More than 70 members of the German parliament from four political parties have called on US President Joe Biden and the British government to stop the impending deportation of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from the UK to the US to face espionage charges.

"Journalists must not be persecuted or punished for their work anywhere in the world," the Bundestag deputies wrote in an open letter. "In the interest of press freedom as well as for humanitarian reasons in view of his poor state of health, Julian Assange must be released without delay."

Assange has been imprisoned in the UK since April 2019, when the government of Ecuador, which had hosted him in its London embassy for seven years, withdrew his political asylum.

A subsequent legal process and court trial ended on June 17, when British Home Secretary Priti Patel granted the US's extradition request. Assange's lawyers are currently appealing the minister's decision.

"A free press is one of the fundamental components of each and every democracy," the Bundestag members wrote. "We are very concerned about the deterrent effect that Assange's extradition and conviction could have on press freedom and investigative journalism around the world."

Members of all three German government coalition parties have signed the letter the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens, and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) as well as several representatives of the opposition socialist Left Party.The letter was not signed by members of the opposition conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) or the far-right populists from the Alternative for Germany (AfD).

In a statement to DW, one of the signatories, SPD human rights spokesman Frank Schwabe, said: "The situation is very clear. Julian Assange does not belong in a prison, and he certainly shouldn't be deported to a country where he is threatened with a draconian punishment. For me this is a question of the credibility of our important mutual understanding of human rights."

Christian Mihr, head of the German branch of Reporters Without Borders, saidhe hoped the German government would take the parliamentarians' message on board. "I hope the government recognizes it ... when elected representatives send such a strong signal, and that they take it seriously and position themselves clearly to Joe Biden," he told DW.

Should he be found guilty under the Espionage Act, Assange could face 175 years in prison in the United States. Through the Wikileaks platform, Assange was instrumental in leaking evidence of alleged war crimes committed by the US military in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Wikileaks also published confidential Democratic Party emails during the 2016 US election campaign.

Swedish prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Assange on sexual assault allegations in 2010, though the investigation was eventually dropped when the statute of limitations expired whilehe remained in the Ecuadoran embassy.

In 2019, the UN special rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, visited Assange in Belmarsh prison in London and concluded that his treatment by the UK, US, and Ecuadoran governments amounted to psychological torture.

DW has reached out to the German Foreign Ministry for a reaction.So far, the German government has held the position that it has no reason to doubt the integrity of the British extradition process.

A petition opposing the "psychological torture" of Assange has been approved by the Bundestag's petitions committee, the Left Party parliamentary group announced in Berlin on Wednesday. Left-wing politicians see the committee's vote as a demand that the German governmenttake action to secure Assange's release.

Green MP Corinna Rueffer welcomed the German lawmakers' action on Twitter as an act to strengthen press freedom.

Edited by: Rina Goldenberg

This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more reactions come in.

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

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German MPs demand release of Julian Assange

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) held a well-attended online public meeting on Sunday, Oppose British extradition order: Fight to free Julian Assange! More than 200 people tuned in from across Australia, as well as Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The meeting is available to view in full below.

The meeting was called in response to British Home Secretary Priti Patels announcement that her government had approved the extradition of Assange to the United States, where he faces 175 years imprisonment for exposing US-led war crimes. With almost all legal avenues in the British courts exhausted, the announcement underscores that the fight to free the WikiLeaks founder is increasingly urgent.

The following resolution was passed without opposition at the meeting:

This meeting condemns the persecution of Julian Assange by the American, British, Australian and Swedish governments for exposing the war crimes of the US and its allies. We demand that the Australian government end its collaboration with the legal travesty to railroad Assange into the US courts and instead use all its diplomatic and other powers to secure his immediate and unconditional release.

SEP National Secretary Cheryl Crisp chaired the meeting, with reports delivered by World Socialist Web Site writers Eric London and Oscar Grenfell. Following the speakers, the meeting featured a lively discussion as the panel responded to questions and comments from the diverse and highly engaged audience.

Crisp emphasised that what must be fought for, as the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) and SEP have done from the outset, is the mobilisation of the working class to come to the defence of this courageous journalist.

Crisp and the other speakers explained that this is the opposite of the bankrupt perspective of making plaintive appeals to official politicians, including the newly elected Labor government in Australia, former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn or Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

These layers are all in agreement over the need to silence figures like Assange in order to suppress opposition to the war agenda, under conditions where the US-NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine is rapidly advancing towards a global conflagration.

Crisp drew the critical parallel between Assange and Dr. David Berger, an Australian general practitioner whose medical registration is under threat due to his criticism of the homicidal let it rip COVID-19 policies embraced by all Australian governments.

London, a national committee member of the SEP in the United States and a writer for the WSWS, declared: The institution that is primarily responsible for everything that has happened to Assange is the government of the United States and its two component parts, the Democratic and Republican parties.

The population, London explained, cannot be allowed to come within a ten-foot pole of the truth, under conditions where the US fight for democracy means bringing the world to the brink of nuclear catastrophe with Russia, starving billions of people and triggering mass hunger in the midst of the worlds worst pandemic in centuries.

The assault on democratic rights by the US ruling elite is no less acute in the domestic arena. Eighteen months on from Trump and the Republicans January 6, 2021 attempt to establish a fascistic presidential dictatorship by force, London noted, all the main conspirators are free and plotting a second attempt for the next elections in 2024.

The Democrats, London said, insist on saving the Republican Party and promoting illusions of national unity, which are completely shattered by the reality of life in the US: Daily mass shootings, police killings and reactionary decisions from the courts.

For these reasons, London explained, such a political establishment cannot tolerate freedom for the likes of Julian Assange.

London stressed the need for the fight for Assanges freedom to be based on a fight to mobilise the international working class, in which there is an unprecedented upsurge in response to rapid increases in the cost of living and widespread shortages of food and other essentials. This was sharply expressed in developments over the weekend in Sri Lanka, where masses of protesters occupied the presidential palace, forcing the resignation of President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.

Oscar Grenfell, a member of the SEP (Australia) national committee and a writer for the WSWS, warned that any illusions that the newly elected federal government of Anthony Albanese will do anything to aid Assange are a complete dead end.

Labors position on Assange is very clear, Grenfell said. Its identical to that of the former Liberal government.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and Defence Minister Richard Marles have all refused to employ the diplomatic powers they have to free Assange, although such powers have been used in the past to aid Australian citizens being persecuted abroad.

Grenfell explained that Labors refusal to defend Assange was based on its full support for American imperialisms plans to dominate the world through conflict with Russia and China.

Grenfell noted that Labor and Coalition governments could not have thrown Assange to the wolves as they did, without political assistance. This came from the Greens and the pseudo-left, who promoted the frame-up of Assange through the Swedish sexual misconduct investigation, which was always a sham.

The critical issue for defenders of Assange, Grenfell concluded, is to turn to the emerging movement of the global working class, and to explain the connection between Assanges plight and the social and democratic rights of the working class.

In response to questions and comments from attendees, the panelists reiterated the necessity to understand the persecution of Assange in its political and historical context.

Grenfell said: Weve never viewed the Assange case as a single issue, separate from whats taking place more broadly.

None of the increasing attacks on the working class, including war, the pandemic or the persecution of Assange, could be understood as the product of individual proclivities or moral failings, he continued.

The most basic social and democratic rights of working people are incompatible with a society dominated by the banks, big business and a vast military intelligence apparatus. This, Grenfell explained, meant the only solution was a struggle against the capitalist system itself.

In response to a question about the silence of the unions on the persecution of Assange, Crisp noted the refusal of the unions to raise the protection and defence of their own members from COVID-19, just as they have they no concern for the health and wellbeing of Assange.

Crisp explained: These are not organisations that defend the interests of the working class, so they do not defend the interests of Julian Assange, who speaks the truth and speaks to inform broad sections of people about what goes on behind closed doors, what goes on that the media refuses to report.

In response to questions over whether the fight to free Assange could be taken forward through appeals to left figures such as Jeremy Corbyn, London noted, Corbyn was leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020, a period during which Julian Assange was in London, in the embassy. We have to be ruthless in exposing all of those who had any opportunity and refused, as Corbyn did, to lift a finger to help Julian Assange.

Rather than appeals to such figures, London stressed, what is required is a powerful united movement of the working class that aims to defend democratic rights and the likes of Julian Assange by attacking the source, capitalism. That requires socialist revolution. Thats the only way that Assange can be protected, thats the only way that world war can be prevented and thats what the perspective of the Socialist Equality Party is aimed at achieving.

The SEP urges all defenders of democratic rights and opponents of imperialist war to get involved and join the fight to free Julian Assange. Contact the SEP today and sign up for the Free Assange Newsletter below.

Sign up for the Free Assange Newsletter

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Strong response to SEP online meeting on the fight to free Julian Assange - WSWS

For Americans, the US invasion of Iraq was set like an elaborate game. US forces were to bravely buckle up and eliminate the enemies of democracy in Iraq. Propaganda was pouring in from all sides about Iraqs Weapons of Mass destruction and more.

And Americans were encouraged to cheer on the forces as we joined them in spirit, thousands of miles away in nearly everything we did, even in the games we played. Games such as the Iraqi Most-Wanted card game which was promoted back then in 2003. These cards were officially named personality identification playing cards and had on them the pictures of the Iraqi regime officials that the US military was aiming to heroically eliminate.

Of course, as those of us familiar with politics and propaganda could already predict, years later, it was discovered that not only was Iraq void of WMDs but in reality, it was the American forces who were a threat to Iraqis, not the other way around! Then we read on secret American prisons and all kinds of unbelievable torture methods.

And so, as a result of these crimes, a person continues to serve time in prison. Strangely enough, that person is not any of those who initiated the offensive on Iraq. Instead, hes the man behind exposing American crimes in places like Iraq and Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay: A whistleblower called Julian Assange.

Read this article:
The Brave Behind Bars - Press TV

Last Friday, Labor government Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced that he was ending the prosecution of Bernard Collaery, a lawyer who had been charged with breaching national security laws by allegedly exposing Australian spying on East Timor.

The end of the prosecution, which was launched in 2018, is no doubt welcome news to Collaery and his supporters.

The 78-year-old, who is a widely-respected barrister and prominent political figure, has been subjected to state harassment and persecution for the best part of a decade. His only supposed crime was bringing to light the unlawful actions of the intelligence agencies, as part of Australias neo-colonial bullying and thuggery in the Pacific.

Dreyfus order, however, will do nothing to end the onslaught against whistleblowers as well as journalists who publish information deemed to be of national security significance.

In a press conference outlining the decision, Dreyfus made this plain. Governments must protect secrets, and this government remains steadfast in our commitment to keep Australians safe by keeping secrets out of the wrong hands, he declared.

The attorney-general emphasised that he was not establishing any sort of precedent for an end to whistleblower prosecutions. The Collaery case was exceptional, he insisted.

The government has given no indication that it will drop other such cases. David McBride, a former military lawyer, is being prosecuted for allegedly exposing Australian war crimes in Afghanistan. Charges carrying a maximum-sentence of ten years imprisonment remain against Richard Boyle, who is accused of revealing the aggressive debt-collection practices of the Australian Taxation Office.

Labor is also fully committed to the draconian legislation under which Collaery was being prosecuted.

The barrister faced five charges under the Intelligence Services Act, passed in 2001 by Labor and the Liberal-National Coalition. The laws aim to outlaw any exposure of the activities of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), the countrys foreign spy agency.

Collaerys defence lawyers argued that the legislations secrecy provisions were voided, by the fact that the conduct of ASIS that had been revealed was unlawful. The prosecution insisted that there was no such public interest defence. In other words, even illegal actions by the spy agency were protected on national security grounds.

The federal Liberal-National Coalition government and the prosecution also attempted to hold most of Collaerys trial in complete secrecy. They invoked provisions of the National Security Information Act, which permits court proceedings to be entirely closed, if national security material is being discussed. The attorney-general has sweeping powers to recommend a case be heard in such a Kafkaesque manner. That legislation was also passed by Labor in 2004.

While in opposition, Labor did not oppose the Collaery prosecution, giving the Coalition government a green-light to proceed with it.

More broadly, the Collaery case has highlighted militarist policies and dirty-tricks operations, implicating the entire political and state apparatus, including Labor.

Collaery first became involved in the matter, when he represented an ASIS employee known only as Witness K, in a 2008 workplace dispute. Witness K, a lifelong intelligence agent, allegedly revealed to Collaery that in 2004 he had been involved in a spying operation against East Timor.

ASIS had secretly bugged cabinet meetings of the East Timorese government. The material was then used by the Australian government, on behalf of major corporations, in negotiations aimed at securing favorable access to massive oil and gas deposits in the Timor Gap.

The material was particularly explosive because it exposed the predatory, imperialist character of Australias military intervention into East Timor in 1999. At that time, the Howard Coalition government, Labor and the entire official media, insisted that it was necessary to send troops to the Pacific nation to protect civilians against Indonesian militias.

The Collaery revelations made clear that in reality, all of Australias dealings in East Timor had been aimed at securing dominance over the strategically-important nation and its significant natural resources as East Timors nominal independence was established.

The spying information was reported in the media in 2013, with Collaery accused of passing on the revelations to Australian Broadcasting Corporation journalists. The same year, Collaery and Witness K testified at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, providing evidence in support of an East Timorese legal case against the bugging.

The then Coalition government responded with 2013 police raids against Witness K and Collaery. Witness K was prosecuted under national security laws, pleading guilty last year after court proceedings held entirely in secret.

Most significantly, Dreyfus decision was not motivated by any intention to end Australias dirty-tricks operations and meddling in the Pacific. Instead, Dreyfus and the Labor government as a whole are intensifying Australias aggressive intervention in the region, directed against China.

Dreyfus stated that All prosecutions involve a balancing of interests. The balance of interests can change over time. This is such a case. He added, My decision was informed by the government's commitment to Australia's national security and our relations with our neighbours.

The language is vague and includes the usual rhetoric about neighbours. But what Dreyfus was really raising was that the prosecution of Collaery, which East Timor has consistently denounced, risked complicating the Labor governments drive to dominate the Pacific on behalf of American imperialism.

Since coming to office less than two months ago, this has been a major focus of the new government. During the May election itself, Labor led the charge in a hysterical frenzy over the signing of a security pact between China and the Solomon Islands. This was the greatest foreign policy failure in the Pacific since World War Two, Labor declared.

It made those statements, under conditions where the US administration of President Joe Biden and the Liberal-National Coalition government threatened the Solomons with military intervention, if China were to establish a permanent defence presence there.

Labors new Foreign Minister Penny Wong has continued this line. In a series of visits throughout the Pacific, she has threatened the impoverished Pacific Islands with consequences if they turn away from the US and Australia and orient to China.

The kind of intrigues exposed by Witness K, are no doubt integral to this aggressive campaign. The Pacific is viewed as a central arena of the US-led confrontation with China, the key front in American imperialisms drive to dominate Eurasia and hence the world.

This militarist program is incompatible with democratic rights. Labor supported the intelligence legislation, under which Witness K and Collaery faced prosecution, as it did all of the anti-terror laws associated with the war on terror and the neo-colonial occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Then in 2018, as part of the current war policies against China, Labor joined with the Coalition to pass sweeping foreign interference laws. In addition to potentially illegalising much anti-war activity, the legislation contained expanded provisions for the prosecution of whistleblowers, as well as journalists who expose national security material, with penalties of up to life imprisonment (see: Australias new espionage laws target whistleblowers and political opponents).

In a 2018 interview, Andrew Hastie, then the Coalitions chair of the joint parliamentary intelligence and security committee, said the laws were necessary to prevent radical transparency and to stymie those seeking to get secrets from the United States.

Hastie added: Radical transparency is Julian Assange dumping a whole bunch of Commonwealth secrets out for public consumption.

Labor did not differ from this attack on WikiLeaks publisher Assange, as it passed laws specifically designed to prevent the sort of journalistic exposures with which he was identified.

Since then, Assange has been charged with 17 Espionage Act offenses by the United States, which is seeking his extradition from Britain. He faces 175 years in a US prison, for exposing US-led war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Labor government has rejected demands that it secure Assanges freedom, as a persecuted Australian citizen and journalist.

Join the SEP campaign against anti-democratic electoral laws!

The working class must have a political voice, which the Australian ruling class is seeking to stifle with this legislation.

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Australian government drops charges for lawyer who exposed spying on East Timor, but maintains anti-whistleblower laws - WSWS

Australian House of Representative speaker calls on the US to hand over Amber Heard for jail term amid ongoing perjury charges.

The politician made this revelation during his interview with the Australian breakfast show,Sunrise.

He showcased no sympathy for Heard during his admissions and even went as far as to compare her with WikiLeaks Julian Assange.

For those unversed, the US has been demanding for Assange to be extradited to the country over spying charges.

Joyce was quoted saying, Those dogs, when they came in, there were a lot of documents that were signed that said there were no animals there. And it now looks like Ms. Heard has allegedly not told the truth.

[The U.S.] wants Julian Assange [She] can come over to Australia and possibly spend some time at Her Majestys convenience.

Perjury carries a maximum jail term of over 14 years within Australia.

Joyce also hypothesized the potential outcomes if Heard were found guilty by Australian courts and he admitted, Its up to the Americans. I suppose the U.S. want to show the purity of it and theyre insisting on getting Julian Assange.

So [the U.S.] should say, We have got to be fair dinkum and straight with both these things, dont we? Lets see how that goes.

While extradition is an unlikely outcome at this point in time, the chance of her being arrested upon landing on Australian soil is highly likely.

Excerpt from:
Amber Heard to be jailed - Daily Times

In the second episode of new ABC seriesIthaka: A Fight to Free Julian Assange, the man behind some of the largest classified-document leaks in history sings Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star over the phone to his young son as he gets ready for bed.

Minutes before the sweet bedtime scene, Assanges wife and legal adviser Stella Moris watches a video of a gospel choir singing in support of Assange outside of Belmarsh prison, where he has been held since he was dragged out of Londons Ecuadorean embassy in 2019.

This is the side of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange that his family wants you to see in the two-part documentary series available to stream from tonight on ABC iview.

Julians brother, Gabriel Shipton, one of the series producers, said he decided to document Assanges fight for freedom after seeing how much his condition had deteriorated during a visit to see him in Belmarsh prison in late 2019.

Facing the possibility of never seeing his brother again, Gabriel, who hadnt previously been involved in advocating for Assange, decided to bridge the disconnect between the real Julian and the publics perception of him after years of media scrutiny.

Everybody who knows Julian knows him as a funny, sensitive, goofy, gentle genius, Gabriel said.

But I was almost afraid to tell people that I was Julian Assanges brother because of all these smears and things that were in the media.

Gabriel began filming his and Julians father, John Shipton, as he advocated for Assanges release, and brought on director Ben Lawrence to write and direct the project six months later.

Ithaka documents two years of the fight against Assanges extradition to the US on espionage charges.

But Assange only appears via phone and FaceTime calls, and via CCTV footage of his time in Londons Ecuadorean embassy.

His presence is always felt but rarely seen by the audience a deliberate tactic Ben says was used to mimic the real-life experience of Assanges family.

Instead, John takes centre stage.

Ben said with Assange imprisoned and focusing on his legal fight, it was natural that John was at the forefront of the documentary.

As John says in episode one, Assange can no longer speak for himself, so his family and friends must speak for him.

The documentary gives viewers unprecedented insight into the private lives of Assanges family, which is particularly momentous for Stella, who only revealed herself as Assanges partner and mother of his children in 2020.

Ithaka shows footage of Stella visiting Assange with their first baby son during his stint in the Ecuadorean embassy, and follows her to Barcelona to visit her parents, who help look after the children as she deals with Assanges legal issues.

Stella had good reason for keeping her identity hidden in the past, having feared for her life at the hands of the CIA, but has since decided that Assanges needs are greater.

Im here to remind you that Julian isnt a name, hes not a symbol, she says in a speech.

Hes a man, hes a human being, and hes suffering.

Throughout the documentary, the audience sees John transform from someone happy to smile and speak to as many journalists as possible, while slightly umm-ing and ah-ing, to a more self-assured, media-savvy man equally more reluctant to face microphones and cameras.

Were here because we have a problem, we have a child in the sh and want to get him out, John tells the audience.

But he admits in the second episode, when he appears tired and disillusioned, that he doesnt see Assanges predicament getting any better only worse.

Ben says this is simply a moment of despair for a man who has seen his son lose a decade through imprisonment in one form or another, before he continues trying to free him.

As John points out in Ithaka, life does not follow the convenient Hollywood structure of a beginning, middle and conclusion: Assange is still fighting extradition to the US.

Since the documentary completed filming, a UK court has formally approved the extradition of Assange to the US, which set alarm bells ringing for those concerned over protections of journalists and whistleblowers.

It is now up to the UK Home Secretary to determine whether the WikiLeaks founder will be extradited.

The two-part series Ithaka: A fight to free Julian Assange will air on ABC TV at Tuesday, June 7 at 8.30pm AEST, or on ABC iview

Read more from the original source:
The man behind the leaks: Series paints picture of Julian Assange

Barrister Bernard Collaery is defending whistleblower, Witness K, for exposing government crimes. Photo ustly.info

While jailed Australian citizen and journalist, Julian Assange, waits for the new Labor government to act on his behalf with US extradition orders from the UK, another whistleblower and his lawyer face court behind closed doors on Australian soil.

After the federal government, under Liberal PM John Howard, allegedly bugged East Timors cabinet rooms during the 2004 bilateral negotiations over the Timor Sea gas and oil Treaty, intelligence officer, Witness K, blew the whistle on the secret operation. Yet since 2018, he and his lawyer, well respected ACT barrister, Bernard Collaery, have been persecuted in court, behind closed doors, by the Liberal-Nationals government.

The Echo asked recently re-elected local Labor MP Justine Elliot, whether Labor is prepared to back whistleblowers and transparency now it is in government, and whether it will drop the persecution of Bernard Collaery and Witness K.

Ms Elliot replied, Before the federal election, Mark Dreyfus, as the Shadow Attorney General, consistently questioned elements of theCollaery prosecution. In opposition, Labor made a commitment that, if elected, we would seek urgent briefings on that matter.

Mark Dreyfus as Attorney General in the Albanese Labor Government has now sought and received those briefings. This case was one of the first issues he raised in his new role, and he is currently considering that information.

According to federal government transcripts (Hansard), Independent MP, Andrew Wilkie, told parliament on June 28, 2018, that, The perpetrator [of the bugging] was the Howard government, although the Rudd, Gillard and Abbott governments are co-conspirators, after the fact.

Wilkie describes the bugging as illegal and unscrupulous, and it was done after Australia withdrew from the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Such bodies would have provided transparent negotiations with Timor-Leste for its oil and gas reserves.

Australian fossil fuel company, Woodside, benefited from the closed door deal.

Wilkie said at the time, In effect, Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, and by implication Australia, one of the richest countries in the world, forced East Timor, the poorest country in Asia, to sign a treaty which stopped them obtaining their fair share of the oil and gas revenues, and thats simply unconscionable.

More:

Labor mulls over the future of persecuted whistleblower and his lawyer, Collaery - Echonetdaily

PodcastPodcast, The Take

Julian Assanges long battle against extradition.

Julian Assange has waged a long fight against extradition from the United Kingdom to the United States, and after years, a final decision is imminent. But when former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer was asked to look into his case in 2018, he found himself surprisingly uninterested. One allegation after another had come to cloud the narrative of Assange, liberator of state secrets. But Melzer has since investigated them all and he discovered that the level of deception is staggering.

In this episode:

Nils Melzer, author of The Trial of Julian Assange (@NilsMelzer)

This episode first ran in January 2022 and was updated by Alexandra Locke. The original production team was Alexandra Locke, Amy Walters, Negin Owliaei, Priyanka Tilve, Ruby Zaman, Ney Alvarez, Tom Fenton, Stacey Samuel, and Malika Bilal. Alex Roldan is our sound designer. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers.

Connect with us at @AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

See the article here:

Revisiting the trial of Julian Assange | Julian Assange News | Al Jazeera

President Lpez Obrador had some banking to do last weekend, opening five branches of the state-owned Banco del Bienestar (Bank of Well-Being) in Morelos, Mexico City and Mxico state. At one inauguration the president donned a Hawaiian-style flower garland, but stopped short of a hula dance.

Monday

The president was in party mood on Monday. He congratulated basketball player Juan Jos Toscano-Anderson for being the first Mexican to win the NBA finals and couldnt hide his feelings about another recent victor. Today were going to listen to cumbia. Im really happy about Gustavo Petros triumph, the president said, referring to the music genre from Colombia and the same countrys newly elected left wing leader.

However, the presidents mood soured on the subject of government collusion with organized crime. That doesnt exist in our government. Its so absent that, to attack us, they make it up they started making up that the government and I had links to organized crime. They cant prove anything because we simply have principles and ideals theres no evidence, he insisted.

The tabasqueos winning smile returned at the mention of Petros victory, for which he took some credit. We started a new era in the resurgence of democratic movements with a social dimension in America, he said of his government, before calling for music: a song by Margarita la Diosa de la Cumbia (Margarita the Goddess of Cumbia), a Colombian-Mexican singer.

In relieving news for viewers, the head of the consumer protection agency Profeco assured that, despite fears, there was no shortage of toilet paper in Mexico. Another point in the countrys favor, the president explained, was the safety of its capital: Mexico City is safer than New York and is one of the safest cities in the world, he assured.

Tuesday

In the health update, the head of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), Zo Robledo, addressed the countrys shortage of doctors. He said that no applicant had attended an interview for 78% of the 13,765 advertised posts, which appeal for specialists in poorly served, remote areas.

The well-being of Mexicans outside the country was of equal concern to the president. We are ensuring that there is no mistreatment and that there is no discrimination [against migrants in the U.S.] we are not going to allow any candidate, any party, for electoral purposes in the United States to use Mexicans as a piata. The time of silence is over, because there are very racist groups that used xenophobia, the hatred of foreigners, to get votes, he said.

Another foreigner is unlikely to be offered the red carpet on arrival to the land of the free: investigative journalist Julian Assanges extradition to the U.S. was approved by U.K. authorities. The president reiterated his objection to Assanges imprisonment. He is a prisoner of conscience. He is being unjustly treated. His crime was to denounce serious violations of human rights and the interference of the United States government in the internal affairs of other countries He is the worlds best journalist of our time This is shameful, he insisted.

What about freedoms? Are we going to remove the Statue of Liberty in New York? Im going to ask President Biden to address this issue, the president added of the Assange case, before repeating his asylum offer to the journalist.

Wednesday

The president expressed his condolences for the two Jesuit priests murdered in the Sierra Tarahumara, the rural Chihuahua home of the Rarmuri people. He added both men were around 80 and had been trying to save another man.

Elizabeth Garca Vilchis, the governments media monitor, called foul in her Whos who in the lies of the week section. She said the head of a civil organization invented a rape case involving National Guardsmen and insisted social media had been manipulated to promote a narco narrative of the president collaborating with cartels.

As the song says, sometimes customs are stronger than love, Lpez Obrador said of snail-like reforms of the state oil company Pemex, borrowing words from the much cherished singer Juan Gabriel. He stole another line later in the conference, this time from a 19th century Russian critic, to offer a view on Spanish-Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, an adversary of the president. Do you think he can write anything worth reading? Imagination and talent are lost when someone gives themselves entirely to lying, he said, in a barb directed at Vargas Llosa.

Thursday

Shorty, The Egg, The Accountant, The Cowboy, The Cow and The Devil were the colorful names of choice of some of Mexicos recently arrested criminals, the deputy security minister said. In a plot fitting of a Western, Ricardo Meja Berdeja added that 5 million pesos (US $250,000) was being offered in the search for a man by the name of El Chueco (The Crooked) for the murder of the two priests in Chihuahua.

The president relayed Pope Francis reaction to the killings. I express my sorrow and dismay at the murder in Mexico of two Jesuits How many murders in Mexico! Violence does not solve problems, but only increases unnecessary suffering, the pontifex maximus Tweet read.

We totally agree, because there are still those who think that violence must be confronted with violence, evil with evil, Lpez Obrador added.

Later in the conference, the president insisted that his adversaries were wrong to challenge his security strategy. They are defending a failed strategy. They want us to use the full force of the state an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. That is the essence of conservative thought, that is what led Caldern to declare war, he said, referring to a former president.

At the close, the president revealed an inspiration for his philosophy on law and order. With serenity and patience, as Kalimn would say, he said, in reference to the 1960s Mexican comic hero, an Indian orphan found abandoned in a river the story goes dedicated to fighting for justice.

Friday

The president reviewed the work of the Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times on Friday, which he accused of being very quiet about the extradition of Assange. He had further advice for the European Union, whose parliament condemned violence against Mexican journalists in a March resolution. The European Union is accusing us of not respecting freedom of expression and saying that journalists are persecuted And now with Julian Assange, not a pronouncement, nothing, silence. They act as subordinates to the groups of economic power and political power, he said.

The tabasqueo also had some constructive criticism for the U.S. Democratic Party later in the conference. He blamed Senator Bob Menendez for preventing the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela from attending the Summit of the Americas earlier this month and criticized other Democratic lawmakers for blocking Bidens infrastructure bill. President Biden is a good politician and a good human being, but theyre all very abusive, they totally take advantage hopefully they support the president and support their party. They are leading their party to failure, Lpez Obrador warned Democrats.

Mexico News Daily

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Taking away the Statue of Liberty: the week's morning news conferences - Mexico News Daily

Priti Patel has approved the extradition of the WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange to the US, a decision the organisation immediately said it would appeal against in the high court.

The case passed to the British home secretary last month after the UK supreme court ruled that there were no legal questions over assurances given by US authorities on Assanges likely treatment.

While Patel has given the green light, WikiLeaks immediately released a statement to say it would appeal against the decision. Today is not the end of the fight, it said. It is only the beginning of a new legal battle. We will appeal through the legal system; the next appeal will be before the high court.

June 2010 - October 2010

WikiLeaks releases about 470,000 classified military documents concerning American diplomacy and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It later releases a further tranche of more than 250,000 classified US diplomatic cables.

November 2010

A Swedish prosecutor issues a European arrest warrant for Assange over sexual assault allegations involving two Swedish women. Assange denies the claims.

February 2011

A British judge rules that Assange can be extradited to Sweden. Assange fears Sweden will hand him over to US authorities who could prosecute him.

November 2016

Assangeis questionedin a two-day interview over the allegations at the Ecuadorian embassy by Swedish authorities.

January 2018

Britain refuses Ecuador's request to accord Assange diplomatic status, which would allow him to leave the embassy without being arrested.

11 April 2019

Police arrest Assange at the embassyon behalf of the US after his asylum was withdrawn. He is charged by the US with 'a federal charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for agreeing to break a password to a classified US government computer.'

24 February 2020

Assange's extradition hearing begins at Woolwich crown court in south-east London. After a week of opening arguments, the extradition case is to be adjourned until May. Further delays are caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

15 September 2020

A hearing scheduled for four weeks begins at the Old Bailey with the US government making their case that Assange tried to recruit hackers to find classified government information.

4 January 2021

A British judge rules that Assange cannot be extradited to the US. The US appeals against the judgment.

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The statement said anyone who cared about freedom of expression should be deeply ashamed that the home secretary had approved Assanges extradition.

Julian did nothing wrong. He has committed no crime and is not a criminal. He is a journalist and a publisher and he is being punished for doing his job, it said. It was in Priti Patels power to do the right thing. Instead she will for ever be remembered as an accomplice of the United States in its agenda to turn investigative journalism into a criminal enterprise.

Any appeal is likely to focus on grounds such as the right to freedom of expression and whether the extradition request is politically motivated. Patel had been considering whether the US extradition request met remaining legal tests, including a promise not to execute him.

Assange is being held at Belmarsh prison in London after a lengthy battle to avoid extradition. At a press conference in London, his wife, Stella Assange, said: We are not at the end of the road here. We are going to fight this. We are going to use every available avenue. Im going to use every waking hour fighting for Julian until he is free, until justice is served.

The saga was triggered in 2010 when WikiLeaks published a series of leaks provided by the then US army soldier Chelsea Manning, as well as a dump of more than 250,000 US diplomatic cables, some of which were published in the Guardian and elsewhere, containing classified diplomatic analysis from world leaders. The US government launched a criminal investigation into the leaks.

Also in 2010, an arrest warrant for Assange was issued for two separate sexual assault allegations in Sweden. The UK ruled that he should be extradited to Sweden. This prompted him to enter the Ecuadorian embassy in London in August 2012, claiming political asylum. He feared that if he was extradited to Sweden he would in turn be extradited to the US.

Assange finally left the embassy in 2019. He was arrested in the UK for skipping bail and ultimately jailed, then extradition proceedings to the US were started against him.

Assanges brother said on Friday that the appeal would include new information not previously taken to the courts, including claims made in a report last year of plans to assassinate him.

It will likely be a few days before the [14-day appeal] deadline and the appeal will include new information on how Julians lawyers were spied on, and how there were plots to kidnap and kill Julian from within the CIA, Gabriel Shipton told Reuters in an interview.

Patels decision was met with immediate criticism from campaigners, journalists and MPs. Caroline Lucas, the Green party MP for Brighton Pavilion, said: Absolutely shameful that Priti Patel has approved Julian Assanges extradition to US this sets a dangerous precedent for press freedom and democracy. US authorities are determined to silence him because they dont like what he revealed.

The former cabinet minister David Davis said: Sadly, I do not believe Mr Assange will get a fair trial. This extradition treaty needs to be rewritten to give British and American citizens identical rights, unlike now.

The veteran BBC broadcaster John Simpson said: Journalists in Britain and elsewhere will be very worried by the decision to extradite Julian Assange to the US both for his own wellbeing and for the precedent it creates for journalism worldwide.

John Pilger, a journalist and longtime supporter of Assange and a fellow Australian, said: A new appeal will challenge the political rottenness of British justice.

The new Australian government said it believed Assanges case had dragged on for too long and that it should be brought to a close. We will continue to express this view to the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said in a statement responding to Patels decision.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, had said last year, when he was the opposition leader, that he did not see what purpose is served by the ongoing pursuit of Mr Assange and that enough is enough.

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A Home Office spokesperson said: On 17 June, following consideration by both the magistrates court and high court, the extradition of Mr Julian Assange to the US was ordered. Mr Assange retains the normal 14-day right to appeal.

In this case, the UK courts have not found that it would be oppressive, unjust or an abuse of process to extradite Mr Assange.

Nor have they found that extradition would be incompatible with his human rights, including his right to a fair trial and to freedom of expression, and that whilst in the US he will be treated appropriately, including in relation to his health.

Reuters contributed to this report

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Julian Assanges extradition from UK to US approved by home secretary