Journalism is not a crime
Today people are demonstrating in London to say Don’t Extradite Assange. Julian Assange, the publisher of WikiLeaks, has spent more than two years on remand at Belmarsh High Security Prison fighting to avoid extradition to the USA. His crime was to publish leaked documents exposing the USA’s murderous foreign policy. And for that they want revenge. If they succeed he will likely spend the rest of his life in isolation in maximum security in the USA. We should not forget Julian Assange or the crimes he exposed.
The Don’t Extradite Assange Campaign have an impressive list of supporters on their website, including Amnesty International, International Pen, the National Union of Journalists and Journalism Without Frontiers. Individual supporters who have spoken out include Noam Chomsky, Bernie Sanders, Jeremy Corbyn, and David Davis, Conservative MP and former Secretary of State, who said:
“Assange is a symbol of the American State’s affront at having its secrets put out in the public domain. That’s why I think it’s a political case. Assange has been blamed for a whole series of things which are untrue but the impetus behind the extradition request hasn’t stopped which tells you it wasn’t to do with those things. It’s about high politics & him being a symbol of what they see as an assault on the US state”
https://twitter.com/i/status/1259197147792244743
Who does NOT support Don’t Extradite Assange?
You guessed it. Keir Starmer. He makes great play of his early career as a human rights lawyer. But as head of the DPP he fast tracked the US hearing to extradite Assange. He sees nothing wrong with the Extradition Treaty between Britain and the US in which 200 Brits are deported, and we cannot even get back the woman who mowed down and killed young Harry Dunne and fled to the USA claiming diplomatic immunity.
The whole idea was to take the politics out of it. And therefore, in any extradition case, the judge, a high court judge in most cases, has to decide whether it’s lawful or appropriate whether the evidence is there to extradite someone, so it’s independent judges.
Keir Starmer Says ‘Big’ Victory In Labour Leadership Race Needed To Unite Party | HuffPost UK (huffingtonpost.co.uk)
Starmer wants to take the politics out of everything, starting with the Labour Party.
Demonstrate at the US Extradition Appeal
The most egregious aspect of this case is that Julian Assange is being held on remand in atrocious conditions at Belmarsh, despite a UK court’s rejection of the US bid to extradite him. Next week the US government will appeal that decision and another protest has been called.
And, if the US loses the appeal, will the former human rights lawyer and head of the DPP support calls for Julian Assange to go free? Or will Starmer fudge and fumble and try to “keep politics out of it” in a case that has been politically motivated from the moment it began?
Life long socialist. Now retired, I have been an office junior, a bookseller, a docker and a teacher. I write a lot and read a lot more. Committed member of the Society of Authors, English PEN and the National Education Union. Uncommitted member of the Labour Party. Will they expel me before my direct debit expires?
This is such an important post Mike. Julian Assange has been a victim of US perfidy, UK prevarication and mainstream journalism’s myopia. The fact that most people, in both Britain or the US, even know his name is a shameful indictment of a justice system which can move quickly to suppress the truth and a mass media who omit to bring those injustices (even when it’s one of their own) in front of the court of public opinion.