At the European Parliament super early for our #Assange event today with Bob Carr, @NilsMelzer and @EFF's David Greene. 
Here's the livestream link for today: web-guengl.streamovations.be/index.php/even…
And the programme of events
Event underway!
Clare Daly MEP: #Assange prosecution is all about "payback for the most significant public interest disclosures of our time"
Clare Daly: "This is the most important press freedom case of our time.. there is no room for division. This prosecution poses a serious threat to civil liberties and human rights." #Assange
Clare Daly: "We want you to use the information presented here to change the discourse. If these charges had happened in 2011 the whole world would have been in uproar. We need to go back and harness that anger." #Assange
Clare Daly MEP calls on Parliamentarians to organise and monitor the #Assange extradition hearing in February.
Pernando Barrena MEP @pernandobarrena - journalists are too often the victims of political prosecution. In the digital age, data security is also a press freedom issue. Introduces David Greene of @EFF #Asssange
@pernandobarrena @EFF David Greene @EFF: "This is a watershed moment in US law and internationally as well. I had no hesitation in accepting this invitation." #Assange
@pernandobarrena @EFF David Greene: "This marks the first time the Espionage Act has been used against a journalist. And #Assange has been charged with what are very standard journalistic practices." @EFF
@pernandobarrena @EFF David Greene: "The word 'encourage' is used nine times in the indictment, in a way that makes it seem like a improper act." But of course journalists encourage their sources. #Assange
@pernandobarrena @EFF Greene: the statement "curious eyes never run dry in my experience" forms the basis of many of the charges. "But that really is a fairly benign statement." #Assange
@pernandobarrena @EFF Greene: The Espionage Act is 101 years old and has no exceptions for journalistic practice. "None of that matters in terms of the language of the Espionage Act itself." #Assange
@pernandobarrena @EFF Greene: Up to now there has been a consensus agreement between prosecutors and journalists that the Espionage Act would not apply to them. "I don't know if that was done out of some kind of largesse or through the likelihood of a constitutional challenge" #Assange
@pernandobarrena @EFF David Greene @EFF "I do think the US saw in #Assange, and the way he was viewed politically, an opportunity to make this seem like an exceptional case that would not lead to future prosecutions of journalists ... But it's really not an exceptional case."
@pernandobarrena @EFF Greene: He's being charged not just under the Espionage Act but also a more general law, with counselling, inducing or encouraging source. No journalist is just a passive recipient of information. #Assange
@pernandobarrena @EFF Greene: the language in the Espionage Act talks about national defence, but the legal threshold is actually very low and encompasses all classifies information. And the US government has a huge over-classification problem. #Assange
@pernandobarrena @EFF Greene: Counts 15-17 relate specifically to publishing information on the internet. "WIkiLeaks was not alone in publishing this information... This was was widely regarded as important information of public significance that the public needed to know about." #Assange
@pernandobarrena @EFF Greene: the indictment tries to make the publication of the names of US assets a differentiating feature. But this is not required under the Espionage Act. And this kind of publication can be newsworthy. #Assange
@pernandobarrena @EFF Greene moves on to the CFAA count. "At @EFF we have a lot of problems with CFAA... it captures a lot of activity that should be considered security research... The charges as laid out in the indictment are very thin." #Assange
@pernandobarrena @EFF Greene: there's no allegation that #Assange ever tried to hack into anything. And the "manners and means" of the conspiracy includes acts that are not criminal in any way, for instance using jabber and deleting logs to protect sources.
@pernandobarrena @EFF Greene: "By filing these charges in May, the US Government broke a 100 year understanding that the Espionage Act would not be used against journalists. That causes us @EFF great concern." #Assange
@pernandobarrena @EFF Luke Flanagan MEP @lukeming now introducing Nils Melzer, reading an excerpt from his May report news.un.org/en/story/2019/… and recent warning abc.net.au/news/2019-11-0… #Assange
@pernandobarrena @EFF @lukeming Nils Melzer @NilsMelzer : "The #Assange case is so rich in detail that it is possible to miss the forest for the trees." Take a step back and the issues this case raises are fundamental.
@pernandobarrena @EFF @lukeming @NilsMelzer "In order for the separation of powers to work, we need due process. If those government branches start to collude, we need a free press to inform and empower the people." @NilsMelzer "This is the proper perspective for the #Assange case."
States may have good reason for confidentiality, but in a democracy this needs to be justified. "It is a basic need for the sanity of democracy that we have investigative journalism." #Assange @NilsMelzer
Melzer notes that there are recourse for journalism that causes damage - the DNC tried to raise a case against @wikileaks earlier this year and failed #Assange
Those allegations are unclear. But the human rights violations, war crimes and corruption that @wikileaks revealed are beyond dispute. Has there been real accountability there? And now we have the journalist prosecuted @NilsMelzer #Assange
Nils Melzer @NilsMelzer now talking about his visit to assess Julian #Assange at Belmarsh. Because of the politicised nature of the case he took two medical experts with him for the four hour assessment.
"It was impossible to miss" that Julian #Assange was suffering from all the usual symptoms of psychological torture. @NilsMelzer
@NilsMelzer "I wrote official letters that expressed concern in three regards." States' contributions to the causes of Mr #Assange's medical complaints, why they hadn't intervened to improve matters and issues about due process. He asked states to take urgent measures to help. @NilsMelzer
#Assange was moved to the medical centre 10 days after our assessment, so we were correct. @NilsMelzer now discussing utterly inadequate official responses, 5 months later.
"It is not solitary confinement in a strict sense, but he is isolated within the prison... he has absolutely no contact with other detainees. He is reportedly surveilled in very difficult conditions." @NilsMelzer #Assange
On the due process issue, #Assange has only in October been able to have access to legal documents. "How is this possible in the UK? That a defendant is asked to respond to an indictment he has not been able to read?" @NilsMelzer
@NilsMelzer Nils Melzer says there is no possibility of Julian #Assange receiving a fair trial in the US.
Melzer describing how due process violations in the #Assange case have a "severely destablising" effect that is foreseeable and predictable. "This is psychological torture." @NilsMelzer
@NilsMelzer Melzer: I asked @swedense 50 questions about 50 due process violations. I read Swedish and I could read the original documents. Sweden's response, received on November 11 said that they had no observations to make. #Assange
Melzer: the US response says that #Assange has never been in their jurisdiction so it's not their responsibility.
Melzer: "Ecuador sent me a very long letter accusing Julian #Assange of all kinds of things, mostly relating to tidiness and his cat... this is not worthy of discussion. Serious government misconduct needs to be investigated."
Melzer: "the elephant in the room is not Mr #Assange, his personality or even @wikileaks. The real issue is the information he disclosed."
@wikileaks "The health situation of Mr #Assange is deteriorating as would be expected in these circumstances... he is detained indefinitely in conditions that are definitely inhumane. I am concerned for his life and I don't think this has been taken seriously enough." @NilsMelzer
@wikileaks @NilsMelzer "Psychological torture is not 'torture light'. It needs to be taken seriously. The UK needs to release Mr #Assange or at least alleviate the circumstances of his detention and give him the facilities he needs to prepare his defence." @NilsMelzer
@wikileaks @NilsMelzer Mick Wallace MEP @wallacemick : #Assange "has drawn back the curtain" on government and corporate crimes. "Through his journalistic work he was closer to the bone than maybe he expected and he is paying the price for it" x
Former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr now being introduced by @wallacemick #Assange
@wallacemick Bob Carr: "The prison conditions of Julian #Assange needs to be addressed. If he were to die in prison, then the finger will be pointed with some justification at the political leaders who have allowed him to be imprisoned in conditions of maximum security."
@wallacemick Bob Carr: "I want to send a message to my friends in London about the wisdom of holding a political prisoner in maximum security." #Assange
@wallacemick Bob Carr: @arusbridger - who has had his disagreements with #Assange - is right to draw attention to the precedents this case would set for journalists everywhere. #Assange
@wallacemick @arusbridger Bob Carr: Imagine an Australian journalist working with Papuan colleagues from the UK. Should Indonesia be allowed to try and extradite them? #Assange
Bob Carr: "The extraterritorial reach of this prosecution, using of all things the Espionage Act which has a very dubious history, is very disturbing." #Assange
Bob Carr: "Would anyone really argue that we are poorer as citizens because we know about the brutality of democratic governments, corruption and collusion with corporations? Does anyone think we are poorer for the information that Mr #Assange published?"
Bob Carr discusses the Collateral Murder video - "I think we did have a right to know. We are better off because we know that happened... the best course would be for the US government to quietly drop this extradition." #Assange
Bob Carr: "we are lucky to have a swathe of official material from the then Australian defence minister" that gives assessment that no damage was done by @wikileaks releases. #Assange
@wikileaks Bob Carr: the Australian Defence Department comprehensively rebut the allegation that Australian servicemen or their Afghan collaborators were put at risk. This confirms the lack of evidence brought forward at @xychelsea's trial #Assange
@wikileaks @xychelsea Bob Carr: "There is no proof of loss of life, or even the threat of loss of life, from these publications." #Assange
@wikileaks @xychelsea Bob Carr: the extradition of #Assange would cause a serious backlash in Australia. Not the way to treat a close ally.
Bob Carr: Australia needs to intervene strongly to alleviate Julian's prison conditions and this extradition should be dropped. #Assange
John Shipton now telling everyone about Julian's last court appearance. He had been strip searched beforehand and placed in what prisoners call a hot box. This is how his son is being treated. #Assange
Shipton: this case should be of profound concern to everyone in Europe. #Assange
Shipton: the @wikileaks publications are still helping us understand the world. We can find out about the figures in the Bolivian coup thanks to these publications. #Assange
Shipton: "we must face this ceaseless prosecutorial persecution of Julian. It must stop straight away." #Assange
John Shipton: Wikileaks work around the Collateral Murder video gave names to the slaughtered. Noone ever remembers this. #Assange
That was an extraordinary intervention btw. Anthony Bellanger of the International Federation of Journalists now speaking
Bellanger explaining how international organisations must get involved in this case. "all Julian #Assange has done is disseminate the truth in the public interest. This cannot be considered a crime"
Bellanger: "we will continue this struggle and support you, shoulder to shoulder" #Assange
Patrick Kamenka, French journalists' union and the IFJ reads out their unanimous resolutions in defence of Julian #Assange.
Patrick Kamenka: "He is a political prisoner, we need to be clear about that. We cannot have this situation in the European Union, with the mainstream media looking the other way" #Assange
Kamenka: the EU has recently passed a Directive on Whistleblower Protection, #Assange also deserves protection. We will ask Macron to grant Assange asylum in France.
Patrick Breyer MEP now directing questions to @NilsMelzer
A series of perceptive questions from MEPs. Particularly good to have interest from the UK here.
