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This from Maggie Nelmes, Ventnor. Ed
It would be both unlawful and morally reprehensible for the UK government to extradite Wikileaks publisher, Julian Assange to the United States to face a 175-year prison sentence, just for receiving and publishing the truth about US war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.
I have long supported human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and both of them oppose Assange’s extradition.
Britain would be in breach of its obligations under international law
Amnesty states that, by transferring Julian to the US, “Britain would be in breach of its obligations under international law”. Article 4 of the UK-US extradition treaty prohibits extradition for political reasons, and Assange is a political prisoner, wanted for publishing evidence of war crimes, leaked to Wikileaks by Chelsea Manning, a former US Army intelligence analyst specialist, based in Iraq.
Human Rights Watch writes,
“The only thing standing between an Assange prosecution and a major threat to global media freedom is Britain. It is urgent that it defend the principles at risk.”
Why is the UK government on the one hand condemning Russian military atrocities in Ukraine, while on the other hand treating the man who published evidence of US military atrocities as a criminal, incarcerating him in Belmarsh prison?
You don’t bang someone up in a top-security jail, among terrorists, for jumping bail
Its original excuse was that Julian jumped bail when he fled to the Ecuadorian Embassy, fearing he’d be sent to the US from Sweden, where he faced charges of rape that were subsequently dropped. But you don’t bang someone up in a top-security jail, among terrorists, for jumping bail. And why, when Julian has served his sentence, is he still in Belmarsh?
To facilitate his extradition to the US to face ‘Trumped’-up charges of aiding and abetting Manning.
No hacking was committed
No hacking was committed by either whistle-blower Chelsea Manning or Julian Assange to gain the documents she leaked and he published. Hacking wasn’t necessary. Chelsea was entitled to access classified and sensitive material – it was her job.
Appalled at seeing footage of US soldiers murdering civilians, she copied the evidence of these war crimes and handed it over to Wikileaks, along with thousands of other documents revealing state secrets about military conduct overseas that she viewed as being in the public interest. All Julian did was publish and try to protect his source.
Trump called for extradition
It was Trump’s administration that decided to call for Assange’s extradition – Donald Trump, arch dissemination of fake news, who lied to his followers that the presidential election had been stolen from him, whipping them up into a frenzy of hatred and violence that led to their storming the US State Capitol.
Biden’s actions confusing
Why is Joe Biden pursuing this policy when Trump’s Democrat predecessor, Barack Obama would not? Why is his administration prepared to breach the US Constitution’s First Amendment – the right to freedom of expression?
Remember Biden’s disastrous withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, another policy he inherited from Trump?
Is UK Government against freedom of the press?
As for the UK government, is it on the side of fake news and against freedom of the press? That is certainly how it will be viewed if the UK gives way to pressure from the US and hands Julian over.
The Afghan Logs were published not just by Wikileaks, but by its three internationally highly respected media partners: The New York Times, The Guardian and Der Spiegel.
We’ve never needed investigative journalists with integrity more
At a time when social media is awash with conspiracy theories that are inciting more and more people to harm those institutions that they believe are conspiring against them, we have never needed investigative journalists with integrity more.
As the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) states,
“US charges against Assange pose a huge threat, one that could criminalise the critical work of investigative journalists and their ability to protect their sources.”
Pressure from US Government
This case demonstrates how the US can apply pressure on countries all over the world to snatch, imprison and hand over individuals who are not even their citizens, on false charges.
Julian is not a US, UK or Swedish national, but Australian, yet Sweden and the UK have conspired with the US against him.
Assange will not survive extradition
Julian will not survive extradition to the United States. Seven years of being holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy, terrified of extradition and a US plot to murder him in London, then imprisoned in Belmarsh, among the country’s most dangerous criminals, has taken its toll on both his physical and mental health.
Release this broken man from prison
Will the UK government now take the only honourable course of action, not bow to pressure from the CIA, not send Julian to the country that conspired to murder him, not break Article 4 of the extradition treaty and breach the US First Amendment, but release this broken man from prison, into the care of his family, give him a new identity and keep him, his wife and young children safe from US vengefulness?
For more information about Julian Assange’s case, watch this short video:
If you care about media freedom and human rights, please take action to stop Assange’s extradition. Details of how you can help on the Don’t Extradite Assange Website.
Image: © Anna Fauzy-Ackroyd
