Video Duration 26 minutes 20 seconds 26:20

The WikiLeaks founder suffers a setback in his legal fight against the US governments extradition efforts. Plus, Turks turning to YouTube for their news.

A court in the United Kingdom greenlights Julian Assanges extradition to the United States Press freedom groups call it a travesty of justice, but the response from the mainstream media has been muted.

Contributors:Tariq Ali Co-editor, In Defence of Julian Assange; editor, New Left ReviewNils Melzer UN Special Rapporteur on torture; author, The Trial of Julian AssangeLester Munson Senior associate, Center for Strategic and International StudiesRebecca Vincent Director of International Campaigns and UK Bureau director, RSF

The investigation into the January 6 Capitol Hill riot in the US has revealed private pleas, via text, from top Fox News anchors to Trump staffers. Producer Tariq Nafi tells Richard Gizbert why those messages have led to accusations of hypocrisy against the network.

Independent journalists in Turkey, like Cneyt zdemir, are taking refuge online. zdemirs daily YouTube programme has become a staple for Turks younger viewers looking for journalism of a different kind.

Contributors:Cneyt zdemir Creator and host, Cneyt zdemir ShowCansu amlibel Former columnist, Gazete Duvar; Former editor-in-chief, Duvar EnglishEmre Kizilkaya Turkish vice chair, International Press Institute; author, The New Mainstream Media Is Rising

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Assange: WikiLeaks founder one step closer to extradition - Aljazeera.com

The World Socialist Web Site has received messages of support from young people in Scotland for Julian Assanges freedom. The WikiLeaks publisher will spend his third Christmas inside Belmarsh maximum security prison in London next week, with the threat of extradition and lifetime incarceration in a US federal prison hanging over his head, deprived of his most fundamental legal and democratic rights.

On December 10, Britains High Court ruled in favour of a US government appeal aimed at securing Assanges extradition. The courts vicious decision confirms that the British state, its government, judiciary, and intelligence agenciesand all of its political partiesare determined to destroy Assange in retribution for WikiLeaks courageous exposure of war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Next Wednesday, the Socialist Equality Party in Australia is hosting an emergency online meeting, British court decision puts Assanges life in danger. Demand his immediate release! The meeting will take place at 7pm AEDT (see here for registration details, including international start times). We urge workers and young people all over the world to help promote the meeting and make plans to attend.

The thoughtful comments published below show the enormous potential to win support among a generation of workers and young people being politicised by momentous world events, including unending wars, staggering social inequality, climate change, the collapse of democracy and a pandemic that has claimed millions of lives.

Jordan, 23, a delivery driver from Inverness said, Assange did not sell a product, but brought to light truths with evidence, and they want to lock up the truth and throw the key away in the USA! For years the TV, radio, and written press networks have been in the hands of tycoons who in turn finance their companies and keep journalists mouths sealed with millions of dollars.

That is why there is no longer a place for journalists who are not corrupt, or who are willing to go beyond the script set by their bosses. Manipulative garbage is what exists in all these media today, almost entirely.

Calum, 23, a postal packing worker from Inverness said, The betrayal of Assange years ago by the global press was a sign of things to come. Unfounded accusations and his continual smearing by the press should have shocked more and shown people the bias of capitalist media as anti-journalistic, but the reality of the situation was smothered and confused by the weight of that media.

Now as hes facing American justice, the threat of life imprisonment and the chance of execution or assassination in response to the highest journalistic integrity. It should say something about the death of our democratic ideals and should rally the working class and journalists, anyone with a conscience, in a fight for his freedoma fight that is not only to save a man's life, but to save journalism and is intertwined with the fight for socialism.

Now, more than ever, we cannot watch as remote legal proceedings develop and liberal articles are exchanged. The people need to take to the streets, to their workplaces, to their communities in protest and discussion. This needs to become a real political issue and exposed as the serious political crime it is.

Daniel, 23, a sound technician from Inverness said, Assange's extradition is a travesty of justice and morality. The silence of the pseudo-left and the Labour Party is tantamount to complicity. Assange should never have been held without due cause for any length of time, and the duration of the ordeal he has gone through will have undeniably caused severe degradation of his mental and physical health.

The fact that the working class are the only force to bring forward the struggle for truth, justice, and for Assange himself, is evidence that the ruling class care nothing for any of the ideals that give us our humanity, and are a force in undeniable opposition to the proletariat and the common good of all the earth's people.

Andrew, 21, a cook in Glasgow said, This vicious entrapment of Julian Assange exemplifies the brutal lengths the ruling classes will go to cover up and disguise their own heinous war crimes. His extradition to the US is being used by the ruling classes to strengthen British-American relations. Giving Assange to the Americans now is quite literally a death sentence. The fact is that we, the working class, are the only class interested in fair justice because we are the class that these hidden crimes, done by the ruling class, affects. We are the people in danger of learning the truth behind the atrocities conducted overseas especially in the Middle East.

Jill, a social care worker and the mother of a young Socialist Equality Party member from Inverness wrote, Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998 says, everyone has the right to freedom of expression in the UK. I am personally disgusted by the treatment of Julian Assange and that there has been an ongoing criminal investigation and that his kidnap and his murder was actually planned by the US government.

So, a man is going to either 1) Rot in prison or 2) Be kidnapped and murderedfor what? Speaking the truth?

I personally am ashamed to say that until recently I did not know who he was and was only made aware due to the World Socialist Web Site. The working class need to take a stand and can make a difference because this outcome will also make a difference to their own democratic rights.

We need to act now because either way this poor man has a death sentence hanging over him due to his treatment. Todays generation needs to be the ones who say no more! The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. (Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto).

Ari, 23, a final year media student in Glasgow, said the case against Assange means, The presumption of innocence and peoples democratic rights, thats all out the window.

Ari described Assanges achievements as a journalist, highlighting the Collateral Murder video which he watched for the first time when he was a 13-year-old, Its horrific, its a war crime. I was really enraged. Theyre killing those people as if its a video game, theyre so detached from it. That was my first introduction to WikiLeaks.

In 2012 when Assange first went into the embassy, I was 14, so Ive been aware of the case for quite a while. Ari said the sight of Assange being dragged from the Ecuadorian Embassy in 2019 by police was brutal, they made a show of it for the worlds media. Theyre making an example of him. Its been very brutal and drawn out over many years. Its a horrific example to make, and journalism is under a threat because of it.

Ari recently watched a YouTube video called, The CIAs plot to assassinate Julian Assange, showing evidence of CIA and US government plans to kidnap and kill Assange in London during his time inside the Ecuadorian Embassy. At the same time, efforts to smear Assange personally were being intensified, Theyve thrown a lot of bogus accusations against him.

Asked if there was discussion at university about Assange, Ari replied, Because of the rape stuff [bogus allegations against Assange by the Swedish state], amongst the leftist student types hes not very popular. Its definitely bullshit. It was too convenient, far too convenient.

The WSWS told Ari about UN Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzers forensic take-down of the Swedish allegations that Assange and his lawyers had also refuted. In contrast, leading pseudo-left parties in Europe, Australia and the United States eagerly weaponised the CIA-backed rape narrative, using gender politics to incite middle class hysteria against a journalist persecuted for exposing war crimes. Ari agreed, adding, Obviously, they were false allegations and they have been dropped now.

This all happened about five years before the #MeToo era, and it was a prototype for what was to come.

Ari questioned the precedent being established by #MeToo, including its undermining of the presumption of innocence, Wasnt the #MeToo movement another form of essentially throwing away peoples democratic rights, including to a fair trial? Its pretty messed up.

Ari warned that the promotion of gender and race-based politics and its undermining of democratic rights was playing into the hands of the far-right, When the pseudo-left come up with this kind of nonsense, the far-right dismantle it and sometimes they do a good job of dismantling it, and the danger is that it brings young people towards the right. Theyre giving them an ammunition in a way. Ari described the January 6 coup in the United States as a very worrying development.

A recent survey by the Institute of Economic Affairs found nearly 70 percent of young people in Britain want to live in a socialist economic system. It found 73 percent of 1634-year-olds believe a socialist system would boost solidarity, compassion and cooperation among people. Ari said, Ive been speaking to my classmates about this, and its remarkable how much more radical everyones got. People are talking much more about Marxism and socialism compared to when I was 13 or 14. Back then, my friend and I would talk about Karl Marx and socialism, but people didnt really want to talk about it. But now young people are completely interested and that is growing.

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Young people in Scotland speak up for Julian Assange: We cannot just watch as remote legal proceedings develop and liberal articles are exchanged -...

This is a global petition to Free Julian Assangeand to stop the legal precedent being established of a USA Extradition for a non USA journalist that exposed USA war crimes.

This petition is the largest petition in history to have been presented to the International Criminal Court (The Hague).This is also the largest petition in history to have been successfully Tabled (accepted into Parliament) in both houses of the Australian Parliament.

On January 4, 2021 this petitioned campaign helped secure a "Stop to the USA Extradition". Together with many individuals and teams around the world we are now on a pathway to Free Julian Assange.

Unfortunately however, as of January 11, 2021 the entities that perpetrated the war crimes that Julian Assange's publications revealed have indicated they will appeal the decision to STOP the USA Extradition of Julian Assange from the U.K. to the USA to be tortured for a further 175 years.

This petition invites everybody from every nation to sign and join this critically important campaign to Free Julian Assange. We helped Stop the USA Extradition now we focus to Free Julian Assange and return him to the love of his family.

Further, this petition will drive to prosecute the alleged complicit "public officers" of the UK, Sweden, Ecuador and Australia that allegedly together manifested a situation that deliberately and by design subjected Julian Assange to psychological torture. The process of delivery of psychological torture to Julian Assange continued even though public statements by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture determined that Julian Assange was being subjected to cruel and degrading treatment that resulted in case of verified psychological torture as determined by implementation of the Internationally recognised Istanbul Protocol by a team of medical experts.

On August 10, 2021 we delivered this petition at 619,900+ signatures to the International Criminal Court's (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Mr Karim Asad Ahmad Khan. Together with the 570,000+ signatories petitioned of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on January 15, 2021. We resubmitted because the Chief Prosecutor had changed since our first submission.

This petition represents the largest petition ever presented to the ICC since it's inception. This petition has delivered a request for escalation of request of petition notices (Ref. Doc. Aug. 5, 2020 Notice 1 & Aug. 27, 2020 Notice 2) to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. (Scroll down to see the script copy of this document pasted at the foot of welcome page).

Verified instances of psychological/mental torture is determined by the International Criminal Court (ICC), as constituting a "crime against humanity".

We the signatories consider it of international significance, because weallege that state sponsored psychological torture has been administered to Mr Julian Assange and continued in spite of official determination and notification by theUN Special Rapporteur on Torture.

Julian Assange is a journalist that published whistle-blowersourced evidence that revealed systemic governmentalcriminality including clear and obvious war crimes.

The deliberate targeting of persons known and identified as providing first aid to the wounded and then ordering their slaughter is an undeniable war crime. https://youtu.be/UaqY12VHFv4 To then subject the journalist that revealed those war crimes to psychological torture is a crime against humanity. We allege that the psychological torturing of Julian Assange is being delivered by public officers of ratified nations to the 1997 Rome Convention to the ICC.

Ifwe allow Julian Assange (multi-awarded journalist) who is not a USA citizen and who was not in the USA when he published news to be extradited to the USA to face 175 years imprisonment and possible execution, then we no longer live in a democratic society. To allow Julian Assange to be extradited for his publishing in the public interest would place every woman, child and man in western society under USA extraterritorial authoritarian rule. History proves that this always leads to the next brutal dictatorship which will assassinate, execute or permanently silence any person that publishes evidence that exposes the authorities criminality.

Feb. 10, 2020 this petition was Tabled in the House of Representatives (Lower House) of the Australian Parliament, by Andrew Wilkie MP https://andrewwilkie.org/massive-petition-to-free-julian-assange-tabled-in-australian-parliament-today/

Last week the Member for Dawson & I were presented with the Free Julian Assange petition. It contains nearly 300,000 names & is a powerful document, one that mustn’t be ignored by the Aus Govt. Find a link to the petition here: https://t.co/0Adwv2VofVhttps://t.co/8wpEpe2c3X

— Andrew Wilkie MP (@WilkieMP) February 10, 2020

Together with the Tabling in the Australian Senate (Upper House) of the Australian Parliament by Senator Peter Whish-Wilson on November 12, 2019.https://twitter.com/SenatorSurfer/status/1194524951044227072?s=20

It is considered unprecedented to have a petition now covering the entire Australian Parliament as it has been individually Tabled in both houses of the Australian parliament.We are a massive force now and exercising that people power to the MAXIMUM. We demand direct senior Ministerial intervention to stop the torturing of Julian Assange and to prevent a continuation of this travesty and clear perversion of legal process. We demand Julian Assange be immediately freed.

See George Christensen MP on Feb. 7, 2020 on Assange in the Australian Parliament. https://www.facebook.com/gchristensenmp/videos/306278656995310/

This petition is now represents the Largest petitioning of the International Criminal Court (The Hague) in history. This petition is the largest in any form to have been tabledin both houses of the Australian Parliament (since 1901). and represents a huge level of support from around the world andcontinues to grow. We are getting stronger every minute of every day. Please Join us.

Headline from the Australian Parliament's official website: A petition is basically a request for action. The right to petition Federal Parliament has been one of the rights of citizens since federation, and it is the ONLY way an individual can directly place grievances before the Parliament. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Petitions

The Petitioner and on behalf of Signatories is now exercising that right.

By carefully following these petitioned demands legitimate grievances will be resolved.

This petition demands:

No USA Extradition of Julian Assange.

With immediate affect Julian Assange to walk out of prison and torture.

Freedom for Julian Assange

The Australian government is hereby instructed that they are to facilitate the granting of freedom toJulian Assange so that hemay walk out of torture and be free to go wherever he wishes.

The Morrison government is instructed to follow Liberal Party policy procedure where in extenuating circumstances the Prime Minister will intervene and make high level representations to their Ministerial counterparts in jurisdictions where an Australians human rights are being violated. This standard procedure was witnessed in the intervention by the then LNP Prime Minister John Howard after Barnaby Joyces raising of the matter concerning Habeas Corpus in relation to David Hicks. The same occurred with the LNP Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull intervening at the March 2018 ASEAN meeting when he and his team raised the matter of James Ricketson with Hun Sen of Cambodia (Ricketson had been detained on Espionage charges). So to be clear it is standard practice and procedure that an Australian LNP Prime Minister directly intervenes in situations of exceptional circumstance as was the case with David Hicks, James Ricketson and is the case with Julian Assange. Why shouldnt Julian Assange receive the same level of involvement by the Prime Minister and or Foreign Minister as others have received in similar situations.

Julian Assange has suffered enough. It's time to end this geopolitical madness. The man's an Australian. He's not an American. He wasn't in the US when he spoke out about war crimes. Put simply, he must be allowed to return to Australia. Andrew Wilkie MP & Co Chair of the Bring Assange Home Australian parliamentary group.

Julian Assange has suffered enough. It's time to end this geopolitical madness. The man's an Australian. He's not an American. He wasn't in the US when he spoke out about war crimes. Put simply, he must be allowed to return to Australia. #politas #auspol https://t.co/TXBB1SNlgm

— Andrew Wilkie MP (@WilkieMP) October 15, 2019

On 28 January 2020: News from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Comprising 324 parliamentarians from the 47 countries of the Council of Europe https://twitter.com/CoE , speaking for 830 million Europeans The @CoE Assembly, in a resolution on media freedom, declares that the detention and prosecution of @wikileaks founder Julian #Assange "sets a dangerous precedent for journalists" and calls for his prompt release. The full resolution: http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-en.asp?fileid=28508&lang=en

On February 8 2020. Listen to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Cruel and Degrading Treatment, who extensively investigated the Assange case states that the evidence against Julian Assange has been "Fabricated" https://youtu.be/f9KRxF9oVxQ

Julian Assange is an Australian Citizen and as such it is the fundamental responsibility of the Australian Government to protect and ensure his human rights are not violated and to this end the Australian Government has failed. It can also be stated that the Australian Government to date has been silently complicit in the psychological torture of Mr Julian Assange.

Julian Assange is an Australian citizen and journalist who is currently a political prisoner in London. He is facing extradition to the USA to face 175 years imprisonment and possible execution for publishing news material that was in the public interest. The information contained in his publications were not sourced by him, but rather were delivered to him by whistleblowers. Whistleblower sourced information is the usual occupational practice of an investigative journalist in a functioning democracy. This case highlights clear human rights abuses of Julian Assange, serious perversions of justice and a direct attack on the very fabric of democracy across western democracies.

Further, in light of the concerning deterioration of Julian Assanges state of health and with Covid19 already causing the death of other prisoners in Belmarsh (HMP) Prison, politicians who may be perceived as somewhat responsible should seriously consider how citizens would react if Julian Assange was to die in prison or be viewed shuffling in shackles in an orange fashioned Guantanamo torture jumpsuit. Responsible politicians would be best advised to deal with this matter via this legal and peaceful petitioned action and this petition provides that platform for praise and endorsement. We support responsible politicians doing the right thing and winning political points from 92% of Australians as per (60 Minutes Australia) polling that want the Australian Government to intervene and Bring Assange Home. Yes 92% is across the political spectrum.

We agree nobody is above the law. As Jeremy Hunt MP wished we will stand together to make it an international taboo, of the highest order to murder, arrest or detain journalists just for doing their job. (Jeremy Hunt April 6, 2019). https://twitter.com/FCDOGovUK/status/1114199640625295361?s=20

You can read more about this campaign in the updates below. Please, sign and share this petition.

Thank you.

Phillip Adams

The Petitioner

========================================

Read more detail below on this petition'sSubmission of the largest ever petitioning of theInternational Criminal Court. 619,000 signatory strong petition delivered to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court's (The Hague). On August 10, 2021 as well as on January 15 , 2021 to request an escalation of preliminaryinvestigation request, with reference to Notice 1 Aug. 5, 2020 and Notice 2, August 27, 2020. We resubmitted to the ICC because the Chief Prosecutor changed around June/July, 2021.

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

Petition Delivery: International Criminal Court, The Hague

619,900 signatories August 10, 2021

Petition To: Chief Prosecutor Mr Karim Asad Ahmad Khan International Criminal Court: The Hague

Petition To: Deputy Prosecutor Mr James Stewart International Criminal Court: The Hague

Dear Mr Karim Asad Ahmad Khan,

We deliver this 619,900-signature petition in accordance with International Criminal Court (ICC) protocols to request that the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) immediately escalate to a preliminary investigation into alleged crimes against humanity by Public Officers of ratified nations to the 1997 Rome Convention.

Mr Julian Assange (Former Editor in Chief of Wikileaks) published evidence of war crimes and we allege that as a direct consequence of his publishing in the public interest that some Public Officers of the United Kingdom, Ecuador, Sweden, and Australia have been subjected Mr Julian Assange to cruel and degrading treatment amounting to psychological torture which is a crime against humanity as per ICC classification.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture made public statement on May 31, 2019 (appendix. 1) that Mr Assange has been exposed to various forms of cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment that cumulatively have the same effect as psychological torture. We allege that some Public Officers of the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden and Ecuador have worked together to deliver cruel and degrading treatment amounting to psychological torture in breach of international law.

Signatories to this 619,900 strong petition as well as the UN Special Rapporteur and countless others from around the world have repeatedly raised this serious matter with responsible Public Officers in accordance with due process. We have adhered to peaceful activism and have followed the spirit and ethos of the institution of the International Criminal Court and to date we have only witnessed a continuation of the cruel and degrading treatment amounting to psychological torture that now instruct falls under the jurisdiction of the ICC.

We now call on the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) as per administrative protocols to escalate requests for preliminary investigation pertained in this petition submission together with Petition Submission January 15, 2021, Petition Notice documents 1 delivered to the OTP on August 5, 2020, Petition and Notice 2 delivered to the OTP on August 27, 2020. (See Appendix A, 7 & 8).

To torture a publisher for exposing war crimes is a crime against humanity. The International Criminal Court was formed as a peaceful legal pathway to investigate and prosecute international crimes that it has been notified of and which are being perpetrated despite repeated notification over an extended period of time. We now call on the Chief Prosecutor to investigate the actions of Public Officers that have and are continuing to perpetuate psychological torture on a publisher/journalist/Australian Citizen who published evidence of war crimes.

Yours Sincerely

Phillip Adams

Australian Citizen and Petitioner https://www.change.org/Free-Julian-Assange-before-its-too-late

Appendix

Appendix A: https://www.change.org/p/free-julian-assange-before-it-s-too-late-stop-usa-extradition/u/28367219

Appendix 1: United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel and Degrading Treatment Reference: https://youtu.be/ErW1taJEPrs

Appendix 2: Preamble to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Reference: https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Article 5: of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human RightsNo one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Appendix 3: Reference: https://www.change.org/Free-Julian-Assange-before-its-too-late

Appendix 4: Reference Petition Notice 37, 38, 39, 40, 41 https://www.change.org/p/free-julian-assange-before-it-s-too-late-stop-usa-extradition/u/25396955

Appendix 5: Petition Official Tabling in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Australia and accepted into official Australian Parliamentary Hansard https://twitter.com/WilkieMP/status/1226749989738573825?s=20

Appendix 6: Petition Official Tabling in the Senate of the Parliament of Australia and accepted into official Australian Parliamentary Hansard https://twitter.com/SenatorSurfer/status/1194524951044227072?s=20

Appendix 7: Petition Notice 1. Delivered to the OTP of the ICC August 5, 2020 https://www.change.org/p/free-julian-assange-before-it-s-too-late-stop-usa-extradition/u/27599933

Appendix 8: Petition Notice 2 Delivered to the OTP of the ICC August 27, 2020 https://www.change.org/p/free-julian-assange-before-it-s-too-late-stop-usa-extradition/u/27448320

-------Below this line is a copy of the January 15, 20221 submission---

Petition Delivery: Office of the Prosecutor,

International Criminal Court, The Hague

570,000 signatories as at January 15, 2021

Petition To: Chief Prosecutor Ms Fatou Bensouda International Criminal Court: The Hague

Petition To: Deputy Prosecutor Mr James Stewart International Criminal Court: The Hague

Dear Ms Fatou Bensouda,

This petition document includes 570,000 signatures from citizens around the world and in accordance with International Criminal Court (ICC) protocols we now deliver to the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the ICC a request for escalation of preliminary investigation into an alleged crime against humanity by mental/psychological torture of Mr Julian Assange. Mr Julian Assange published evidence of war crimes and then was and has continued to be subjected to cruel and degrading treatment amounting to psychological torture as punishment for his publishing in the public interest.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture made public statement on May 31, 2019 (appendix. 1) that Mr Assange has been exposed to various forms of cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment that cumulatively have the same effect as psychological torture. We allege that some public officers of the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden and Ecuador have worked together to deliver cruel and degrading treatment amounting to psychological torture in breach of international law.

Signatories of this 570,000 strong petition, the UN Special Rapporteur and many others from around the world have repeatedly raised this matter in accordance with due process and by peaceful means and to date we have not seen a meaningful investigation into and prevention of this alleged international crime that falls under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

We now call on the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) as per administrative protocols to escalate requests for preliminary investigation pertained in Petition Notice documents 1 delivered to the OTP on August 5, 2020 Petition Notice 2 delivered to the OTP on August 27, 2020. (See Appendix 7 & 8)

Yours Sincerely

Phillip Adams

Australian Citizen and Petitioner https://www.change.org/Free-Julian-Assange-before-its-too-late

Appendix

Appendix 1: United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel and Degrading Treatment Reference: https://youtu.be/ErW1taJEPrs

Appendix 2: Preamble to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Reference: https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Article 5: of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human RightsNo one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Appendix 3: Reference: https://www.change.org/Free-Julian-Assange-before-its-too-late

Appendix 4: Reference Petition Notice 37, 38, 39, 40, 41 https://www.change.org/p/free-julian-assange-before-it-s-too-late-stop-usa-extradition/u/25396955

Appendix 5: Petition Official Tabling in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Australia and accepted into official Australian Parliamentary Hansard https://twitter.com/WilkieMP/status/1226749989738573825?s=20

Appendix 6: Petition Official Tabling in the Senate of the Parliament of Australia and accepted into official Australian Parliamentary Hansard https://twitter.com/SenatorSurfer/status/1194524951044227072?s=20

Appendix 7: Petition Notice 1. Delivered to the OTP of the ICC August 5, 2020 https://www.change.org/p/free-julian-assange-before-it-s-too-late-stop-usa-extradition/u/27599933

Appendix 8: Petition Notice 2 Delivered to the OTP of the ICC August 27, 2020 https://www.change.org/p/free-julian-assange-before-it-s-too-late-stop-usa-extradition/u/27448320

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Petition Free Julian Assange, before it's too late. Sign ...

by RT / October 23rd, 2021

Chris Hedges talks to documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist John Pilger about the upcoming appeals hearing in London for the Julian Assange case.

On Sept. 26, Yahoo! News published Kidnapping, assassination and a London shoot-out: Inside the CIAs secret war plans against WikiLeaks. The article detailed discussions within the CIA to kidnap or assassinate Julian Assange. The revelations came a month before a hearing in Britains High Court that will see the U.S. government appeal a decision that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot be sent to the United States to face espionage charges. These revelations also coincided with the arrest of an Icelandic man who played a major role in the FBIs case against Assange and who has now admitted he lied in his testimony about Assange to U.S. federal investigators. The most recent revelations, coupled with the numerous legal anomalies of the Assange case, including leaks that show that the Spanish security firm at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London where Assange sought refuge for seven years, turned over recordings of his meetings with his lawyers to the CIA, amply illustrate that the judicial pantomime carried out against Assange is a political persecution led by the U.S. government and the CIA because of embarrassing and damaging revelations about the inner workings of the US military, intelligence agencies and the political class repeatedly exposed by Assange and WikiLeaks. The goal of the U.S. government is to shut down WikiLeaks, and organizations like WikiLeaks, and to make an example of Assange, who if he is extradited to the United States faces 175 years in prison, to dissuade others who might consider replicating his courageous reporting. The upcoming appeals hearing is on October 27 and 28 at Britains High Court, London.

This article was posted on Saturday, October 23rd, 2021 at 7:27am and is filed under Journalism, Julian Assange, Political Prisoners, Torture, Video, WikiLeaks.

See the rest here:

The Julian Assange Case | Dissident Voice

Stella Moris, fiance of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, arrives at the High Court of England and Wales, in London, last month. Guy Smallman/Getty Images hide caption

Stella Moris, fiance of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, arrives at the High Court of England and Wales, in London, last month.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been given permission to marry his partner, attorney Stella Moris, in a ceremony to be held at London's high-security Belmarsh prison, where he's been incarcerated since 2019.

Moris, who had taken legal action against the prison governor and Britain's justice secretary, claiming they were preventing the wedding, tweeted that she was "relieved but still angry that legal action was necessary to put a stop to the illegal interference with our basic right to marry."

Belmarsh authorities reportedly told reporters that Assange's marriage application was "considered in the usual way by the prison governor."

There was no immediate information on when the ceremony would be held.

The couple got engaged in 2017, according to media reports. Assange, an Australian national, was previously married but reportedly got divorced in 1999.

Moris and Assange, who have two sons together, began a relationship after Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he was granted political asylum in 2012 after evading a Swedish warrant for his arrest and extradition over allegations of sexual assault.

Swedish officials later dropped their rape investigation, but Ecuador ultimately revoked Assange's asylum status and British authorities arrested him in 2019 for breaching bail. Assange has remained in prison as he fights efforts to extradite him to the U.S., where he faces espionage charges stemming from his procurement and leaking of classified documents related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In January, a U.K. court refused the U.S. extradition request, citing Assange's precarious mental state. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser said Assange was likely to kill himself if subjected to the harsh conditions of a U.S. prison. At the same time, the judge rejected defense arguments that the charges against Assange were politically motivated.

Last month, the U.S. argued before the High Court of England and Wales for Baraitser's decision to be overturned. A decision has yet to be announced.

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Julian Assange wins permission to marry his partner in a London prison - NPR

Call me naive, but Im still shocked that we live in an age, and a culture, where you can lose your liberty, your sanity, your citizens rights and perhaps your life, for speaking truth. Sure, Julian Assange was determined to speak truth to power. Sure, the truth in question was ugly a revelation of US war crimes and the power in question the worlds greatest. And sure, such immense power bestows the ability, if not the right, to supervene the law. But none of that makes it OK.

Ithaka is a new film currently premiering at the Sydney Film Festival. Because Assange has been held incommunicado for almost two years, his father John Shipton and his brother Gabriel Shipton are compelled to speak for him. John talks, rather shyly, to camera while Gabriel produces. The film is their story; their Julian story, a very personal tale of a very public figure.

Julian Assange, pictured in 2017 at the Ecuadorian embassy.Credit:AP

Its name, Ithaka, is taken from John Shiptons favourite poem, a tale of journeying by early 20th century Greek poet C.P. Cavafy. But it also suggests the Homeric quality of Assanges epic quest for truth, and his fathers for justice.

The film, directed by Ben Lawrence, fills out the Assange of international intrigue, court action and assassination plots Assange as public enemy No. 1 by focusing on Assange the human. With his partner Stella Morris and their two small children we suffer through grim prison visits and emotional court hearings, small wins and devastating losses. But whats at stake is far bigger. For Julian, muses his father, its his life. But for you guys if he goes down, journalism goes down.

Hes not being grandiose. A couple of weeks ago, Britains High Court heard Americas appeal against Britains refusal to extradite Assange to face a secret trial and up to 175 years in supermax. Judgment is still weeks away and, even then, whichever side loses will likely appeal, so theres a way to go yet. But the threats to press freedom are real.

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First comes self-censorship. Chances are, this has already kicked in. Although the first extradition hearing, in January, found in Assanges favour, the judgment relied solely on his mental fragility. The judge, Vanessa Baraitser, offered no critique of the US penal system and no defence of press freedom. So no precedent arises.

Further, says Daniel Ellsberg, now 90: If Julian is extradited to the US to face these charges, he will be the first journalist and publisher [tried under the Espionage Act], but not the last. The New York Times might be the third or the fourth

Ellsberg, you recall, was the Rand Corporation economist who in 1971 leaked to the NYT and The Washington Post the so-called Pentagon Papers, revealing the Vietnam War not as a civil war but as a war of American aggression. His trial under the Espionage Act 1917 was eventually dismissed, due mainly to government incompetence. Since then, Ellsberg has received several peace prizes including the 2018 Olof Palme Prize for exceptional moral courage.

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Assange, the movie: his father and brother expose the human behind public enemy No. 1 - The Sydney Morning Herald

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been appointed an honorary member of the German PEN Centre, a writers association that fights for freedom of expression.

The center also called for authorities in England not to extradite Assange to the United States, where he faces up to 175 years in prison. The PEN center asks for his immediate and unconditional release in a statement issued on Nov. 2.

The United States is seeking extradition of Assange for releasing classified documents via Wikileaks in 2010.

Assange was imprisoned in the U.K. in 2019 for failing to appear in court

Assange has been in solitary confinement in Londons maximum security prison in Belmarsh since April 2019, after applying for asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012 and living there as a political refugee for almost seven years, the German PEN Centre said.

It contradicts the right to freedom of expression and therefore the charter of the international PEN. We assure him, like our other honorary members, of our unlimited solidarity, said Ralf Nestmeyer, vice president and Writers in Prison representative of the German PEN Centre.

The appointment as an honorary member of the German PEN center is linked to the concern for the health of Julian Assange, whose prison conditions are described by Amnesty International as torture. The arbitrariness of the judiciary and the deprivation of liberty of Assange are a monstrous violation of human rights and this happens in the midst of a Western European democracy and not in a despotic regime. The German PEN center takes the allegations of sexual assault seriously.

Two women in Sweden accused Assange of rape/sexual molestation in 2010. Assange sought refuge at the Ecuadoran embassy in London in 2012. Swedish prosecutors dropped their investigation of the alleged rape in 2019.

The German PEN center takes the allegations of sexual assault seriously, but we are also aware of the doubts expressed by Nils Melzer, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, about these accusations and the risk of their inadmissible instrumentalization, the center said.

PEN Centre Germany is part of PEN International, which was founded in London in 1921. One of its primary goals is to fight for freedom of expression.

Assange has been detained in Belmarsh Prison since April 2019 after spending almost seven years at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

In December 2020, the German PEN Centre projected Free Julian Assange. on the British Embassy building in Berlin.

We call on the competent authorities in England not to extradite our honorary member Julian Assange to the United States of America but to release him immediately and unconditionally from prison,. Nestmeyer said in the German PEN Centres statement.

His continued detention is purely political and is therefore neither acceptable nor justified. It contradicts the right to freedom of expression and therefore the charter of the international PEN. We assure him, like our other honorary members, of our unlimited solidarity.

Edited by Judith Isacoff and Kristen Butler

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WikiLikes: Writers Association Honors Julian Assange And Calls For His Release - The Florida Star

LONDON The extradition case against Julian Assange, the embattled WikiLeaks founder, resumed in a London court this week as lawyers for the United States argued that concerns about his mental health should not prevent him from standing trial in an American court.

The hearing considered a U.S. appeal of a January decision by a British court not to extradite Mr. Assange, and the outcome is not expected to be known for weeks. It was the latest step in an attempt to send Mr. Assange to the United States to face espionage charges that has dragged on since he was arrested in London in 2019.

If he is extradited, Mr. Assange, 50, could face trial on charges that he played a role in obtaining and publishing secret military and diplomatic documents related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If he were found guilty on all counts, he could face a sentence of up to 175 years in prison.

In January, a British court ruled that Mr. Assange could not be extradited, citing his diminished mental health and suicide risk, among other factors, in the decision. But American prosecutors appealed, prolonging an international legal battle that has already played out for nearly a decade.

During the two-day hearing this week, Mr. Assanges defense team argued that new accusations from a Yahoo News investigation published in September that the C.I.A. plotted to kidnap or kill Mr. Assange during the Trump administration, as well as fears that he would be placed in harsh prison conditions and concerns about his mental state, should be barriers for his extradition to the United States.

But prosecutors for the United States argued that they had made assurances that Mr. Assange would not face a highly restrictive form of solitary confinement and could apply to serve his sentence in Australia, his home country. They also pledged that he would receive clinical and psychological treatment and would not be sent to a prison reserved for the worst offenders, according to Reuters.

Mr. Assange is still being held in Londons Belmarsh prison, where he has been for more than two and a half years. He did not initially join the proceedings when they began Wednesday morning, as his legal team said he was not feeling well. But that afternoon, he appeared by video link wearing a shirt and tie and a face mask, according to courtroom drawings.

Mr. Assanges lawyers, rights groups and other defenders have called the charges against him a politically driven attack on media freedom, while doctors and mental health experts have detailed how his physical and mental states have deteriorated since he has been imprisoned.

At the time of the Yahoo report last month detailing an alleged C.I.A. plan to kidnap or kill him, Britains National Union of Journalists called the report chilling.

That such acts might have been contemplated as a reaction to an individual who had simply published inconvenient truths is all the more troubling, Michelle Stanistreet, the unions general secretary, said in a statement. She called for the appeal to be dismissed and for Mr. Assange to be released.

Mr. Assange published documents on WikiLeaks that were leaked by the former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, and he was indicted in the United States in 2019 on 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act. In 2018, he was indicted on one count of conspiring to hack government computers in 2010 and 2011.

He fled into Ecuadors Embassy in London in 2012 to escape extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted in an investigation into rape allegations that were later dropped. He spent seven years hiding out there before Ecuador revoked his citizenship and evicted him in April 2019. He was then arrested by the British police.

Rebecca Vincent, who has been monitoring the extradition hearing for Reporters Without Borders and was in the courtroom on Wednesday and Thursday, said that the hearing had major implications for media freedom.

What is at stake here is not only the rights of one man, but the ability of journalists everywhere to do their jobs, to hold power to account and to ensure our ability as the public to access information we have the right to know, she said in a statement after the hearing. This is not just about Julian Assange.

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British Court Hears Appeal in Julian Assange Extradition Case - The New York Times

The US Department of State on Tuesday issued apress statementcondemning the harassment, intimidation, and surveillance carried out against journalists to constrain them from performing their journalistic duties. The statement was issued to mark the International Day to End impunity for crimes against journalists.

A free and independent press holds leaders accountable, protects the rights of citizens, and ensures our communities are well informed. In too many countries, journalists face the threat of violence or imprisonment fortheir reporting. The United States condemns threats, harassment, and violence targeting journalists and media workers, the statement said.

In its statement, the US department said the threats against journalists have increased manifold, notably from governments that have the resources to go beyond borders, employ digital surveillance tools and track journalists communication and whereabouts to clamp down on their abilities to report on corruption and repression.

Now, more than ever, we must stand against the increasing use of physical attacks, online harassment, intimidation lawsuits and regulatory pressures being used to silence media around the world, the statement read.

On the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, we renew our resolve to advocate for an open press free from unjust restrictions, and to hold to account those who attack press freedom, the statement added.

Although the US Department of State emphasised the need to safeguard journalists from repressive regimes that targeted scribes and suppressed them from reporting inconvenient truths, it nevertheless underscored the hypocrisy of the United States in pontificating on press freedom while persecuting Julian Assange for uncovering Americas war crimes.

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, is currently underimprisonmentat one of the harshest jails in the United Kingdom for exposing US war crimes and their undercover secrets. He has been lodged in prison since 2019 when he was removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He had taken refuge in 2012 in the Embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that was subsequently dropped in November 2019.

He wasindictedby US authorities on 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse related to the publication of secret US military documents that carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison. The charges against Assange is that he published secret documents obtained by former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, some of which included the disclosure of foreigners who were aiding the U.S. military abroad. He is also accused of plotting to hack computers and conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information.

It was recently reported that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the United States of America (USA) was even contemplating kidnapping and assassinating Julian Assange. The discussions regarding the same reportedly occurred in 2017 after Donald Trump took oath as the president of the USA, as per some reports.

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American Comedy: USA condemns harassment of journalists while persecuting Julian Assange for exposing their war crimes - OpIndia

In a recent interview with MRT, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, stated that Julian Assange has been subjected to imprisonment. absolutely unnecessary and illegal, just in case they finally decide to extradite him to the United States.

In addition, he stressed that the mental health of the WikiLeaks founder is related to the abuse he has suffered.

One cannot recover from torture if you continue to torture him, and it is precisely what is being done to it. They isolate him, keep him in limbosaid Melzer, who also clarifies that Assange is not serving any sentence andni he is even accused of nothing criminal.

The rapporteur gives as an example the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who, unlike Assange, was under house arrest while accused of crimes against humanity, such as the murders and forced disappearances of thousands of people.

Assange, 49, is accused in the US of espionage and hacking for the publication since 2010 of hundreds of thousands of pages of secret military documents and diplomatic cables on Washingtons activities in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which were disseminated by its WikiLeaks leak portal.

In April 2019, the cyber activist was detained at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London (United Kingdom), where for seven years he had obtained refuge and even the Ecuadorian nationality.

Disclaimer: This article is generated from the feed and not edited by our team.

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They isolate him, keep him in limbo: UN Special Rapporteur condemns the torture of Julian Ass... - Market Research Telecast