Julian Assange wins temporary reprieve in case against extradition to US
Julian Assange has been handed a reprieve in his fight against extradition to the US after two judges ruled the WikiLeaks founder could take his case to an appeal hearing – but only if the Biden administration is unable to provide the court with suitable assurances.
The president of the king’s bench division, Victoria Sharp, and Mr Justice Johnson said Assange had real prospects of success on three of the nine grounds argued, but adjourned the leave to appeal application to give the US government three weeks to allay their concerns on the relevant matters.
If Assange had been denied permission to appeal he could have been extradited within days to face espionage charges. While the judges’ decision means he avoids that fate it leaves him facing a further wait, with his future still unresolved.
In a written judgment handed down on Tuesday, Sharp said the concerns that could be likely to succeed at appeal but which “may be capable of being addressed by assurances” were “that the applicant [Assange] is permitted to rely on the first amendment, that the applicant is not prejudiced at trial, including sentence, by reason of his nationality, that he is afforded the same first amendment protections as a United States citizen, and that the death penalty is not imposed”.
At a two-day hearing last month, which Assange was too unwell to attend, his lawyers argued that he faced a “flagrant denial of justice” if prosecuted in the US on charges relating to the publication of thousands of classified and diplomatic documents they said had exposed torture, rendition, extrajudicial killings and war crimes.
His wife, Stella Assange, expressed dismay at the judges’ decision. “What the courts have done has been to invite a political intervention from the United States … send a letter saying ‘its all OK’,” she said. “I find this astounding.
“This case is a retribution. It is a signal to all of you that if you expose the interests that are driving war they will come after you, they will put you in prison and will try to kill you.
“The Biden administration should not issue assurances. They should drop this shameful case that should never have been brought.”
It is outrageous that he has been locked up in solitary confinement for 5 years for uncovering America’s war crimes!
This legal process is designed to kill him and drive him insane, we know this because plans alongside CIA musings on killing Assange were leaked.
I worked with Julian Assange during the Moment of Truth Event I helped organise in 2014.
I was approached by a Feminist Protest Group and warned they were intending to interrupt the event and protest against Julian Assange who had been accused of rape.
I was very clear and loud at how outrageous that would be.
They backed down and Julian went on alongside Snowden and Greenwald to prove there was a CIA station in Auckland and that the NSA had the capacity to access everything in NZ.
Not only was mass surveillance occurring, it was sanctioned by the Government and now we find out that the GCSB illegally allowed other Intelligence Agencies to use our networks for illegal acts!
There is an incredibly powerful new Documentary, The Trust Fall which is out in time for this latest trial that timelines Assange’s incredible journalism and the wicked legal case against him.
They deal with the rape allegation upfront and highlight just how farcical and smearing it was of Julian.
It details his service to journalism by pointing out his expose highlighted 15 000 war crimes that had previously been invisible.
It notes how he personally redacted 10 000 names to protect those sources.
There is a lump in your throat when John Pilger and Daniel Ellsberg from the Pentagon Papers appear as both are now dead.
The documentary highlights the power of Wikileaks and how it changed journalism forever. Most media now have anonymous drop boxes for whistleblowers.
It looks at the infamous Collateral Murder video as Apache Helicopter Pilots laugh while they murder journalists.
Seeing it now so many years later, your hate of Americans and their war machine erupts as you are forced to watch again.
The case against Assange is an attack on all of us.
He exposed US military war crimes and has been smeared as a response.
He has been locked up for almost 5 years in solitary confinement.
That is torture pure and simple and the Documentary notes that in leaked papers, the intention by the authorities is to tie him up in legal battles for 25 years to kill him that way.
The Military Industrial Complex demands anyone exposing their war crimes are destroyed.
This Documentary documents that destruction with painful and angry detail.
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If there is a God you would think that there would be a warning in scripture about the USA being a persecuting power and a church warning against it.
I mean, I understand there is something in the Christian bible about the ‘antichrist’, sooo…
The Protestant reformers all said that the antichrist was the Roman Church system, you are close though, there is another beast (nation) that will arise around 1798 in a remote area of Earth that offered civil & religious liberty with a republican system of government (no King) that claims to be lamblike but speaks like a dragon. Since most of the Protestant churches have followed the false ideas introduced by the counter-reformation most are unable to join the dots.
Does that mean they are ‘dotty’ or not? Sorry a poor and base attempt at humour but finding any in a day is a challenge and all donations gratefully received.
The idea that economism as practised today in neo-liberalism etc on the foundation of ancient (Ricardo?) beliefs does seem to bear out the idea of a cult religion. And then there is the way that religions and numbers and numerology seem to draw magnetically together. The spiritual idea and the power springing from the earth – there is deep meaning there. Let’s start a new religion on this basis!
What was that USA Christian thing about 666?
Number of the beast
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org › … Whakamāoritia tēnei whārangi
Seventh-day Adventists taking this view believe that the ‘mark of the beast’ (but not the number 666) refers to a future, universal, legally enforced Sunday- …
What is the significance of the number 666 in the Bible?
The beast is said to have “a human number” in that the represented governments are of a human origin rather than spirit entities. The number 666 is said to identify “gross shortcoming and failure in the eyes of Jehovah”, in contrast to the number 7, which is seen as symbolizing perfection.
Number of the beast – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Number_of_the_beast
https://www.crossway.org/articles/what-is-the-mark-of-the-beast-revelation-13/ (Long but thorough, read.)
The idea that the bestial monsters who control the US have any right to try a human being like Assange under any circumstances is disgusting.
Any USA promise not to give Assange the death penalty is meaningless.
Jeffrey Epstein was not sentenced to death but was still killed in a US prison.
Despite knowing of the vile, corrupt, rotten-to-the-core nature of the mafia-like system we are prey to, with evidence enough to hang a hundred but which instead is hanging the man who told us, we, cowering among our petty comforts, say nothing and our loathsome leaders say less.
US Government “We promise that he will die in a maximum security prison but we won’t give him the death penalty. Oh, and since he’ll be housed at a black site somewhere, in solitary confinement, with no hope of visitors, he is welcome to say what he likes, thus ensuring his freedom of expression is protected. In fact, we’ll probably “encourage” him to talk”. Sorted.
Erik N Your name and points remind me vaguely of Terry Pratchett’s Eric.
The story is a parody of the tale of Faust, and follows the events of Sourcery in which the Wizard Rincewind was trapped in the Dungeon Dimensions. The Discworld version of Hell or Pandemonium exists simply because some people believe that it exists for them. In other Discworld stories, such as Small Gods, the afterlife is different or non-existent according to personal belief rather than divine judgement.
After magical disturbances occur throughout Ankh-Morpork, the wizards of Unseen University perform the Rite of AshkEnte to ask Death what is behind them; before being asked the question, Death informs them that it is Rincewind. Rincewind wakes in a strange place, having been summoned to a house in Pseudopolis by the thirteen-year-old demonologist, Eric Thursley, who wants the mastery of all kingdoms, to meet the most beautiful woman who ever existed, to live forever, and to be given a chest of gold “to be getting on with”…..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_(novel)
I like Terry Pratchett’s story better than the reality which I fear you portray accurately. I have the idea that our heaven and hell is what we live out on earth. I hope that is not accurate.
Can the USA wake from its nightmare and restore peace, a balanced economy and goodwill to the
kingdomrepublic?