Extradition

Caroline Kennedy Says United States Is Open To Assange Plea Deal

August 14, 2023 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Department of Justice, Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

The U.S. ambassador to Australia believes a plea bargain could free imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, allowing him to serve a shortened sentence for a lesser crime in his home country. Caroline Kennedy told The Sydney Morning Herald in a front-page interview published Monday that the decision on a plea deal was up to the U.S. Justice Department. “So it’s not really a diplomatic issue, but I think that there absolutely could be a resolution,” she told the newspaper. Kennedy noted the firm comments by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on July 31 in Brisbane.

Australian Members Of Parliament Blast Blinken Over Assange

August 2, 2023 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. Resist! Australia, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Extradition, Julian Assange

Three Australian members of Parliament have dismissed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s strong statement in support of prosecuting imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange as “nonsense.” Independent MP Andrew Wilkie told The Guardian‘s Australian edition that Assange was “not the villain … and if the US wasn’t obsessed with revenge it would drop the extradition charge as soon as possible.” “Antony Blinken’s allegation that Julian Assange risked very serious harm to US national security is patent nonsense,” Wilkie said. “Mr Blinken would be well aware of the inquiries in both the US and Australia which found that the relevant WikiLeaks disclosures did not result in harm to anyone,” said Wilkie.

Assange Is ‘Dangerously Close’ To Extradition For Revealing Crimes

July 18, 2023 Marjorie Cohn, Truthout. Educate! Espionage Act, Extradition, Joe Biden, Journalism, Julian Assange, United Kingdom (UK), War crimes

For nearly five years, publisher and journalist Julian Assange has fought extradition to the United States where he faces 175 years in prison for revealing evidence of U.S. war crimes. Instead of protecting freedom of the press, to which he pledged allegiance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April, Joe Biden is continuing Donald Trump’s prosecution of Assange under the infamous Espionage Act. James Ball is one of at least four journalists that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI are pressuring to cooperate with the prosecution of Assange, Ball wrote in Rolling Stone.

Australian Prime Minister Should Keep Up The Pressure On Washington

July 10, 2023 John Kiriakou, CovertAction Magazine. Educate! Australia, Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

When I was at the CIA, I was taught that David Hicks was a very bad man. As a teenager in Australia, I was told, his school principal once called him “one of the most troublesome kids.” He was expelled from school at the age of 14 and began using alcohol, and drugs. He was particularly fond of stealing cars, according to a former partner. He was later accused of beating his girlfriend, although no charges were ever filed. In 1999, Hicks converted to Islam and began studying the faith’s fundamentalist Wahhabi strain at a Saudi-funded mosque in Adelaide, Australia.

Assange Appeal — The US-UK Deception

July 7, 2023 Consortium News. Resistance Report Criminal Justice and Prisons, Extradition, Julian Assange, United Kingdom (UK)

The ‘Perfected Grounds of Appeal’ submitted by Julian Assange’s lawyers to the High Court of England and Wales reveals new evidence of deception by both Britain and the United States. Emmy Butlin from the Julian Assange Defence Committee discusses the revelations with Cathy Vogan, executive producer of CN Live!. Recorded July 3, 2023 on Julian Assange‘s 52nd birthday, his 5th spent on remand in Belmarsh Prison in London. "So there were things that leapt out at me, things I knew about already, but more detail, some transcripts, very important points. And well, one of the things was that we thought that there was a political exception in the extradition treaty, but not in the act."

Alex Saab, Three Years As A Kidnapped Diplomat

June 24, 2023 Teri Mattson, WtF is Going on in Latin America and the Caribbean. Podcast – WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean Alex Saab, Extradition, International Law, Venezuela

June 12, 2023 was the third anniversary of the illegal kidnapping and imprisonment by the US of Alex Saab. Because the brutality and cruelty of the US blockade was wreaking havoc on the economy and millions of the most vulnerable in Venezuela were being deliberately denied their human rights to the most basic necessities of daily life, President Nicolas Maduro tasked Saab with traveling around the world procuring food, medicines and fuel for his country. Breaking every treaty, protocol, law and norm of international diplomacy, the US plotted to have Saab arrested while in transit to Iran to fulfill his diplomatic mission, by pressing the Cape Verde government to illegally arrest him on June 12 2020.

Biden Would Need His Pound Of Flesh From Assange

June 23, 2023 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. Educate! CIA, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Democrats, Extradition, Joe Biden, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

Following the decision by High Court Judge Sir Jonathan Swift this month to reject Assange’s application to appeal his ordered extradition to the United States to stand trial on espionage charges, Assange’s legal team filed a new application to the High Court last week. The decision on this application could come any day. If it is refused, Assange will have run out of legal options in Britain, and could only be saved by the intervention of the European court. There is also still a chance of a plea deal in which President Joe Biden would need to exact punishment of Assange to cover his political posterior.

The Imminent Extradition Of Julian Assange And The Death Of Journalism

June 20, 2023 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

High Court Judge Jonathan Swift — who previously worked for a variety of British government agencies as a barrister and said his favorite clients are “security and intelligence agencies” — rejected two applications by Julian Assange’s lawyers to appeal his extradition last week. The extradition order was signed last June by Home Secretary Priti Patel. Julian’s legal team have filed a final application for appeal, the last option available in the British courts. If accepted, the case could proceed to a public hearing in front of two new High Court judges. If rejected, Julian could be immediately extradited to the United States where he will stand trial for 18 counts of violating the Espionage Act, charges that could see him receive a 175-year sentence, as early as this week.

Judge Worked For Same British Government Departments That Pursued Assange

June 19, 2023 Mark Curtis, Consortium News. Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Extradition, Julian Assange, United Kingdom (UK)

Jonathan Swift, the High Court judge who has rejected Julian Assange’s appeal against extradition to the U.S., has a long history of working for the government departments that are now persecuting the WikiLeaks founder. Swift, who ruled against Assange on June 6, was formerly the government’s favourite barrister. He worked as ‘First Treasury Counsel’ – the government’s top lawyer – from 2006 to 2014, a position in which he advised and represented the government in major litigation. Swift acted for the Defence and Home Secretaries in at least nine cases, Declassified has found. He also acted for the Cabinet Office, Justice Secretary and the Treasury, during his time as First Treasury Counsel.

Jonathan Swift’s Lilliputian Reasoning

June 12, 2023 Tareq Haddad, Consortium News. Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

Four years into Julian Assange’s imprisonment at H.M.P. Belmarsh and four years since plain-clothed officers from London’s Metropolitan Police Service dragged the WikiLeaks journalist and publisher out of Ecuador’s London embassy, taking him from Kensington to a maximum-security prison, a British judge last week rejected two separate applications made by Assange’s lawyers to appeal his extradition to the United States — striking down all submitted grounds. In making his judgements, Justice Jonathan Swift, formerly a lawyer for the British government [whose favourite clients he says were the intelligence services], also struck down the call from Assange’s lawyers to discuss new facts that have arisen in the case — concluding pithily: “The application to rely on fresh evidence is refused.”

High Court Denies Assange Right To Appeal

June 9, 2023 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. Educate! Appeal, Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

The single judge on the court, Sir Jonathan Swift, issued the 3-page decision on Tuesday. It is not yet publicly available on the High Court’s website. In December, Assange appealed to the European Court of Human Rights. The court could issue an emergency injunction to stop Assange’s extradition until it examines the case. Assange initially won the case against extradition in the lower court based on his health and conditions of U.S. prisons. This was overturned by the High Court after the court accepted U.S. written assurances that Assange would not be mistreated in U.S. prisons.

Report: FBI Reopens Assange Investigation

June 1, 2023 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. Educate! Extradition, FBI, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

Three years after indicting him on espionage and computer intrusion charges, the Federal Bureau of Investigation appears to be still seeking more evidence against WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange. The Sydney Morning Herald has reported in its Thursday edition that the F.B.I. last week sought an interview in London with Andrew O’Hagan, who worked as a ghostwriter on Assange’s autobiography in 2011. The London Metropolitan Police’s counterterrorism command sent the letter to O’Hagan, which said: “The FBI would like to discuss your experiences with Assange/WikiLeaks …” O’Hagan told the Herald: “I would not give a witness statement against a fellow journalist being pursued for telling the truth.

Biden Missing, But Assange Sydney Rally Goes On

May 25, 2023 Consortium News. Resist! Australia, Extradition, Joe Biden, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

Joe Biden was due in Sydney Wednesday where he’s facing increased pressure to let Julian Assange go. Biden cancelled the trip but a rally in Hyde Park sent him the message anyway. Stella Assange, Scott Ludlum, John Shipton, Gabriel Shipton, David McBride and Stephen Kenny addressed the rally Wednesday morning. Stella Assange, on her first trip to Australia, vowed that she would return with a liberated Julian Assange and their children to his home country.

Australian MPS Meet US Envoy Caroline Kennedy On Assange

May 9, 2023 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. Resist! Australia, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Extradition, Julian Assange

A cross party delegation of Australian legislators met on Tuesday morning in Canberra with Caroline Kennedy, the U.S. ambassador, to discuss the continued U.S. prosecution of imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange. U.S. President Joe Biden is due in Australia in two weeks as the pressure continues to mount on him from presidents, parliaments, the public and human rights and press freedom groups to free Assange. The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Senator Andrew Wilkie, who took part in the meeting with Kennedy, as saying: “This is an intensely important time with the US President about to visit. It would be very unhelpful if he comes to Australia and this issue is still unresolved, it will hang over us all in an uncomfortable way.” “The US and Australia have a very important and close relationship, and it’s time to demonstrate that,” Wilkie said.

The Betrayers Of Julian Assange

March 11, 2023 John Pilger, Mintpress News. Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

Those who are the antithesis of Julian: in whom courage is unheard of, along with principle and honour, stand between him and freedom. I am not referring to the Mafia regime in Washington whose pursuit of a good man is meant as a warning to us all, but rather to those who still claim to run a just democracy in Australia. Anthony Albanese was mouthing his favourite platitude, ‘enough is enough’ long before he was elected prime minister of Australia last year. He gave many of us precious hope, including Julian’s family. As prime minister he added weasel words about ‘not sympathising’ with what Julian had done.

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