Dr Deepa Govindarajan Driver Profile picture
- NEC & negotiator @UCU - Vice-chair @socialistlawyer - Director @forfinancewatch - I teach financial regulation & corporate/ state accountability
Apr 11, 2022 11 tweets 5 min read
1/ I’ve served as legal observer in the case of Julian #Assange for @SocialistLawyer for ~ 3 years.
Its been very depressing & tremendously liberating for me.
I knew acts of courage such as Julian's are not without hardship, but I now know #CourageIsContagious
Thread 🧵 2/ In these three hard years, Julian's health has suffered.
He had a TIA (mini-stroke) whilst (literally) watching prosecutors in court say he was malingering. He has endured prolonged solitary confinement. He has contemplated taking his own life "hundreds of times a day".
Dec 13, 2021 10 tweets 5 min read
1/ Like many, I am very angry and sad about the outcome of the US appeal.
Having attended the court hearings, I know how soul-destroying these are.
So this thread seeks to bring #Assange supporters some small slivers of hope & strength

1/ First I want to say how happy I am for Julian that he has his family & his kids to give him love & hope. Stella deals with things with poise & grace, every day, despite the hardship & sorrow their family bear.
(I love this photo. We work to make sure Julian’s in one soon)
2/
Dec 10, 2021 12 tweets 7 min read
#InternationalHumanRightsDay #AssangeCase

Good morning from inside the #RCJ. Firstly, to confirm that despite an electrical failure on his train journey & thanks to pre-5 am by Derek @JA_Defence, much-beloved @CraigMurrayOrg has made it in.
I will tweet here if I’m allowed. 1/ #InternationalHumanRightsDay #AssangeCase

A few journalists & I have made it to the door of the court room. We are waiting to be let in. It appears that the judgment may just be handed down and there may not be any discussion. The lawyers are not here yet. 40 mins to start
Dec 10, 2021 9 tweets 9 min read
#InternationalHumanRightsDay
Key facts #AssangeCase

1/
- #Assange’s legally privileged conversations have been extensively spied upon by the US.

thegrayzone.com/2020/05/14/ame… 2/
#InternationalHumanRightsDay

The key witness in the US case against Assange is a convicted paedophile & fraudster who admits to fabricating the evidence in exchange for FBI deal.

stundin.is/grein/13910/
Sep 4, 2021 22 tweets 9 min read
35 days since journalist Craig Murray @cmurrayjustice was locked up alone 22h/day in a prison for serious offenders !
877 days since Julian #Assange was jailed in Belmarsh, 3364 days since he was arbitrarily detained and deprived of freedom & natural sunlight
Some thoughts...
1/ Judicial torture & executions were routinely carried out at Saughton from 1386-1817. Saughton's barbaric history carries through neatly to the present day. Like other prisoners Murray is in his cell alone 22 hours/day. This is #torture & breaches rule 44 of the Mandela rules
2/
Aug 22, 2021 4 tweets 3 min read
A 🧵

1/ Sweden wanted to prolong war in Afghanistan. Along with its NATO buddies it wanted to sell weapons to kill and maim people while allowing Swedish companies to profit off the misery . See link below 2/

Then remember this (weaponising feminism to prolong war) file.wikileaks.org/file/cia-afgha…
Aug 11, 2021 9 tweets 6 min read
Today, I observed the legal proceedings in the case of #Assange on behalf of @SocialistLawyer

Thanks to those who live-tweeted. (I particularly miss the voice of Craig @cmurrayjustice )

Now a few personal comments about the key points of concern in this historic case 🧵

1/ It is easy to be distracted by the finer points of law & to focus on dancing on the head of a pin. But what are the big issues

a) What shouldn’t be up for debate is that states & corporations that commit grave crimes must be held accountable by the media & judiciary
2/
Jan 8, 2021 9 tweets 3 min read
I was a legal observer at the #Assange hearings on behalf of @SocialistLawyer.
Here is a 🧵 capturing my feelings & impressions.

(I speak as an individual- my formal report will follow in a few weeks)

#WeAreAllAssange

1/
The daily experience was upsetting & sad.
For me there was physical tiredness from queueing (every day for 3 weeks in Sep) in the wee hours in the 🥶
Julian has a chronic lung condition; he’s depressed & has osteoporosis made worse by lack of sunlight.
He’s been MADE ill
2/
Dec 23, 2020 8 tweets 6 min read
@ScottShaneNYT thanks for your acknowledgement of the truth - grudging though your phrasing seems .

As one of many ordinary citizens who understood the world better because of @wikileaks' & #JulianAssange’s courage, here are some thoughts on "what we think of" him

1/ #Wikileaks & #JulianAssange revolutionised journalism by making it possible for citizens to look at the real data behind the slanted & constrained world-views presented by mainstream journalists.

fair.org/extra/amplifyi…

2/
Dec 11, 2020 6 tweets 6 min read
#WeAreAllAssange

1/ The case of #JulianAssange can be depressing & overhwhelming. The persecution has cost this man & his family a decade of their lives. So here is a short thread (with cartoons) summarising the key reasons, Britain must not continue to be America's lapdog Image 2/ This prosecution is politically motivated. The US wants to hide its horrendous record of murder, rape & torture of innocent civilians like ElMasri therenditionproject.org.uk/prisoners/khal… .
It does not want to be embarrassed for the incompetence & warmongering that destroyed entire nations. Image
Feb 22, 2020 24 tweets 5 min read
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
link.medium.com/9owkhp8Bh4

1/ The letter then details numerous violations of the law in the #Assange case, and ask for the rule of law to be upheld.
2/
Feb 18, 2020 14 tweets 13 min read
On 24th Feb, the extradition hearings in the case of #JulianAssange begin. This week, I will be tweeting out the articles that weren't just great at the time of publication but are worth re-reading now, to get a real handle on the case

1/
@LissaKJohnson 's 'The Psychology of Getting Julian Assange' explores the psychological dimensions of the CIA decision of "taking down Wikileaks". Remember, these are the same CIA who use / approve in Guantanamo of the professional psychologists who destroyed people by .....
2/
Oct 21, 2019 21 tweets 6 min read
#JulianAssange #Assange
1/ Today, I went to a court for the very first time & I’d like to share some thoughts.

Let me start by talking about the courageous, ordinary citizens who protested outside and/or queued from the early hours in the cold & rain to support Julian #JulianAssange #Assange

2/ In the crowd you could hear people speaking in South American Spanish, German, French, accented English from New Zealand, Australia, the Americas& the Uk, Polish, Greek and more!