WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange might not make it out of prison alive, his father fears.

John Shipton told reporters he had visited his son in a British prison earlier this week and needed to come to terms with the fact that he may die in jail.

This is not the bitter disappointment of a father, this is simply fact, he said Friday, according to Yahoo News.

Julian may die in jail over a nine-year persecution for revealing the truth of war crimes, Shipton continued.

It is beyond obscene.

Assange, 48, has been imprisoned since April, when he was booted from the Ecuadoran embassy in London. The whistleblower famously published classified military and diplomatic files in 2010 about US bombing campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. He sought refuge at the embassy in 2012 in order to avoid an extradition order to Sweden, where he was accused of sexual assault.

Assange is currently fighting extradition by the United States where he could face up to 175 years in prison under the Espionage Act.

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's father fears his son will die in prison - New York Post

Former Icelandic Interior Minister tells Independent Australia how he blocked U.S. interference in 2011 in order to defend WikiLeaks and its publisher Julian Assange. Sara Chessa reports.

A MINISTER OF THE INTERIORwakes up one summer morning and finds out that a plane full of United StatesFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents has landed in his country, aiming to carry out police investigations without proper permission from the authorities.

How many statesmen would have the strength to say, No, you can't do this, to the United States? Former Icelandic Interior Minister gmundur Jnasson, in fact, did this and for the sake of investigative journalism.He understoodthat something wrong with the sudden FBI mission in Reykjavik, and that this had to do with the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks and itspublisher Julian Assange.

Initially, it looked like a simple matter of collaboration against cyber attacks.

Mr Jnasson told IA:

In June 2011 I was told that U.S. intelligence had discovered that hackers were preparing an attack on Icelandic governmental institutions. I was asked if we wanted to cooperate with the Americans.

Of course, Iceland was interested in hearing what they had to say and then the idea was to evaluate whether to cooperate and to what extent. Icelandic police officers went to Washington andAmerican officers visited Iceland in order to map the problem out, but no proof of possible attacks emerged.

I am the proof. When I say they came here to frame Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, I don't say this lightly...

However, in August 2011, a plane full of FBI agents accompanied by prosecutors landed in Reykjavik.

Jnasson says:

"When I heard of this, I asked my colleagues in the Ministry if, unknown to me, the FBI had been given permission to carry out police work in Iceland. I certainly had not given such a permission and the decision should anyway have been on my table."

He then spoke with the Chief of Icelandic Police, having been told a meeting had been planned.

Jnasson explains:

"I knew that the FBI were on the way to Police Headquarters with the intention to map out co-operation linked to the WikiLeaks issue. I requested that no such meeting should take place and that there should be no further contact whatsoever.

The FBI agents were not permitted to carry out any police work in Iceland.

But this was not only about defending Icelands sovereignty. According to Mr Jnasson, during this process, he had been informed that the FBI showed up in Reykjavik with the aim of framingJulian Assange.

While it would be logical to ask for some kind of documentary proof to this effect, Jnasson is clear:

I am the proof. When I say they came here to frame Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, I don't say this lightly, I am selecting my words very carefully, I know what I am talking about. I am stating this in accordance with my word of honour that I knew this was the case. I have testified to this effect in front of a parliamentary committee and in the parliamentary assembly, and my words have not been contested.

Actually, it works like this in most countries. It's difficult to find someone as well informed as is theMinister of Interior.

Beyond his certainty regarding the FBI trying to make life difficult for WikiLeaks, Mr Jnasson also has a theory on another possible goal pursued by the U.S.:

In a way, it might be said that they wanted to frame us as well, by turning Iceland from being the uncritical complaisant ally (like most of the NATOs partners are) to become the complicit one in the war against WikiLeaks.

The whole WikiLeaks story highlights how the word empire can still be used nowadays in connection with the power machine that the U.S. Department of State built all around the world. Whether we agree or not with the use of that term, it is still uncommon for a NATO member to say No to a request of cooperation by the U.S.

However, the FBI agents left. They had no option, the former Interior Minister explains.

"As things turned out the best they could hope for was our silence. They can live with anything as long as they can keep us silent, uncritical, complaisant, but once we speak, they are just naked, like the emperor in the fable.

In Mr Jnasson's view, the responsibility of states and individuals plays a game-changing role. For Jnasson, denying complicity to the U.S. agents was a crucial step instanding up for investigative journalism.

He says:

Being informed of their real intentions, I figured out that the communications from them in June 2011 were intended as camouflage. They were establishing a contact, but from the beginning, they wanted to come full force at a later stage and be able to say 'this is just in continuation of our good cooperation'.

But even if the FBI were requested to leave Iceland for lack of proper procedure, Mr Jnasson emphasises that thereis also the dimension of taking sides in a vicious power gameand faced with a choice, he would most certainly ally with WikiLeaks rather than with the FBI.

You can have excellent laws and constitutions ... but it is almost non-relevant if society is asleep. You need people to speak up.

Following on from this is the question of whether Iceland could be considered a safe country for journalists and whistleblowers, including the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks,Kristinn Hrafnsson, currently living in Reykjavik.

MrJnasson says:

Kristinn Hrafnsson is highly respected in Iceland. But for WikiLeaks and whistleblowers in general, I think it will depend as indeed anywhere on the public, which in the end is the guardian of freedom, including the freedom of the press. You can have excellent laws and constitutions,and they are, for sure, needed, but it is almost non-relevant if society is asleep. You need people to speak up.

This is for Mr Jnasson the main point also in Assange's case:

WikiLeaks was bringing out the truth, revelaing crimes which should have been taken to court. This has been prevented. So the charges brought against the publisher are, in reality, charges against free speech and freedom of the press. The American police and secret services are trying to create an atmosphere of impunity, where they can do anything. Even when they landed here, they were showing contempt for democracy.

What they are doing to Assange is in opposition to the American Constitution and the principles of human rights, they claim they are protecting.

He is not alone in his considerations, given what the UN Special rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, said some months ago regarding Assange.

The former Icelandic Interior Minister is aware of thisand quotes the statement by Melzer:

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 ...The collective persecution of Julian Assange must end here and now!

These are heavy words,Mr Jnasson says.

But in his opinion, the responsibility does not only rest with those states directly involved:

What is Australia doing? Isn't Julian Assange an Australian citizen?However, I don't see Australian authorities taking on the responsibility to protect their citizen.Australia shows, as far as I can see, the same indifference and hence complicity with the U.S. as is the case in most other lands. And may I add where is the world press, the same press which gratefully published the material WikiLeaks provided them with?Why are they quiet? In the end, we are all responsible. We are seeing an individual and an organisation taken to court, with 18 charges which could lead to 175 years in prison.

All this for carrying out investigative journalism.

In 2016,the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention also stated Assange should walk free. However, he is in a London prison, waiting for the U.S. extradition hearing scheduled for February 2020.Meanwhile, the sexual misconduct allegations in Sweden (never turned into charges)are not involved with his current imprisonment.

When Mr Jnasson is asked who can do something to make governments align with the UN request, he again bringsinto play the people:

All depends on us. There is not such a thing as spectators. Everybody is taking a part sitting quiet is taking part!

It is believed the FBI agents, after being chased out of Iceland, went to Denmark. It is not known if they asked for the same cooperation there that they did not obtain in Iceland. Unlike Iceland, Denmark kept quiet about the Bureau'svisit. So do most countries, whether complaisant or complicit to use Mr Jnassons wording.

Mr Jnasson does not want to speculate on what happened in Denmark or other countries.

He says:

My suspicion, however, is that the FBI was quite happy with Denmarks silence at this point. From their point of view, I guess, when it comes to undercover work, the thumb rule is that silence is golden.

And, maybe, other complicit partners were found, elsewhere in Europe.

Sara Chessa is a UK-based independent journalist. You can follow Sara on Twitter @sarachessa1.

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The FBI tried to make Iceland a complicit ally in framing Julian Assange - Independent Australia

C u tonight 6pm outside the Home Office

M.I.A.will likely be performing in London tonight at an occasion protesting the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

The Dont Extradite Assange occasion, is because of happen at 6pm exterior the House Workplace in London tonight (November 5).

Tweeting concerning the occasion, M.I.A. stated: As soon as Upon a time there have been males with beards B four the bearded guys there have been another person I cant bear in mind / Now its Russians / Later it may very well be u or me / Im right here for no matter units fact free / Coz Jesus loves me. /Amen.

C u tonight 6pm outside the home office.

In response to a fan who requested Are you gonna sing M.I.A? the singer, actual titleMathangi Arulpragasam, replied Yez, u coming? M.I.A. is ready to carry out on the occasion alongside Lowkey.

As soon as Upon a time there have been males with beards

B four the bearded guys there have been another person I can not bear in mind

Now it is Russians

Later it may very well be u or me

I am right here for no matter units fact free

Coz Jesus loves me.

Amen.

C u tonight 6pm exterior the house workplace pic.twitter.com/v1BPSomhoP

M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) November 5, 2019

pic.twitter.com/4CRpC3uTTy

M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) November four, 2019

Earlier this 12 months (April 11),Assange was arrested on the Ecuadorian embassy in London the place he had been claiming refugefor the final seven yearsto keep away from extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case that has since been dropped.

He was then discovered responsible of failing to give up to the court docket whereas going through US federal conspiracy expenses associated to one of many largest ever leaks of presidency secrets and techniques. He was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for a bail violation, whereascombating extradition to the US.

Again in 2017, M.I.A. wrote a letter in help of Assangeurging folks to thank the Wikileaks founder and saying the world ought tofast fix your system not hide him or the cracks he exposed. Assange is a long-term good friend of the rapper.

The British-Sri Lankan rapper has used her politically charged music to discover life as a refugee throughout 5 albums and two EPs in her 20-year profession and was awarded the MBE for providers to music on this 12 monthss New Yrs Honours Record.

NMEhas contacted representatives of M.I.A for remark.

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MIA to sing at Julian Assange protest event in London this evening - Herald Publicist

By Kevin Reed 2 November 2019

Famed rock music artist Roger Waters gave an extensive and significant interview to the television network Russia Today (RT) on October 25 in which he denounced the continued illegal imprisonment of Julian Assange and reiterated his call for the freedom of the WikiLeaks publisher and founder.

Julian Assange, who founded WikiLeaks in 2006 and published extensive proof of US war crimes in the Middle East and other corruption around the world, is currently being held at Belmarsh prison in London. Although he has broken no laws and not been convicted of any crime, Assange is being held in advance of being handed overin blatant contravention of international lawto the United States to face 18 charges, including violation of the Espionage Act of 1917.

Former British diplomat and human rights activist Craig Murray recently published a blog post called Assange in Court where he described the condition of the journalist during the show trial hearing in Westminster Magistrates Court on October 21. Murray wrote: When asked to give his name and date of birth, he struggled visibly over several seconds to recall both. ... it was a real struggle for him to articulate the words and focus his train of thought.

Speaking from New York City on the RT program Going Underground with Afshin Rattansi broadcast from London, Roger Waters condemned Assanges persecution by the UK and US governments. They are clearly trying as hard as they can to kill him, he said. Julian Assange is becoming a warning to other journalists. If you tell the truth, particularly to power, we will get you and that is the message that is being transmitted.

When asked by Rattansi, You think that theyre going to kill him?, Waters responded: They are killing him.

Commenting on the dismissal of Assanges request to extend his extradition hearing for three months, Waters said: Im flabbergasted and horrified in equal measure. The proceedings a couple of days ago in that Magistrates Court were nightmarish. For that to be happening in an English courtroom makes me thoroughly ashamed of being an Englishman.

Waters went on to explain that the extradition treaty between the US and the UK does not apply to any political offenses or complaints: I dont know on what other grounds that they are trying to extradite Assange, but it is clearly a put-up job.

When Afshin Rattansi pointed out that the hearing was not even reported by the UK evening news, Waters discussed his appearance at a rally with John Pilger to demand the freedom of Julian Assange on October 2, outside the Home Office in London. He noted: I sang my song Wish You Were Here and I made a speech and John made a very good speech to the assembled 1,000 or so people. And Julians brother spoke to them as well as and there wasnt a single word in the Western media of a report of that protest. ... Were getting a very, very one-sided narrative here.

Waters then spoke about the reasons behind the persecution of Assange: Hes being railroaded, as I said before, as an example to others, to scare the s**t out of any other potential journalist who might stand up and speak the truth about war crimes and other things that our governments do not want to be reported. They want to keep all that stuff secret.

Assange is one of those essential publishers, and there are precious few of themwhich is why he is so precious to us allwho are prepared to take the risk of actually reporting the reality of our lives, to us, to we the people, which is our right to know. They are applying the heaviest possible penalty they can for him stepping out of line for doing his job as a journalist.

Rattansi turned the interview to the question of Assanges physical condition and explained that when John Pilger was on his program recently, he was visibly shocked about the appearance of Julian Assange not hardly being able to speak. Waters then replied: I wasnt in the courtroom two days ago, but Ive read Craig Murrays account of what happened in the courtroom and Craig Murray was devastated by what he saw...

He is exhibiting all of the symptoms, according to the accounts that Ive read, of somebody who has been subjected to torture in a routine way over many months, and he looks like people who come out blinking from the dungeon after theyve been tortured for many months. So, you can see that he is really frail and he is in real danger of them ending his life before they even get to an extradition hearing.

Moving on to broader historical issues in the persecution of Assange, Waters said: This makes an absolute mockery of the idea that we have the rule of law in the United Kingdom. You know, the Magna Carta might just as well not have happened. Because this just says, no, the lawthe Magistrates Courts and the lawis actually just a tool for whoever it is that rules as all, in this case the United States of America.

Thats why they were in the Magistrates Court pulling Vanessa Baraitsers strings and she was responding like a puppet and doing everything they wanted her to do and everything they wanted her to say, with a bit of prodding from the QC James Lewis who was representing the United States government.

There is no reason to doubt that the governments of the UK and the US would prefer the sudden death in jail of Julian Assange to the prospect of protracted court proceedings. The facts will be presented that he is innocent of the charges against him and that his activities were those of a journalist will be stressed to a world audience.

Everything that the authorities have done to Assangefrom false allegations of sexual misconduct and a campaign of vilification in the media, to his forced near seven-year political asylum inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, to his extended isolated imprisonment at Belmarshhas been carried out in order to break and destroy him.

As Roger Waters has pointed out, the purpose of the assault on Julian Assange is to intimidate all others who would dare to stand up to and exposewith massive documentary proofthe war crimes and corporate corruption of US and British imperialism.

The working class in every country must urgently take up the fight to stop the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States and win his freedom. This is a central and critical task, as part of the growing struggles of workers and youth throughout the globe against austerity, war and the assault on fundamental democratic rights.

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Roger Waters on RT: The US and UK are trying to kill Julian Assange - World Socialist Web Site

Issued on: 01/11/2019 - 16:19Modified: 01/11/2019 - 16:34

The treatment of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is facing the threat of extradition from Britain to the US on espionage charges, is putting his life at risk, an independent UN rights expert said Friday.

Unless the UK urgently changes course and alleviates his inhumane situation, Mr. Assanges continued exposure to arbitrariness and abuse may soon end up costing his life, the UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Nils Melzer, said in a statement.

Melzer, who visited the 48-year-old Australian whistleblower in a London prison on May 9, nearly a month after his arrest at Ecuadors embassy where he had been holed up for seven years, has previously warned he was being subjected to drawn-out psychological torture.

The independent expert, who does not speak on behalf of the United Nations, has not met Assange since, but he told AFP in an email that his growing concern was based on new medically relevant information received from several reliable sources.

This information, he said, indicated that Mr Assanges health has entered a downward spiral of progressively severe anxiety, stress and helplessness typical for persons exposed to prolonged isolation and constant arbitrariness.

Life-threatening

While the precise evolution is difficult to predict with certainty, this pattern of symptoms can quickly develop into a life threatening situation involving cardiovascular breakdown or nervous collapse, he warned.

In Fridays statement, Melzer pointed out that he in May had demanded that London immediately take measures to protect Assanges health and dignity.

However, what we have seen from the UK Government is outright contempt for Mr. Assanges rights and integrity, he said.

Despite the medical urgency of my appeal, and the seriousness of the alleged violations, the UK has not undertaken any measures of investigation, prevention and redress required under international law, he charged.

Assange continues to be detained under oppressive conditions of isolation and surveillance, not justified by his detention status, he said.

His statement pointed out that Assange had completed his prison sentence for violating his British bail terms in 2012 and was now being held exclusively in relation to the pending extradition request from the United States.

Assange is facing the extradition request by the US over charges he violated the US Espionage Act by publishing a huge cache of military and diplomatic files in 2010.

While the US Government prosecutes Mr. Assange for publishing information about serious human rights violations, including torture and murder, the officials responsible for these crimes continue to enjoy impunity, Melzer said.

He also decried that despite the complexity of the proceedings against him led by the worlds most powerful Government, Mr. Assanges access to legal counsel and documents has been severely obstructed.

This, he said, had effectively undermined his most fundamental right to prepare his defence.

In his appeal, Melzer urged London to bar Assanges extradition to the US, and demanded that he be promptly released and allowed to recover his health and rebuild his personal and professional life.

(AFP)

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Prison conditions for Julian Assange are putting his life 'at risk': UN expert - FRANCE 24 English

Saturday, 2 November 2019, 11:27 amPress Release: Joint Press Release

PRESS RELEASE 01/11/2019:JulianAssange is the "canary in the coalmine"

Without Free speech there is no "press" and without thepress there can be no meaningful democracy. Why is it thatit is left to the Spanish to investigate the violations ofJulian's legal rights - in Britain?!

These abusesinclude: Surveillance (in aforeign embassy - which is a abuse of civil rights - andinternational law / legal privilege). Theft of evidentiary material (vitalto Julian's legal defence). Procedural"irregularities" (including, but not limitedto...) Solitary confinement -the length of which constitutes "cruel and unusualpunishment... (more than 15 days in solitary confinementis defined as torture United Nations)

Julian Assange is the target of a calculated, andprotracted campaign of injustices designed to torture himmentally and physically intended to render him, and thosethat might be tempted to emulate him, into renouncing hisevidence of war crimes, and to condemn him to a life of"silent" incarceration - and possibly death in solitaryconfinement.

You shall know a tree by it's fruit-and the people who are behind these nefarious, clandestine- and illegal activities are - for want of a better word-evil!

If we as a free people allow our journaliststo be bullied, jailed -and tortured - what do we have tolook forward to in the not too distant future? Will ourepitaph be "First they came for the journalists, and I didnot speak - because I was not a journalist!?

Weimplore the New Zealand media to do everything that they canto bring the light of dayback to this story - as it is amatter of life and death - not only for Julian Assange butfor the free and democratic people of the world.

We are not interested in publicity - for it's ownsake -or for our own - we're simply trying to save a bravean important man from further suffering -and to preventfuture malicious misuses of power.

This Press Releaseis issued by spokespersons for the following groups:

#FreeAssangeNZ (700+) #Candles4Assange (750+) #OperationFreeAssange (1.4k+) #Unity4J(7.7k+)

Scoop Media

Scoop Citizen Membership ScoopPro for Organisations

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Julian Assange is the "canary in the coalmine" - Scoop.co.nz

WASHINGTON President Donald Trumps team was very happy that Wikileaks released emails hacked from the Democratic party during the 2016 race, a former campaign official told investigators from the special counsels office.

Rick Gates, who served as Trumps deputy campaign chair, told Robert Muellers team last year that the release of the hacked emails offered a mode of deflection for the campaign after a sink in polling numbers following Trump's comments about Ted Cruz's father at the end of the Republican National Convention, according to interview summaries obtained by BuzzFeed News.

Cruz, a senator from Texas, refused to endorse Trump at the convention. Afterwards, Trump made a comment linking Cruzs father to President John F. Kennedys killer.

Gates also told investigators that the Republican National Committee had non-public information about the timing of the Wikileaks releases, but did not specify who at the RNC knew this information.

The RNC disputes this, saying it "had no advanced knowledge" of the releases. "Gates has already pled guilty to lying to federal authorities. Why would anyone believe him now?" RNC communications director Michael Ahrens told BuzzFeed News on Saturday.

US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian intelligence services were behind the hack of the Democratic National Committee and passed the information on to Wikileaks, which the CIA has labelled a non-state hostile intelligence service.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange announced in June 2016 that the group had an upcoming email leak related to Hillary Clinton, whose use of a private email server while secretary of state was under federal investigation at the time and who had previously deleted thousands of emails she deemed personal. But Gates, who spoke to Muellers team several times after agreeing to cooperate with the investigation, said the Trump campaigns interest in the emails was ratcheting up before Assanges announcement in April and May because it was likely the emails could help Trump's campaign.

Several members of the Trump campaign, including Manafort, Michael Flynn, Jared Kushner, Corey Lewandowski, Jeff Sessions, and Sam Clovis, had expressed interest in finding emails belonging to Hillary Clinton, according to Gates. Gates said Donald Trump Jr. would ask where the emails were in family meetings. As for the now-president, Gates said Trump was interested in the emails but remained composed with a healthy skepticism.

Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee was energized by Assange's announcement, Gates said, adding that he knew the RNC was going to run the Wikileaks issue to ground.

Trump and Kushner were initially skeptical about cooperating with the RNC, but the Wikileaks issue was a turning point, Gates told investigators.

Manafort had instructed Gates to periodically call someone whose name is redacted from the documents to check in on where the information was and when it would be coming, Gates told investigators. He also recalled a conversation with someone before the leak in which that person told him that Wikileaks would be releasing information.

Gates said a messaging strategy was being built in the June/July 2016 timeframe surrounding the upcoming release of information, the interview summary reads. [Redacted] was building this strategy with Manafort also involved.

Trump was generally frustrated Clinton's missing emails had not been found, Gates also told investigators.

At one point it isnt clear exactly when from the redacted documents Trump said get the emails while on his campaign plane, Gates said. Flynn, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said he could use his intelligence sources to obtain the emails and was adamant the Russians did not carry out the hack.

Gates said Flynn had the most Russia contacts of anyone on the campaign and was in the best position to ask for the emails if they were out there.

Once Wikileaks began releasing the emails, Manafort and another person whose name is redacted were happy from a communications team perspective because it provided an opportunity to deflect from Trumps attacks on Cruz. Trump was advised not to react to the releases and let it play out, Gates told investigators.

In a phone call after the release, Gates gathered that [...] there would be additional leaks coming. Gates thought this because shortly after boarding the plane Trump stated that more leaks were coming.

Manafort, who was getting pressure regarding [redacted] information, appears to have continued to instruct Gates to obtain status updates on upcoming information.

Among the hacked emails were many belonging to Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. Gates told investigators that there was a strategy to defend Manafort by attacking Podesta, with the idea being that Podesta had baggage as well.

Gates cooperated with investigators after pleading guilty to charges brought by the special counsel's team, while Manafort is serving a seven-year sentence behind bars.

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A Former Trump Campaign Aide Said The Campaign Was "Very Happy" About The Release Of Hacked DNC Emails - BuzzFeed News

Once upon a time, there was a very bright little boy in Australia who grew up as stranger to conventional society. His mother went from husband to husband, from theater to cult, always on the eccentric margins, while the boys natural father was left behind. As an adolescent he found his own world in cyberspace, which offered a field for his insatiable curiosity. As he learned about that great world out there and its secrets, he developed his very own rigorous ethic: his vocation was to search for true facts and share them with the public. Living outside the usual social codes, his moral compass was uninhibited by the usual niceties. Truth was truth, deception was wrong, lies on the part of the powerful should be exposed.

The original sin of Julian Assange was the same as that of Galileo Galilei. Galileo sinned by revealing to the people things the elite already knew or at least surmised, but wished to keep secret from the masses, in order not to shake the peoples faith in the official truth. Assange did the same thing with the formation of WikiLeaks The official version of reality was challenged. All lies should be exposed. By far the most sensitive targets of his wide-ranging reality revelations were the lies, the hypocrisy, the inhuman brutality of the United States in its wars of global hegemony. To Assange, these things were simply wrong.

At first, WikiLeaks attracted a great deal of popular attention and even acclaim. Julian Assange became famous. He was a geek, but he didnt look like a geek. Tall, handsome, striking with his nearly white hair, Julian was something strange: a charismatic geek.

He arrived in Sweden with near superstar status. Swedish women contrived to get him into their beds. They bragged about having sex with Julian: he was a trophy lover. But the charismatic geek didnt know the social codes of the peculiar Swedish forms of virtuous promiscuity. This lacuna was exploited by his enemies in extravagantly unpredictable ways.

Julian Assange tried to straighten out what seemed to be a serious misunderstanding before leaving Sweden. But the Swedish side failed to make matters clear and he left for London.

In London, he was quickly taken up by the radical chic branch of the British upper class, the champagne and caviar humanitarians. The nave charismatic geek who didnt know the social codes no doubt thought he was among friends. He didnt belong to any political or social movement in the UK, he depended on the beautiful people who for a time found him an interesting outsider, one of their latest causes.

Julian Assange may have been socially nave, but he very acutely perceived what the imperial powers were working up against him. The totally unjustifiable demand for extradition to Sweden for questioning unjustifiable because they had declined to question him while he was there and then declined to question him in the UK appeared to Julian to be an obvious device to enable Sweden to extradite him to the United States, given the total obedience of post-Olof Palme Sweden to the wishes of Washington. Others didnt see this so clearly, except for the excellent President of Ecuador at the time, Rafael Correa. Correa offered Assange asylum in the tiny Ecuadorian embassy in London. Assange, unconventional, negligent of the codes, but with a clear view of the danger stalking him, jumped the bail set up for him and moved into the embassy.

This was the beginning of his alienation from the caviar humanitarians. At first the smart set defended him. Such glamorous personalities as Jemima Khan and Amal Amamuddin (not yet Clooney) initially defended him and then lost interest. He was not of their world. He did not know how to compromise, he was a geek after all, less and less charismatic as he faded in the shadows of the embassy of Ecuador. Its all very well to denounce lies and tell the truth, but one mustnt overdo it. Its delightful to have a cause when you have a solid social and financial background to fall back on, and when you know how to play the game so as to be in and out at the same time. Julian had none of those social graces. He was honest, intent, stubborn. He was incapable of hypocrisy, even in his own interest. He would not abjure, as Galileo did.

Such stubborn honesty on the part of someone who has nothing no family, no fortune, no social status, no political party, nothing but his stubborn devotion to truth is unbearable in a society based on lies. The media who profited from his scoops became the most zealous in denouncing him. No wonder: his honesty was a living reproach to the scribblers who had sold out all down the line, who get ahead by adding new touches to the mendacious "common narrative" required by the masters of their careers.

Lies were spread. Someone so honest must have hidden vices. He must be as bad as we are, or worse. The mob gathers. This man who knows the truth but not the social codes is an insult to us all, a freak, a monster, who must be destroyed.

The lynch mob is enormous. The media, politicians, even the judicial authorities. There are no loud shouts for blood but silent cruelty as the Anglo-American ruling Establishment shamelessly contrives to halt the last breath of the outsider who dared expose them for what they are.

Diana Johnstone is the author of Fools Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO, and Western Delusions. Her new book is Queen of Chaos: the Misadventures of Hillary Clinton. The memoirs of Diana Johnstones father Paul H. Johnstone, From MAD to Madness, was published by Clarity Press, with her commentary. She can be reached at diana.johnstone@wanadoo.fr.

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The Lynching of the Charismatic Geek - Antiwar.com

Julian Assange

KATHARINE Gun, whose exposure of a dirty Iraq War secret the government tried to hide is sticking her neck out again!

In the Hollywood film version of Guns life Official Secrets she is played by Keira Knightly she is seen working for GCHQ when she stumbles on a CIA email trying to blackmail UN Security Council members and leaks it to the press.

Now she is daring to publicly support the campaign to free Julian Assange who appears to be Britains No 1 pariah. She has allowed her photograph and statement backing him to appear on a leaflet distributed by his few supporters.

Assange has served his time for breach of bail but the establishment is keeping him in custody in the tightest security jail in the UK, Belmarsh, south London.

He should be on bail awaiting an extradition hearing next February to the US but, punitively, Westminster Magistrates Court maintain he is a flight risk and should remain in jail. He is kept 23 hours in solitary and only allowed out of his cell for a short period on his own. He is not allowed to mix with other prisoners.

But decency, which boils down to a moral judgment, is clearly lacking in this case.

Katharine Gun on the leaflet with her statement in support of Julian Assange

The fact is Assange has been abandoned by both the mainstream media as well as liberal opinion and Labour and Left protesters.

A protest outside the BBC in Langham Place, West End, on Saturday gathered just a 100 or so protesters mainly middle aged and elderly women and men and a sprinkling of a youngsters. But where was the so-called Left that are often accused of taking over public protest gatherings? I didnt see a single face of any Camden Labour or Lib Dem member. I didnt see any poster from the Labour Party or the Lib Dems.

And there certainly werent any posters from far-left groups.

Why? Because he is not a particularly well-liked person he was alleged to have committed acts of sexual assault in Sweden and fled to the UK, then he is believed to have lost a great deal of money friends had offered up as a bail surety before he sought asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy.

Moral judgments do not appear to play the part they should have in public dissent. The moment public dissenters think you are not a nice sort of person they are likely to walk by when you need them most.

Conditions in Belmarsh are notoriously bad. Even convicted criminals should not be kept in those conditions. Conditions in British prisons have never been as bad as they are today, mainly because of cuts in staffing and resources, something the Prison Justice ministry admit.

But, it is clear, the Home Office is determined to keep him inside a jail, whatever the conventions of the law. Is that to appease the US government who want him for trial in the US?

Who is Julian Assange? He is an Australian, a publisher and a journalist.

He helped to leak documents that exposed secrets the US wanted to keep from the public. For that he is paying a terrible price. In the past few years a strong authoritarian streak has begun to run through various governments.

Youd think newspapers and independent TV channels, like Channel 4, would take up his cause. Even if they didnt feel it breached the hallowed canons of press freedom there is the moral issue a man being kept of solitary confinement. Perhaps, all they can see is the original allegations of sexual assault, and that, to them, is enough to justify his incarceration.

It all comes down to moral judgments. Libertarians and lefty protesters are quick to rush to the barricades on big sweeping issues the Iraq war, Brexit but they often flounder on moral issues.The only public figure who dared to attend the protest was Ken Livingstone but then, condemned by more than 100 Labour MPs as anti-semitic, he is used to being treated as a pariah.

He made a very short speech, mainly against the machinations of US policy, and left. I have to go to look after the kids, he apologised. He is 74, and in quite good shape though suffering a bit from arthritis.

The next protest by the small band of brethren who feel Assange is getting a raw deal will be held outside the Home Office on November 5.

Then another at St Pancras Church on November 28 where journalist John Pilger, academics and artists will appear.

Excerpt from:
Fired-up Gun backs campaign to free Assange - Camden New Journal newspapers website

by Joe Emersberger

Grayzone (10/28/19) reported that its editor, Max Blumenthal, had been arrested on fabricated charge related to the siege of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC.

Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal, a prominent journalistic critic of US policy toward Venezuela, was arrested by DC police on Friday, October 25, in connection with a protest at the Venezuelan embassy, and held incommunicado. But if you rely on corporate media, or even leading press freedom groups, you havent heard about this troubling encroachment on freedom of the press.

Blumenthal is a bestselling author whose work has appeared in such publications as the New York Times, CJR, The Nation and Salon. DC police arrested him at his home on a five-month-old arrest warrant, charging him with simple assault for his attempt to deliver food to the besieged Venezuelan embassy; he was held for two days, and for the first 36 hours was not allowed to speak with a lawyer. (In an interview with FAIR, Blumenthal noted that keeping arresteesgenerally poor and African-Americanfrom speaking with lawyers or family is par for the course in the DC criminal justice system.) As of this writing, there has been no mention of Blumenthals arrest in outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post and Reuters that constantly publish Venezuela-related content, or by the big press freedom NGOs.

When freelance US journalist Cody Weddle was detained in Venezuela for 12 hours, it made headlines in the New York Times (3/6/19), Washington Post (3/6/19), Miami Herald (3/6/19), USA Today (3/6/19), Guardian (3/6/19), UK Telegraph (3/6/19), NPR (3/10/19), ABC (3/9/19) and Reuters (3/7/19). Thats not exhaustive, but you get the picture.

In Weddles case, the human rights industry also responded immediately. Jose Miguel Vivanco of Human Rights Watch tweeted about Cody Weddles detention, as did Reporters without Borders (RSF). The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also put out a statement immediately (3/6/19). There has been nothing from them about Blumenthal.

The two-hour detention of Univisions Jorge Ramos in Venezuela was likewise big news. In fact, RSF was outraged that Cody Weddles detention happened barely a week after the Ramos incident.

Nobody should have a problem with Weddles arrest or Ramos detention getting the widespread attention they did. (The content in the reports about Venezuela is a separate issue.) What should anger anybody who isnt consumed with hypocrisy is the point Ben Norton, writing in Grayzone (10/28/19), made about Blumenthals arrest:

If this had happened to a journalist in Venezuela, every Western human rights NGO and news wire would be howling about Maduros authoritarianism. It will be revealing to see how these same elements react to a clear-cut case of political repression in their own backyard.

Blumenthals arrest is another example of the legal harassment of US government critics, including WikiLeaks Julian Assange and whistleblower Chelsea Manningwhose plights have similarly been neglected by Western media and NGOs that claim to support press freedom (FAIR.org, 11/3/18, 4/1/19).

Several months ago, activists invited by the Venezuela government stayed in the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC, for over a month until they were finally evicted by police on May 24. The presence of the activists delayed a takeover of the embassy by representatives of the Trump-appointed Venezuelan government-in-exile led by Juan Guaid. The majority of the worlds governments do not recognize Guaid; that was dramatically highlighted on October 17 when Venezuelas was voted onto the UN Human Rights Council despite US lobbying (i.e., bribes and threats).

Nevertheless, Trumps recognition of Guaid in January 2019 was the excuse for intensifying economic sanctions that had already killed thousands of people by the end of 2018. (Incidentally, Jorge Ramos two-hour detention also received more Western media attention than the study showing the already-lethal impact of Trumps sanctionsFAIR.org, 6/14/19).

Democracy Now! (10/30/19) was one of the few US outlets to report on Blumenthals arrest.

With the complicity of DC police, Guaid supporters tried to block food from being delivered to the embassy during the standoff with the activists. At one point, 78-year-old Jesse Jackson Sr. had to scuffle with Guaid supporters to deliver food. The DC police were clearly intent on doing as little as possible, even with an elderly, high-profile visitor trying to make a delivery. Former Green Party candidate Ajamu Baraka (age 66) was forced to act as Jacksons bodyguard, thanks to the aggression of Guaid supporters and the inaction of DC police.

Norton reported:

Court documents indicate the false charge of simple assault stems from Blumenthals participation in a delivery of food and sanitary supplies to peace activists and journalists inside the Venezuelan embassy on May 8, 2019.

Others attempting to deliver food were hit with charges months ago. Activist Ben Rubenstein and Veterans for Peace president Gary Condon (age 72) were beaten by police during the standoff for trying to toss a cucumber to activists inside the embassy. In fact, the warrant against Blumenthal was months old, and apparently initially rejected. Blumenthal explained:

If the government had at least told me I had a warrant I could have voluntarily surrendered and appeared at my own arraignment. Instead, the federal government essentially enlisted the DC police to SWAT me, ensuring that I would be subjected to an early morning raid and then languish in prison for days without even the ability to call an attorney.

The lack of coverage of his arrest is totally consistent with media coverage of the siege of the Venezuelan embassy, Blumenthal told FAIR. The violence, racism, sexism of the Venezuelan oppositionnone of it was reported in the mainstream US press. Aside from alternative outlets like Democracy Now! (10/30/19) and the World Socialist Website (10/30/19), one had to turn to Russian state media to find coverage of Blumenthals arrest. A Sputnik article (10/30/19) about the case cited damaging exposs Grayzone has published about Guaid inner circle, one of which recently led to the resignation of right-wing economist Ricardo Hausmann from Guaids shadow administration.

Heres an idea for media outlets and NGOs concerned about the appeal of Russian public relations efforts: start doing your jobs by holding your own authoritarian politicians and politicized police forces to account.

See the original post:
Max Blumenthal Arrest Exposes Hypocrisy of Western Media and 'Human Rights' NGOs - FAIR