I have written to @robertbuckland the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice to urgently intervene before Wednesday's prelim hearing to allow #JulianAssange to be released on health grounds. Here is my letter:
Dear Mr Buckland, I am writing as a matter of urgency to ask you to intervene on the behalf of journalist and publisher Julian Assange, currently held in Belmarsh HMP on remand and charged with no offences
Mr Assange has endured a decade of arbitrary detention in Great Britain and the Ecuador Embassy at the behest of the American Government and intelligence services; all the while these forced confinements have damaged his health, to the point where he now suffers
from depression and a chronic lung condition.
Noe that the covid-19 pandemic has hit these shores, you have indicated low-risk prisoners may be allowed to be freed from prison. Indeed, Iran and many other countries have done this. Mr Assange has a regular preliminary hearing
Noe that the covid-19 pandemic has hit these shores, you have indicated low-risk prisoners may be allowed to be freed from prison. Indeed, Iran and many other countries have done this. Mr Assange has a regular preliminary hearing
scheduled for this Wednesday March 25. I plead with you to order the stipendiary magistrate Vanessa Baraitser to allow Mr Assange to be released into the care of his father and family who reside in London.
Since he has been held for so long under unsustainable conditions, it is vital to save his life and allow him to be released from jail. The American case against him is extremely flawed and most expert jurists believe that Mr Assange will fight and win his
case for extradition in a higher court. They reason that the Woolwich Crown Court case will be to extradite, based on the judgements so far of Ms Baraitser, who was appointed by Chief Magistrate Sarah Arbuthnot,
whom all informed citizens know has multiple family connections through her husband and son to arms manufacturer Thales and the Israeli security intelligence industry.
This is a grave injustice that Lady Arbuthnot did not recuse herself from this case, even though Wikileaks published her family connections. It is not fair and it is justified that people are already calling the British system a collection of kangaroo courts.
As the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, I am sure this is a concern for you, as it is for the general legal community, and I note that several petitions from these quarters have beseeched intervention to prevent a grave injustice to Mr Assange, a brave &heroic
man, a man of peace who has been twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and has received more that 25 journalism and community service awards, and a man who put the security of whistleblowers and the people who were exposed in war crimes and corruption as paramount.
The US has had to admit that no one was harmed through the publication of the war logs, yet Mr Assange has been vilified and arbitrarily detained and the war criminals are free. I also note that you were Chairman of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission,
with its special interest in international human rights. Mr Assange is an Australian who has never set foot on American soil. It is a grave injustice that his human rights can be breached by the long arm of America stretching to Britain seeking universal jurisdiction.
This is not the kind of society we want to live in. I beseech you to intervene before Wednesday’s hearing to allow Mr Assange to rest and recuperate in private.
Thankyou for your time,
Yours faithfully,
Thankyou for your time,
Yours faithfully,
