Lobby outside the High Court. Free Julian Assange!
Report from Dave Putson
Supporters of Julian Assange have been at the High Court two days running now, where he is fighting against extradition to the USA. When I arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice on the first morning, I was expecting to see a few dozen people, but by 8.30am, there were already easily 300 people carrying placards and banners, and that was in the rain (picture top).
Assange has been illegally incarcerated for years. He was first of all holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy for seven years up to 2019, and in prison after that. He is facing extradition to the USA on trumped up charges under their Espionage Act.
Most of the media that appeared to be there did not seem to be from the mainstream, but mostly independents. The one exception, Alan Rusbridger, former editor of The Guardian, who previously supported and accepted information to enable award-winning articles to be written, courtesy of Assange’s Wikileaks, only then to turn on him when he was threatened by the UK security services (and probably the USA ’s as well).
Incarcerated in Belmarsh for five years.
Among the supporters and campaigners for Assange, there were some with materials to purchase goods to enable funding the support Julian Assange campaign were there, as they are every Saturday at General Gordon Square in Woolwich SE18, unless there is an actual event outside Belmarsh Prison, where Assange has been held, for five years, such as for his birthdays.
There was a very limited window of opportunity for speeches at the Court lobby, so many people who spoke but were limited to just a few minutes. We heard from Julian’s father and brother, and the briefest of words from his wife Stella. A couple of members of the European Parliamentary spoke, as well as MPs Zarah Sultana, Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon and Jeremy Corbyn, who still gets waves of cheers when he gets up.
Among the speakers, there was also a journalist from Jacobin who had flown in from Washington DC specifically for this event. Craig Murray, a formed UK Ambassador, also had a minute or two, But by far and away the largest noise and cheering was when Andrew Feinstein was announced to speak. It appeared it was in equal measure for his personal approval, as well as the fact that he is standing against Keir Starmer in his seat in the coming the general election. It did not appear that the Labour Party’s alleged leader was very popular with this crowd!
Julian Assange has been held in HMP Belmarsh for five years, whilst having sustained no charges against him. The hypocrisy is of the mainstream media and most establishment politicians is staggering. Western ‘journalists’ (using the term loosely) and politicians have been decrying the incarceration, and then the subsequent death of Alexei Navalny in Russia.
Meanwhile, here in the UK, for most politicians and the media, Assange is already guilty and condemned, even before his trial. Those politians like Tony Blair and George W Bush, who ‘justified’ the war on Iraq with lies and cover-ups, are allowed to go free. But Assange, who exposed war crimes during that war, is castigated andd condemned.
Among the crimes shown by Assange – which would never had seen the light of day, but for Wikileaks – was film of the wanton strafing and killing of men and youths in a street in Iraq, as they were simply hanging out and chatting. The war criminal goes unpunished, while his exposer is crucified for his actions.
Australian parliament voted for Assange to be released
Assange, if these journalists but knew it, follows in the tradition of other outspoken critics of the UK state, like John Lilburne (“Freeborn” John), who was also arrested many times for having the temerity to speak truth to power, and was eventually dumped in prison. Julian Assange’ real ‘crime’ is to expose the truth, to the great embarrassment of the US and UK states and it is for that reason and that reason alone he has been imprisoned for years without a charge.
The UK government will have made sure that the Court as it is now in session is a “safe pair of hands”, to get the decision they want. I believe it will be a massive surprise if any decision is made that gives Julian Assange justice. The Court will doubtless disregard the vote of the Australian parliament – by a two thirds majority – to return to Julian to Australia his native country.
Unfortunately, many reports are suggesting that the judges involved in the extradition process, in both the UK and USA, are well ‘tied in’ to both countries’ establishments. So I am sceptical that they will be minded to, or even able to sustain any resistance to the perpetual behind the scenes lobbying that has gone on and is still going on, to have Assange demonised for revealing truths he was not supposed to reveal.
However, even if there is only a 1% chance of Julian’s release, the fight continues. After all, even the postmasters and postmistresses were found guilty in a court of law after Post Office Horizon IT debacle, and it is only now, after 20 years, that they have a chance of justice.
For Julian Assange’s wife and family and for Julian himself, this is a matter of life or death. His wife, Stella, has said that this might be his “final hearing” because he is so weak physically and mentally after so many years that she thinks he is unlikely to survive being extradited. The fight has to go on.
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