Saturday, November 30, 2019

JOHN PILGER: Visiting Britain’s Political Prisoner


November 29, 2019 • 33 Comments 
“I think I’m going out of my mind,” Julian Assange told John Pilger at Belmarsh Prison. “No you’re not,” Pilger responded. “Look how you frighten them, how powerful you are.”
I set out at dawn. Her Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh is in the flat hinterland of south east London, a ribbon of walls and wire with no horizon. At what is called the visitors centre, I surrendered my passport, wallet, credit cards, medical cards, money, phone, keys, comb, pen, paper.
I need two pairs of glasses. I had to choose which pair stayed behind. I left my reading glasses. From here on, I couldn’t read, just as Julian couldn’t read for the first few weeks of his incarceration. His glasses were sent to him, but inexplicably took months to arrive.
There are large TV screens in the visitors centre. The TV is always on, it seems, and the volume turned up. Game shows, commercials for cars and pizzas and funeral packages, even TED talks, they seem perfect for a prison: like visual valium.
I joined a queue of sad, anxious people, mostly poor women and children, and grandmothers. At the first desk, I was fingerprinted, if that is still the word for biometric testing.
“Both hands, press down!” I was told. A file on me appeared on the screen.
I could now cross to the main gate, which is set in the walls of the prison. The last time I was at Belmarsh to see Julian, it was raining hard. My umbrella wasn’t allowed beyond the visitors centre. I had the choice of getting drenched, or running like hell. Grandmothers have the same choice.
At the second desk, an official behind the wire, said, “What’s that?”
“My watch,” I replied guiltily.
“Take it back,” she said. 
So I ran back through the rain, returning just in time to be biometrically tested again. This was followed by a full body scan and a full body search. Soles of feet; mouth open.
At each stop, our silent, obedient group shuffled into what is known as a sealed space, squeezed behind a yellow line. Pity the claustrophobic; one woman squeezed her eyes shut.
We were then ordered into another holding area, again with iron doors shutting loudly in front of us and behind us.
“Stand behind the yellow line!” said a disembodied voice.
Belmarsh prison, where Assange is incarcerated.
Another electronic door slid partly open; we hesitated wisely. It shuddered and shut and opened again. Another holding area, another desk, another chorus of, “Show your finger!”
Then we were in a long room with squares on the floor where we were told to stand, one at a time. Two men with sniffer dogs arrived and worked us, front and back.
The dogs sniffed our arses and slobbered on my hand. Then more doors opened, with a new order to “hold out your wrist!” 
A laser branding was our ticket into a large room, where the prisoners sat waiting in silence, opposite empty chairs. On the far side of the room was Julian, wearing a yellow arm band over his prison clothes.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Pamela Anderson -- Letter to President Trump and the First Lady


Pamela Anderson
November 8, 2019
Dear Mr President and the First Lady,
I am always enlightened and encouraged when I see the great work that you both have achieved during your period as the leading couple of the people. You complement each other extremely well, Mr President with your personal touch and emotional flare that strikes a chord with the people, together with the enduring poise and presented dignity that the first lady upholds. 
Integrity was certainly the underlying thread that defeated Hillary and brought to the world this great couple, cannoning you into the most powerful position in the world. The people trusted your intent and your judgement because and it was supported by the free press during your campaign. Recalling that it was the free press that in effect stifled and dominated over the fake news rubbish that was so desperately trying to derail your great and successful campaign.
Mr President you were elected by the people to save the people from the septic political swamp of systemic corruption that filled the shadowy halls of the USA’s power structures. You always said you loved Wikileaks and you were right to say that. You are an honest leader of the people and as you correctly acknowledged you were not promoted into the presidency by a fraud of a Russian conspiracy, but you in fact were pathwayed thru your own tenacity as well as through honest journalism and that was broadcasted primarily from the 100% factual publishing work of Julian Assange and his Wikileaks.
I fear now however that the great leader of the people, the great President Trump is being drowned in media falsehoods perpetrated by a vindictive and orchestrated media blitz of lies and propaganda. 
The deliberate misinformation that is being peddled against you is clearly also part of the conspiracy to shut down the honest free press. This is happening through the high profile torturing and silencing of the fact publishing journalist Julian Assange. 
Mr President the relentless public flogging of the modern day symbol of free and honest journalism Julian Assange is in effect part of the conspiracy to destroy your presidency by allowing the domination of fake news that is now working against you. 
The conspiracy to extradite Julian Assange to the USA for simply publishing as a journalist sends a clear message to all free press and honest journalists that if you publish facts that expose the shadow government’s illegality then you will be punished.
The world needs a real champion of the Free Press and that can be your moment in history. To save Democracy would be your defining moment stamped in the pages of history and will turn your presidency around. To make you the champion leader of the people that you were always destined to be. 
If you were to pardon Julian Assange and not allow the legal precedent of extradition of a fact publishing journalist for a life of torture, then the people would salute your action. You will be forever remembered as the champion you were always destined to be and the people would truly salute you for such a gesture. It would always be remembered as your legacy to the world and the people could never be fooled otherwise. 
I would also like to take this chance to have a meeting about the environment and how The Pamela Anderson Foundation can help be a platform broadcast your outlook and objectives in regards to the environment. I feel I wish to also explore the possibility that the First lady Mrs Melania Trump may wish to partner with The Pamela Foundation on some ground breaking initiatives to save some endangered species such as the Black Rhinoceros……As well as allowing via a welcoming PR platform to inform and guide the people as to how you wish to manage the planet into the future..
Best Regards
Pamela Anderson

From Pamela to Australia -- Urgent Appeal to Bring Julian Assange Home


From Pamela to Australia
November 7, 2019

 Imagem relacionada

Urgent Appeal to Bring Julian Assange Home to:
Hon. Scott Morrison Prime Minister of Australia
Senator the Hon. Marise Payne, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Women
All Parliamentarians of the Government of Australia,

I am pleased to be advised that Australian parliamentarians from across the political spectrum are now choosing to stand and work together to bring Julian Assange home to Australia.

The establishment of the “Bring Assange Home Parliamentary Group” is a great leap forward in upholding the human rights of this Australian citizen and journalist.

Julian Assange is hanging on like a super hero in Belmarsh super maximum security prison’s hospital in London and I will be visiting him again the day before my arrival to the Gold Coast this month.

Personally - I am extremely distressed at the thought of his declining state - though I know his mind is as sharp as they come - I am hopeful that he will even be able to recover from the traumatic psychological torture that he has been systematically subjected to, as declared by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Mr Nils Melzer.
Julian must be allowed to heal in a natural environment that he has been deprived of for so long. The natural beauty of his native country Australia, surrounded by his loving family is what he urgently needs.

Knowing Julian as I do - he can survive this -  he is strong, focused and willing to sacrifice even his life for all of us.
But for me, I’m just not willing to accept that or allow that to happen.
Now more than ever before Julian needs Australians to support him, so that he can continue to be the journalist Australians are proud to call their own, one of the most respected and awarded journalists of our time in fact. The best in the world, as so many say and that’s why everyone’s so upset.

When I visit Julian in a few weeks I am very much looking forward to be able to convey to him that the tide is shifting. Australian citizens on mass together with Australian parliamentarians are now standing up and together to declare they want the Australian Government to “Bring Assange Home”. I know this will be a crucial piece of great news that will lift Julian’s spirits.
I know he is able to hear his supporters cheering for him outside the confining walls of Belmarsh prison -
When I can give him a smile and he smiles back, when I can touch his hand and look into his gentle eyes, his spirits rise.
He is a great and honest man. A true and fantastic Aussie

You cannot let him be extradited. You must protect him and have his back. –
It’s a death trap.
It will go down in the history books as the weakest decision ever made by Australia.
It is evident now that citizens of western democracies are rapidly waking up to the reality that Julian Assange is being tortured for political reasons and nothing more.
I am also preparing to speak with President Trump on my return.

I know most people must think:
What does this girl think she is ?  I ask myself the same question, but here I am and I cannot deny my responsibility.
I have gotten to know Julian - he is worth fighting for. And he requires your intervention and all of our support.

I am going to do all I can. I’m not giving up.
I will make sure that his story remains public and that freedom of expression and freedom of the press are protected as these are without question the very foundations of democracy.
My friend and another mentor Hugh Hefner was also an activist.
Hef might have set me up for this. “Controversy creates change” he would say - and “artists are the freedom fighters of the world”.

Citizens of the world are also now becoming aware of the devastating legal precedent that will be established if Julian is extradited.
It is unconscionable that a citizen of Australia or any other western democracy may be extradited to the USA - a potential death sentence for simply publishing the facts -exposing systemic government criminality and war crimes.

I must also highlight that Julian Assange has and is being unfairly and inappropriately disadvantaged in the mounting of his defence.
He is unable to study for his defense and kept ill and tired with no access to library, no computer, he cannot access “his writings”, he has had not enough time with his lawyers - while he is left cruelly in solitary confinement.
Considering all that has happened to him, my heart breaks for him while a superpower has taken almost 10 years with the big shot lawyers and access to everything imaginable to take him down.
Noting if they succeed in taking him down, so they also in effect take all other investigative journalistsdown with him.

Where is the outcry of every journalist? Do they fear their employment that much?

It’s outrageous - as we have come to learn All the embassy meetings were apparently secretly recorded as well including discussion with his legal representatives.
His legal case files were seized following what appears to have been an illegal extraction of a political asylee from the Ecuadorian Embassy and those files were then handed over to the very nation he had been granted Asylum and protection from (the USA).
Given these circumstances, how can this be considered a normal and acceptably fair legal process?
The politically charged persecution of a fact publishing journalist and my friend Julian Assange is a modern day travesty of justice that frankly is breathtaking for any fair minded citizen regardless of political persuasion.

I make a heartfelt personal plea to every parliamentarian that is charged with the responsibility to uphold the protection of the citizens of Australia to now stand and protect Julian Assange by initiating contact with your counterparts in the USA and Britain and demand no extradition and allow Julian to walk free as a valuable teacher and Citizen of Australia.
Allowing him to return to his home and hug his mother,
father and his children.
This will inturn also uphold the sovereign rights of your citizens
which is the highest order of an elected parliamentarian.

With love and hope,
Pamela Anderson

“The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, freedom of press and you cannot have a free society if you do not have both.” -Hugh Hefner

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Don’t Railroad Julian Assange to Virginia

 Don’t Railroad Julian Assange to Virginia

The WikiLeaks legal team has a strong case to throw out Assange’s extradition request after the government that wants him extradited got hold of surveillance video of his privileged attorney-client conversations.

If this were a normal legal case, WikiLeaks’ lawyers would almost certainly be able to get the extradition request by the United States for their client Julian Assange thrown out on the grounds that his privileged conversations with his lawyers at Ecuador’s London embassy were secretly videotaped.
The  very nation that wants him extradited to stand trial in Virginia has obtained access to those videos. In a normal extradition case it would be hard to imagine Britain sending a suspect to a country whose government has already eavesdropped on that suspect’s defense preparations.
But this is not a normal legal case. 

Diana Johnstone -- Julian Assange: The Lynching of the Charismatic Geek

Julian Assange: The Lynching of the Charismatic Geek


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 boy’s 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 people’s 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.

Sunday, September 1, 2019

See Roger Waters (Pink Floyd's front man) perform "Wish You Were Here" for Julian Assange in London

See Roger Waters (Pink Floyd's front man) perform "Wish You Were Here" for Julian Assange

6pm Monday 2 September, outside Priti Patel’s Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, SW1P 4DF (nearest tube Westminster).




Thursday, June 13, 2019

British Home Secretary signs extradition order to send Julian Assange to US

Published time: 13 Jun, 2019 09:02Edited time: 13 Jun, 2019 10:33
British Home Secretary signs extradition order to send Julian Assange to US
© Global Look Press / /ZUMAPRESS.com / Wiktor Szymanowicz; © REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

Britain's Home Secretary has revealed he has signed a request for the extradition of WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange to the US, where he is accused of violating the Espionage Act.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, Sajid Javid said that he signed and certified the papers on Wednesday, with the order going before the UK courts on Friday.
He’s rightly behind bars. There’s an extradition request from the US that is before the courts tomorrow but yesterday I signed the extradition order and certified it and that will be going in front of the courts tomorrow.
The US justice department has filed 17 new charges against the Australian journalist. In May, he was additionally charged with one count of conspiring with Chelsea Manning, the former intelligence analyst and whistleblower, to gain access to the US Pentagon network.
Assange is currently serving a prison sentence in the UK for jumping bail. The 47 year-old was too ill to appear last month at the latest hearing at Westminster magistrates court in relation to the US request.
The hearing has been rescheduled for Friday and, depending on the state of his health, may take place at Belmarsh prison, where he is being held.
The journalist spent over six years living under asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, out of fear Britain would hand him over to the US. He was forcibly dragged out of the building in April after the South American nation decided to evict him.
His arrest and subsequent imprisonment prompted much public outcry. Human rights activist Peter Tatchell believes a near maximum sentence of “50 weeks is excessive and disproportionate.”
The WikiLeaks co-founder’s health has been of particular concern to his supporters. His lawyer, Per Samuelson, told reporters after visiting Belmarsh at the end of May that “Assange’s health situation... was such that it was not possible to conduct a normal conversation with him.”
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, who visited Assange in Belmarsh, claimed that he showed clear signs of degrading and inhumane treatment, which only added to his deteriorating health.
The publishing of the Iraq War footage showing a US Apache helicopter shooting dead 12 people, including two Reuters staff, is one of the most significant and talked-about exposures made by his WikiLeaks organization.
Just one week before Hillary Clinton became the Democratic Party’s nominee for president in 2016, WikiLeaks released thousands of emails showing that top party figures had collaborated to ensure that Senator Bernie Sanders did not win the nomination. The leaks forced DNC chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to resign.

Monday, June 3, 2019

Julian Assange Está a Ser Assassinado

Julian Assange Está a Ser Assassinado 
SUPPORT JULIAN ASSANGE
Julian Assange Está a Ser Assassinado

O governo britânico criminoso concordou  assassinar Julian Assange, a mando de Washington, o seu mentor perverso.
More from Guest Contributions 

O Estado implacável
Por Craig Murray
CraigMurray.org.uk
Junho 1, 2019
Estamos seriamente preocupados com a condição de saĂşde de Julian Assange. Ontem, estava demasiado doente para poder comparecer perante o tribunal e o seu advogado sueco, Per Samuelson, encontrou-o num estado em que Julian estava incapaz de estabelecer uma conversa e dar instruções. Há sintomas fĂ­sicos muito marcados, particularmente uma perda rápida de peso, e tememos que nĂŁo estejam a ser efectuados esforços, genuĂ­nos e suficientes, para a obtenção de um diagnĂłstico, a fim de  determinar a verdadeira causa.
Durante o ano passado, Julian foi mantido na Embaixada do Equador em condições precárias, muito restritas e cada vez mais opressivas e a sua saúde já estava a deteriorar-se de forma alarmante, antes da sua expulsão e prisão. Uma série de condições, incluindo abcessos dentários, que pode ter consequências muito graves se não forem tratados durante muito tempo e a recusa contínua do governo britânico e, mais tarde, dos equatorianos, de permitir o acesso a cuidados de saúde adequados a um asilado político, foi uma negação cruel e deliberada de direitos humanos básicos.
Confesso que senti um certo alívio pessoal após a sua prisão, porque, pelo menos agora ele receberia tratamento médico adequado. No entanto, percebe-se agora, não haver qualquer intenção de fornecê-lo e, de facto, desde que ele esteve em Belmarsh, os problemas de saúde exacerbaram-se. Testemunhei a cumplicidade do Estado britânico em casos de tortura para saber que esta atitude pode significar mais do que somente uma consequência de negligência não intencional. É extremamente alarmante constatar que o homem mais lúcido que eu conheço, já não é capaz de manter, agora, uma conversa racional.
NĂŁo há nenhuma razĂŁo aceitável para que Assange precise ser mantido numa instalação de alta segurança destinada a terroristas e infractores violentos. Estamos a ver o motivo por trás da sua longa detenção sem precedentes, para esquivar-se Ă  fiança da polĂ­cia quando pediu asilo polĂ­tico. Como prisioneiro condenado, Assange pode ser mantido num regime pior do que se estivesse apenas em prisĂŁo preventiva, devido aos procedimentos de extradição. Mesmo que ele estivesse saudável, o acesso aos seus advogados Ă© extremamente restrito e, para um homem que enfrenta grandes processos legais no Reino Unido, nos EUA e na SuĂ©cia, Ă© impossĂ­vel que os seus advogados tenham tempo suficiente para preparar, juntamente com ele, os seus processos adequadamente. Assange está sob as mesmas restrições que sĂŁo impostas a um condenado. Claro que sabemos, pelo facto de que, trĂŞs horas apĂłs ter sido arrastado da Embaixada do Equador, ele ter sido condenado e sentenciado a uma longa pena de prisĂŁo, que o Estado nĂŁo tem intenção de que os seus advogados se possam preparar.
Perguntei antes e faço-o, agora, novamente: Se fosse uma editora dissidente na RĂşssia, o que Ă© que a classe polĂ­tica e a comunicação mediática do Reino Unido estariam a dizer sobre ele ter sido arrastado por polĂ­cias armados, condenado e sentenciado a prisĂŁo por um Juiz sem jĂşri, trĂŞs horas depois, apĂłs uma farsa de um "julgamento" durante o qual o Juiz o insultou e chamou de “narcisista” antes de Assange dizer qualquer coisa em sua defesa? A comunicação mediática ocidental estaria em pĂ© de guerra, se esse caso acontecesse na RĂşssia. Aqui, eles congratulam-se com esses factos.
A seguir está uma foto de Julian na Embaixada em tempos mais felizes, durante a presidência de Correa, com um grupo de pessoas verdadeiramente surpreendente e forte, cada uma delas com histórias, as quais podemos seguir e com elas aprender:
Devo acrescentar que,  juntamente com outros dois amigos Ă­ntimos,  estou pessoalmente, a tentar ver Julian Assange, mas, como Ă© Ăłbvio, o acesso Ă© extremamente difĂ­cil.
Os objectos pessoais de Julian foram apreendidos pelos equatorianos para serem entregues ao governo dos EUA. Incluem não só os computadores, mas os seus documentos legais e médicos. Este é mais um exemplo de uma acção estatal completamente ilegal contra ele. Além do mais, qualquer transferência deve envolver o material roubado que transita fisicamente em Londres, e o governo britânico não está a tomar medidas para impedi-lo, o que é mais um dos múltiplos sinais do grau de coordenação governamental internacional por trás da frágil pretensão de uma acção judicial independente.
Julian está preso há, pelo menos, mais de cinco meses, mesmo com liberdade condicional (que provavelmente vão encontrar uma desculpa para não conceder). Depois, será mantido em prisão preventiva. Portanto, não há necessidade de pressa. A recusa do tribunal sueco, de atrasar uma audiência sobre um possível mandado de extradição, para permitir que Julian se recupere para poder instruir o advogado e o breve adiamento da audiência de extradição dos EUA em Londres, com a intimação que pode ser mantido dentro da prisão de Belmarsh, se Julian estiver demasiado doente para se deslocar, são exemplos de uma pressa totalmente desacostumada e desnecessária, na maneira como o caso está a prosseguir. Os moinhos de Deus moem devagar; os do Diabo parecem girar a alta velocidade.
Finalmente, para os que ainda acreditam que as acções judiciais contra Julian,  nĂŁo sĂł na SuĂ©cia, sĂŁo de alguma forma motivadas por uma preocupação em que a justiça seja feita, particularmente os casos de justiça referente a mulheres violadas, peço-lhes que leiam este excelente relato de Jonathan Cook. Quanto ao resumo da sĂ©rie verdadeiramente impressionante de abusos legais por parte dos Estados contra Assange, que a comunicação mediática empresarial e estatal distorceu e escondeu deliberadamente durante uma dĂ©cada, o mesmo nĂŁo pode ser melhorado.


At midday on Friday 5 February, 2016 Julian Assange, John Jones QC, Melinda Taylor, Jennifer Robinson and Baltasar Garzon will be speaking at a press conference at the Frontline Club on the decision made by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on the Assange case.