I think there is an important point missing in the debate. This is an extradition hearing. It doesn't matter whether Assange is guilty of the alleged crimes the US has come up with or not, what matters is whether he is expected to receive a fair trial in the US and whether the potential sentences in the US would be roughly on a par with what he'd expect for the same alleged crimes in the UK. For all I can see, this is definitely not the case.<p>You can even make a case that almost nobody should be extradited to the US by any country, since the US justice system has serious flaws, might not be just at all (e.g. it has about 10 times longer maximum prison sentences than in the rest of the civilized world) and the US penal system constitutes a constant human rights violation. For example, the administrations of many US prisons are notoriously unable to prevent the raping and murdering of their inmates. I've even heard people from the US making jokes about prison rape, as if that was to be expected and part of the "justice". As another example, a prison in Illinois was under 23 years of permanent lockdown, meaning that all inmates were in isolation for 23 years. There are credible accounts that Assange is facing imprisonment in high-security isolation facilities similar to what they did to Manning for a long time. I cannot understand why any civilized person would allow a treatment as inhumane as in US maximum security prisons with isolation, regardless of the crime.<p>Generally speaking, countries should review their extradition treaties. US justice is non-proportionality based on revenge and involves frequent human rights abuses. The same is true of other countries like Japan or Russia, but AFAIK extradition requests to these countries are much rarer.
> Julian had twice been stripped naked and searched, eleven times been handcuffed, and five times been locked up in different holding cells. On top of this, all of his court documents had been taken from him by the prison authorities, including privileged communications between his lawyers and himself, and he had been left with no ability to prepare to participate in today’s proceedings.<p>Still barely any mention of this case in the mainstream American or UK press. Until recently Amnesty International refused to even recognize Assange as a political prisoner, and the only thing they had said about him was that he was "not a political prisoner". They've since changed their tune, but it sure took them long enough.<p>A man is being tortured in plain sight in the UK and no one in the media cares to report on it.
Murray's report of the first day of the trial also worth reading: <a href="https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/02/your-man-in-the-public-gallery-assange-hearing-day-1/" rel="nofollow">https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/02/your-man-in-...</a>
That judge does not exactly come across as impartial in this description. I'm not a lawyer, but it does look like a mistrial of some sort.<p>Whatever you think of Julian Assange, he deserves a fair trial, and this doesn't sound like he's getting one.
> “Are you suggesting, Mr Summers, that the authorities, the Government, should have to provide context for its charges?”<p>The judge, Vanessa Baraitser, said that.
This is an egregious miscarriage of justice and everyone involved in perpetrating it against this man - for publishing the misdeeds of government, should be strung up, Literally. That is what the founders of this country would have done, and we could do worse than following their example, here.
This is a sham as his trial in the US, which is inevitable, will be. The US will not stop at anything in this case because leaking a video showing that US soldiers enjoy killing children is worse for them than actually killing children. This video showed the world what everyone already knew: that the US, and specifically the US armed forces, have no ethics, no morals, no qualms about killing children even when it's unnecessary. This isn't about endangering troops. This is about image only. Frankly, I hope the leaks did endanger troops. Scum soldiers that enjoy killing children deserve to die as do their superiors who almost certainly encouraged it and certainly didn't punish it. The US armed forces have no honor and they should be ashamed of themselves as should the government that starts bullshit wars and kills millions of innocents. This applies to everyone from the commander in chief to the lowest soldier. As a fellow American, I despise them for their service and they can all go fuck themselves. The video that Assange leaked is just one example of many of despicable behavior and the fact that they are punishing him rather than the animals who enjoy killing children is indefensible, immoral, and reflects on the entire armed forces institutions. Fuck them.
I found the article valuable and also a bit ironic that the only method to donate to this blogger, apart from a bank transfer, is PayPal. (In case anyone does not remember, they suspended Wikileaks account in 2010.)
Is there any explanation for why the special counsel never attempted to interview Assange on the Wikileaks DNC email leak?<p>The whole premise of their investigation started with the narrative that Russia hacked the DNC and released the emails through Wikileaks to help Trump win. Why never ask Assange where he got the emails? He’s been adamant publicly that it wasn’t Russia. Why not ask him then who in an investigation that took 2 years? This has always bothered me and intrigued me about Assange.
A quick summary of day 3 is here: <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/481711-assange-protection-political-extradition-fundamental-right/" rel="nofollow">https://www.rt.com/news/481711-assange-protection-political-...</a>
Given the state of the justice system in the UK and USA, maybe the best course of action for Assange is to get extradited, then tell the public that Wikileaks helped expose Hillary's private email server, and get pardoned by Trump...
The judge has basically said this is a politically motivated extradition, and the court is fine with that. I hope that this get appealed to a higher court and it's not left to this hostile judge.
Why is he calling Bellingcat a warmongering propaganda operations and saying they've got a "source of state, corporate or institutional finance"? I though they were independent
This is horrifying. As a European I'm afraid to even visit the USA. I'd expect this from some third world hellhole but not from a country which professes to have the rule of law.
Consider the source, right? Always ask ourselves "What does this source, this reporter, this organisation, want us to think?"<p>That doesn't mean that we have to ignore everything they say; it just becomes us to know what the source's own agenda is, to better arm ourselves.<p>Craig Murray's website suggests he is, for example, a credulous believer of Russian explanations for events. He does on occasion correct himself (such as in his post about the famed picture of two different people walking through two different channels - <a href="https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/09/the-impossible-photo/" rel="nofollow">https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/09/the-impossib...</a> ) but nonetheless he has a long-standing mindset which will temper his beliefs and of course colour everything he sees and his interpretations thereof.<p>Of course so do we all, but not all of us are reporting on this case to the public at large, pushing our own beliefs and agenda.
This is always going to happen when you go about doing what he did in such a flamboyant way.<p>I agree that he was by no means an angel, but I also see the reasons why the governments want to set an example. People have this idea that it's a terrible thing if their governments have secrets.. It's normal..<p>That doesn't justify this treatment of him. By any means, one would think he would be treated well in public.<p>> Is Assange the victim of torture?<p>It looks as though he's being made an example of. If thats right or wrong is anyones guess, but it doesn't make anyone confortable.