💧Mary Kostakidis Profile picture
Sep 28, 2020 32 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Extradition September hearing Day 14 (16 inl 2 Covid)

On the video link waiting to cross to court.

Expect to be back to US prison conditions today.
Yancey Ellis is an EDVA lawyer who will focus on pre-trial conditions, another US lawyer Joel Sickler on post-conviction work.
Hard to believe there are a mere 13 of us on the video link around the world, other than the few journalists in the adjacent court room at the Old Bailey
Lewis catches himself on the screen & takes the opportunity to pat down his hair. In these moments each day we see the lawyers & court officials put on their ties.
As forecast, US lawyer Yancey Ellis is first up on video.
Stella is in the corner & catches JA as he walks in behind the glass
Judge wants to deal first up with the press decision, asks for the rep.
She has found in favour of Defence, rejecting the press application for the medical statements.
Fitzgerald says Defence is happy with the document obtained regarding the razor incident to be released. The judge says she has yet to rule on whether that evidence will be permitted/accepted & she will deal with that afterwards.
Judge says one medical statement which was read in court, that of Dr Humphries (possibly one of those we could not hear..), can be released.
Judge is still reading her lengthy decision on the press request..
Her view is these details of his private life do not need to be disclosed
It’s 5 am for Yancey Ellis.
Fitzgerald: Ellis has made 2 statements. Holds a PhD in law, worked as a public defender in Alexandria & now in private practise & has clients in X block at the prison.
Ellis: JA would be held in X block pre trial, there is no other place to house them...
Ellis: Manning & Mannafort were held there pre trial.
JA would be held in the (ADSEG..?) unit referred to as X block where there are 4 - 6 cells. The cell is small 50ft or less, there is a shelf with a blanket on top and a small sink. They get 1-2 hours outside but the second..
.. hour can be in the middle of the night so not taken up.
If there are other inmates in that block, it’s not possible to communicate thru the cells, even shouting & you would never be outside with another prisoner.
Fitzgerald asks him to comment on Kromberg assertion that prisoners can communicate between cells.
Ellis: he hasn’t tried it, I can’t communicate with clients unless the food hatch is opened & you have to request that, so it’s not possible for prisoners to communicate - that’s..
..The point of being kept there. It is solitary confinement. The courts defer to the jail on how to house inmates most securely so this is not possible to change. These are the basic minimum restrictions. SAMs deals with other restrictions as well dealing with phone calls etc..
Fitzgerald- your clients were not under SAMs, could they make calls?
Ellis: you can make calls during your break.
Ellis can’t comment on SAMs restrictions.
On psychological disability: no doctor at the jail, part time access to psychiatrist so delays in consultations to alter ..
.. Medication, it’s basically to ensure you are functioning. For suicidal inmates they can be temporarily taken to another unit where they can be monitored.
It’s difficult to find someone within the prison to give you access to the block.
Lewis: you say Kromberg’s evidence is inaccurate or incomplete.
How many prisoners are held there?
Ellis: 300 or so, but only 4-6 in X block.
Lewis: your comments come from your clients & visits.
Have you interviewed the prison warden or staff or psychiatrist?
Ellis: no
Lewis: you’ve given one side of the picture.
Ellis: ..that there are two sides to every story? (Straight face)
Lewis: yes
Ellis: sure.
Lewis plowing thru Kromberg .. asking Ellis about his knowledge of good compliance in jail with policies.
Ellis politely say in effect , so what.
Ellis: they have a Togo’s track record in actual completed suicides ( I guess he means limited successful suicides).
Lewis: how would JA be assessed for housing?
Ellis: I have never been granted access to such docs.
But I believe he would be held in administrative segregation.
Lewis asks about programs available for inmates.
Ellis: The jail doesn’t run individual programs for those held in segregation.
Lewis: he can meet with his lawyers any time
Ellis: no he can’t.
Lewis: you don’t include time spent with lawyers..
Ellis says you don’t see your lawyers that often so essentially it doesn’t make much
...difference. You would have to be given special permission to go to the library but only when no one else is there.
If you have a mental health issue you can be sent to a hospital..
Lewis attempting to show the witness isn’t as knowledgeable as Kromberg, asks specifically..
..again about JA, Ellis replying that high profile inmates are not kept with others, nor would he get any special treatment, no matter who his lawyers were or how many he had.
Fitzgerald re-examines Ellis on the basis of his knowledge & view JA will be in X block. Ellis says X block is the only option.
Fitzgerald asks whether there was a problem with Manning in X block
Ellis: well publicised & some not publicised suicide attempts in X block. Manning was considered female so could not be held in X block.
Ellis: there is nowhere else in the jail
Judge says JA has been in the general prison here, why would he be in segregation in the US?
Ellis: high profile plus mental problem, in order to maintain security in the jail, they segregate these inmates.
Ellis finished.

Discussion about dealing with a statement from a Mr Guardella (sp?) - break to consider how to deal with it. This statement has a risen from the cross examination of Kopelman. It may be regarding the razor incident.
We’re back. No. Another 10 mins to see if they can get the next witness earlier than proposed.
Judge back but still waiting for witness..

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More from @MaryKostakidis

Jul 14
In an effort to silence me the Zionist Federation have filed a complaint with the HRC for racial vilification, aided by a reporter who can’t do his own research.

Having first used the discredited Anti-Defamation League (they should be called the Anti-Free-Speech-for-anyone-we-do-not-agree-with-League), and the CEO of a company that trains IDF soldiers to become propagandists - to improve Israel’s image to the world (because the country is an apartheid state having stolen land, ‘mowed the lawn’ with gratuitous killing of Palestinians for decades, tortured detainees held often without charge, herded a couple of million people into a ghetto/open air prison, then launched a genocide), to attempt to frame me as a rape and Holocaust denier.
This because I have been sharing the reports of extremely highly regarded independent journalists who have written about the absence of credible evidence the claims of ‘systemic, widespread rape’ by Hamas on Oct 7. The Beheaded Babies, the 40 burnt babies, the genital mutilations, the systemic rape were all unsubstantiated or proven false. The Israelis claim the have footage and photos but the latest U.N. investigation made no finding of rape.
To be clear, I have never said there was No Rape. It is something I could never say - it would be a nonsense for anyone to make such a definitive statement.
Yet the double page story by Chip Le Grand makes no reference to a)my series of tweets about rape over a period of months that make clear I’m referring to systemic rape. The offending tweet is one where I put it would be counter to their mission to spend time on rape because they would jeopardise their mission which was to grab hostages and try to stay alive for long enough to escape. They would have to be pretty dumb to risk it. As it turns out, as I proffered, the latest U.N. investigation found no evidence that would allow them to conclude there had been rape. But Chip Le Grand reports none of this.
His story also took umbrage at my comment that we can’t know how many Israel deaths were caused by the IDF on Oct 7. Many independent commentators are now saying precisely that, including Gideon Levy. Even Piers Morgan can’t accept the Israelis know for a fact that a considerable number of Israelis were not killed on that day, because of the Hannibal Directive. And the. There is the indiscriminate nature of the shelling. There was more than ‘a kernel of truth’. ‘No car should make it back to Gaza’ means all the hostages being killed for a start.
At the risk of boring you, we now move on to The Sequel. 1/
Today I received another email from Chip, who is very well informed about what the Zionist lobby gets up to on a Sunday.

Good morning Mary.

Zionist Federation of Australia chief executive Alon Cassuto is today lodging a complaint against you with the Australian Human Rights Commission under Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

The complaint relates to your Twitter post from 4 January, when you reposted a link to a speech by Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah, in which he told Jewish people living in Israel and the occupied territories:

"Here, it is going to be very difficult for you. If you want to be secure, if you want to feel secure, you have an American passport, go back to the United States. You have a British passport, go back to the UK. Here you don't have a future, from the river to the sea the land of Palestine is for the Palestinian people and the Palestinian people only.''

You prefaced the link to the speech with the comment: "The Israeli govt getting some of its own medicine. Israel has started something it can't finish with this genocide.''

Cassuto says that Nasrallah's speech calls for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Israel and the occupied territories and alleges that, by sharing a link to it with your 30,000-odd Twitter followers, you disseminated hate speech against Israelis and Jewish people.

The ZFA says that through this and more than 100 other Twitter posts since October 7, you have misused your standing and profile as a highly respected former newsreader and face of our multicultural broadcaster, to share extreme propaganda and hateful material.

Could I please ask you:

Why did you share Nasrallah's speech?

Do you agree that material you have shared on Twitter since October 7 vilifies Israelis and Jewish people?

Is there any other comment you would like to make?

Thanks Mary. The ZFA announced earlier today they are holding a 2pm press conference to discuss this matter. I will publish a first take story at 2pm and would like to include your response.

Otherwise, I can update the story anytime before 5pm to include your comments.

I'll also give you a call.

Best regards,

Chip.
 
Chip Le Grand
Chief reporter 
 
2/ .. see my reply
As I was out with my grandchildren, I had not replied, so he called me and I responded but decided to put it in writing when I was free to do so:

‘As I said on the phone I believe it is important to know what both sides are saying in a conflict.

With regards to Israel inviting escalation by launching a genocide, I responded similarly when Israel retaliated against Hamas.

You might equally say if you were being briefed by Palestinians instead of Zionists Chip, was I intimating that Hamas or the Palestinian people deserved what they got in response.
The point is when one side acts in an extreme way, it invites retaliation. Sadly that is the case. (Cont.)
Read 10 tweets
Jun 24
BREAKING:
#Assange Agrees to Plead Guilty in Exchange for Release, Ending Standoff With U.S.
NYTimes (thread)
‘..agreed to plead guilty on Monday to a single felony count of illegally disseminating national security material in exchange for his release from a British prison, ending his long and bitter standoff with the United States.
Mr. Assange, 52, was granted his request to appear before a federal judge at one of the more remote outposts of the federal judiciary, the courthouse in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, according to a court filing made public late Monday. It was a fitting twist in the case against Mr. Assange, who doggedly opposed extradition to the U.S. mainland.’
The islands are a United States commonwealth in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
Read 4 tweets
Dec 29, 2023
How the U.S. has fueled Israel's decades-long war on Palestinians - Rashid Khalidi, Los Angeles Times 🧵

‘Whoever the settlers were and wherever they came from, with whatever connections to the land, the resistance to them would have been essentially the same as that of the Irish, Algerians, Native Americans, Zulus or Libyans to intruders bent on expelling them and taking the land. Vladimir Jabotinsky, founder of the Revisionist Zionism that produced the Likud Party, stated bluntly: “Every native population in the world resists colonists.” And as Edward Said noted, it was the particular misfortune of the Palestinians to be the victims of victims’

latimes.com/opinion/story/…
‘This process of settler colonialism produced the dispossession of a large part of Palestine’s native population and the theft of their lands and property. This was achieved through the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians during Israel’s establishment in 1948 (over 55% of the total Arab population of Palestine at the time), and of over 250,000 in 1967, with none of them allowed to return. This phased ethnic cleansing was essential in order to turn a majority-Arab country into a majority-Jewish state. It could not have been done in any other way, since it proved to be impossible to “spirit” the Palestinians “discreetly” out of the country, a desire that Theodor Herzl confided to his diary. For the last 56 years, these same practices of colonization and dispossession have proceeded inexorably in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.’
‘The United States has regarded the military occupation of these territories and their gradual annexation and absorption into Israel with studied indifference for more than half a century. This contrasts glaringly with its muscular response to Russian occupation of part of Ukraine for a much shorter period. It is hard to give credence to U.S. claims about supporting self-determination and freedom for Ukraine while it has provided decades of essential support to Israel for its occupation of Arab territories’
Read 7 tweets
Aug 8, 2023
In an article on the future of the US alliance in the Australian Journal of International Affairs, the Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Friends of the United States and of #AUKUS in the Parliament, Luke Gosling, says moving from ‘interoperability’ to ‘interchangeability’ as @… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
He cites a Loewy Poll that shows the majority of Australians support the alliance but Gosling worries that an even greater majority fear entanglement in a war. “Still, it’s heartening 76% of Australians believe the US would defend Australia..”.

This is a failure of the our… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
The article goes on to say that to shore up support for AUKUS itself & address the concerns of sceptics, the US Studies Centre proposed an annual statement to parliament to define a positive vision of what the alliance stands for & Marles delivered the first, on the alliance and… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Read 8 tweets
Apr 16, 2023
FM Penny Wong will address @PressClubAust today to respond to criticism of her and of AUKUS by Paul Keating.

She will also have to explain the shift in her position since moving from Opposition to Govt, pointed out starkly by Hugh White in The Monthly.

The Stepped up… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
She is spinning the US battle to maintain hegemony as a battle to preserve multipolarity. Gobsmacking hutzpah.
The US is going to help us keep the peace in the region. Such is its track record…?
Read 13 tweets
Apr 15, 2023
Excellent article by Hugh White:

‘if AUKUS stands, it is inconceivable that Aus would not fight by America’s side if America ever goes to war with China.’

AUKUS is the NATO of the Asia Pacific - we become like any NATO nation, a US base for global war themonthly.com.au/issue/2023/apr…
In Opposition, @SenatorWong
‘clearly understood that in calling for a new multipolar order in Asia she was advocating an outcome very different from the goal of US policy.’
‘The US, she said, should “recognise and embrace the fact that multipolarity in the region is likely to get stronger”. In a remarkable passage, she called on Washington to redefine its objectives, to make it clear that its aim was not simply to contain China and perpetuate… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Read 9 tweets

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