Wikileaks

Assange Loses, High Court Allows US Appeal; Quashes Assange’s Discharge

December 10, 2021 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. Educate! Extradition, Julian Assange, Legal System, Wikileaks

The High Court in London on Friday ruled in the U.S. appeal against a lower court decision not to extradite imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange by sending the case back to Magistrate’s Court with instructions to send the case to the secretary of state to decide on Assange’s extradition. The matter is now in the hands of Dominic Raab, secretary of state for justice, unless Assange’s lawyers appeal the decision to the U.K. Supreme Court, which they have said they will do. If extradited, Assange faces up to 175 years in prison on charges under the Espionage Act and one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. Assange is the first journalist to be charged with espionage for obtaining and publishing state secrets.

Justice For Assange Is Justice For All

November 3, 2021 John Pilger, Green Left. Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Extradition, Julian Assange, Wikileaks

When I first saw Julian Assange in Belmarsh prison, in 2019, shortly after he had been dragged from his refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy, he said, “I think I am losing my mind”. He was gaunt and emaciated, his eyes hollow and the thinness of his arms was emphasised by a yellow identifying cloth tied around his left arm, an evocative symbol of institutional control. For all but the two hours of my visit, he was confined to a solitary cell in a wing known as “healthcare”, an Orwellian name. In the cell next to him a deeply disturbed man screamed through the night. Another occupant suffered from terminal cancer. Another was seriously disabled. “One day we were allowed to play Monopoly,” he said, “as therapy. That was our healthcare!” “This is One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” I said.

On Contact: Julian Assange Extradition Case

October 31, 2021 Chris Hedges, RT. Resistance Report Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

For the past two days, Chris Hedges has been watching the extradition hearing for Julian Assange via video link from London. The United States is appealing a lower court ruling that denied the US' request to extradite Assange not, unfortunately, because in the eyes of the court he is innocent of a crime, but because, as Judge Vanessa Baraitser in January concluded, Assange's precarious psychological state would deteriorate given the “harsh conditions” of the inhumane US prison system, “causing him to commit suicide.” The United States has charged Assange with 17 counts under the Espionage Act and one count of trying to hack into a government computer, charges that could see him imprisoned for 175 years.

The Most Important Battle For Press Freedom In Our Time

October 29, 2021 Chris Hedges, ScheerPost.com. Educate! Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

Washington, DC - For the past two days, I have been watching the extradition hearing for Julian Assange via video link from London. The United States is appealing a lower court ruling that denied the US request to extradite Assange not, unfortunately, because in the eyes of the court he is innocent of a crime, but because, as Judge Vanessa Baraitser in January concluded, Assange’s precarious psychological state would deteriorate given the “harsh conditions” of the inhumane US prison system, “causing him to commit suicide.” The United States has charged Assange with 17 counts under the Espionage Act and one count of trying to hack into a government computer, charges that could see him imprisoned for 175 years.

Chief Justice Of England And Wales Joins Bench For Assange Hearing

October 23, 2021 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Extradition, Julian Assange, Wikileaks

Ian Duncan Burnett, the most powerful judge in England and Wales, will join Lord Justice Timothy Holroyde on the bench next week for the two-day U.S. appeal in the extradition case of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange at the High Court in London, according to a spokesman at the Royal Courts of Justice. Burnett, known as Baron Burnett of Maldon, was the High Court justice who on humanitarian grounds overturned a lower court ruling that British activist Lauri Love should be extradited to the United States. Burnett ruled in February 2018 that Love’s extradition would be “oppressive by reason of his physical and mental condition.” Burnett and Mr. Justice Duncan Ouseley said in their decision that, “We accept that the evidence shows that the fact of extradition would bring on severe depression, and that Mr. Love would probably be determined to commit suicide, here or in America.”

Assange To Get Same Judge Who Sided With US On Appeal Over Medical Issues

October 22, 2021 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Extradition, Julian Assange, Wikileaks

Lord Justice Timothy Holroyde, the High Court judge who reversed an earlier court order to bar the U.S. from appealing Julian Assange’s medical issues, will preside over the substantive U.S. appeal hearing at the High Court next week. In January, lower court Judge Vanessa Baraitser refused the U.S. request to extradite the WikiLeaks publisher because of his high risk of suicide and the conditions of U.S. prisons. The U.S. applied to appeal that decision, which was granted by the High Court in July. The court allowed three of five grounds of appeal, excluding the matter of Assange’s health. The U.S. challenged that ruling and in an Aug. 11 High Court hearing, Holroyde overturned the earlier court decision, siding with the U.S. argument that Baraitser’s finding on Assange’s health could be appealed.

Key Witness In Assange Case Jailed In Iceland

October 7, 2021 Bjartmar Oddur Þeyr Alexandersson and Gunnar Hrafn Jónsson, Stundin. Educate! Extradition, Iceland, Julian Assange, Wikileaks

Sigurdur Thordarson, a key witness for the FBI against Julian Assange, has been jailed in Iceland. The notorious alleged hacker and convicted pedophile was remanded to custody in Iceland’s highest security prison, Litla Hraun, on September 24. Þórðarson´s lawyer, Húnbogi J. Andersen, confirms that he is in custody. Thordarson was given immunity by the FBI in exchange for testimony against Julian Assange. Thordarson was arrested the same day he arrived back in Iceland from a trip to Spain, and was subsequently brought before a judge after police requested indefinite detention intended to halt an ongoing crime spree. The judge apparently agreed that Thordarson’s repeated, blatant and ongoing offences against the law put him at high risk for continued re-offending.

Inside The CIA Plot To Kidnap, Kill Julian Assange

October 1, 2021 Aaron Maté, The Grayzone. Educate! CIA, Julian Assange, Torture, Wikileaks

Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News discusses his team’s reporting on the CIA plot to surveil, kidnap, and even kill Assange — all overseen by Michael Pompeo. In response, Pompeo has called for the prosecution of all the sources involved. The story builds on previous disclosures including a May 2020 exposé by The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal, which revealed that the CIA was working with Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson and the Spanish security firm UC Global to target and surveil Assange in London’s Ecuadorian embassy. Isikoff and Aaron Maté also debate Russia’s role in the Assange controversy, particularly the allegation that Russia stole Democratic Party emails in 2016 and gave them to Wikileaks.

The End Game

August 2, 2021 Scott Ludlam, The Monthly. Resist! Australia, Extradition, Julian Assange, Wikileaks

A crush of TV news crews and demonstrators with placards are packed into the street outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court. It’s just before 11 on the morning of January 4, 2021; face masks against an invisible plague, puffer jackets and woollen beanies against London’s midwinter chill. Access to the courtroom has been heavily restricted, and for those assembled out here the only hints of what’s been happening inside have come from the handful of journalists watching a videolink and live-tweeting proceedings. And now, the twist. “Oh my god,” tweets Australian journalist Mary Kostakidis. “No extradition.” Shortly afterwards, against all expectations, Stella Moris emerges from the courtroom into the waiting media storm with a hint of a smile. “Please bear with me because I’ve had to rewrite my speech,” she tells the press pack.

Police Should Release Information On British WikiLeaks Journalists

July 9, 2021 Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly. Educate! Julian Assange, Police, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

A journalist is taking legal action against the Metropolitan Police after it refused to release correspondence with the US about three WikiLeaks journalists under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on terrorism and national security grounds. Italian investigative journalist Stefania Maurizi argued in a tribunal yesterday that terrorism legislation should not be used to “clamp down” on journalists working in the public interest to report on national security. The Metropolitan Police, which is backed by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), claims that the release of the information, which it exchanged with the US Department of Justice, will harm counter-terrorism initiatives and damage the UK’s relationships with the US.

#FreeAssange: Wikileaks Founder Turns 50 While Still Detained In Prison

July 3, 2021 Julian Delia, The Shift News. Resist! Extradition, Julian Assange, Whistleblowers, Wikileaks

On June 26 of this year, Stundin reported how Sigurdur Ingi Thordarson, a diagnosed sociopath and serial fraudster who cosied up to US authorities seeking to further their case against Assange, admitted that he’d spun a false narrative to advance his own interests. This was not the first time that evidence related to charges against Assange turned out to be fabricated or trumped-up.

Media Blackout After Key Witness Against Assange Admits Lying

July 2, 2021 Media Lens. Educate! Julian Assange, Media, Whistleblowers, Wikileaks

As we have pointed out since Media Lens began in 2001, a fundamental feature of corporate media is propaganda by omission. Over the past week, a stunning example has highlighted this core property once again. A major witness in the US case against Julian Assange has just admitted fabricating key accusations in the indictment against the Wikileaks founder. These dramatic revelations emerged in an extensive article published on 26 June in Stundin, an Icelandic newspaper. The paper interviewed the witness, Sigurdur Ingi Thordarson, a former WikiLeaks volunteer, who admitted that he had made false allegations against Assange after being recruited by US authorities. Thordarson, who has several convictions for sexual abuse of minors and financial fraud, began working with the US Department of Justice and the FBI after receiving a promise of immunity from prosecution.

Holder, Barr, DOJ And FBI Outed In Slimy Plot Against Assange

June 29, 2021 Pierre Sprey, Counterpunch. Educate! Department of Justice, FBI, Julian Assange, Wikileaks

A careful read of this stunning investigative piece in Iceland’s Stundin newspaper reveals that in June 2011 Eric Holder (no doubt with Obama’s enthusiastic approval) initiated a disgraceful FBI frame-up of Julian Assange. Displaying their usual incompetence, the FBI thoroughly screwed up the Holder framing assignment by coming up with a child-molesting embezzler and sociopath as their spy and agent provocateur within the Icelandic branch of Wikileaks, thereby creating such a mess that the Minister of the Interior had our federal gumshoes thrown out of Iceland. Undeterred by the 2011 mess, in May of 2019 William Barr (probably with equally enthusiastic approval from his boss) stepped into Holder’s shoes by reigniting the disgusting Assange frame-up plot.

Key Witness In Assange Case Admits To Lies In Indictment

June 26, 2021 Bjartmar Oddur Þeyr Alexandersson and Gunnar Hrafn Jónsson, Stundin. Educate! Extradition, Julian Assange, Law, Wikileaks

A major witness in the United States’ Department of Justice case against Julian Assange has admitted to fabricating key accusations in the indictment against the Wikileaks founder. The witness, who has a documented history with sociopathy and has received several convictions for sexual abuse of minors and wide-ranging financial fraud, made the admission in a newly published interview in Stundin where he also confessed to having continued his crime spree whilst working with the Department of Justice and FBI and receiving a promise of immunity from prosecution. The man in question, Sigurdur Ingi Thordarson, was recruited by US authorities to build a case against Assange after misleading them to believe he was previously a close associate of his.

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