An all-women delegation has delivered a letter from international jurists to Prime Minister Boris Johnson at 10, Downing Street today. The letter sets out how the rule of law has been undermined in the case of #JulianAssange
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The letter then details numerous violations of the law in the #Assange case, and ask for the rule of law to be upheld.
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The jurists call on the UK authorities to deny the US extradition request and urge the UK government to immediately release Mr Assange.
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The jurists echo @NilsMelzer, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, in highlighting the intentional breaches of Mr Assange’s rights incl. breaches of attorney-client privilege & denial of access to pre-trial documents and his legal advisors.
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The signatories highlight the disregard shown by the British authorities towards their duties and responsibilities under British and international law.
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Hong Kong barrister Robert Tibbo points out that “…. governments have resorted to using their enormous political powers and resources to permanently silence Mr Assange with a clear motivation to create a global chilling effect on journalism and freedom of expression…
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..the U.S., U.K. and other nations must be held to account for their unlawful treatment of him, but also … for the unlawful acts they have committed as exposed by Mr Assange in publishing evidence provided by whistle-blowers.”
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The jurists express alarm at the sweeping, extra-territorial claims being made by the U.S., who are seeking to prosecute a non-US citizen for conduct outside the United States (including in jurisdictions such as the U.K. where that conduct is lawful).
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Australian barrister Greg Barns, says that “Many Australian lawyers are rightly disturbed by the Assange case. It represents a threat by the United States to abuse extra-territorial reach so....
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...it can seek to prosecute individuals who have no link with the US jurisdiction but who simply publish material which displeases Washington.”
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Prof. Heather Ellis Cucolo, of the New York Law School, adds that “Mr. Assange would no doubt face a politicized show trial in the United States”.
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Mr Assange’s persecution comes after a decade of smearing and intentionally-prolonged preliminary investigations in Sweden, for which charges have never been raised. Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) requests by @smhave since revealed...
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the extent of pressure put on Swedish authorities by the UK Crown Prosecution Service, to keep these preliminary investigations artificially open for many years to ensure Mr Assange remained isolated in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
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FoIA requests have also revealed the intentional destruction of evidentiary trails by the CPS.
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Prominent UK politicians have engaged in negotiations with the Ecuadorean government to extract Mr Assange from asylum, and have even claimed credit for Mr Assange being deprived of his Ecuadorean citizenship without due process.
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Since Mr Assange was dragged out of asylum, he has been imprisoned by the UK authorities in the maximum-security Belmarsh prison, in harsh conditions and until recently in isolation, on the flimsy grounds of a purported bail violation arising from seeking asylum.
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An extradition request has also since been filed with the UK by the United States authorities, and Mr Assange faces charges including under the Espionage Act, and so he continues to be jailed pending extradition to face a potential jail term of 175 years ....
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and a trial without First Amendment protections. The Swedish investigations meanwhile have been closed without a charge being raised after a decade of “investigation”.
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Serious and multiple conflicts of interest have also come to light in respect of the senior British judge who was involved with Mr Assange’s previous case and to date, there is no record of investigations into these conflicts of interest.
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Civil society groups have spoken out against the persecution of Mr Assange by the U.K. authorities. Over 100 international doctors have also publicly condemned Mr Assange’s mistreatment.
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@AgainstRape which has supported women fighting for justice for over 40 years say: “We are alarmed at the unusual zeal with which Julian Assange has been pursued. Do the victims of murder, rape and torture by US-UK occupiers in Iraq and Afghanistan not count? How can we...
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...find out about state crimes if journalists like Assange and whistle-blowers like Chelsea Manning are silenced?”.
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The case holds particularly worrying omens for the profession of investigative journalism. National Union of Journalists (NUJ) executive member Tim Dawson who spoke at a recent public meeting in London on 4 Feb said: “The legal devices being deployed to try and ...
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...take Julian Assange to the US are unprecedented and terrifying for anyone whose journalism touches on state security, defence or espionage?"
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