You have been produced today because your sentence of imprisonment is about to come to an end.”

Referring to the potential of facing trial in the United States, she said, “When that happens your remand status changes from a serving prisoner to a person facing extradition.” She said there was no bail application on his behalf “perhaps not surprisingly in light of your history of absconding in these proceedings”.

London’s maximum security Belmarsh Prison, where Assange has been held since April.

If his extradition to the US is ultimately granted, he’ll face at least 18 charges ranging from computer fraud to unauthorized disclosure of classified information.

Some of the charges could be ‘espionage’ related and could carry a sentence of life in prison, or worse.
 
Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

The World’s Most Important Political Prisoner​

By Craig Murray

Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52271.htm

September 15, 2019 "Information Clearing House" - We are now just one week away from the end of Julian Assange’s uniquely lengthy imprisonment for bail violation. He will receive parole from the rest of that sentence, but will continue to be imprisoned on remand awaiting his hearing on extradition to the USA – a process which could last several years.

At that point, all the excuses for Assange’s imprisonment which so-called leftists and liberals in the UK have hidden behind will evaporate. There are no charges and no active investigation in Sweden, where the “evidence” disintegrated at the first whiff of critical scrutiny. He is no longer imprisoned for “jumping bail”. The sole reason for his incarceration will be the publishing of the Afghan and Iraq war logs leaked by Chelsea Manning, with their evidence of wrongdoing and multiple war crimes.

In imprisoning Assange for bail violation, the UK was in clear defiance of the judgement of the UN Working Group on arbitrary Detention, which stated

Under international law, pre-trial detention must be only imposed in limited instances. Detention during investigations must be even more limited, especially in the absence of any charge. The Swedish investigations have been closed for over 18 months now, and the only ground remaining for Mr. Assange’s continued deprivation of liberty is a bail violation in the UK, which is, objectively, a minor offense that cannot post facto justify the more than 6 years confinement that he has been subjected to since he sought asylum in the Embassy of Ecuador. Mr. Assange should be able to exercise his right to freedom of movement in an unhindered manner, in accordance with the human rights conventions the UK has ratified,

In repudiating the UNWGAD the UK has undermined an important pillar of international law, and one it had always supported in hundreds of other decisions. The mainstream media has entirely failed to note that the UNWGAD called for the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – a source of potentially valuable international pressure on Iran which the UK has made worthless by its own refusal to comply with the UN over the Assange case. Iran simply replies “if you do not respect the UNWGAD then why should we?”

It is in fact a key indication of media/government collusion that the British media, which reports regularly at every pretext on the Zaghari-Ratcliffe case to further its anti-Iranian government agenda, failed to report at all the UNWGAD call for her release – because of the desire to deny the UN body credibility in the case of Julian Assange.

In applying for political asylum, Assange was entering a different and higher legal process which is an internationally recognised right. A very high percentage of dissident political prisoners worldwide are imprisoned on ostensibly unrelated criminal charges with which the authorities fit them up. Many a dissident has been given asylum in these circumstances. Assange did not go into hiding – his whereabouts were extremely well known. The simple characterisation of this as “absconding” by district judge Vanessa Baraitser is a farce of justice – and like the UK’s repudiation of the UNWGAD report, is an attitude that authoritarian regimes will be delighted to repeat towards dissidents worldwide.

Her decision to commit Assange to continuing jail pending his extradition hearing was excessively cruel given the serious health problems he has encountered in Belmarsh.

It is worth noting that Baraitser’s claim that Assange had a “history of absconding in these proceedings” – and I have already disposed of “absconding” as wildly inappropriate – is inaccurate in that “these proceedings” are entirely new and relate to the US extradition request and nothing but the US extradition request. Assange has been imprisoned throughout the period of “these proceedings” and has certainly not absconded. The government and media have an interest in conflating “these proceedings” with the previous risible allegations from Sweden and the subsequent conviction for bail violation, but we need to untangle this malicious conflation. We have to make plain that Assange is now held for publishing and only for publishing. That a judge should conflate them is disgusting. Vanessa Baraitser is a disgrace.

Assange has been demonised by the media as a dangerous, insanitary and crazed criminal, which could not be further from the truth. It is worth reminding ourselves that Assange has never been convicted of anything but missing police bail.

So now we have a right wing government in the UK with scant concern for democracy, and in particular we have the most far right extremist as Home Secretary of modern times. Assange is now, plainly and without argument, a political prisoner. He is not in jail for bail-jumping. He is not in jail for sexual allegations. He is in jail for publishing official secrets, and for nothing else. The UK now has the world’s most famous political prisoner, and there are no rational grounds to deny that fact. Who will take a stand against authoritarianism and for the freedom to publish?

Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist. He was British Ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and Rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2010. https://www.craigmurray.org.uk
 
Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

Julian Assange Tortured with Psychotropic Drug According To EX USAF Lieutenant Colonel​

By Government Slaves on 09/22/2019

Link: https://governmentslaves.news/2019/...ug-according-to-ex-usaf-lieutenant-colonel-2/

JFK warned the citizenry about “an announced need for increased security” that would be “seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment.” Today, this is known as “national security,” and it’s a term used to justify unethical and enormous amounts of secrecy that do not protect the public, but protect those in power and their corporate, financial and political interests. Theodor Roosevelt said that, “JFK warned the citizenry about “an announced need for increased security” that would be “seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment.” Today, this is known as “national security,” and it’s a term used to justify unethical and enormous amounts of secrecy that do not protect the public, but protect those in power and their corporate, financial and political interests.”

This is exactly what Julian Assange did, and many others have and are doing, like independent alternative media outlets.

Transparency is what Julian Assange was all about, and the American empire, or more so the global empire, has been desperate to keep its secrets and prosecute anyone or anything that threatens their secrecy. That’s what this is all about. And they proved that with Chelsea Manning.

It’s not just people like Assange who are being demonized and hunted, it’s alternative media as well. The war on ‘fake news’ that’s been happening for the last little while has forced alternative media outlets that are presenting credible information to be deemed as ‘fake.’ Any media outlet who even questions a controversial issue has been made out to be ‘wrong’ or ‘fake.’ Who has been hired to do this work? One example is news browser extension NewsGuard, which promises to help readers pick out fake news. However, NewsGuard is funded and run by individuals tied to the CFR, Atlantic Council, and other prominent elite figures.

Below is a tweet from Australian journalist and BAFTA award-winning documentary filmmaker John Pilger, who made comments last month that shed some light on how Assange is being treated.

Assange Tortured with Psychotropic Drug?

I recently came across a post written a few months ago by Karen Kwiatkowski.

The FBI, Pentagon, and CIA are “interviewing” Assange. Kwiatkowski writes:

Interviewing is the wrong word. I’d like to say doctoring him, because it would be more accurate, except that word implies some care for a positive outcome. Chemical Gina has her hands in this one, and we are being told that Assange is being “treated” with 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, known as BZ.

BZ is a powerful drug that produces hallucinations.

“Soldiers on BZ could remember only fragments of the experience afterward. As the drug wore off, and the subjects had trouble discerning what was real, many experienced anxiety, aggression, even terror,” the New Yorker reported. “…The drug’s effect lasted for days. At its peak, volunteers were totally cut off in their own minds, jolting from one fragmented existence to the next. They saw visions: Lilliputian baseball players competing on a tabletop diamond; animals or people or objects that materialized and vanished.”

She goes on:

It is difficult to know if the state is more sociopathic or more psychopathic. What US government employees and/or contractors are currently doing to Julian Assange, and those who may have used Wikileaks as a journalistic avenue, may indicate it is the latter. Torture, isolation, brutality, and the use of psychotropic drugs during interrogations and hiding this from the defendant’s own lawyers by denying them access — this is Lubyanka in the 1950s, not London and DC in 2019.

Allow me to get to the point. The latest word I have received from England is as follows:

“[Julian Assange] is presently under close observation in prison hospital because he has suffered ‘severe transient psychotic episodes.’ My source(s) indicate these episodes occurred after two sessions of coercive interrogation at the hands of UK and US officials. The source(s) stated the HUMINT interrogators used psychotropic drugs in the course of the sessions.”

There are no words. Nothing can be said. 2 plus 2 does equal 5. The FBI is our own special Cheka. The CIA Director’s hands are wet and her organization does not serve American values. Rather than choosing to stay secretive for national security, the modern CIA must stay secretive in order to survive, because it has become functionally illegal. Our president, who puts America first, is putting American values last, even as he tweets his concern for freedom of speech.

The agenda is to destroy Assange as a human being, and they may well succeed. In doing this evil deed, in all of our names, America herself – whether we put her first, last, or somewhere in the middle – will have dug her own grave.

I came across an interesting post by activist Greg Bean. In it, he brings up Johannes Gutenberg, the man who first introduced the printing press to the world.

He writes about how that single act created a free press, which gave birth to the concept of freedom of speech, and how the two are “inextricably linked; printing is a form of speech.”

The broad circulation of information, including revolutionary ideas, in many languages, undermined Latin’s dominant status and the authority previously held by those trained in Latin, it transcended borders, threatened the power of political and religious authorities, increased literacy breaking the monopoly of the literate elite on education and learning, and bolstered the emerging middle class. It increased cultural self-awareness and cultural cohesion and undermined the authority of distant rulers and high priests.

WikiLeaks’ threat to the powerful was recognised and every effort was, and is, being made to criminalise anonymous leaking, which would be akin to criminalizing Gutenberg’s printing press, but there is not much chance this criminalisation will succeed.

I suggest you read the full piece as it makes some very interesting points.

The Takeaway

What you read here is no surprise, for a long time Julian Assange was allowed no visitors, and now, it’s quite clear why. Those who have had access to visits have made it quite clear that he is in very poor health. It’s unbelievable how the powers that be can simply do as they please, illegally, with no consequence, and their power lies within the human population and in those who have been subjected to perception manipulation, believing that Julian Assange should actually be locked up and done away with.

A great quote by Edward Bernays, who was known as the father of public relations, comes to mind here:

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. (source)

The ability for this powerful group to manipulate our minds is clearly fading, but we still have a lot of work to do.

SOURCE: COLLECTIVE EVOLUTION
 
Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

RT int-views the ex-Foreign minister of Ecuador on dirty deal to betray Assange

 
Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

Assange's Judge Out After Military/Intel-Linked Conflicts Of Interest Exposed​

Link: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/assanges-judge-out-after-conflicts-interest-exposed

by Tyler Durden
Sun, 11/17/2019 - 09:20
Via ConsortiumNews.com,

Lady Emma Arbuthnot, the Westminster chief magistrate enmeshed in a conflict of interest, will no longer be presiding over the extradition proceedings of imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, said WikiLeaks lawyer Jen Robinson, at an event in Sydney on Friday night .

“Yes, there was some controversy about her sitting on the case,” Robinson said.

“She won’t be sitting on the case going forward.”

Robinson told Australian journalist Quentin Dempster at the event that she was “not sure” who would take over from Arbuthnot.

Robinson made her remarks in response to a question from the audience about Arbuthnot’s reported conflict of interest in the case. Robinson did not provide further details. She spoke in future tense, but it is not clear if she was referring to Arbuthnot maintaining supervision of the case while turning over the courtroom duties to another judge, which she did weeks ago, retaining the right to influence rulings, or whether Arbuthnot has recused herself from the case. Consortium News has contacted Robinson to provide clarification.

On Thursday, Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis of the Daily Maverick reported:

“Lady Arbuthnot has recently appointed a district judge to rule on Assange’s extradition case, but remains the supervising legal figure in the process. According to the UK courts service, the chief magistrate is ‘responsible for… supporting and guiding district judge colleagues.’”

The report said that Arbuthnot’s husband, Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom, a former British defense minister, “has financial links to the British military establishment, including institutions and individuals exposed by WikiLeaks.” It said the judge herself had also received gifts “including from a military and cybersecurity company exposed by WikiLeaks.”

The Daily Maverick reported further on Friday:

“The son of Lady Emma Arbuthnot, the Westminster chief magistrate overseeing the extradition proceedings of Julian Assange, is the vice-president and cyber-security adviser of a firm heavily invested in a company founded by GCHQ and MI5 which seeks to stop data leaks, it can be revealed.

Alexander Arbuthnot’s employer, the private equity firm Vitruvian Partners, has a multimillion-pound investment in Darktrace, a cyber-security company which is also staffed by officials recruited directly from the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

These intelligence agencies are behind the US government’s prosecution of Julian Assange for publishing secret documents. Darktrace has also had access to two former UK prime ministers and former US President Barack Obama.

The revelations raise further concerns about potential conflicts of interests and appearance of bias concerning Lady Arbuthnot and the ties of her family members to the UK and US military and intelligence establishments. Lady Arbuthnot’s husband is Lord James Arbuthnot, a former UK defence minister who has extensive links to the UK military community.

UK legal guidance states that “any conflict of interest in a litigious situation must be declared.” Judicial guidance to magistrates from the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice is clear:

“Members of the public must be confident that magistrates are impartial and independent. If you know that your impartiality or independence is compromised in a particular case you must withdraw at once… Nor should you hear any case which you already know something about or which touches upon an activity in which you are involved”.

Our understanding is that Lady Arbuthnot has failed to disclose any potential conflicts of interest in her role as judge or chief magistrate.

Lady Arbuthnot is known to have stepped aside from adjudicating two other cases due to potential conflicts of interest, but only after investigations by the media.
 
Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

Over 60 Doctors Urgently Petition UK Home Secretary Over Julian Assange’s Physical Health, Warn He May Die​

Link: http://www.hideoutnow.com/2019/11/over-60-doctors-urgently-petition-uk.html

Over 60 medical doctors have issued an open letter to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel calling for urgent action to protect the life of imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

The doctors fear that he may not survive unless he is moved from Belmarsh Prison to an actual hospital where he can receive proper treatment.

“Were such urgent assessment and treatment not to take place, we have real concerns, on the evidence currently available, that Mr. Assange could die in prison. The medical situation is thereby urgent. There is no time to lose,” the letter states.

Australian doctor Lissa Johnson PhD, Clinical Psychologist, warned that the possibility that he could die is very grave.

“Given the rapid decline of his health in Belmarsh Prison, Julian Assange must immediately be transferred to a university teaching hospital for appropriate and specialized medical care. If the UK Government fails to heed doctors’ advice by urgently arranging such a transfer on medical grounds, there is a very real possibility that Mr. Assange may die,” Johnson said in a statement provided to the Gateway Pundit. “As it stands, serious questions surround not only the health impacts of Mr. Assange’s detention conditions but his medical fitness to stand trial and prepare his defense. Independent specialist medical assessment is therefore needed to determine whether Julian Assange is medically fit for any of his pending legal proceedings.”

“Consistent with its commitment to human rights and rule of law, the UK Government must heed the urgent warning of medical professionals from around the world, and transfer Julian Assange to an appropriately specialized and expert hospital setting, before it’s too late,” she continued. “Due to the climate of intimidation and fear surrounding Julian Assange, a number of doctors have insisted on anonymity before examining Julian Assange over the years, fearful of negative consequences to their reputations and careers.”

“The signatories to this open letter refuse to be silenced and are standing openly alongside the numerous medical and human rights authorities who have called, repeatedly and urgently, for the dangerous medical neglect of Julian Assange to end.”

Assange is currently being held in Belmarsh Prison awaiting an extradition trial. The United States has an 18-count indictment against him in the Eastern District of Virginia. They accuse him of soliciting and publishing classified information and conspiring with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a Defense Department computer password.

Prior to his arrest, Assange spent nearly seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, unable to receive proper medical treatment, and the lack of sunshine and fresh air taking a toll on his system. Doctors who visited him there wrote an article for the Guardian pleading for him to be allowed to go to the hospital for treatment, headlining their account “We examined Julian Assange, and he badly needs care — but he can’t get it.”

The doctors wrote, “experience tells us that the prolonged uncertainty of indefinite detention inflicts profound psychological and physical trauma above and beyond the expected stressors of incarceration. These can include severe anxiety, pathological levels of stress, dissociation, depression, suicidal thoughts, post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain, among others.”

In June, the UN issued a scathing report in which Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture said that Assange has been exposed to psychological torture and warned that the award-winning publisher could face the death penalty if he is extradited to the United States.

Melzer visited Assange along with two medical experts who specialize in examining potential torture victims on May 9.

“I am particularly alarmed at the recent announcement by the US Department of Justice of 17 new charges against Mr. Assange under the Espionage Act, which currently carry up to 175 years in prison. This may well result in a life sentence without parole, or possibly even the death penalty, if further charges were to be added in the future,” Melzer continued.

Melzer also wrote that “there has been a relentless and unrestrained campaign of public mobbing, intimidation and defamation against Mr. Assange, not only in the United States, but also in the United Kingdom, Sweden and, more recently, Ecuador.”

“In the course of the past nine years, Mr. Assange has been exposed to persistent, progressively severe abuse ranging from systematic judicial persecution and arbitrary confinement in the Ecuadorian embassy, to his oppressive isolation, harassment and surveillance inside the embassy, and from deliberate collective ridicule, insults and humiliation, to open instigation of violence and even repeated calls for his assassination.”

Speaking about the visit that he and the medical professionals had with Assange earlier that month, Melzer said that it was obvious that his health had been seriously impacted by the “extremely hostile and arbitrary environment he has been exposed to for many years.”

“Most importantly, in addition to physical ailments, Mr. Assange showed all symptoms typical for prolonged exposure to psychological torture, including extreme stress, chronic anxiety and intense psychological trauma,” the UN report said.

“The evidence is overwhelming and clear,” the findings continued “Mr. Assange has been deliberately exposed, for a period of several years, to progressively severe forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the cumulative effects of which can only be described as psychological torture.”

The report concluded with a condemnation of the actions of these governments in working to deliberately abuse him.

“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, demonise and abuse a single individual for such a long time and with so little regard for human dignity and the rule of law,” Melzer said. “The collective persecution of Julian Assange must end here and now!”

Prior to the release of the UN report, the publisher’s mother, Christine Assange tweeted that the “UK Gov is unlawfully slowly killing my son!”

“They made him very ill by refusing him ANY access to life sustaining fresh air, exercise, sun/VitD or proper medical care for 6 YEARS of illegal Embassy detention,” she tweeted at the United Nations Twitter account. “Then against ALL medical advice threw him into a prison cell.”
 
Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

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

By RT on 11/28/2019

Link: https://governmentslaves.news/2019/...rison-un-envoy-warns-if-he-makes-it-that-far/

The UN rapporteur on torture has accused British and American authorities of waging a one-sided war against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, “violating due process at every step,” as Assange’s condition in prison deteriorates.

Speaking at a demonstration in Berlin on Wednesday, rapporteur Nils Melzer told RT that if the judicial institutions prosecuting Assange were “doing their job according to the law,” then they would take the WikiLeaks head’s declining health into account in their extradition efforts. However, Melzer does not expect any reprieve for Assange.

The whole system is skewed against him. It’s not a case of prosecution, it’s a case of persecution, and that’s how persecution works.

Since his forced eviction from London’s Ecuadorian embassy in April, Assange has languished in Belmarsh Prison, first facing extradition to Sweden for a since-dropped sexual assault case, and now to the United States, where he faces 175 years in prison if found guilty of espionage. The spying charges stem from his publication of classified military documents, detailing alleged war crimes by US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Melzer has sounded the alarm about the conditions of Assange’s detention before, accusing British authorities of “psychological torture,” and warning that he could face further torture if extradited to the US. The rapporteur is not alone in raising these concerns either. In an open letter addressed to British Home Secretary Priti Patel on Monday, over 60 medical professionals from across the world voiced their concern over the physical and mental health of the publisher, warning that “Mr. Assange could die in prison.”

Melzer met Assange in prison six months ago, and described his situation as “critical.” Since then, the torture envoy said that the WikiLeaks founder’s conditions have been “getting more oppressive and there’s more intense surveillance and stricter isolation.”

During Melzer’s visit, Assange was kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours per day, and was denied access to the prison’s library and gym. He is reportedly suffering from depression, and held back tears as he struggled to remember his own name and date of birth at a court appearance last month.

If extradited to the US, Melzer is “absolutely convinced” that Assange will be subjected to “a politicized show trial,” with “secret evidence” and “closed door” testimony.

“He’s going to be sentenced by the same judge that sentences all of these whistleblowers in a closed court in East Virginia, and he’ll disappear in a high security prison in inhumane conditions for the rest of his life,” Melzer’s dour prediction concluded.

Melzer spoke to RT in Berlin, beside a series of statues dedicated to Assange, US Army whistleblower Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning, and NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The installation, entitled ‘Anything to Say’ depicts the three figures rising from their seats in life-size bronze, with a fourth chair left empty as a platform for public speaking.

“This is not really about Assange or Snowden or Manning,” Melzer said. “This is about us, it’s about our governments, their integrity, the rule of law, and the future: Of ourselves, our human dignity and our children.”

SOURCE: RT
 
Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

Media Elites to Assange: Fight for Your Own Hide​

The Committee to Protect Journalists mimics the government and drops the jailed Wikileaks founder like a hot potato.

By Alexandros Michailidis/Shutterstock
December 26, 2019|
12:01 am
Ted Galen Carpenter

Link: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/media-elites-to-assange-fight-for-your-own-hide/

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange languishes in a British prison awaiting probable extradition to the United States to stand trial for violating the Espionage Act of 1917. Ironically, he is serving jail time for jumping bail on trumped-up sex crime charges in Sweden that even the Swedish government has now abandoned. Most Western, especially American, mainstream journalists, though, have expressed at most tepid opposition to the persecution of Assange, even as reports mount that his health has deteriorated to an alarming extent.

This is shameful and jeopardizes the news media’s own long-term interests.

The worst thing about such conduct is that so many reporters have bought into the Justice Department’s insistence that Assange is not a “legitimate” journalist. John Demers, the DOJ’s assistant attorney general for national security, bluntly stated the government’s thesis earlier this year. “Julian Assange,” Demers said, “is no journalist,” since he engaged in “explicit solicitation of classified information.”

Other Trump administration officials have conducted a similar campaign to delegitimize Assange’s status as a journalist, thereby justifying his prosecution for espionage. “WikiLeaks walks like a hostile intelligence service and talks like a hostile intelligence service,” CIA Director Mike Pompeo said in April 2017 during his first public speech as head of the agency. “Assange and his ilk,” Pompeo charged, seek “personal self-aggrandizement through the destruction of Western values.”

Unfortunately, much of the U.S. press seems eager to exclude Assange from its ranks. A decision by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in early December underscored the mainstream media’s willingness to disown Assange. The CPJ refused to include him on its annual list of journalists jailed throughout the world. CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney’s attempt to explain the decision was an exercise in painful linguistic contortions. His December 11 blog post on the CPJ website used the unequivocal title, “For the sake of press freedom, Julian Assange must be defended.”

Much of the substance of the post, though, pointed to the opposite conclusion. “WikiLeaks’s practice of dumping huge loads of data on the public without examining the motivations of the leakers can leave it open to manipulation,” Mahoney sniffed. He continued:

To some, Julian Assange is a warrior for truth and transparency. To others, he is an information bomb-thrower. The question with which CPJ has had to grapple is whether his actions make him a journalist. Each year, we compile a list of journalists imprisoned around the world, based on a set of criteria that have evolved as technology has upended publishing and the news business. After extensive research and consideration, CPJ chose not to list Assange as a journalist, in part because his role has just as often been as a source and because WikiLeaks does not generally perform as a news outlet with an editorial process.

By using an array of rhetorical gymnastics, Mahoney and the CPJ tacitly accepted the Justice Department “logic” for prosecuting Assange, even as the CPJ officially condemned the prosecution itself. The bottom line is that the CPJ legitimized the government’s campaign to put Assange outside the boundaries of legitimate journalism.

Kevin Gosztola, managing editor of Shadowproof.com, aptly pointed out the underlying problem with the CPJ’s tightrope act: “Can a laudable press freedom organization claim Assange is not a journalist without aiding the political case brought by prosecutors in President Donald Trump’s Justice Department?” Gosztola also highlighted a likely reason for the CPJ’s ambivalent (at best) stance: “CPJ’s Board of Directors is composed of many journalists in the U.S. media establishment, an establishment which clings to the notion that Assange is not a journalist in order to maintain a supposed distinction between his work and their work.”

Whatever their motives, journalists who excuse or justify efforts to prosecute Assange are acting as gullible tools in the government’s ongoing campaign to plug leaks and stifle criticism, especially regarding defense and foreign policy issues. The intent is clearly to suppress embarrassing revelations by WikiLeaks and other players.

But the strategy the CPJ and its cohorts have adopted is akin to appeasing a tiger in the hope that it will eat the appeaser last—or, ideally, become sated with its initial victims. This approach is both unprincipled and myopic. The government has already made worrisome forays against troublesome mainstream journalists who have published embarrassing disclosures. Barack Obama’s administration conducted electronic surveillance of both New York Times reporter James Risen and Fox News reporter James Rosen in an effort to identify their sources. The government even named Rosen as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in an espionage case brought against his source. Similarly, the administration asserted that it had the right to prosecute Risen, even though it chose not to take that step. Those were ominous warning signals.

The New York Times reported that President Trump expressed even greater interest in prosecuting journalists who utilize leaked classified information. In his much-discussed February 2017 Oval Office session with FBI Director James Comey (during which Trump allegedly asked Comey to end the investigation into former national security advisor Michael Flynn), the president reportedly backed the Obama approach. “Alone in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump began the discussion by condemning leaks to the news media, saying that Mr. Comey should consider putting reporters in prison for publishing classified information.”

Government prosecutors are going after Assange because he is an especially controversial figure and therefore a more vulnerable target. But prosecuting him and WikiLeaks for espionage poses a mortal threat to a free and independent press in the United States. It is extraordinarily dangerous to the health of the First Amendment to allow the government to decide who is or is not a “legitimate” journalist. Only legacy publications friendly to the national security bureaucracy could then count on restraint—and, as the Rosen and Risen cases indicate, even that expectation would be quite fragile. The CPJ and other media institutions that choose to abandon Assange are playing the role of the government’s useful idiots and imperiling their own best interests.
 
Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

Queen Elizabeth Won’t Get Involved in Julian Assange Case Because It’s A POLITICAL Matter – Buckingham Palace​

Admission appears to confirm that Assange’s detention is a political, not criminal, matter

RT - February 16, 2020 39 Comments

Link: https://www.infowars.com/queen-eliz...use-its-a-political-matter-buckingham-palace/

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman has said the Queen will not intervene to release Julian Assange, vowing to remain “non-political.” The statement seemingly confirms that Assange’s detention is a political, not criminal, matter.

With WikiLeaks founder Assange holed up in HM Prison Belmarsh awaiting extradition to the US, activist Chris Lonsdale penned a letter to Queen Elizabeth II last month, asking the monarch to “ensure that Mr. Julian Assange is freed from Belmarsh Prison unconditionally,” in the spirit of “justice, peace and fair-mindedness.”

In a reply posted by Lonsdale on Sunday, a spokeswoman for the Queen said that Her Majesty “remains strictly non-political at all times,” and Assange’s detention is therefore “not a matter in which the Queen would intervene.”

I have received a reply back from Buckingham Palace following my letter & petition to the Queen in support of #JulianAssange some weeks ago. The response says, basically, that the Queen cannot intervene in issues which are Political. This should be used in court. pic.twitter.com/GJVRiAXcTV

— Chris Lonsdale⏳ (@kungfu_mandarin) February 16, 2020

Assange’s supporters have long argued that his arrest and imprisonment are motivated by politics, not justice. Assange has languished in Belmarsh since his arrest inside London’s Ecuadorian embassy last April, ostensibly on charges of skipping bail in 2012.

He is also facing extradition to the US to answer to a litany of espionage charges, related to WikiLeaks’ publication of classified US military documents detailing potential war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. If convicted, he faces 175 years in prison.

Buckingham Palace’s response seemingly admits that Assange is being persecuted on political grounds.
 
Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

Australian MP to visit Julian Assange in prison ​

Friday, 14 February 2020 10:47 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 14 February 2020 10:54 PM ]

Link: https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/02/14/618680/Australian-MP-Julian-Assange-Prison

Ahmed Kaballo
Press TV, London

If supporters of Julian Assange were looking for parliamentarian support to free him, they probably did not envision that it would take an MP from Australia to be one to visit the Wikileaks co-founder and lobby for his release.

But as it so happens that is precisely the case and Andrew Wilkie, an MP from Australia, is making a more than 10,000 mile trip this weekend to Belmarsh maximum security prison in South East London, to be the first parliamentarian to visit Julian Assange since he was detained last April.

Assange is currently held alongside some of the UK’s most infamous criminals for the relatively minor crime of skipping bale, on rape charges that have now been dropped by Swedish prosecutors.

He has also now been indicted by the United States on 18 charges – 17 under the Espionage Act – for conspiracy to receive, obtain and disclose classified diplomatic and military documents, but many fear that his real crime was exposing US war crimes to the world and for that alone he should be supported by all people including left-wing parliamentarians .

Some will wonder why an MP from Australia can make the trip from literally the other side of the planet to not only visit Assange but to also lobby for his release. Meanwhile here in the UK British parliamentarians seem reluctant to speak out for Assange and unwilling to visit a man considered by many as the world's most famous political prisoner.
 
Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

Reported deal offered by Trump to pardon Assange

 
Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

ASSANGE EXTRADITION: Did Sen. Warner and Comey Crush Assange Immunity Deal?​

February 22, 2020 • 131 Comments

Link: https://consortiumnews.com/2020/02/22/did-sen-warner-and-comey-collude-on-russia-gate/

The U.S. was in talks for a deal with Julian Assange but then FBI Director James Comey ordered an end to negotiations after Assange offered to prove Russia was not involved in the DNC leak, as Ray McGovern explains.

In light of news that Julian Assange’s lawyers have raised an alleged pardon offer by Donald Trump to the WikiLeaks publisher in exchange for clearing Russia of any involvement in WikiLeaks’ publication of Democratic Party emails, we republish this article by Ray McGovern, which first appeared on June 27, 2018. It provides light on another angle in which Assange was being offered “limited” immunity in exchange for Assange testimony showing Russia was not his source on the emails, which was then crushed by a former FBI director and a U.S. Senator. It also shows that Assange’s prosecution is political, a point his attorneys are expected to make at next week’s formal extradition hearing. The U.S.-British extradition treaty excludes political crimes.

By Ray McGovern
Special to Consortium News

An explosive report by investigative journalist John Solomon on the opinion page of [June 25, 2108’s] edition of The Hill sheds a bright light on how Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and then-FBI Director James Comey collaborated to prevent WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange from discussing “technical evidence ruling out certain parties [read Russia]” in the controversial leak of Democratic Party emails to WikiLeaks during the 2016 election.

A deal that was being discussed last year (2017) between Assange and U.S. government officials would have given Assange “limited immunity” to allow him to leave the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he has been exiled for six years. In exchange, Assange would agree to limit through redactions “some classified CIA information he might release in the future,” according to Solomon, who cited “interviews and a trove of internal DOJ documents turned over to Senate investigators.” Solomon even provided a copy of the draft immunity deal with Assange.

But Comey’s intervention to stop the negotiations with Assange ultimately ruined the deal, Solomon says, quoting “multiple sources.” With the prospective agreement thrown into serious doubt, Assange “unleashed a series of leaks that U.S. officials say damaged their cyber warfare capabilities for a long time to come.” These were the Vault 7 releases, which led then CIA Director Mike Pompeo to call WikiLeaks “a hostile intelligence service.”

Solomon’s report provides reasons why Official Washington has now put so much pressure on Ecuador to keep Assange incommunicado in its embassy in London.

Assange: Came close to a deal with the U.S. (Photo credit: New Media Days / Peter Erichsen)

The report does not say what led Comey to intervene to ruin the talks with Assange. But it came after Assange had offered to “provide technical evidence and discussion regarding who did not engage in the DNC releases,” Solomon quotes WikiLeaks‘ intermediary with the government as saying. It would be a safe assumption that Assange was offering to prove that Russia was not WikiLeaks‘ source of the DNC emails.

If that was the reason Comey and Warner ruined the talks, as is likely, it would reveal a cynical decision to put U.S. intelligence agents and highly sophisticated cybertools at risk, rather than allow Assange to at least attempt to prove that Russia was not behind the DNC leak.

The greater risk to Warner and Comey apparently would have been if Assange provided evidence that Russia played no role in the 2016 leaks of DNC documents.

Missteps and Stand Down

In mid-February 2017, in a remarkable display of naiveté, Adam Waldman, Assange’s pro bono attorney who acted as the intermediary in the talks, asked Warner if the Senate Intelligence Committee staff would like any contact with Assange to ask about Russia or other issues. Waldman was apparently oblivious to Sen. Warner’s stoking of Russia-gate.

Warner contacted Comey and, invoking his name, instructed Waldman to “stand down and end the discussions with Assange,” Waldman told Solomon. The “stand down” instruction “did happen,” according to another of Solomon’s sources with good access to Warner. However, Waldman’s counterpart attorney David Laufman, an accomplished federal prosecutor picked by the Justice Departent to work the government side of the CIA-Assange fledgling deal, told Waldman, “That’s B.S. You’re not standing down, and neither am I.”

But the damage had been done. When word of the original stand-down order reached WikiLeaks, trust evaporated, putting an end to two months of what Waldman called “constructive, principled discussions that included the Department of Justice.”

The two sides had come within inches of sealing the deal. Writing to Laufman on March 28, 2017, Waldman gave him Assange’s offer to discuss “risk mitigation approaches relating to CIA documents in WikiLeaks’ possession or control, such as the redaction of Agency personnel in hostile jurisdictions,” in return for “an acceptable immunity and safe passage agreement.”

On March 31, 2017, though, WikiLeaks released the most damaging disclosure up to that point from what it called “Vault 7” — a treasure trove of CIA cybertools leaked from CIA files. This disclosure featured the tool “Marble Framework,” which enabled the CIA to hack into computers, disguise who hacked in, and falsely attribute the hack to someone else by leaving so-called tell-tale signs — like Cyrillic, for example. The CIA documents also showed that the “Marble” tool had been employed in 2016.

Misfeasance or Malfeasance

Comey: Ordered an end to talks with Assange.

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, which includes among our members two former Technical Directors of the National Security Agency, has repeatedly called attention to its conclusion that the DNC emails were leaked — not “hacked” by Russia or anyone else (and, later, our suspicion that someone may have been playing Marbles, so to speak).

In fact, VIPS and independent forensic investigators, have performed what former FBI Director Comey — at first inexplicably, now not so inexplicably — failed to do when the so-called “Russian hack” of the DNC was first reported. In July 2017 VIPS published its key findings with supporting data.

Two month later, VIPS published the results of follow-up experiments conducted to test the conclusions reached in July.

Why did then FBI Director Comey fail to insist on getting direct access to the DNC computers in order to follow best-practice forensics to discover who intruded into the DNC computers? (Recall, at the time Sen. John McCain and others were calling the “Russian hack” no less than an “act of war.”) A 7th grader can now figure that out.

Asked on January 10, 2017 by Senate Intelligence Committee chair Richard Burr (R-NC) whether direct access to the servers and devices would have helped the FBI in their investigation, Comey replied: “Our forensics folks would always prefer to get access to the original device or server that’s involved, so it’s the best evidence.”

At that point, Burr and Warner let Comey down easy. Hence, it should come as no surprise that, according to one of John Solomon’s sources, Sen. Warner (who is co-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee) kept Sen. Burr apprised of his intervention into the negotiation with Assange, leading to its collapse.

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. He was an Army Infantry/Intelligence officer and then a CIA analyst for a total of 30 years and prepared and briefed, one-on-one, the President’s Daily Brief from 1981 to 1985.
 
Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

Revealed: Chief Magistrate in Assange Case Received Financial Benefits from Secretive Partner Organisations of UK Foreign Office​

Link: https://www.blacklistednews.com/art...inancial-benefits-from-secretive-partner.html

Published: February 23, 2020
Source: rigged game

The senior judge overseeing the extradition proceedings of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange received financial benefits from two partner organisations of the British Foreign Office before her appointment, it can be revealed.

By Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis and cross-posted from The Daily Maverick.

It can further be revealed that Lady Emma Arbuthnot was appointed Chief Magistrate in Westminster on the advice of a Conservative government minister with whom she had attended a secretive meeting organised by one of these Foreign Office partner organisations two years before.

Liz Truss, then Justice Secretary, “advised” the Queen to appoint Lady Arbuthnot in October 2016. Two years before, Truss — who is now Trade Secretary — and Lady Arbuthnot both attended an off-the-record two-day meeting in Bilbao, Spain.

The expenses were covered by an organisation called Tertulias, chaired by Lady Arbuthnot’s husband — Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom, a former Conservative defence minister with extensive links to the British military and intelligence community exposed by WikiLeaks.

Tertulias, an annual forum held for political and corporate leaders in the UK and Spain, is regarded by the UK Foreign Office as one of its “partnerships”. The 2014 event in Bilbao was attended by David Lidington, the Minister for Europe, while the Foreign Office has in the past funded Lord Arbuthnot’s attendance at the forum.

The Foreign Office has long taken a strong anti-Assange position, rejecting UN findings in his favour, refusing to recognise the political asylum given to him by Ecuador, and even labelling Assange a “miserable little worm”.

Lady Arbuthnot also benefited financially from another trip with her husband in 2014, this time to Istanbul for the British-Turkish Tatlidil, a forum established by the UK and Turkish governments for “high level” individuals involved in politics and business.

Both Tertulias and Tatlidil are secretive gatherings about which little is known and are not obviously connected — but Declassified has discovered that the UK address of the two organisations has been the same.

Lady Arbuthnot personally presided over Assange’s case as judge from late 2017 until mid-2019, delivering two controversial rulings. Although she is no longer personally hearing the Assange extradition proceedings, she remains responsible for supporting and guiding the junior judges in her jurisdiction. Lady Arbuthnot has refused to declare any conflicts of interest in the case…

Continue reading the article [see https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/art...e-partner-organisations-of-uk-foreign-office/ .
 
Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

WikiLeaks: US Government Admits No One Was Physically Harmed Due To Publications On First Day of Extradition Trial ​

 Women System  February 25, 2020

Link: http://www.womensystems.com/2020/02/wikileaks-us-government-admits-no-one.html

Julian Assange’s lawyers are in court today in Great Britain.

WikiLeaks says the US government confirmed that there are no known cases of anyone being harmed by their publications on the first day of Julian Assange’s extradition hearing on Monday.

The Pentagon previously testified that no one was harmed by the release during the trial of Chelsea Manning in 2013.

“All that the US government QC, James Lewis, could muster was that there might be a ‘risk’ of harm…but no actual harm occurred,” a press release from WikiLeaks pointed out. “To try and bolster this flimsy claim the US government argued that Wikileaks material was read by enemies of the United States. Yet this could be true of any story critical of government, and certainly true of any material revealed by a whistleblower.”

The US government had attempted to charge Manning with aiding in the enemy during their trial, but the whistleblower was found not guilty on that count.

“What is however certain is that WikiLeaks has repeatedly revealed war crimes committed by the US government which did indeed cause harm. Not the ‘risk’ of harm but the actually maiming and killing of innocent citizens,” the WikiLeaks press release continued. “The US government then went on to make the untrue claim that Wikileaks released unredacted material…an accusation previously refuted by Wikileaks.”

#RSF urges the UK government to prioritise the principles of freedom of expression and the defence of journalism in its treatment of Assange, and to act in accordance with UK law and the country’s international human rights obligations. #FreeAssange pic.twitter.com/7DpzqpghlB
— RSF (@RSF_inter) February 24, 2020

The trial over extraditing Assange to the United States is currently taking place at the Woolwich Magistrates Court in London. He faces charges under the Espionage Act in the United States for his publication of the Iraq and Afghan War Logs. If extradited and convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 175 years for the “crime” of publishing material that the US government did not want the public to know.

Protesters outside were so loud that Assange had to ask for them to quiet down so he could hear the case against him.
 
Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

Trump’s Betrayal of Julian Assange​

Link: http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/arc...bruary/24/trump-s-betrayal-of-julian-assange/

Written by Ron Paul
Monday February 24, 2020

One thing we’ve learned from the Trump Presidency is that the “deep state” is not just some crazy conspiracy theory. For the past three years we’ve seen that deep state launch plot after plot to overturn the election.

It all started with former CIA director John Brennan’s phony “Intelligence Assessment” of Russian involvement in the 2016 election. It was claimed that all 17 US intelligence agencies agreed that Putin put Trump in office, but we found out later that the report was cooked up by a handful of Brennan’s hand-picked agents.

Donald Trump upset the Washington apple cart as presidential candidate and in so doing he set elements of the deep state in motion against him.

One of the things candidate Donald Trump did to paint a deep state target on his back was his repeated praise of Wikileaks, the pro-transparency media organization headed up by Australian journalist Julian Assange. More than 100 times candidate Trump said “I love Wikileaks” on the campaign trail.

Trump loved it when Wikileaks exposed the criminality of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party, as it cheated to deprive Bernie Sanders of the Democratic Party nomination. Wikileaks’ release of the DNC emails exposed the deep corruption at the heart of US politics, and as a candidate Trump loved the transparency.

Then Trump got elected.

The real tragedy of the Trump presidency is nowhere better demonstrated than in Trump’s 180 degree turn away from Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange. “I know nothing about Wikileaks,” he said as president. “It’s really not my thing.”

US pressure and bribes to the Ecuadorian government ended Assange’s asylum and his seven years in a room at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. After his dramatic arrest by London's Metropolitan Police last April, he has been effectively tortured in British jails at the behest of the US deep state.

Today, Monday the 24th of February, Assange faces an extradition hearing in a UK courthouse. The Trump Administration – led by a man who praised Assange’s work – seeks a show trial of Assange worthy of the worst of the Soviet era. The US is seeking a 175 year prison sentence.

The Trump Administration argues that the Australian Assange should be tried and convicted of espionage against a country of which he is not a citizen. At the same time the Trump Administration argues that the First Amendment does not apply to Assange because he is not an American citizen! So Assange is subject to US law when it comes to publishing information embarrassing to the US deep state but he is not subject to the law of the land – the US Constitution – which protects all journalists and is the backbone of our system of government.

It is ironic that a President Trump who has been victim of so much deep state meddling has done the deep state’s bidding when it comes to Assange and Wikileaks. President Trump should preempt the inevitable US show trial of Assange by granting the journalist blanket pardon under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

The deep state Trump is serving by persecuting Assange is the same deep state that continues to plot Trump’s own ouster. Free Assange!
 
Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

Live Updates: WikiLeaks Founder Assange's Extradition Hearings Resume​

Link: https://sputniknews.com/uk/20200907...s-founder-assanges-extradition-trial-resumes/

06:45 GMT 07.09.2020(updated 14:23 GMT 07.09.2020) Get short URL

The extradition hearing against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange resumed on Monday, at the Central Criminal Court in London.

The hearing was originally planned for 18 May, but Assange's defence team asked to reschedule it amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The court, however, ruled out his release on bail, despite the high risks of contracting the coronavirus at the prison in which he is being held.

Demonstrators hold banners outside Westminster Magistrates Court in London, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020. A case-management hearing regarding Julian Assange will be heard at the court Wednesday
© AP Photo / Kirsty Wigglesworth

Demonstrators hold banners outside Westminster Magistrates Court in London, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020. A case-management hearing regarding Julian Assange will be heard at the court Wednesday

Assange was arrested in London in April 2019 and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for jumping bail back in 2012 when he took refuge inside the Ecuadorian Embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced sexual assault charges, and possible extradition to the United States.

The whistleblower has been indicted by the US Department of Justice on 18 charges, regarding violations under the Espionage Act. If convicted of these charges, the WikiLeaks founder faces up to 175 years in prison.

Court Rejects Defence's Request for Adjournment, WikiLeaks Says

A courtroom sketch shows WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during a hearing to decide whether he should be extradited to the United States, in London, Britain September 7, 2020 in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Julia Quenzler

Assange Extradition: Court Rejects Defence's Request For Adjournment

14:31 GMT 07.09.2020

The hearing on the US request to extradite WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange over his role in leaking secret logs from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as State Department cables, resumed on 7 September after a long pause due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Read more

Judge Baraitser rules against a futher adjournment requested by the defence:

"Defence have had ample time to return to court to explain that they had insufficient amount of time they did not do so.. even today, they did not request an adjournment..."

via @SputnikInt
— Mohamed Elmaazi (@MElmaazi) September 7, 2020

12:46

'Absolutely Ludicrous': Diplomat Reacts to Decision in Assange Case Disallowing Witness Summaries

12:27 GMT 07.09.2020

Julian Assange's defence team were expecting to be able to go over a summary of each witness statement before their experts are cross-examined. They argued that it was in the interests of their client and the wider public to be able to hear the key submissions before they are challenged by the prosecution.
Read more

11:40

WikiLeaks Says About 40 Activists Prevented From Accessing Assange's Extradition Hearing

Unconfirmed reports entire list of 40 civil society and political monitors have had their remote access to the #Assange hearings withdrawn - after being invited to register for access last week. This includes Parliamentarians and NGOs. #FreePress pic.twitter.com/wCRSXTTRnm
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) September 7, 2020

11:37

Amnesty International Denied Access to Observe Assange's Extradition Hearing, Representative Says

Amnesty International say they are "shocked" to have been granted the right to observe #JulianAssange's extradition hearings via video link only to have since being revoked. They will seek to reapply saying observing legal cases is their "bread and butter".

via @SputnikInt pic.twitter.com/70urPAO3Ir
— Mohamed Elmaazi (@MElmaazi) September 7, 2020

11:33

Assange 'Shining A Light' On Global Corruption, Trial A 'Litmus Test' For Journalism, Activists Say

Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood at a rally outside the Old Bailey in London, UK.

Assange 'Shining A Light' on Global Corruption, Trial a 'Litmus Test' for Journalism, Activists Say

11:25 GMT 07.09.2020

Numerous activists and speakers attended a rally outside a major court case in London against a WikiLeaks whistleblower potentially facing up to 175 years in prison after publishing classified material on war crimes committed by the United States military in the Middle East, among other revelations.
Read more

11:31

Situation Outside Central Criminal Court - Photos

Very festive atmosphere outside of the Old Bailey. pic.twitter.com/U0IT86jBN2
— Mohamed Elmaazi (@MElmaazi) September 7, 2020

11:19

'He Forced Us in the West to Look in the Mirror': Assange's Father Believes Extradition Hearing is Final Act to 'Bury' His Son

"I’ve been a reporter for more than 50 years and I’ve never known a smear campaign like this one: the fabricated character assassination of a man who refused to join the club, who believed that journalism was a service to the public and never to those above", John Shipton said at the rally.

Assange's father believes that freedom of the press now rests with "the honourable few".

"The exceptions, the dissidents on the Internet who belong to no club, who are neither rich nor laid with Pulitzer prizes, but produce fine, disobedient, moral journalism; those like Julian Assange", Shipton concluded.

Assange Rally at Old Bailey in London, UK
© Sputnik /

10:18

Julian Assange's Supporters Take to Streets in Paris - Photos

Rally in Support of Assange Underway Outside Old Bailey in London - Photos

'If Assange is Extradited, Freedom Will Be Fatally Damaged', National Union of Journalists President Says

"Our call should be clear and unequivocal: end these proceedings now, free Julian Assange, and defend free expression wherever it’s threatened", Tim Dawson, National Union of Journalists president said.

Second Stage of Assange's Extradition Hearings Begins in London

'Most Important Fight of This Century When it Comes to Journalism': WikiLeaks' Editor-in-Chief Calls for Dismissal of Assange's Extradition Request

"We need to show our determination to have this extradition request dismissed because the future of journalism is at stake. There is so much at stake here", Kristinn Hrafnsson said. "Let’s keep up the fight, let’s stay strong. Let’s not rely on hope; let’s fight for justice".

Assange Rally at Old Bailey in London, UK
© Sputnik /

Kristinn Hrafnsson @khrafnsson Speaking outside The Old Bailey at the beginning of #JulianAssange extradition trial pic.twitter.com/oMqIMHol6j
— LetmelookTV (@letmelooktv) September 7, 2020

06:57

Assange Supporters Gather Outside Court as Extradition Trial Continues - Video

Court Rejects Defence's Request for Adjournment, WikiLeaks Says

12:46

'Absolutely Ludicrous': Diplomat Reacts to Decision in Assange Case Disallowing Witness Summaries

11:40

WikiLeaks Says About 40 Activists Prevented From Accessing Assange's Extradition Hearing

11:37

Amnesty International Denied Access to Observe Assange's Extradition Hearing, Representative Says

11:33

Assange 'Shining A Light' On Global Corruption, Trial A 'Litmus Test' For Journalism, Activists Say

11:31

Situation Outside Central Criminal Court - Photos

11:19

'He Forced Us in the West to Look in the Mirror': Assange's Father Believes Extradition Hearing is Final Act to 'Bury' His Son

10:18

Julian Assange's Supporters Take to Streets in Paris - Photos

09:56

Rally in Support of Assange Underway Outside Old Bailey in London - Photos

09:34

'If Assange is Extradited, Freedom Will Be Fatally Damaged', National Union of Journalists President Says

09:30

Second Stage of Assange's Extradition Hearings Begins in London

09:11

'Most Important Fight of This Century When it Comes to Journalism': WikiLeaks' Editor-in-Chief Calls for Dismissal of Assange's Extradition Request

06:57

Assange Supporters Gather Outside Court as Extradition Trial Continues - Video
 
Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

In Extradition Hearing, Julian Assange’s Legal Team Focuses On US Torture And War Crimes Exposed By WikiLeaks​

Link: https://shadowproof.com/2020/09/08/assange-team-extradition-torture-war-crimes-wikileaks/

8 Sep 2020
Kevin Gosztola Kevin Gosztola

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s legal team spent the second morning of a major extradition hearing focusing a magistrate court judge’s attention on United States torture and war crimes that Assange helped to expose.

Defense attorney Mark Summers called Clive Stafford Smith, a human rights attorney who has represented prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, to the witness stand. He was asked about human rights cases he pursued, which were bolstered by revelations in documents WikiLeaks published.

For example, Stafford Smith told Judge Vanessa Baraitser that U.S. State Department cables helped those impacted by U.S. drone killings in Pakistan. It contributed to “court findings that US drone strikes are criminal offenses and that criminal proceedings should be initiated against senior U.S. officials involved in such strikes.” [Here’s the full witness statement from Stafford Smith: PDF.]

A high court in Pakistan ruled “drone strikes carried out by the CIA and U.S. authorities were a ‘blatant violation of basic human rights’ including ‘a blatant breach of the absolute right to life’ and ‘a war crime,'” Stafford Smith declared in a statement to the court. Due to the decision, drone strikes that caused many “innocent deaths” stopped “very rapidly.” None were reported in 2019.

The defense had Stafford Smith testify in order to persuade the court that Assange “disclosed U.S. involvement in criminal activity.” Specifically, these were “public interest disclosures” of war crimes and torture. Some of the publications are currently the subject of a criminal investigation into the CIA that is before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In other words, the prosecution against Assange is retaliation for bringing increased scrutiny to U.S. actions throughout the world.

But James Lewis, the lawyer representing the Crown Prosecution Authority on behalf of the U.S. government, was irritated by the defense’s focus on documents that exposed torture and war crimes.

Lewis insisted the U.S. government only charged Assange with documents that revealed the names of informants, and none of the materials Stafford Smith was asked about mattered in the extradition case.

At one point, Stafford Smith contended Lewis was “wrong about the way in which cases are prosecuted” in the United States. An FBI expert or some other individual with a similar background would likely testify during a U.S. trial about terrorism or terrorist groups and how WikiLeaks publications helped them.

Stafford Smith highlighted the many times he has dealt with evidence of torture against Guantanamo prisoners being classified. It has been the U.S. position that revealing such information will endanger U.S. and coalition forces by fueling retaliatory terrorist attacks.

“You cannot tell the court how this case will be prosecuted,” Lewis said. “You’re making things up.”

Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. government has sanctioned officials at the ICC for investigating allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan that were likely committed by the CIA, Afghan government forces, and the Taliban and its affiliates. This includes an investigation into the CIA rendition and torture program in the country.

This retaliation against ICC officials was brought up by Summers, and Stafford Smith maintained the Trump administration believes it can sanction anyone who is not an American national who assists in the investigation of torture and war crimes.

Stafford Smith suggested, given how WikiLeaks has supported human rights investigations through its publications, the U.S. government could target Summers and other attorneys with similar sanctions.

Ahmed Rabbani is a Guantanamo Bay prisoner, who Stafford Smith represents. He shared evidence related to his rendition and torture that contributed to the ICC decision to investigate U.S. crimes.

“Rabbani remained in Kabul for seven months and was then moved to another prison (which reports indicate was a CIA black site) before being transferred” to the custody of U.S. forces, according to Stafford Smith.

According to Stafford Smith, U.S. government “attacks on journalists, leakers and those journalists who worked with them, has since the earliest days of Afghan conflict, appeared to have a strong chilling effect’ leading to ‘a dearth of individuals from inside government, willing to ‘go on record’ to evidence U.S. violations.”

“The power and value of the WikiLeaks disclosures about Iraq and Afghanistan can scarcely be understated, and are of ‘key importance’ to ‘evidence war crimes and human rights violations by the US and its allies.”

Stafford Smith added, “The cables similarly demonstrated U.S. interference with other rendition investigations in Spain and Poland.”

As the extradition hearing continues, more witnesses are expected to detail criminal activities committed by the U.S. government, which WikiLeaks exposed. It is all part of his defense’s effort to prove the case against Assange is politically motivated.
 
Re: InfoWars reports Julian Assange ("Wikileaks") has been arrested in London--to be extradited to U

Commentary, summary of what seems to be purpose of Assange prosecution of Assange


 
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