https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/10/assange-in-court/
I was deeply shaken while witnessing yesterday’s events in Westminster Magistrates Court. Every decision was railroaded through over the scarcely heard arguments and objections of Assange’s legal team, by a magistrate who barely pretended to be listening.
Before I get on to the blatant lack of fair process, the first thing I must note was Julian’s condition. I was badly shocked by just how much weight my friend has lost, by the speed his hair has receded and by the appearance of premature and vastly accelerated ageing. He has a pronounced limp I have never seen before. Since his arrest he has lost over 15 kg in weight.
But his physical appearance was not as shocking as his mental deterioration. When asked to give his name and date of birth, he struggled visibly over several seconds to recall both. I will come to the important content of his statement at the end of proceedings in due course, but his difficulty in making it was very evident; it was a real struggle for him to articulate the words and focus his train of thought.
Until yesterday I had always been quietly sceptical of those who claimed that Julian’s treatment amounted to torture – even of Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture – and sceptical of those who suggested he may be subject to debilitating drug treatments. But having attended the trials in Uzbekistan of several victims of extreme torture, and having worked with survivors from Sierra Leone and elsewhere, I can tell you that yesterday changed my mind entirely and Julian exhibited exactly the symptoms of a torture victim brought blinking into the light, particularly in terms of disorientation, confusion, and the real struggle to assert free will through the fog of learned helplessness.
I had been even more sceptical of those who claimed, as a senior member of his legal team did to me on Sunday night, that they were worried that Julian might not live to the end of the extradition process. I now find myself not only believing it, but haunted by the thought. Everybody in that court yesterday saw that one of the greatest journalists and most important dissidents of our times is being tortured to death by the state, before our eyes. To see my friend, the most articulate man, the fastest thinker, I have ever known, reduced to that shambling and incoherent wreck, was unbearable. Yet the agents of the state, particularly the callous magistrate Vanessa Baraitser, were not just prepared but eager to be a part of this bloodsport. She actually told him that if he were incapable of following proceedings, then his lawyers could explain what had happened to him later. The question of why a man who, by the very charges against him, was acknowledged to be highly intelligent and competent, had been reduced by the state to somebody incapable of following court proceedings, gave her not a millisecond of concern.
The charge against Julian is very specific; conspiring with Chelsea Manning to publish the Iraq War logs, the Afghanistan war logs and the State Department cables. The charges are nothing to do with Sweden, nothing to do with sex, and nothing to do with the 2016 US election; a simple clarification the mainstream media appears incapable of understanding.
The purpose of yesterday’s hearing was case management; to determine the timetable for the extradition proceedings. The key points at issue were that Julian’s defence was requesting more time to prepare their evidence; and arguing that political offences were specifically excluded from the extradition treaty. There should, they argued, therefore be a preliminary hearing to determine whether the extradition treaty applied at all.
The reasons given by Assange’s defence team for more time to prepare were both compelling and startling. They had very limited access to their client in jail and had not been permitted to hand him any documents about the case until one week ago. He had also only just been given limited computer access, and all his relevant records and materials had been seized from the Ecuadorean Embassy by the US Government; he had no access to his own materials for the purpose of preparing his defence.
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[–] 21052152? 4 points 0 points 4 points (+4|-4) ago
Not at all sure he has ethics but he may not be guilty of all he stands accused of doing.
Why does he fight extradition here, he could come here, negotiate 'whatever' and probably get all the issues resolved with a real chance for security.
If he did assist Manning in his treasons then he does face a serious matter but Trump will negotiate in good faith if Assange will, I betcha. He could be convicted, if guilty, or plead out and be sentenced to time served in return for his supporting evidences against Deep State actors.
It seems to me to be a simple thing....unless Assange does indeed have more sinister doings he tries to avoid.
Possibly too late anyhow, looks as if they have him pretty well in the grave already.
[–] 21052449? 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago
Manning was pardoned... Wtf. If any one deserves this it's the faggots at CNN and msnbc
[–] 21052501? 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
Yeah Manning was, by obama the Usurper. Manning unquestionably did do treasons, and all the government did was cut his pecker off.
Wait, WOT?
[–] 21053446? ago
No he wasn't. He had his sentence commuted. Big difference.
[–] 21056304? ago (edited ago)
I am firmly behind Trump but his record for pardons of important people so far isn't good. He could start with Flynn. I can't see how Assange would be able to trust anybody in the US any more than the bastards in the UK
Edit: I bet he would be safe in Poland or Hungary
[–] 21056455? 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Flynn will get his pardon, I betcha, but he is part of the Plan. Flynn is right this minute exposing the Russia hoax and that will include hillary and obama, more. I think Flynn understands his role in this thing, in History, in This Timeline.
He may not need a pardon before we are through exposing matters, that's one of the things being pursued after all.