A Mother‘s Plea to Save Her Son… Held 8 Years without Charges by UK Government
NOBEL LAUREATES, 12 Nov 2018
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service
5 Nov 2018 – On Nov 3, Christine Assange, mother of Julian Assange, made a deeply moving video with a public appeal to save the life of her son.
Julian Assange is editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks. A Grand Jury has been set up in the USA to try Julian Assange and WikiLeaks for their reporting of US/NATO’s illegal wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. Julian Assange has been threatened by high profile US citizens also for highlighting corruption by USA/CIA and corporate powers, and for continuing disclosing the links between private corporations and government agencies. For this, he is being persecuted and deprived of his right to liberty and basic human rights. Six years ago, Julian Assange, aware of these extradition plans of America, sought asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy, in London, where he remains. He is now for six years within the Ecuadorian embassy, and has now been detained WITHOUT CHARGES for eight years.
In her appeal for her son’s life, Christine Assange says he is in immediate critical danger. He is now all alone, sick, and cut off from all contacts including computer, phone, mail and being persecuted in the heart of London. Ms. Assange says that for the past six years the UK government has refused his request for basic health care, fresh air, sunshine for vitamin D, access to proper medical and dental care. As a result, his health has seriously deteriorated. Doctors have said the detention conditions are life threatening. In 2016 after in-depth investigations, the UN ruled that Julian’s legal and human rights had been violated on multiple occasions and that he has been illegally detained in 2010; they ordered his immediate release, safe passage and compensation. The UK government has refused to abide by this UN decision.
When US Vice President Mike Pence visited Ecuador several months ago, behind scenes Ecuador done a deal with US to have Julian Assange extradited for life to USA prison. Ecuador is trying to make this acceptable by saying that the US has agreed not to kill him. Now it is a propaganda war with the US and UK to reduce his support enough to get away with it politically. The UK/US extradition act means he could be held in Guantanamo Prison and face torture, 45 years to indefinite detention and/or death penalty.
Currently there is a court case in Ecuador fighting the threats to violate his asylum given by the previous President. There is strict protocol set down by the Ecuadorian embassy regarding visitors and Julian has not managed to have visitors for many months now.
The Ecuadorian Embassy has admitted formal restrictions on Julian Assange and he is gagged from saying anything about politics, foreign policy human rights abuses, in fact anything critical about any country in the world.
This is political persecution of Julian Assange by high-level people and it is punishment for exposing high-level corruption through WikiLeaks.
Christine Assange has appealed to save her son’s life, and her appeal deserves an immediate response by us and all the parties responsible. Mr. Assange is not asking for special treatment; he simply insists that the UK applies standard laws and procedures to him. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s opinion confirmed Mr. Assange’s right to liberty and right to protection. A text between Ecuador and the United Kingdom guaranteeing Assange would not be extradited to the USA would provide an immediate resolution to his continued illegal and arbitrary detention.
Mr. Assange is an Australian citizen and the Australian government has a moral and legal responsibility to renew his passport and facilitate his safe return to his own country, should he wish to do so. Julian Assange deserves all our admiration and gratitude for his courage and bravery in truth telling. He is an inspiration to us all, together with his colleagues at WikiLeaks who are paying a high price for informing the public and upholding our right to know when governments violate human rights and international laws.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nxigIRUkcU
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Mairead Corrigan Maguire, co-founder of Peace People, is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment. She won the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for her work for peace in Northern Ireland. Her book The Vision of Peace (edited by John Dear, with a foreword by Desmond Tutu and a preface by the Dalai Lama) is available from www.wipfandstock.com. She lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland. See: www.peacepeople.com.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 12 Nov 2018.
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Julian Assange should be supported not only by people of fairness and goodwill everywhere, as he is, but especially by journalists, real ones, and sadly this is NOT the case. The disgraceful silence by so many who have not the courage to do what he has done can be observed easily. Newspapers like the NYT and the Guardian made use and profit from his revelations then left him stranded. The “Guradian” was worse- it published a disgusting “biography” of Julian by David Leigh and Luke Harding to denigrate his work, his life, his person. Luke Harding’s “skills” as a journalist can be seen in recent stories about the Skripal “GRU men” who according to Guradian fantasies and Harding’s pitiful article, were responsible for the poisoning of the Russian/UK spy and his daughter. Harding was interviewed by Aaron Maté in the Real News Network and was shown by Maté’s superb polite questions to be a complete fool, but he is still employed by the “prestigeous” British paper.
Dear Madam,
I am very sad after read your message and I support 100% against injustice and inhuman. I am interest to join the debate. Please let me to know.
I appreciate your early response and thank you in advance.
Best regards.
Mr. Santosh Chowdhury.
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