Julian Assange petition extended – Free Julian Assange NZ
PETITION: “Provide Julian Assange Permanent Political Asylum in NZ” extended to 7th August 2018, awaiting a New Zealand M.P. to stand up for human rights
Thousands of Wikileaks supporters worldwide are mobilising and organising with news that the WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief may imminently be handed by Ecuador to UK authorities.
If such an event occurs, it presents an immediate threat to Assange’s human rights, asylum rights & liberty. It would also be in direct contravention to the rulings of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Inter-American Court of human rights, both of which have found in his favour. Julian has spent 8 years under house arrest, with the last 119 days in solitary confinement, leaving Julian (publisher) with no access to the outside world or visitors. This is an assault on freedom of press and speech and has dire implications, not least to Julian’s health.
Free Assange NZ are petitioning the NZ government to offer Assange asylum from political persecution and have obtained over 1,400 signatures (including hardcopy and online) in just over 2 weeks and despite issues with the NZ government petition website.
Normally a Member of Parliament would sponsor a petition and deliver it to parliament, however thus far, none have come forward. As a result, Free Assange NZ has decided to extend the petition close to Tuesday 7th August 2018 to allow everyone concerned find courage and support for the petition to grow.
Emergency vigils for Assange are now confirmed in fourteen cities: Wellington, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne, Dublin, Adelaide, Kathmandu, Paris, Slovenia, Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale, New York and Toronto organised by ClassConscious and a team of worldwide activists #Unity4J, that grew from 40 to over 2,100 strong in a few days. More cities are being added every day.
Wellington is poised to take non-violent action in the event Assange is taken into UK / US custody. Like other cities, the emergency vigil in Wellington, will be held the day after news breaks at 18.00pm at U.S. Embassy with a short march to the Beehive lawn (NZ Parliament Buildings, Thorndon), in addition each city is planning a mass rally held at noon the following Sunday.
Protests were held across the world on 19 June (marking Julian’s 6th year in detention in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London) where 10 countries participated in peaceful action: USA, Australia, U.K, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, France, India, and Switzerland at U.S. U.K. & Australian Embassies worldwide with many cities hosting more than one event. Wellington’s 3 July birthday vigil included “Free Assange” written in candles on the Beehive lawn
“If wars can be started by lies, they can be stopped by truth.”
Julian Assange
For more background on the recent escalation of grave threats to Julian Assange’s life and liberty, we recommend the most recent Unity4J press release. https://unity4j.com/u4jempr.pdf
Why Julian matters – the strategic importance of Assange & Wikileaks
http://values-compasspointsinaposttruthworld.blogspot.com/2018/07/provide-julian-assange-with-political.html
If Assange is put into custody:
Vigil the following day:
United States Embassy 18.00pm 29 Fitzherbert Terrace
Beehive (NZ Parliament) 18.30pm-20.00pm Molesworth Street
Rally The Following Sunday:
United States Embassy 12.00pm 29 Fitzherbert Terrace
Beehive (NZ Parliament) 12.30pm – 14.00pm Molesworth Street
If NZ Governmentwill not help Juilian Assange & Wiki-leaks must both send a request to the UK Russian embassy to offer free passage to Moscow and to offer shelter from this ‘elitist persecution’ of this whistle blower and free speech advocate.
Try first NZ to take him in, though Moscow may well be the last resort. I wonder was the Queen sought to pardon him?