Day 15 of the #Assange extradition hearing. Live updates in this thread:
(Apologies, I was prevented from following the court proceedings this morning).
Court returns from lunch.
Joel Sickler continues his testimony from this morning. Sickler is an expert on US prisons with 40 years of experience in corrections and sentencing. #AssangeTrial
Some key points from Sickler’s morning testimony:
-He firmly believes #Assange will be thrown in ad-seg (solitary) at ADC or the “X-unit
-Limited interaction and communication with other prisoners. None if placed under SAMs
-Gov puts prisoners in x bloc for nat sec crimes, very likely #Assange will go there for pre-trial
-Several of Sickler’s clients have committed sui. in pre-trial due to harsh conditions
-If convicted Assange will end up at ADX Florence, H Unit and placed under SAMs
They are debating the humanity— or lack thereof— in US federal prisons.
-Sickler echoes what other witnesses told us: no attorney client privilege in ADX. Conversations are monitored and in one case lawyer herself was prosecuted under terrorism charges.
Sickler is arguing that any medical or mental health treatment at these facilities is insufficient. Moreover these facilities have a bad track record at preventing suicide, among them some of his clients.
Despite what the prosecution says, Sickler is not changing his views.. ADC has ad-seg and makes people want to commit sui. and ADX Florence has SAMs— even worse. Neither offer adequate healthcare, socialization, or leniency. And Assange will in all likelihood be sent to both.
Sickler also notes #Assange’s notoriety puts him at danger, on top of the torture and lack of medical care he will receive on an institutional level.
Sickler’s testimony is concluded. Court is adjourned resumes tomorrow 10am. #Assange trial
Check out this playlist for full a breakdown of each day in the #Assange trial.
I'm accredited to cover the #BRICSSummit2023 🇧🇷🇷🇺🇮🇳🇨🇳🇿🇦
HUGE developments today. All news and updates below. Bookmark and share the thread!
BRICS has just added six new countries! They shall become formal members in January 2024. The list includes major oil producers, as well as other large, emerging economies:
Egypt 🇪🇬
Ethiopia 🇪🇹
Argentina 🇦🇷
UAE 🇦🇪
Iran 🇮🇷
Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦
🇧🇷 President Lula: ''In few years, we went back from a benign multi-polarity juncture to going back to an absolute mindset of cold war and geopolitical competition. [...] The world needs to understand the risks that are [...] unacceptable for humanity.'' #BRICSSummit2023
I'm accredited to cover the summit. Will have updates and breaking news below. Bookmark it and retweet!
BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) is a collective of the world's largest emerging economies.
Together BRICS countries make up over 41% of the world population, a quarter of the global economy, and almost 30% of global trade.
The BRICS countries meet annually, but this year's summit is especially important in the context of the Ukraine war, blow-back from Western sanctions, and the rush to ditch the US Dollar, particularly after $300b was stolen from Russia's foreign exchange reserves.
🧵BREAKING: Putin will not attend BRICS summit in South Africa
🇿🇦 President Cyril Ramaphosa: "By mutual agreement, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation will not attend the Summit but the Russian Federation will be represented by Foreign Minister, Mr Sergey Lavrov."
There is precedent for this situation in South Africa: In 2015, Sudan's president Omar al Bashir attended the African Union summit in SA, and they refused to execute an ICC warrant and arrest a fellow African leader. Bashir was able to leave but the govt was taken to court in SA.
Courts ruled that the govt were wrong not to arrest him, and blocked SA's attempt to withdraw from the ICC.
Several African countries threatened to leave as the ICC is notorious for being biased against Africa, while giving Western war criminals like Bush & Blair a pass.
🧵THREAD: Biden is sending Ukraine cluster bombs, a horrific weapon banned in most countries
A cluster bomb is a large capsule that contains many tiny bomblets that are spread out over a very large area, killing indiscriminately.
123 countries have signed a convention banning cluster munitions.
94% of cluster bomb casualties are civilians. 40% are children.
Cluster bombs were used by the United States in Vietnam and Iraq. They are notorious for killing and maiming kids. How many children in Iraq have lost their arms and legs because of cluster bombs? Too many to count.