No western media has shown any respect from the truth, except when one of their own is (are) subjected to police raids (or "arrested" in Russia). For years the Assange case which is a fully vindictive US affair when studying the facts in fairness, is muted by accusations of this and that and try hard to belittle the journalist/computer genius which has done far more to the reveal the truth than all the journalists of the Western world combined. Do they "resent" him for this!

Britain’s Home Secretary Sajid Javid revealed on Thursday that he had signed a request for the extradition of Assange to the US, where he is accused of violating the Espionage Act. The order will go before the UK courts on Friday.

Galloway, a former MP who has campaigned tirelessly for Assange’s freedom, quipped that the “dark”episode shows that Theresa May’s “zombie” government was “not content with all the other disasters for which it’s responsible.”

He insisted that Assange’s supporters would “never give up” the fight to stop his extradition to the US and secure his safe release from UK custody.

Failing to support Assange now will have disastrous consequences for journalism and all who profess to hold progressive values, Galloway warned. He expressed particular discontent with those who would have ordinarily protested Assange’s treatment at the hands of the UK authorities, but remained silent because the Wikileaks co-founder was accused of sexual misconduct – what Galloway decried as a politically-motivated smear.

The liberals and the progressives, as they describe themselves, they will one day be a victim of this tyranny themselves, that is unless they eventually give up any pretense of actually being liberals and actually being progressives.

Asked about what would happen if Assange is ultimately extradited, Galloway said that the consequences for allowing such an injustice would be devastating.

“Every truth seeker will go down if Julian goes down.”

Assange faces a litany of charges in the US, including one count of conspiring with Chelsea Manning, the former intelligence analyst and whistleblower, to gain access to the US Pentagon network. The Australian journalist is currently serving a 50-week prison sentence in the UK for jumping bail.

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/461759-assange-galloway-extradition-uk-us/

With the previous attempts NOT TO DELIVER JUSTICE by the UK so-called Justice system, don't expect "justice"...

Picture at top: painting in Newtown (photo by Gus).

Could someone please explain to me how the British Government can claim to have a "legitimate extradition order"?

As I understand the world, it is perfectly in order for the United States or any other sovereign nation to make laws that govern the behaviour of everyone in its territories. They even have the right to make laws governing the behaviour of their citizens outside of their territory, even when such laws conflict with laws imposed by the legitimate government of that foreign territory.

Julian Assange is not an American citizen. Julian Assange is accused of breaching US laws that even the Americans acknowledge were allegedly committed outside of its territories.

If the UK Government accedes to the US Extradition Request, I believe that it will be in effect giving-up its sovereignty & subordinating not only Julian Assange but every one of its own citizens to American law.

The cowardly refusal of the Australian government to defend Assange's legal & human rights is confirmation that it already accepts US hegemony & will tolerate any dictate that emerges from the cesspit on the Potomac.

The only "rules-based international order" that so-called western liberal democracies respect is the rule of force ... "gangster capitalism".

Julian Assange will shortly become yet another victim of the odious anti-democratic behaviour of western governments & their willingness to attack their own although, as we can observe through the Australian government's willingness to persecute Bernard Collaery, Witness "K" & numerous other of its citizens who had the temerity to speak truth to power, the appetite for treason knows no limit.

Speaking outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Friday following the decision to open a new, full US extradition hearing in February 2020, Pilger insisted that the motivation of the American authorities in pursuing Assange was clear to see.

... [It] is quite clear that on a wider level this is an attempt to shut down WikiLeaks and put Assange away, but it’s also about shutting down dissent. It’s mainly about shutting down investigative journalism.

The Australian journalist suggested that other reporters in the UK and around the world were reluctant to show solidarity with Assange due to a “certain anxiety” that they may also be targeted for their investigative journalism.

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/461865-pilger-assange-us-extradition/

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared before a magistrates’ court in London Friday, saying his life was “effectively at stake” if the U.K. honors an extradition request from the United States, where he faces 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act. Meanwhile, a friend of Assange’s, Swedish programmer and data privacy activist Ola Bini, is still in prison in Ecuador, after being arrested April 11, the same day Assange was forcibly taken by British authorities from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and has been jailed ever since without charges. We speak with Vijay Prashad, director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and a friend of Ola Bini.

AMY GOODMAN: In London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared before a magistrates’ court today, saying his life was “effectively at stake” if the U.K. honors an extradition request from the United States, where he faces 17 counts of espionage. Assange is the first journalist or publisher to be indicted under the World War I-era law.

While Assange’s case has dominated international headlines, far less attention has been paid to a friend of Julian Assange who’s been jailed in Ecuador since April 11th, the same day Assange was taken by force by British authorities from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. Ola Bini is a Swedish programmer and data privacy activist who lives in Ecuador. He has not yet been charged with any crimes, has not been permitted to post bail for his release. The U.S. Justice Department has now said they want to question Ola Bini. Critics say Bini is being targeted because he knew and had visited Assange multiple times at the embassy in London, as well as for his own activism. This is a statement from his lawyers, Carlos Soria speaking last month.

CARLOS SORIA: [translated] This is an embarrassment. Our client is somebody who is innocent and who has contributed to the entire world the development of information privacy. And now, just because he is a friend to Julian Assange or because he travels, they put him in prison. There are no words for this, and we will denounce it both nationally and internationally. … We cannot allow Ecuador to look like this, like a state that persecutes people for the books they read, for the technology they use or for the simple reason of having a friend who is currently being reproached by the world. Before, Assange was appreciated for letting the world know the atrocities committed in other parts of the world.

AMY GOODMAN: Still with us is Vijay Prashad, the director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Earlier this week, he published a piece about Ola Bini in the Daily Hampshire Gazettetitled “My friend is in a prison in Ecuador.”

Why is he there? Why was he picked up, Vijay Prashad? Why was Ola Bini picked up and jailed in Ecuador the same day Julian Assange was forcibly removed from the Ecuadorean Embassy and put in the Belmarsh Prison in London?

VIJAY PRASHAD: You know, Amy, this is a difficult story for me. I have known Ola Bini for many years. It is still perplexing to myself and to the friends of Ola of why he’s in prison, the El Inca prison in Quito, Ecuador. We don’t know why he’s in prison. There’s no charge against him. There has been some allegations made about his friendship to Julian Assange, but, you know, Amy, if that’s a crime, you and I should be in jail, as well. We have also met him. We have, you know, understood that meeting him is itself not a criminal activity.

Ola Bini is a programmer who spent most of his life trying to create tools to help human rights activists create a shield against surveillance by governments. People who are in the tech world might know the programs called the Tor Browser or Enigmail. These things were developed by Ola. He moved to Ecuador partly because he felt that with the government of Rafael Correa, it would be a good place to do the kind of work he was doing—precisely the opposite of what people are alleging of him, that he broke into this, that and the other government materials. In fact, the opposite: He would create shields to prevent governments from breaking into the kind of databases held by human rights defenders. You’ve got to remember that in the Snowden—Edward Snowden’s revelations, he said that the NSA had been routinely attacking the servers of human rights and other civil society organizations. It was precisely Ola’s mission in life to protect those organizations.

He was picked up on April 11th at Quito airport, while he was on his way to an advertised martial arts training course in Japan. He’s been held in prison for two months. There have been two hearings. No bail has been allowed. And no charge has been put forward. The prosecution in Ecuador has made it seem like a sinister thing that Ola has many computers and Zip drives and so on. You know, when I travel to places, I carry about 10 to 12 Zip drives. That’s because I keep a Zip drive for each story. It’s got nothing in it to seem to be something, you know, sinister or bizarre. These are things that software developers have. They tried to make him seem like a sinister character.

I was even told by another reporter that people were asking if Ola was the code cracker for Julian Assange, which he of course was not, and could not have been the code cracker at all when the materials passed on by Chelsea Manning came to the WikiLeaks organization. You know, that was one of the allegations that was floating around, not put on paper. Ola only met Julian when he was already in the Ecuadorean Embassy, long after the revelations of—very important, crucial revelations that came from Chelsea Manning, also now in prison.

I personally feel that the U.S. government, in trying to make a case against Julian Assange, has sort of swept up people that it thinks might have some evidence against Julian, for instance, having Chelsea Manning once more in prison, having Ola sit in a prison in Ecuador, squeezing them to see if they can either provide evidence against Julian—in Chelsea’s case, she has said she will not do so; in Ola’s case, he says, “I don’t have any evidence”—or that they will point the investigators in a direction to get Julian. I mean, we’ve got to understand that there is a vendetta by the American state against Julian Assange. That’s very clear. And I think there’s a lot of collateral damage around the world in the U.S. state’s attempt to put Julian either in prison for the full length of his life or near that.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to Ola Bini speaking last month to CNN en Español, CNN in Spanish.

OLA BINI: They will find nothing, because I haven’t done anything. The only thing I’ve done is being the friend of Julian Assange. … The minister of the interior, María Paula Romo, goes on TV, the same day as I’m detained at the airport, and talks, five hours before my detention order is written—says on TV that I’m detained. That feels to me like the government is out to get me.

REPORTER: Why do you have the impression that Moreno hates you?

OLA BINI: I don’t say in my letter that he hates me. I wonder if he hates me, because subjecting me to something like this, this kind of process where I’m put in prison without any evidence, when I know that I’m innocent because I haven’t done anything, that feels personal to me.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s Ola Bini, again, speaking with CNN from jail. He was also asked by CNNabout his relationship with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

OLA BINI: Just as me, he believes very strongly in the right to privacy. So, the first time I went, I actually went to talk to him about these kind of things. … I kept coming back because I like him, because he’s a friend of mine, and I kept coming back because more and more people abandoned him. … I felt that it was my responsibility to do it. But also, it was my pleasure as a friend.

AMY GOODMAN: So, Vijay Prashad, if you could comment further? Again, he’s speaking from jail to CNN. In the case of Julian Assange, we understand that Ecuador was handing over all of his electronic equipment, his hard drives, etc., to the British government. What’s happening with Ola Bini’s electronic equipment, his phones, his computers? Has the U.S. requested that equipment?

VIJAY PRASHAD: Well, the United States has been giving the Ecuadorean officials so-called, you know, expertise and help in breaking some of the barriers that Ola–you know, Ola is a very clever person. He has put all kinds of protections to his materials. These are basically off-the-shelf protections called OTR, Off the Record, and so on. So, the Americans initially said that they were going to just assist the Ecuadoreans. Now it seems that the U.S. government has asked for this material to be handed over to the United States directly.

I just want to say something about Ecuador. You know, Ola was asked in that interview if Lenín Moreno hates him. That’s the president of Ecuador. It’s very important to remember that shortly before the Ecuadorean government handed over Julian Assange to the British police, the International Monetary Fund provided Ecuador with a loan of $4.2 billion, and there was also a commercial package of about $6 billion, so a total of $10 billion was transferred to the Ecuadorean government by the auspices of the IMF. This happened just before Julian Assange was handed over to the British authorities, just before Ola was arrested. I mean, we’ve got to understand the position. When you look at these things in sequence, it looks like there must have been a deal. This big, huge package was given to the Ecuadoreans.

At the same time, you know, there’s been an enormous leak of private information from the phone and Gmail account of President Moreno. This information, called the I-N-A or INA Papers, shows direct corruption by Mr. Moreno, including an apartment in Madrid, Spain, and so on. He’s been deeply embarrassed by this and has been lashing out, saying that there are Russian hackers inside Ecuador. In fact, the first arrest of Ola at the airport, the piece of paper he was shown had a Russian name on it, and it was said that it’s a Russian person. When Ola said, “That’s not me. I’m not Russian,” they took the paper away, went back, made a new document with Ola’s name on it and saying he was Swedish, and picked him up.

So, there’s a very strange story here, Amy. We don’t know all the parts of it yet, but we need to put the IMF into the picture. I think we need to put the fact that there’s pressure from the United States on Ecuador now, first, of course, to hand over Julian Assange, and now to, you know, in a sense, do something—we don’t know what—to Ola Bini.

AMY GOODMAN: And very quickly, have you spoken to him in jail? What are the conditions like there?

VIJAY PRASHAD: The conditions are very difficult for Ola. Ola is a vegetarian. He has had a hard time there. And as he said very early into his arrest, that the conditions in Ecuador are bad for all prisoners, Ecuadorean and himself, who is a Swedish person living in Ecuador. He is a very decent and upstanding person. He refused to allow this to become merely about himself, saying the conditions for Ola Bini are bad; he said directly, they’re bad for everybody.

AMY GOODMAN: And Sweden—

VIJAY PRASHAD: But it’s been very difficult—

AMY GOODMAN: Is Sweden doing anything about getting him out?

VIJAY PRASHAD: The Swedish government called in the Ecuadorean ambassador, but Sweden has very little leverage on Ecuador. In fact, it doesn’t have an ambassador in Ecuador, just a counsel. We are hoping that pressure from the U.N. special rapporteur, David Kaye, who has called this an arbitrary detention, will have some impact on other European countries. Even the OAS special rapporteur has said that this is a very arbitrary, dangerous situation, should not be allowed. But, you know, the ability of these U.N. rapporteurs to move an agenda is very limited. And I’m afraid that the pressure from the United States government on Ecuador has basically invalidated the moral standing of European countries and even the United Nations.

AMY GOODMAN: Vijay Prashad, I want to thank you very much for being with us, director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. We will continue to follow Ola Bini’s case, as well as the case of Julian Assange, both picked up more than two months ago. Ola Bini remains imprisoned in Ecuador, and Julian Assange going through extradition hearings right now to the United States at the Belmarsh Prison in London.

Coming up, we look at Advocate, a new prize-winning documentary about the pioneering Israeli attorney Lea Tsemel, who spent five decades defending Palestinians who resist the Israeli occupation. Stay with us.

Read more:

https://www.democracynow.org/2019/6/14/ola_bini_ecuador_arrest_wikileaks...

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...she is an ugly rabid opinionatoress with nil understanding of reality. There I have said it. She might be a card-carrying of the "sclusive" Journalist club — or the MMEA or whatever — yet she is a complete bullshit writer, a writer of bullshit and bullshit promoter for the grand master bullshitter — Uncle Rupe.

Claire's latest foray into telling us why Assange isn't a journalist, nor a freedom fighter and nor an advocate for free speech is below the bottom sewers that usually leak shit at the Sunday Crapograph....

You should be frightened by Harvey's rant, she HAS THE GALL TO write. For example: "Instead of being willing to go to jail to protect a whistleblower, he has hidden in the Ecuadorean embassy while that whistleblower went to prison."

Think about this wicked piece of writing which will influence so many readers with such untrue crap! This is so typical of the opinionators at the Merde-och press. Harvey is not even the toggle of a bootlace of what Assange journalism is.

One can argue that Assange is not a card carrying member of that noble club that keep the press churning the crapshitmuck called news, but the one thing that is important as EVERY JOURNALISTS AND WRITERS know, source material is essential for doing the job. Der Spiegel found out the hard way. So far, one of their story teller "journalist" was doing just that: story-telling with not an ounce of truth. It is still taking a toll on this venerable German news outlet (some of the "opinions" at Der Spiegel are also dubious to say the least). Now Der Spiegel is exposing a blogger claiming a Holocaust heritage with more than 20 fictitious dead in the Hitlerian ovens. 

So Claire (what a name! A name which means "clear" in the language of Voltaire, but "shit" in the merde-och media lingo!) Harvey tells us without knowing what she pens or if she did, she would be more dangerous than the wicked witch of the Snow White fantasy:

"He goes looking for information that will damage someone's interests, and then publishes it without discretion or redaction, no matter where it comes from."

Discretion and redaction have been a central core of FAKE journalism. And this has been OUR MAJOR problem: many "journalists" (which Harvey is not by any standard of the profession, even if she has her mug on a card with a number) hide reality and truth of information with COMMENTARY, DISCRETION, REDACTION and OPINION. 

Chelsea Manning was not betrayed by Assange. Both of them were betrayed by people who they considered "friends" or colleagues. The source information is far more telling about the machination of power than any "commentary" by loonies such as Claire Harvey.

And so Nixon would have been carrying on, had Watergate not happened. So, dear witch of the merde-och media, your beloved DONALD TRUMP would have bitten the dust of presidential defeat had Assange not released (some of) the Hillary Clinton emails (which were not released with any other intent that to let us know the truth of what was happening in the destruction of Bernie Sanders and tell us that Hillary was a two faced-candidate) — and assange NEVER revealed their source, though he said categorically that THEY DID NOT COME FROM RUSSIA, which placed a huge stick in the wheels of the Mueller investigation.

Can you see that it would be easy for Assange to say: "Russia provided these Clinton emails" and the whole of the TRUMP presidency would go up in the flame of impeachment forthwith. Why would ASSANGE be protecting TRUMP? First, because Assange has NEVER EVER revealed his sources (eventually betrayed by others), second because he tells the TRUTH, unlike someone called Claire Harvey, and third, the ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS are showing the truth of what happened, free of the crap from journalistic low-life. 

The prime minister’s department has intervened to thwart the release of the navy chief’s diary to a senator investigating the handling of a multibillion-dollar arms contract.

The Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick is attempting to uncover the circumstances that led the government to hand a $4bn patrol boat contract to the German shipbuilder Luerssen, instead of Austal, a local company, which said it could do the work for less.

The defence department had resisted Patrick’s attempts to secure the diaries of the navy chief and defence’s head of capability acquisition and sustainment.

Last month, the department was found to have misused exemptions to freedom of information law when rejecting Patrick’s request for the diaries. The information commissioner ordered it to release the documents, and the department confirmed to Guardian Australia that it planned to do so.

But this week, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet intervened to keep the diaries secret. It will take the case to the administrative appeals tribunal on behalf of the government.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/15/pms-department-tr...

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All we need is Assange to break the codes (or the door) and extract the diaries for everyone to see... Obviously the government is hiding shenanigans and improprieties that would and should make this fake Scummo government bit the dust. Remember the HelloWorld stuff...? No? Well, that's the problem with many journalists, they soon give up finding the truth in favour of showing "dancing girls"...

Unfortunately, Assange "is not a journalist" according to the bitches at the Merde-och media and he is prison for having showed us THE TRUTH...  This pisses off the card carrying journos...

At the National Press Club of Australia, the line up was impressive: Managing Director, ABC, Chief Executive Officer, Nine & Executive Chairman Australasia, News Corp... David Anderson, Hugh Marks & Michael Miller...

On Wednesday, 26 June 2019, it was all about media freedom. Of course the AFP raids on the ABC and News Corp were the centrepieces of the discussion which was a warning to the Scummo government: stop messing with the media and their whistleblowers. 

What was missing I believe, I missed some of the broadcast thus I could be mistaken, is any reference to Julian Assange or Snowden...

To me this is quite poor.

But my little spies told me this morning that last night there was the "mid-year" Walkleys Award for young journalists. There again, the theme of the speeches was about the ability of journos to do their job and use whistleblowers... There again not a word such as Julian or Assange or Snowden was uttered. I think this is a disgrace. And no MSM (MMMM — mediocre mass media de mierda) is prepared to tackle the fake charges against Julian Assange, is it for fear of "being wrong?". So far all the pointers are that the USA have lied and have been manipulating the Poms and the Ecuadorians to "catch their man". Read from top.

Disgusting media that pick and choose their cause...

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Read also: the guardian in bed with the state... 

Media executives have united to call on the government to amend a range of laws to protect journalists and whistleblowers after a series of widely condemned raids on media organisations by the Australian federal police.

The country’s three biggest media organisations – the ABC, News Corp and Nine – called for legislative and cultural change in an unprecedented show of unity at the National Press Club on Wednesday.

The ABC managing director, David Anderson, who has asked the federal court to set aside the warrant that authorised the AFP raid earlier this month, was joined by the executive chairman of News Corp Australasia, Michael Miller, and the Nine chief executive, Hugh Marks.

Marks said he was shocked to discover how laws had multiplied over the past few years to stifle the media, and he likened the process to a frog in boiling water.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/jun/26/australian-media-unite-to-...

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GENEVA (Sputnik) - UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer voiced his concern over the fact that while some of the Russian media outlets joined their efforts to draw public attention to the controversial arrest of investigative journalist Ivan Golunov, Western media failed to report impartially on the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

"When I see that in Russia, with the Golunov case, three main newspapers can get together and launch a campaign and achieve the result that the government releases the journalist, and actually even fires some of the corrupt officials involved in this case; and then I see in the West that we can't even get the media to report about facts that are actually crucial for their own survival as independent press agencies, that really extremely concerns me", Melzer told reporters.

The UN rapporteur also expressed his concern about the fact that some of the world's most well-known western media outlets and news agencies, including The Guardian, The Times, the Financial Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Reuters, among others had refused to publish his opinion piece on Assange's torture.

"I got either no response, or negative response, and sometimes 'oh well, this is just not timely right now' or 'this is not high on the news agenda' or 'this is not precisely what we are interested in.' I have also offered to participate in a debate, in a 'hard talk' on BBC, I said: look, you do not have to agree with my assessment, but you can ask me all the uncomfortable questions you want, a hard talk. But I will ask you as BBC uncomfortable questions as well. They refused. So this is really worrying", Melzer added.

Melzer ended up publishing his piece on Assange on the Medium platform, detailing what he described as psychological torture against the whistleblower. According to the UN rapporteur, the WikiLeaks founder had been repeatedly subject to slander in an attempt to divert public's attention from the crimes that he had helped to expose.

When asked to comment on the case of killed Saudi-born columnist Jamal Khashoggi, the UN official warned that public's inaction in that situation would have dire consequences in the future.

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/world/201906271076064897-western-media-hush-up-a...

A host of reputed Western media outlets turned a deaf ear to Nils Melzer and his op-ed in which he said Julian Assange was exposed to enormous psychological trauma and isolation while in the Ecuadorian Embassy, and afterwards in the UK high-security prison. 

Some of them said it wasn’t high enough on their news agenda, some of them said it wasn’t within their core area of interest.

The explanations seem awkward given that the same newspapers – the Guardian, the Times, the Washington Post, the Telegraph, and others – have been running news stories about Assange “when it was about his cat and his skateboard and… allegations that he smeared excrement on the walls.”

But when you have a serious piece that actually tries to de-mask this public narrative and to actually show the facts below it, then they’re not interested.

In his piece, which was eventually published on blogging website Medium, Melzer admitted he “had been blinded by propaganda” and didn’t believe Assange was being dehumanized through isolation, ridicule, and shame. He even asked himself how could “life in an Embassy with a cat and a skateboard ever amount to torture.”

“I didn’t know Assange, so I took with me experienced medical experts, a psychiatrist and a forensic expert that have worked for decades in examining torture victims,” he told RT.

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/462888-un-expert-assange-interview-rt/

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GENEVA (Sputnik) - Putting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in Belmarsh prison in London was a deliberate move designed to prevent him from properly preparing his defence line for the US extradition request hearing, WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson told Sputnik.

"In fact, of course, he is placed in this position of not being able to sufficiently prepare his defense. ... And it is very deliberate that it’s done: that he gets this very hard sentence for a minor violation per se of breaching bail. The maximum sentence of most is totally unacceptable, because it was known of course that he would then be in a position where he could not properly prepare for his defense on the extradition case," Hrafnsson said in an interview.

WikiLeaks will not give up fighting for the freedom of its founder in the time left until the US extradition request hearing scheduled to take place in February 2020, WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said.

"The formal hearing will be at the end of February. And we will be doing some incremental steps on the way to that. But in the meantime, we will of course continue the fight and continue to get people to accept the reality of the seriousness of this case," Hrafnsson said.

He also stressed that the WikiLeaks website would go on working against all odds.

"The precedent that it sets is not about Julian and WikiLeaks, it’s about the most serious attack on the press freedom in decades. Our main focus will be supporting, and me as the chief editor as well, we will continue, even though we have a limited capacity, publishing information on the WikiLeaks website," Hrafnsson said.

On June 14, the Westminster Magistrates' Court in London said that a hearing on the case of Assange's extradition to the United States would be held in February. The trial will last for five days and will be preceded by several technical hearing.

The WikiLeaks founder may turn to the European Court of Human Rights over the psychological torture that he has been exposed to, after having exhausted all legal ways in the United Kingdom, Hrafnsson suggested.

“I don’t know if it is possible to do that on that basis. You have to exhaust the legal remedies in the courts in your country before you actually do it, but I could expect to see that happen in the end, after the United Kingdom takes it through all courts. But I am not too optimistic that he will be allowed free. So that means incarceration for years and years,” Hrafnsson said, when asked if Assange should apply to the European Court on Human Rights over the matter.

In late May, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer stated after visiting Assange in prison together with two medical experts that the WikiLeaks founder had been exposed to a long-time psychological torture.

According to Hrafnsson, Assange's health has stabilised, but is still very frail.

"For sure he is in a better condition than he was a few weeks ago. As it is known, he was previously brought to the health ward of the Belmarsh prison, and I was pleased to see now that his health has improved somehow. But he is still frail, and he is still suffering." 

However, he also stressed that Assange was now in a life-or-death situation ahead of the US extradition request hearing scheduled to be held in late February 2020.

"You can imagine the anxiety that he is under. A total isolation, not having sufficient information, and he is having his life basically on the line. Because it is a matter of life and death. 175 years in prison in the United States is a matter of life and death," he added.

On May 1, Assange, famous for publishing thousands of leaked classified documents exposing US atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan, was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for jumping his bail back in 2012 when he took refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK capital to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault charges and possibly being sent to the United States.

After Assange’s arrest, Washington filed a relevant request asking London to extradite the whistleblower. Once the request is approved, Assange will face up to 175 years in US jail. A Swedish court, however, refused to arrest the WikiLeaks founder in absentia, meaning that Sweden would not be able to demand his extradition.

On June 13, UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid said that he had signed the US request over Assange’s extradition. From now on, it is up to the court to decide whether the whistleblower will be extradited.

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/world/201907011076110966-assange-imprisonment-pl...

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Independent politicians Mick Wallace and Clare Daly put all their new colleagues on notice with the eye-catching garments which featured a striking image of Assange, gagged with a US flag, emblazoned across their chests.

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/463220-irish-mep-free-assange-european-parliament/

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See also:

and plenty more on this site.

Ola Bini, a Swedish software developer and digital privacy enthusiast, told RIA Novosti that he is still being kept in the dark about the true reasons of his 79-day detention. Bini said that he had never been charged with any crime and was still waiting for the authorities to present any incriminating evidence.

“They have not provided any evidence of a crime. I don’t know why they put me in jail, I don’t know why they repeatedly violated Ecuadorian laws in order to keep me in jail,” Bini said.

Speaking about the conditions of his extended pretrial detention, Bini said he was kept in an overcrowded cell and had to sleep on a concrete floor together with other detainees. Some 95 prisoners were crammed into 17 cells, with each cell having only one bed, according to Bini. The cells had no running water and heating, “which made hygiene impossible.”

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/463251-ecuador-jail-inhuman-bini/

In Melbourne, London and Paris, supporters of Julian Assange gathered in honor of his 48th birthday. In addition to the celebration of his birthday, the demonstrators present called for the release of the founder of WikiLeaks.

Julian Assange turned 48 on July 3rd. On this occasion, the founder of WikiLeaks, incarcerated in the United Kingdom and threatened with extradition to the United States, received a tribute in several countries. In Australia, his father took part in the event organized for his son. Dozens of Australians joined the rally in Melbourne, Australia.

Read more: Not in the Aussie Press?... Except SBS, probably...

https://francais.rt.com/international/63612-manifestations-partout-dans-...

Julian Assange's father has celebrated his son's 48th birthday in Melbourne, saying his son is determined to fight for his freedom.

John Shipton joined a crowd of supporters at Melbourne's Federation Square on Wednesday to record a video message singing Happy Birthday to the Wikileaks founder.

Mr Shipton lamented that he'd prefer to celebrate with his son in person.

"It's very distressing and one can't think too much about it without becoming overwrought, so it's best to attend to practical matters, to assure that Julian can come home and we can have a cup of coffee together at Fed Square," Mr Shipton said.

Mr Shipton says Assange is determined to keep fighting US attempts to extradite him from the UK over computer hacking allegations.

Assange is serving a 50-week prison sentence for skipping bail, after being holed up in London's Ecuadorian embassy for seven years to avoid extradition to Sweden on a rape accusation, which he denies.

The US has charged the Australian with numerous offences, including espionage, over allegations he published secret documents hacked from the Pentagon containing the names of confidential military and diplomatic sources.

"His health has stabilised and his spirit is extremely strong, and (he is) determined to fight for his freedom and for freedom of press to inform us of what our governments are doing," Mr Shipton said.

Melbourne is one of 60 cities participating in the global celebrations held across seven continents in honour of Assange's birthday.

Australian barrister Greg Barns, who is campaigning to bring Assange home, called on Australians to remember the importance of free speech.

"Those calling for greater support for freedom of the press need to be putting it also in the context of Julian Assange, who is an Australian and suffering as a result of an attack on the free press," Mr Barns said.

The birthday party will be followed by a candle vigil on Wednesday evening in Melbourne, and across the country.

Peace can be started by truth...

This is a new picture of the same spot at top with additions, since the first one was taken in the early hours of one morning...

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE, PLEASE...

Do not forget Julian #Assange. Or you will lose him. 

I saw him in Belmarsh prison and his health has deteriorated. Treated worse than a murderer, he is isolated, medicated and denied the tools to fight the bogus charges of a US extradition. I now fear for him. Do not forget him.

John Pilger

https://www.rt.com/news/466039-assange-pilger-prison-treatment-fear/