Dave Putson reports from outside the Royal Courts of Justice as yet another legal process took place in Assange’s fight against extradition to the USA.
******
Today, 20 May 2024, was a surprisingly good day for justice, I guess.
Julian Assange, could conceivably have been extradited to the USA, to spend the rest of his life, or 175 years term, in prison under sentence for supposedly breaching the USA’s Espionage Act. That is journalism to the rest of the world……
However, at the last hearing the Judges had sought assurances from the USA that, if extradited, Mr Assange would not then become subject to a potential death sentence, as if the 14 years he has been locked up without any charges against him, was not already a deadly sentence when being subjected to solitary confinement!
The responses to this from the USA were not convincing for the Judges and they offered Mr Assange full rights to challenge the extradition proceedings. In terms of the politics of this hugely controversial issue, it should have been already a slam dunk fail for the USA decades ago. But the wheels of UK justice are slow, and seemingly, have nearly come off the Justice “wagon”. So, his legal team get to “go again” in this fight.
If the USA had any smarts they would dispense with this case, they have already been embarrassed by the fact that their principal witness has been exposed as a liar, and his “evidence” as a tissue of prefabricated nonsense supplied to him by certain dark elements in the USA administration – yeah, you guessed – the FBI and CIA!
Alleged journalists
It was pretty good to arrive at the court and see approximately 300 people protesting. Almost one third were international journalists. Given the blanket “unofficial” ban on UK reporting his case, it is doubtful if any alleged journalists from the UK were amongst them.
It was a very measured event, sometimes very quiet and considered, with intercepts of chanting and some unofficial speeches. There was an interlude with music and a choir, which lifted the mood a little.
There was a brief collection of official speeches. Apsana Begum MP is always on hand to represent her constituents. John McDonnell MP had some good news from the Parliamentary Group representing journalists, who have now undertaken to ask questions officially as to why many hundreds of pages of emails have either gone “missing” or been destroyed by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in relation to Mr Assange’s case, despite his case still not being over. This may offer something of a headache for the then Head of the DPP as these documents were lost or destroyed on his watch.
Jeremy Corbyn MP also spoke passionately. As did the excellent Craig Murray (former UK Ambassador) and finally, Julian’s clearly emotional and worried brother, who has been campaigning for as long as this matter has been running.
Crowd almost got what they wanted
In the end the crowd almost got what they wanted, but a decision for Mr Assange, in the punitive UK legal system, does not allow for him to be released from prison. Given that he has not been charged with anything, it seems that the hugely rigged and unbalanced so-called justice system knows no punitive limits.
Had this matter gone against him today, he may have had recourse to further appeals to other UK Courts, but he could have also appealed to the European Court of Human Rights. Had that been the case, though, it is likely he would have already been on the plane to the USA before any application had been lodged. And once in their clutches, I doubt they would have released him ever again.
Many, many thousands of people have been campaigning for him and today was the first glimmer of hope that common sense will prevail and the USA will be told to “bugger off” with their murderous intent. Sadly, then the CIA will return to plotting to assassinate him, as before, when he got to the Ecuadorian embassy and then HMP Belmarsh.
But a good day is a good day, so let’s enjoy that. Sadly Mr Assange won’t. He is still incarcerated on no charge. It always reminds me of “Freeborn John” Lilburne’s treatment at the hands of Oliver Cromwell, but that is another, if parallel, story from an earlier time……
