Following Assange’s Thursday arrest by UK police in Ecuador’s London embassy after his asylum status was illegally rescinded by President Lenin Moreno, acting in cahoots with the US and Britain, the DOJ confirmed what’s widely known.
Its spokeswoman Nicole Oxman said
“I can confirm that Julian Assange was arrested in relation to a provisional extradition request from the United States of America.”
Britain complied, unjustly arresting Assange with intent to hand him over to US authorities – to be detained and prosecuted on one fabricated count, calling for imprisonment for up to five years if convicted.
Once in US custody, he could be indicted on more serious charges, similar to ones against Chelsea Manning. Unjustly prosecuted and convicted, Obama commuted her politicized 35-year sentence at the 11th hour before leaving office.
The fabricated charge against Assange is for “Conspiracy to Commit Computer Intrusion,” according to an unsealed indictment, dated March 6, 2018, stating the following Big Lies, not a shred of credible evidence supporting them:
Assange “publicly solicited submissions of classified, censored, and other restricted information (sic).”
He “was not authorized to receive classified information (sic) of the United States.”
Fact: Assange is an investigative journalist/whistleblower, publishing material supplied by sources believed to be credible, unidentified for their protection.
WikiLeaks is not an intelligence operation. Nor it it connected to Russia or any other country. Claims otherwise are fabricated.
Assange earlier explained that WikiLeaks has the right “to publish newsworthy content. Consistent with the US Constitution, we publish material that we can confirm to be true,” he explained.
Everyone in the US has the same right, what the First Amendment is all about, affirming speech and press freedoms – the most fundamental of all democratic rights bipartisan hardliners in Washington want compromised and eliminated.
Obama prosecuted more whistleblowers exposing US wrongdoing than all his predecessors combined. Trump likely aims to match or exceed him.
Whistleblowers revealing government wrongdoing deserve high praise, not police state prosecution. Manning revealed important information everyone has a right to know, including:
- the collateral murder video, exposing the killing of unarmed Iraqi civilians by a US Apache helicopter crew;
- the Afghan War Diary, revealing uninvestigated civilian casualties and private military contractor abuses;
- the Iraq War Logs, revealing civilian casualties and uninvestigated reports of torture; along with
- US diplomatic cables, explaining corporate interests and espionage in international diplomacy.
For heroism above and beyond the call of duty, she received numerous honors and awards, including three Nobel Peace Prize nominations.
Subjected to appalling affronts to her dignity and fundamental rights, she was tortured and imprisoned for nearly seven years for political reasons, her First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eight Amendment rights violated.
She’s again been detained since March 8 for refusing to give grand jury testimony, her constitutional right, unwilling to respond to unjust questioning, refusing to say anything detrimental to Assange’s fundamental rights and her own.
She, Assange, and countless others are victims of US judicial unfairness, denied their fundamental habeas, due process, and equal protection under law rights.
The US indictment against Assange includes other fabricated claims – nothing backed by credible evidence, nothing suggesting wrongdoing.
Prosecuting him, Manning and other whistleblowers is all about wanting US crimes of war, against humanity, and other wrongdoing suppressed – along with intimidating others with damning information to remain silent.
Assange’s indictment lied saying he “did knowingly and intentionally combine, conspire, confederate and agree with other co-conspirators known and unknown to the grand jury to commit an offense against the United States.”
He published information about US government wrongdoing everyone everywhere has a right to know – his action entirely lawful, warranting high praise, not prosecution.
No Assange/Manning “conspiracy” occurred, nothing unrelated to what journalism the way it’s supposed to be is all about – truth-telling on vital issues the highest journalistic obligation and distinction.
In Westminster magistrates court on Thursday, Assange pled “not guilty” to charges against him. He was pronounced guilty of breaching bail conditions, sentenced to a maximum 12 months in prison after failing to testify before the court.
According to the judge, the US must present documentation for extradition of Assange by June 12. Outside the magistrates court, his lawyer Jennifer Robinson said his arrest sets a “dangerous precedent for all journalist and media organizations in Europe and around the world,” adding:
“This precedent means that any journalist can be extradited for prosecution in the United States for having published truthful information about the United States.”
“Since 2010, we’ve warned that Julian Assange would face prosecution and extradition to the United States for his publishing activities on WikiLeaks. Unfortunately today we’ve been proven right.”
According to Robinson and WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson, his defense team intends to contest the Trump regime’s extradition order in an international human rights court – likely referring to the European Court of Human Rights or European Court of Justice, the highest EU court.
If Assange is extradited to the US, he’ll be harshly mistreated and imprisoned, perhaps never again to be free, maybe eliminated behind bars by torture or other abusive treatment.
That’s what police state injustice is all about, how the US, UK, and other fantasy democracies operate – by their own rules exclusively, breaching fundamental international laws repeatedly.
Note: Video images of Assange when arrested and at magistrates court showed him looking frail, haggard, and likely in poor health – the ill effects of being a virtual prisoner inside the Ecuadorian embassy since August 2012.
RT UK said he was forcibly carried out of the embassy, reportedly shouting “RESIST.”
“The “UK has no civility,” and “the UK must resist” before being whisked into a police van and taken away.
Following a three-day October 2017 medical assessment by Drs. Sondra Crosby, Brock Chisholm and Sean Love, they wrote the following in a London Guardian article, saying:
“(O)ur assessment reveals that he has had no access to sunlight, appropriate ventilation or outside space for over five and a half years. This has taken a considerable physical as well as psychological toll.”
Given his frailty and poor health, his life will be seriously jeopardized if imprisoned longterm – what he surely faces if handed over to US authorities.
A Final Comment
Former UK ambassador, historian, human rights activist Craig Murray slammed the police state arrest of Julian Assange on Thursday, saying:
“District Judge Michael Snow is a disgrace to the bench who deserves to be infamous well beyond his death.”
“He displayed the most plain and open prejudice against Assange in the 15 minutes it took for him to hear the case and declare Assange guilty, in a fashion which makes the dictators’ courts I had witnessed, in Babangida’s Nigeria or Karimov’s Uzbekistan…a gross charade of” injustice.
“The whole team, including Julian, is energized rather than downhearted. At last there is no more hiding for the pretend liberals behind ludicrous Swedish allegations or bail jumping allegations, and the true motive – revenge for the Chelsea Manning revelations – is now completely in the open.”
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Award-winning author Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)
His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
Featured image is from Massoud Nayeri
