Assange's attorney Jennifer Robinson said he had been arrested on an extradition request from the United States as well as on charges of breaching his bail conditions.

Video posted on social media shows more than six officers removing Assange from the embassy and placing him in a police vehicle.

"He has been taken into custody at a central London police station where he will remain, before being presented before Westminster Magistrates' Court as soon as is possible," MPS said in a statement.

"The MPS had a duty to execute the warrant, on behalf of Westminster Magistrates' Court, and was invited into the embassy by the ambassador, following the Ecuadorian Government's withdrawal of asylum."

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-11/julian-assange-arrested-in-london...

 

The USA and the UK should be ashamed of their actions. We know anyhow that they are the pits of indecency and indulge in wars under false pretences. We have to protest. Of course our useless Aussie governments are in on the stint from day one and have no morals — totally bankrupt. 

 

We can only hope that Assange will be released within days.

 

Note: even under intense pain, I don't cry.... I don't cry at funerals. This event has brought tears to my eyes.

The Guardian tries hard not to be condemning of Julian Assange but in its pissy editorial instead of demanding a full freedom for Assange it fudges reasons for its tense relationship with Assange. This is not acceptable as Assange according to the UN should be a free man. FULL UNCONDITIONAL FREEDOM FOR ASSANGE !!!!. This is what all the world media should ask for, but they are afraid of their masters in political circle — or actually support the sadistic governments that represent us.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/09/the-guardian-view-on-julian-assange-it-would-be-wrong-to-extradite-him

The important facts of the case are as follows:

• Julian Assange is not wanted for ANY CRIME, except skipping his bail. This carries a maximum sentence of 6 months under UK Law.
• The Swedish authorities have dropped all their investigations of him for sexual assault. Read more on that here.
• Assange has said, many times, that above all else he is avoiding being extradited to the US. US officials have, in the past, referenced the idea of assassinating him, and their intelligence services are known to use “enhanced interrogation” techniques (aka torture).
• The UN has found, multiple times, that Assange’s detention was inhumane and illegal under international law.

Take a moment to imagine Assange was Chinese, Iranian, Russian. Any “enemy” nation.

Imagine a journalist had published leaked documents proving Vladimir Putin’s complicity in war crimes, imagine he had been hiding out in an embassy in Moscow for 8 years, despite the UN finding his detention to be “arbitrary” and calling on Russia to end his “deprivation of liberty”.

And then imagine a whole bunch of FSB officers carried him out like a hunting trophy, threw him in a van and drove him off to God know’s where.

How would our media cover that? Would they make jokes like this?

 

Read more:

https://off-guardian.org/2019/04/11/discuss-julian-asange-arrested/

Julian Assange Is Arrested, Charged by U.S. in 2010 LeakWIKILEAKSBritain to Extradite WikiLeaks Founder

• Mr. Assange faces one count of conspiracy to hack a computer related to the 2010 release of reams of U.S. secrets by Chelsea Manning.
• The single charge stems from what prosecutors said was his agreement to break a password to a classified United States government computer.

Then the fascist US government came for your journalists....

 

Meanwhile the gutless New York Post "takes an angle":

 

Pamela Anderson lashed out against President Trump, Britain and “Equador” on Thursday following the arrest of her close pal Julian Assange.

The “Baywatch” star said she was “in shock” after watching video of the Wikileaks founder being dragged out of the Ecuador embassy in London.

“He looks very bad. How could you Equador ? (Because he exposed you),” Anderson tweeted. “How could you UK. ? Of course – you are America’s bitch and you need a diversion from your idiotic Brexit bulls–t.”

She railed in another tweet, “And the USA ? This toxic coward of a President He needs to rally his base? – You are selfish and cruel. You have taken the entire world backwards. You are devils and liars and thieves. And you will ROTT And WE WILL RISE.”

The 51-year-old blond bombshell has long defended Assange and frequently visited him during his seven-year stint at the embassy — sparking rumors that they’re romantically involved.

 

Read more:

https://pagesix.com/2019/04/11/pamela-anderson-flips-out-over-julian-ass...

 

Meanwhile the Sydcrapherald:

 

Elisabeth Fritz, the lawyer for a woman who accused Assange in 2010, said it was "a shock to my client that what we have been waiting and hoping for since 2012 has now finally happened".

Julian Assange is no hero, he has hidden from the truth for years and years ... This will now be decided properly, independently, by the British legal system.

UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt

"We are now going to do everything we possibly can to get the Swedish police investigation re-opened so that Assange can be extradited to Sweden and prosecuted for rape," she said. "No rape victim should have to wait nine years to see justice be served."

Swedish prosecutors issued a statement saying they had not yet been able to "take a position" on the news of Assange's arrest.

However they said their preliminary investigation against him "can be resumed as long as the suspected crime is not subject to statute of limitation".

"In this case, the suspected crime of rape would be subject to statute of limitation in mid-August 2020."

Assange’s lawyers have said if Assange is extradited to the US he would not receive a fair trial. Their opposition to his extradition to Sweden has been based on anticipating his removal to the US, rather than avoiding the investigation into the rape accusation - which Assange denies.

He reportedly faces criminal charges relating to the publication of classified documents by WikiLeaks. He has also been accused of aiding Russia’s interference in the US’ 2016 presidential election, by distributing a trove of emails stolen from the Clinton campaign and Democratic party.

 

Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-arr...

 

Assange did the world, us, a many favours by exposing the duplicity of our FASCIST GOVERNMENTS that hide behind secrecy, fake news and wars that were, are and will be despicable. We owe many salutes to Assange and we need to tell the grubs in Sweden, in the UK, and in the USA, whoever they are that they cannot hide behind crook interpretations of laws that now have lost all meanings.

Our media are also the pits of darkness as they, like pontius pilatus, wash their hands "clean" as if they never had blood on their hands. 

The Western media are the whores and pimps of FASCIST governments. UNACCEPTABLE.

 

Metropolitan police arrested Assange inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London Thursday, where he had been residing since 2012 under political asylum fearing extradition over the now dropped charges in Sweden and WikiLeaks' revelations in the US. A US host and human rights activists have given their take on Assange’s arrest and its implications.

Alfred de Zayas, an American lawyer, writer, historian, expert in the field of human rights and international law, as well as a former UN official, has portrayed Assange’s arrest as “a juridical aberration and a grave violation of the refugee convention".

He stressed in written commentary to Sputnik that the high commissioner for human rights should make a statement denouncing Ecuador's actions and demanding comprehensive protection of Assange’’s rights under the Geneva Convention.

‘Moreno’s Washington’s Stooge’

Commenting on the development, Don Debar, host of the US syndicated daily radio newscast CPR News, stressed that “the arrest of Julian Assange will, in the long term, do more to expose the real nature of the so-called democratic West than 100 document dumps could ever do".

He dwelled on the “non-existent press freedom in the US and Europe", which the detention virtually exposed, arguing that should one come up with materials “exposing criminal activity by the powerful, the publisher but not the exposed powerful criminal will face prosecution".

He further addressed the “farcical” idea of unbiased prosecution:

“The idea of an independent judiciary is farcical — the on-again/off-again nature of the charges in the Swedish courts, as well as the Torqmada-esq secret proceedings in the US which are certainly driving them, show that prosecutions can target and be controlled across borders to exact political vengeance", the journalist noted, adding that elections in the West are also a farce, “and the US meddles in these in the same way Kasparov 'meddles' with a chess board".

“Lenin Moreno was elected to continue the program of his predecessor — and primary supporter before the election — former president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, which included a rejection again by the electorate of neo-liberal economics and an independent course for Ecuador's foreign policy which included sanctuary for Julian Assange", the commenter shared, adding that almost instantly after having been elected Moreno exposed his “true colours".

Specifically, he started to implement neo-liberal austerity principles at home and “behave as a US vassal abroad", which included threatening Julian’s asylum status.

“Today we saw the extent to which the latter has been pursued, and, not coincidentally, at a time when Moreno's illegal and corrupt activities are being exposed", Debar stated, adding that Moreno is doing his best to distract the Ecuadorian people from these facts, that “he's a crook, he's a stooge of Washington".

“There will be more austerity and pain for the Ecuadorian people if he is allowed to continue", the commenter concluded.

‘Deserves a Statue Instead of Arrest’

Andy Vermaut, a Belgian human rights activist, is sure that Julain Assange knew perfectly what would happen, “as this was published on Wikileaks itself", however “he must certainly not have been naïve". Vermaut brought up the fact that Assange had addressed the issue of money laundering practices by the Ecuadorian president, stating that he if had chosen not to, he “would not be honest to his principles", despite the obvious fact that the Ecuadorian leadership would respond.

“Julian Assange found the search for truth more important than this appointment. He eventually sacrificed himself for the truth. A whole witch hunt has been orchestrated against him. Everyone knows that", Vermaut stated adding that Assange has been criminalised, whereas he is in actual fact “the hero of the free speech in the world".

“Shooting at the pianist, who did not write the symphony himself, is a common fact in a lot of countries who say that democracy is the highest good", Vermaut addressed WikiLeaks’ publication of Chelsea Manning’s cables.

I admire Julian Assange for his idealism. To me he is a big man. History will tell… he has let the world know the real truth about the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The so-called precision bombing that did not seem to be so precise… It is a great credit that he started working with the real sources", the commenter praised WikiLeaks’ founder, sharing his personal belief that his arrest “is not justified".

Vermaut stressed the Assange deserves “a statue instead of his arrest", and “the Nobel prize rather than imprisonment".

READ MORE: Snowden Reminds UN Called Assange's Detention Arbitrary, Violation of Rights

Addressing the issue of pro-Assange campaigning around the world, the human rights activist emphasised his certainty that the public “will be entitled to challenge this arrest, because it is very clearly politically motivated".

Picking up on his extradition concerns, Vermaut remarked that his perseverance to expose the truth “was a thorn in the eyes of the United States, who punctured their propaganda machine, because of a total transparency that he brought".

“Julian Assange's dedication is stronger than the power of a system that has lost moral leadership in the world. This is purely after trapping and the failure of this leadership", the speaker stressed, adding that European countries, equally, “should condemn this if all the statements about human rights were real".

His vision of Assange’s future doesn't seem at all positive:

“I fear that Julian Assange will spend a long time in prison and that everything will be tried to get him convicted. Yes, there are political prisoners in Europe again… who serve the Americans as lap dogs". He views the fate of freedom of expression to be at stake, as well – “everywhere in the US and Europe".

“That is the fate of human rights activists in this world. Authenticity to be truthful, to remain true to principles, is very often not rewarded in this world. It is therefore a black day for freedom of expression", Vermaut went on, arguing that the man who is a real doer, rather than speaker will “now pay the ultimate price for his courage and determination", despite the ubiquitous resistance to the arrest, which is a positive indicator, however, according to the activist.

READ MORE: Sweden Considers Resuming Sexual Assault Probe Against Assange — Reports

“This resistance is the ultimate sign that a transformation of society is imminent. We will not remain silent, we will not give censorship a chance and we will all challenge the arrest. The whole world of truth seekers will work with us", he concluded in an uplifting way.

Following Assange's detainment by UK authorities, the police confirmed that it had been made "on behalf of the United States authorities," while Wikileaks condemned Ecuador's move, stating that it illegally terminated Assange's political asylum.

Wikileaks' founder lived in the Ecuadorian embassy after being released on bail by a UK court due to facing rape accusations in Sweden. Stockholm lifted the charges in 2017, but he was still wanted by British authorities for violating the bail conditions by taking refuge in the embassy.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect Sputnik's position.

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201904111074038785-assange-nobel-prize-...

These views are shared by Gus Leonisky who thanks Julian Assange and all his supporters for having brought some truth in this world of thieves. Time for awakening the best in all of us and condemn the Ecuadorian, the UK, the US and the Australian thugs who have let Assange be entrapped because he told us the truth... A nobel Prize indeed. 

"the arrest of Julian Assange will, in the long term, do more to expose the real nature of the so-called democratic West than 100 document dumps could ever do". We hope so, but we also wish freedom for Assange now! NOW! 

 

 

Mainstream media journalists and critics of whistleblower Julian Assange have been gloating and joking on Twitter since his arrest at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on Thursday, proving love of free speech can be very selective.

Political correspondent for the UK Independent newspaper Ashley Cowburn was one of the first in with a jab, tweeting an image of Assange when he first entered the Ecuadorian Embassy alongside one taken during his arrest, with the comment “political journalists pre and post-Brexit.”

Perhaps wisely, Cowburn later deleted the tweet which UK media watchdog Media Lens called “brutal.”

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/456252-twitter-journalists-react-assange-arrest/

 

 

Read from top.

With yesterdays arrest of Julian Assange, we thought it important to remember WHY he was in the Empire’s crosshairs. The video Collateral Murder (below) is WikiLeaks’ most famous, most shocking release. Footage of US military personnel murdering civilians and journalists and laughing about it.

This is the shortened version, the full unedited footage can be found here, with notes transcripts and accompanying memos and press-releases available here.

 

See more:

https://off-guardian.org/2019/04/13/watch-collateral-murder/

 

Read from top.

 

 

Meanwhile:

After the International Criminal Court (ICC) declined to investigate claims of US atrocities in Afghanistan, US President Donald Trump cheered the decision but said the ICC was “illegitimate” and US and allies beyond its reach.

“This is a major international victory, not only for these patriots, but for the rule of law,” the White House said in a statement, referring to the ICC decision to reject the request to investigate the actions of US military and intelligence officials in Afghanistan.

The US “holds American citizens to the highest legal and ethical standards,” and has consistently refused to join the ICC because of its “broad, unaccountable prosecutorial powers,” threats to US sovereignty, and “and other deficiencies that render it illegitimate,” Trump said in a statement.

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/456363-victory-trump-icc-atrocities/

The Ecuadorian authorities have fabricated claims about Julian Assange's alleged "gross misbehavior" at its embassy as a pretext to surrender him to the UK police, the WikiLeaks founder's lawyer said. 

"The first thing to say is [that] Ecuador has been making some outrageous allegations," Assange's lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, told Sky News on Sunday following the whistleblower's arrest earlier this week. Quito made these claims to divert public attention from its own misdeeds and to "justify the unlawful and extraordinary act of letting police come inside an embassy," she added.

Earlier, Ecuadorian Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo complained about the embassy staff having to tolerate gross misconduct for far too long. The 47-year-old was specifically accused of "putting feces on the walls,"among other things. He was also alleged to have left dirty underwear in the lavatory, failed to clean dishes, and left a cooker on.

Apart from that, the embassy staff complained earlier that the WikiLeaks founder also listened to loud music and skateboarded inside the embassy hall at night – claims that make the whistleblower sound like a rowdy teenager.

Robinson dismissed all those allegations as "not true" and hit back by saying that it was the Ecuadorian authorities that eventually turned the whistleblower's life in the embassy into a sort of a solitary confinement as he was holed up for seven years.

"I've been visiting him for the last seven years. This man has been inside a room with no outside access. Inside the embassy, it has become more difficult," the lawyer said, adding that Ecuador's attitude to Assange drastically changed for the worse after its current president, Lenin Moreno, came to power.

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/456493-assange-ecuador-allegations-misbehavior-l...

 

 

Read from top and read: the full assange statement... 

 

Why is the left blinkered to claims about Assange and sexual assault?

by Nesrine Malik

In case you’ve forgotten, or have been confused by politicians who failed to mention it, let me remind you why I believe Julian Assange was in the Ecuadorian embassy for seven years before he was ejected and arrested last week. I don’t believe it was for being a journalist or a truth-teller to power, and it wasn’t for releasing evidence of America’s war crimes. He was in the embassy because, in 2010, Sweden issued an international arrest warrant so that he might answer allegations of sexual assault and rape. Assange would not accept extradition, jumped bail in the UK and absconded.

Read more: 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/15/left-blinkered-cla...

 

Well, Ms Nesrine Malik, (I believe you're a right wing Guardian writer since you condemn the "left") it appears you are the one blinkered — or actually completely in the dark and thus presenting a stupid opinion. The truth? If you don't know it, you should read the full assange statement... (2016) without missing one line or a single word. You might learn something but I believe you won't because people like you are like that. They only believe what they want, not what has been.

 

Meanwhile:

A photo of Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno lounging in bed with a giant platter of lobster in front of him may have spurred Julian Assange’s eviction from the country’s London embassy.

The snapshot — highly embarrassing to the left-wing Moreno, whose country is reeling under financial strain — was among 200 private e-mails, texts and documents posted to the anonymous Web site INApapers.org early last month.

Moreno blamed Assange’s WikiLeaks for the publication of the damning trove, which also included other photos of the president and his wife on lavish European vacations.

In a radio interview, Moreno griped that “photos of my bedroom, what I eat and how my wife and daughters and friends dance” were leaked.

“Assange cannot lie or, much less, hack into private accounts or private phones,” Moreno raged.

WikiLeaks has denied that it was behind the leak, but the online postings seem to be the straw that broke Moreno’s back.

On Thursday, the president ended Assange’s seven-year-long asylum in the embassy, opening the door for British police officers to arrest and hold the 47-year-old political lightning rod so he can face extradition to the United States on other hacking charges.

 

Read more:

https://nypost.com/2019/04/14/this-photo-got-julian-assange-kicked-out-o...

A right wing paper like the New York Post would relish this story of a left-wing president, having the "life of luxury" or an orgie of one, being exposed by whatever means, leading to the expulsion of Julian Assange. 

Read from top.

The Ecuadorian leader inked a $4.2 billion loan with the IMF, after spending months claiming Correa had driven the country into historic debt.

In light of these and other measures, Moreno’s move against Assange isn’t surprising, but the timing of it is about more than just appeasing his allies.

“They want to use Julian Assange as a scapegoat to distract from the INA Papers scandal,” says Narvaez, referring to the allegations of corruption that have sullied Moreno, his family and other close associates.

The Ecuadorian president is facing a political investigation over accusations of money laundering through offshore accounts and shell companies in Panama, including the INA Investment Corp, of which Moreno’s brother was the registered owner.

Documents obtained by an opposition lawmaker, as well as damning images and documents circulating on social media that were apparently hacked from Moreno’s telephone, have irreparably tarnished his image and his credibility as anti-corruption campaigner.

Approval ratings for Moreno have since plummeted, and only 17 percent of Ecuadorians say they believe their president.

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/456209-assange-ecuador-lenin-moreno/

 

 

Renegade internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom has condemned the arrest of Julian Assange as a modern-day “inquisition,” and said the WikiLeaks founder’s “persecution and arrest” will make him “a hero for the ages.”

“Witch hunts, book burnings and the Inquisition are back,” Dotcom tweeted on Thursday, hours after Assange was hauled out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London by British police.

“The persecution and arrest of Julian Assange for publishing the truth returns us to the darkest times in human history,” the internet icon continued. “This attempt to keep us from the truth will turn Julian Assange into a hero for the ages.”

https://www.rt.com/news/456245-assange-hero-kim-dotcom/

 

As the world digests the shock news that Julian Assange is in custody in Britain after Ecuador withdrew asylum from the WikiLeaks founder, Pamela Anderson, a staunch supporter of the Australian, has let her feelings be known.

The Baywatch star unleashed a barrage of criticism at the UK, Ecuador and the US in the aftermath of Thursday’s dramatic arrest, which saw 47-year-old Assange carried out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London into a waiting police van.

 

https://www.rt.com/news/456243-pamela-anderson-assange-arrest-betrayal/

 

For those #metoo women who still harp on Julian's rape of a Swedish woman, please read: the full assange statement...

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has filed a criminal complaint in Ecuador, accusing the diplomatic staff at the London embassy of spying on the whistleblower before leaking illegally obtained data to a third party for extortion.

Lenin Moreno's government violated Assange's privacy by secretly recording the journalist's daily activities starting from March 2018, said a complaint submitted Monday to the attorney general's office in Ecuador on behalf of the whistleblower. It says the spying was conducted with the help of Promsecurity, a private contractor firm which administers electronic surveillance at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Naming three officials of the diplomatic mission, including Ambassador Jaime Marchán, as well as four members of Promsecurity, the complaint alleges that the government violated at least four counts of domestic law by illicitly monitoring Assange's activity. Those involved apparently tried to extort €3 million from WikiLeaks threatening to publish audio, video and personal documents of Assange unless they get paid. Ecuadorian law provides penalties of up to five years in prison for each violation mentioned in the complaint.

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/457865-embassy-staff-spied-on-assange/

The US Murdered 66,000 Iraqi Civilians Yet Somehow Julian Assange Is The Bad Guy?

Expect to see more corrupt US politicians and white supremacist bureaucrats attacking Australian Julian Assange now he is in UK custody.

Before you get swept-up by US propaganda consider this fact? Wikileaks was the main source of Iraq Invasion information the US government desperately had to cover-up. Wikileaks revealed facts like the murder of Iraqi women and children by the US in an illegitimate war.

Wikileaks published the Iraq War Logs in October 2010. The logs revealed the deaths of an extra 66,000 civilians bringing the total Iraq Body Count to over 150,000, 80% of them civilians. Incredibly, the US murdered 700 civilians just for coming too close to checkpoints in a war based on lies.

There must be thousands of taxpayer-trained killers roaming the streets of the US today and the rest of world knows these murders can never be justified and went unpunished. 78% of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudi Arabians so why did the US slaughter 120,000 Iraqi civilians in response? Today the US, the UK and Australia are selling the Saudis as much arms as the criminal religious state want.  So how many people were ever prosecuted for US war crimes and atrocities in Iraq and are any of them behind bars today? We believe none. (leave a comment if you know more)Most high-level US war criminals were only demoted and their charges were dropped.


The Intellectual Collapse Of The US And Australia 
So after the US killed 120,000 civilians in Iraq they have a transexual and a computer geek behind bars - 2 individuals who didn't kill anybody. That simply means telling the truth is a more heinous crime than murder in the US. And this is the precise reason why America is a failed state. Americas' rational thinking has broken-down. That nation has imploded intellectually and may as well put the tooth fairy on trial for war crimes. The US has also failed morally and isn't that what really counts?

Imagine if the US had pursued the killers of 120,000 Iraqi civilians as energetically as they hunted-down Manning and Assange? 

Inside Tasmania is disgusted with Australian conservative operatives John Howard and subsequent conservative 'leaders'. Not only is Howard a war criminal but he wrote a character reference for a convicted pedophile. Imagine if Howard wrote a character reference for one of George Pell's victims? That will never happen because conservative slime only support elites and abuse the innocent.

Australia's last conservative PM is so detached from reality he could only make an irrational comment when Pamela Anderson appealed to him to help Assange.

Pamela Anderson has more balls than this pathetic imbecile who stands for nothing.


Read more:https://www.insidetasmania.com/2019/04/the-us-murdered-66000-iraqi-civilians.html


Read from top.

US-based independent outlet The Grayzone has revealed deep links between a US casino billionaire, the CIA and the Spanish security firm which spied on the WikiLeaks publisher, his friends, family and lawyers while he was under the protection of the Ecuadorian Embassy.

Max Blumenthal is an award-winning investigative journalist, author and founder of The Grayzone, an independent news outlet. He has obtained High Court documents regarding the ongoing Spanish criminal investigation into David Morales, the Ecuadorian ex-special forces member and CEO of the Spanish security firm UC Global, which was revealed to have been spying on Julian Assange, despite originally being hired to provide protection for the Ecuadorian Embassy.

The documents obtained by Blumenthal and The Grayzone have revealed previously unknown details regarding the connection between David Morales, UC Global and Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire campaign contributor to US President Donald Trump.

Sputnik: What’s new and significant about what you’ve discovered and revealed in relation to UC Global and its targeting of Julian Assange?

Max Blumenthal: What I have that's new in this investigation for The Grayzone are details of the relationship between Las Vegas Sands, the company owned by ultra-Zionist Republican mega-donor casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, the Trump administration, the CIA and UC Global.

And I show the central role of figures who are directors of Sheldon Adelson's executive security team at Las Vegas Sands in serving as middlemen, apparently between American intelligence and UC Global, including someone who worked formerly as assistant director of the secret service who was commended by the CIA for his work, Brian Nagel. And also, Zohar Lahav who is the vice president of Sheldon Adelson's executive protection team in managing David Morales on a day-to-day basis.

 

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/analysis/202005191079352102-new-docs-reveal-link...

 

Read from top.

 

Western countries have expressed outrage at the forced diversion of a plane carrying a Belarusian activist on an internal EU flight on Sunday.

EU leaders are due to discuss their response to what the union's executive called a "hijacking" and the US state department "a shocking act".

Belarus forced the plane, which was bound for Lithuania, to land in Minsk claiming a bomb threat to the aircraft.

It arrested the Belarusian journalist and activist Roman Protasevich. 

The 26-year-old was aboard the Ryanair plane, which was flying from Athens. The aircraft was due to land in Vilnius when Belarusian authorities scrambled a fighter jet and diverted it to the country's capital. 

State media in Belarus said President Alexander Lukashenko had personally given the order for the move following the bomb alert, which turned out to be false. The plane landed in Vilnius more than six hours after its scheduled arrival.

 

• Lukashenko: Europe's longest-serving ruler
• 'If you croak we don't care': Brutality in Belarus

Since winning a disputed election last August, 66-year-old Mr Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994, has cracked down on dissenting voices. Many opposition figures have been arrested while others fled into exile.

What are leaders saying?

The incident drew sharp condemnation from across the European Union, with countries urging the immediate release of Mr Protasevich and a full investigation.

The president of Lithuania, Gitanas Nauseda, urged the EU to impose fresh economic sanctions on Belarus at Monday's meeting of union leaders.

He told the BBC that such steps "could make a larger impact on the behaviour of the Belarusian regime".

 

Read more:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57224452

 

Read from top

 

I believe the West has forgotten the way Assange was entraped then extracted from his asylum rights in the equadorian embassy by the Brits on behalf of the Yankees...

 

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!!!@@@@@@@@@@****

 

Belarus flight: Germany, EU demands explanation of diversion, reporter's arrest

 

The German Foreign Ministry has demanded that Belarus explain the diversion of a Lithuania-bound flight and the detention of a journalist onboard. EU leaders expressed shock and said Minsk would be held accountable.

 

Read more:

https://www.dw.com/en/belarus-flight-germany-eu-demands-explanation-of-diversion-reporters-arrest/a-57636440

 

 

Read from top.

 

WHEN WAS THE LAST FUCKING TIME THAT THE UK AND THE US have been held accountable for the imprisonment of a journalist/publisher called JULIAN ASSANGE?

 

FREE JULIAN FIRST, THEN WE CAN DISCUSS THIS CASE! Fucking government MORONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

The EU has decided to ban Belarusian airlines from European skies after a flight was diverted to Minsk on Sunday and a dissident journalist arrested.

At a meeting in Brussels, the leaders of the 27 member states also told EU airlines not to fly over Belarus, and promised further economic sanctions. 

Roman Protasevich, 26, was on a flight from Greece to Lithuania which was rerouted over a supposed bomb threat.

Western countries accused Belarus of hijacking the Ryanair plane.

A video has now emerged of Mr Protasevich that appears to have been recorded under duress since his detention at Minsk airport.

In the clip, which was released late on Monday, the journalist said he was in good health and seemingly confessed to crimes he had been charged with by the Belarusian state. 

 

But activists, including the country's main opposition leader, criticised the video and suggested Mr Protasevich was under pressure to admit wrongdoing.

US President Joe Biden described the actions of the Belarusian authorities as "outrageous", saying they were "shameful assaults on both political dissent and the freedom of the press".

 

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Sanctions anyone against the UK and the USA for the ILLEGAL imprisonment of JULIAN ASSANGE? PLEASE, be consistent IN YOUR "MORALITY" and then we might give you a little sweet...

 

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Russian diplomat urged the West to break with "double standards, two measures", recalling that in the past, forced landings such as that of the plane of Bolivian President Evo Morales, had not aroused their indignation. In a statement released on May 24, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova questioned the position of Western powers who have severely condemned the Belarusian authorities' decision to force a Ryanair plane to land urgently in Minsk — following a bomb threat — after which Belarusian opponent Roman Protassevich was arrested. “The coordinated response to these events from representatives of a number of Western countries and international organizations, including the EU, NATO and the OSCE, is surprising.

 

"They demand the release of Roman Protassevich and the introduction of the most severe additional sanctions against Belarus and the airline Belavia. I would like to remind you that they reacted differently to similar events that had previously occurred in other countries, ”she said.

 

The diplomat illustrated her thinking by referring to precedents in which the Western chancelleries were much quieter: “In 2013, at the request of the American special services, which were looking for former CIA agent Edward Snowden, the Bolivian president's plane, returning from Moscow, was forced to stop in Vienna to be inspected. In 2004, the United States forced the personal plane of the former Russian first deputy finance minister, who has since become a senator, from Moscow to Barbados and Aspen to land at Palm Beach airport. [...] In 2012, Turkey used fighter planes to land a plane connecting Moscow to Damascus to search it and seize its cargo. [...] In 2016, 50 kilometers from the entrance to Belarusian airspace, a plane of the airline company Belavia from Kiev airport returned to the departure airport at the request of the Ukrainian controller which threatened to take off fighter planes in case of refusal for the anti-Maidan militant Armen Martirossian to leave his board ”, she enumerated while recalling that these acts had been committed intentionally in violation of the norms of international law and that there had been "virtually no Western reaction to this”. 

 

Calling on Western countries not to pay "double standards", the Russian diplomat considered that the arrest of the Belarusian opponent was an "internal Belarusian affair", noting that this personality "appeared on the list of people involved in extremist activities ”. She also stressed that "Minsk was ready for maximum transparency", urging Western countries to take measures to assess "soberly, without emotion", the situation on the basis of all available documents.

 

Learn more about RT France: https://francais.rt.com/international/87073-bielorussie-diplomatie-russe...

 

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Roman Protasevich arrest: What was the crime and what will be the punishment? 

 

 26.01.2006 04:27  (Updated: 24.05.2021 20:49)  UK to sanction Nord Stream 2 over Ryanair scandal 

 

The British government admitted the introduction of sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline amid the forced landing of the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair in Minsk and the detention of Roman Protasevich. This opinion was voiced by British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab in the House of Commons of the British Parliament.

 

Raab said that Belarusian Ambassador to the UK had been summoned to the British Foreign Office. The minister threatened that London would take steps against Belarus at the level of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ICAO), the UN Security Council and the G7. When asked about possible sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Raab said the British government would look into such an option and consult partners to find out what further steps they plan to take.

 Belarus expels all Latvian Embassy employees

 

The Ambassador of Latvia, Einars Semanis, was asked to leave Belarus within 24 hours, Vladimir Makei, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus said according to Sputnik Near Abroad Telegram channel.

In response, Latvia announced the expulsion of the entire diplomatic corps from the country, with the exception of one technical employee of the embassy.

Makei explained that Semanis was summoned to the department in connection with an act of insult committed in relation to the state flag of Belarus in Riga.

Earlier, the mayor of Riga Martins Stakis, together with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Edgar Rinkevich, replaced the flag of Belarus with a white-red-white banner with Pahonia. Riga currently hosts World Ice Hockey Championship matches. 

The Riga authorities have removed the Russian tricolor flag from the square where the flags of World Ice Hockey Championship participants are displayed. The organizers referred to the decision of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and replaced the Russian flag with a banner of the Russian Olympic Committee.

 

Russian and Belarus flags taken down

 

Latvia-based airline AirBaltic has decided to temporarily suspend flights over Belarus. The company has already changed flight routes from Riga to Odessa and Tbilisi.

Spokespeople for Minsk airport told RBC that the Ryanair jetliner requested landing due to a message about a bomb; the plane landed successfully at 13:15. A sapper group and representatives of law enforcement agencies were working at the airport, passengers were sent for inspection.

The Ryanair crew appealed to the authorities of the country with a request to accept the airliner, and President Alexander Lukashenko personally ordered to accept the plane. 

The bomb report on board the Ryanair airplane has not been confirmed. The Investigative Committee of Belarus opened a criminal case under Part 1 of Art. 340 of the Criminal Code due to false bomb reports.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications of Belarus set up a commission to investigate the incident with the Ryanair aircraft. The authorities allowed the plane with passengers and crew to take off from Minsk airport about five hours later.

State-run channel Belarus 1 reported that the police detained Protasevich after his photograph was sent from the airport to opposition blogger Anton Motolko, whom the Belarusian authorities put on the list of terrorists. 

 

“It turned out that he was flying with a girlfriend who took a photo of him on the bus [at the airport] and sent it to another blogger, Motolko <...> The latter posted the photo on Telegram, and the police reacted to the information,” the channel said.

 

Roman Protasevich reported in critical condition due to heart problems

 

Roman Protasevich's mother said that her son was found in one of Minsk hospitals, Belarus of the Brain Telegram channel reports.

The journalist's condition was reportedly estimated as critical due to heart problems, said Natalya Protasevich.

Earlier, Ryanair flight passengers said that Protasevich was "very frightened" after the plane had to land in Minsk. He wanted to get rid of some of his personal belongings, such as, reportedly, his laptop and cellular phone after he learned about the sudden decision to make an emergency landing in Minsk. 

Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary, in turn, suggested that there could be KGB officers on board the plane, since the Belarusian authorities were originally going to take Protasevich off the flight. It was later reported that Roman Protasevich's girlfriend, who was flying with him, was also detained at the Minsk airport. Most likely, it goes about a woman named Sophia Sapega, a 23-year-old Russian citizen.

 

• In 2015, Roman Protasevich together with Stepan Putilo founded the YouTube channel NEXTA. A few years later, Nexta switched to Telegram, and then the channel branched into NEXTA and NEXTA Live. They covered protests in Belarus that started in August 2020 after the presidential election. Nexta editors repeatedly called on their subscribers to take to the streets for unauthorised protest actions and asked to share information about police violence. 

 

• In October last year, a Belarusian court declared NEXTA Live and its logo extremist. In response, the editors changed the name of the channel to HEXTA Live. Afterwards, Protasevich announced that he was leaving the project and explained that it was solely a decision of his own.

 

• A criminal case was initiated against Protasevich and Putilo in Belarus into organizing mass riots; the KGB of Belarus put them both on the list of terrorists. Putilo is also wanted in Russia; Belarus demanded his extradition in November 2020 when he was in Poland.

 

Protasevich may face up to 15 years in prison in Belarus in accordance with Article 293 of the Criminal Code of Belarus (organization of mass riots). According to Delfi, one of the passengers said that Protasevich himself admitted after the Ryanair landed in Minsk:

“I can expect death penalty here." 

Читайте больше на https://english.pravda.ru/news/world/74759-roman_protasevich/

 

 

THE FEDS WANT HIM TO SPEND 20 YEARS IN JAIL FOR A SINGLE PHONE CALL, BUT THEIR CASE IS FALLING APART

 

The case of Baltimore business owner Sean Weston provides a stark example of our criminal justice system's lack of equity. We also speak to James Gibson, a man who spent 29 years wrongfully imprisoned after being brutalized and tortured by Chicago police.  Read more:https://therealnews.com/the-feds-want-him-to-spend-20-years-in-jail-for-a-single-phone-call-but-their-case-is-falling-apart Read from top. And also note the double standard of the West in regard to Julian Assange....  assange2

Chancellor Merkel on Monday dismissed Minsk's explanation for having forced an airliner to land in Belarus and arresting a dissident on board.

"We have seen a forced landing that led to the arrest," Merkel said as she arrived at an EU summit where sanctions will be discussed. "All other explanations for the landing of this Ryanair flight are completely implausible."

Merkel's comments came after Germany joined a list of European countries to summons their Belarusian ambassadors, amid shock over Minsk's forced landing of a plane and subsequent arrest of a dissident journalist.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas had already dismissed the Belarusian authorities' assertion that there had been a credible security threat to the plane.

"The explanations given so far by the Belarusian government for the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk are absurd and not credible," Maas said.

The minister said Minsk needed to be transparent about the welfare of activist journalist Raman Pratasevich and his partner. He called for the immediate release of the pair.

The EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell had earlier called for an international investigation over the plane's grounding.

"In carrying out this coercive act, the Belarusian authorities have jeopardized the safety of passengers and crew," Borrell said in a statement issued on Monday.

"An international investigation into this incident must be carried out to ascertain any breach of international aviation rules," the statement went on.

 

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 By Glenn Greenwald

 

As Anger Toward Belarus Mounts, Recall the 2013 Forced Landing of Bolivia's Plane to Find SnowdenWhat Belarus did, while illegal, is not unprecedented. The dangerous tactic was pioneered by the same U.S. and E.U. officials now righteously condemning it.

 

U.S. and E.U. governments are expressing outrage today over the forced landing by Belarus of a passenger jet flying over its airspace on its way to Lithuania. The Ryanair commercial jet, which took off from Athens and was carrying 171 passengers, was just a few miles from the Lithuanian border when a Belarusian MiG-29 fighter jet ordered the plane to make a U-turn and land in Minsk, the nation's capital. 

On board that Ryanair flight was a leading Belarusian opposition figure, 26-year-old Roman Protasevich, who, fearing arrest, had fled his country in 2019 to live in exile in neighboring Lithuania. The opposition figure had traveled to Athens to attend a conference on economics with Belarus’ primary opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and was attempting to return home to Lithuania when the plane was forcibly diverted. 

Protasevich, when he was teenager, became a dissident opposed to Belarus’ long-time authoritarian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko, and has only intensified his opposition in recent years. When Lukashenko last year was "re-elected” to his sixth term as president in a sham election, the largest and most sustained anti-Lukashenko protests in years erupted. Protasevich, even while in exile, was a leading oppositional voice, using an anti-Lukashenko channel on Telegram — one of the few remaining outlets dissidents have — to voice criticisms of the regime. For those activities, he was formally charged with various national security crimes, and then, last November, was placed on the official “terrorist list” by Belarus’ intelligence service (still called the "KGB” from its days as a Soviet republic).

Lukashenko's own press service said the fighter jet was deployed on orders of the leader himself, telling the Ryanair pilot that they believed there was a bomb or other threat to the plane on board. When the plane landed in Minsk, an hours-long search was conducted and found no bomb or any other instrument that could endanger the plane's safety, and the plane was then permitted to take off and land thirty minutes later at its intended destination in Lithuania. But two passengers were missing. Protasevich was quickly detained after the plane was forced to land in Minsk and is now in a Belarusian jail, where he faces a possible death sentence as a "terrorist” and/or a lengthy prison term for his alleged national security crimes. His girlfriend, traveling with him, was also detained despite facing no charges. Passengers on the flight say Protasevich began panicking when the pilot announced that the plane would land in Minsk, knowing that his fate was sealed and telling other passengers that he faces a death sentence.

Anger over this incident from American and European governments came swiftly and vehemently. “We strongly condemn the Lukashenko regime's brazen and shocking act to divert a commercial flight and arrest a journalist,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken posted on Twitter on Sunday night, adding that U.S. officials “demand an international investigation and are coordinating with our partners on next steps.”

 

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https://greenwald.substack.com/p/as-anger-toward-belarus-mounts-recall

 

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