Julian Assange has never been charged with any offence. His detention has been unlawful since his very first arrest in the United Kingdom in 2010. There has never been any genuine attempt by the Swedish authorities to investigate the allegations against him. Those are the findings of the United Nations.
The UK and Swedish governments both participated fully, and at great expense to their taxpayers, in this UN process which is a mechanism that both recognise. States including Iran, Burma and Russia have released prisoners following determination by this UN panel, which consists not of politicians or diplomats but of some of the world’s most respected lawyers, who are not representing their national governments.
Countries who have ignored rulings by this UN panel are rare. No democracy has ever done so. Recent examples are Egypt and Uzbekistan. The UK is putting itself in pretty company.
It would be an act of extraordinary dereliction by the UK and Swedish governments to accept the authority of the tribunal, participate fully in the process, and then refuse to accept the outcome.
It is worth noting that the UN judgement vindicates precisely the arguments advanced by Assange’s lawyers before the UK supreme court, that there was no genuine judicial process in train against Assange in Sweden. I cannot express this better than John Pilger:
The Assange case has never been primarily about allegations of sexual misconduct in Sweden – where the Stockholm Chief Prosecutor, Eva Finne, dismissed the case, saying, “I don’t believe there is any reason to suspect that he has committed rape”, and one of the women involved accused the police of fabricating evidence and “railroading” her, protesting she “did not want to accuse JA of anything” – and a second prosecutor mysteriously re-opened the case after political intervention, then stalled it.
The British mainstream media has never fairly reported the ludicrous nature of the allegations against Assange. The establishment is very keen that the public do not know. It is worth noting that the only notice this blog has ever received from Google, that an article has been removed from search results, referred to the article in which I detailed and demolished the allegations against Assange. The UK mainstream media today are reporting with astonishment the UN decision and still refuse to report the details of the allegations against him, or the fact that they were dismissed by Sweden’s most senior prosecutor before being taken up (as Swedish law permits) by an openly politically motivated prosecutor from another region.
It is absolutely normal procedure, all around the world, for regime opponents to be charged with trumped up criminal charges rather than with political dissent. And not just in China or Russia. They tried it on me when I blew the whistle on torture and extraordinary rendition, with eighteen formal allegations against me, several of them criminal. Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, the most senior woman in the US Army, testified that Donald Rumsfeld personally approved the torture techniques used at Abu Ghraib and the very next day she was “caught shoplifting”. Scott Ritter, US Marine officer and WMD inspector in Iraq, was convicted of engaging, just after going public on absence of WMD, in online paedophile activity. We don’t know for certain what they did to David Kelly.
Anybody who believes the neo-con countries do not persecute dissidents is naïve in the extreme. The indignation at the UN calling them on it is both hilarious and chilling.
“We don’t know for certain what they did to David Kelly.”
I think it’s safe to say we can assume the worst until proven otherwise.
Craig,
Has there been any specific times that you have had concerns for your own safety?
Are you a still “a person of interest”? to the authorities?
Exexpat,
Yes to both. In fact I received credible information from an inside source just a few days ago that a private conversation in a restaurant abroad had just been taped.
Arbed,
John Pilger just stated the release of the text messages had finally been obtained. Are they published anywhere? Sorry, been around Africa for a month.
I’m disappointed but not surprised to see that the Guardian has not got comments open on any of its recent Assange articles.. heaven forbid anyone add those crucial missing bits of information to the webpage..
http://webtv.un.org/live-now/watch/friday-press-briefing-by-united-nations-information-service-in-geneva/4473504075001
Britain isn’t a democracy.
You can say “what you like”…. as long as we like what you say.
I have just googled your post “Why I am Convinced that Anna Ardin is a Liar” and I found it both with European Google sites and at google.com.
Craig
With your experience and connections would you be able to agree that it’s highly likely that intelligence has a presence in the big media agencies – effectively controlling its output?
“It is worth noting that the only notice this blog has ever received from Google, that an article has been removed from search results, referred to the article in which I detailed and demolished the allegations against Assange. ”
Well said Craig, this affair has shown the global neo connectivity conundrum, that Google is not impartial, none of the search engines are, they all have paymasters looking over their backs who are in lieu with one or other malign entity.
My gratitude to both you and John Pilger for speaking the truth over the hounding of a truthseeker. Also many thanks to Arbed for the updates and new Swedish information flow on the story.
We ought to organise one almighty shindig for when Julian is allowed to move freely again, although he might want to leave this country as soon as he can, who knows.
But he deserves having a party thrown for him. Somewhere with a grand car park so many people can attend.
Bena,
Yes, I noticed that too. I like to believe Google were just pretending to comply with a takedown instruction. We can probably publish the letter from google if you would like.
Exepat, the news rooms are stuffed/staffed with them, by the times the news is read it has been spun twice, at least, why else would they have redacted Ambassador Taubs hasty retreat from the news. One could not have news published that confirms that our security services have watched him do what he liked doing late at night.
Craig
Assange is a bit of a weirdo and nobody cares much about him or his silly pretensions.
Of much greater importance is that, since Dave came back waving his little piece of paper proclaiming reform in our time, LEAVE are surging ahead in the polls.
As a committed Europhile yourself, now is surely the time for you to set out your arguments for staying IN. We have heard many times from you that you are staunch supporter of the EU, but we have never heard why.
The vote may take place as soon as June. Now is surely the time for you to add your voice to the debate.
Good post Craig.
As Mark Golding said yesterday I hope those of you in easy reach of the Ecuadorian Embassy will get along at 12.00 noon to show your support for an innocent man who has not seen sunshine for 4 years.
Ecuadorian Embassy, Knightsbridge, London
3 Hans Crescent, London SW1X 0LS
Russia Today will be giving an impartial live report which I shall be watching.
https://www.rt.com/on-air/
Or you could watch MSM. 😀
States including Iran, Burma and Russia have released prisoners following determination by this UN panel
So if the UK and/or Sweden are to “release” Assange, what – specifically – would you have them do that they aren’t already doing? The man is in a place where neither government put him, where he is not being guarded in any way. They even removed the 24-hour police observation across the street. So what would you have them do?
Anon1, you should care about abuse of the legal system for political persecution; we’re ALL subject to the law.
I just wrote this on ICH as a reply to someone’s comment on an article by John Pilger about Assange.
I agree with everything you wrote except ” that he would release the involvement of Israel and 9/11″. I have followed Assange very closely since before he even went to Sweden. I don’t believe he ever said that. I too believe very little that is in the MSM which has anything whatsoever to do with The War on Terror. I am convinced that the US Government really does want to extradite Assange and bang him up in jail for the rest of his life. I actually think Assange and Snowden are genuine and honest (even though both diss 9/11). I also think they are both on the payroll of a State Intelligence Agency. I do not believe that all State Intelligence Agencies have the same Agenda and same Controllers – even the American ones. I don’t know which Intelligence Agencies Assange and Snowden are working for, but the vast majority of public would never have heard of either of them, without State support. All mainstream media is controlled. We only know about them, because a State Intelligence Agency wants us to know about them.
I think they have two main purposes – 1 to Frighten other potential whistleblowers to keep quiet. 2. To maintain the US Government fairy story of 9/11 alive in the minds of vast majority of the General Public (most of who still also believe in Father Christmas (or equivalent))
Tony
John Goss, Russia Today IS MSM, just that of a different power.
One thing is certain, Julian Assange is a sick man. Even if he is arrested (illegally in international law) he needs to go straight to hospital for treatment. Surely Cameron would not be so stupid as to have him arrested, but then who knows with a necromantic Eton-educated pig-abuser with few morals!
Clark, you can’t just dump classified information onto the Internet without even editing or redacting it and expect to walk around a free man. He’s not even a whistle-blower, which at least Snowden was. Perhaps he should join him in Moscow?
“Russia Today will be giving an impartial live report which I shall be watching.”
Genuine LOL
Anon1, check your facts. Wikileaks redacted very carefully; it was a Guardian author that released the password, bypassing the redactions. Wikileaks acted ethically.
Mr. Hammond MP has just defended the foreign offices reluctance and the police’s stance to arrest him, which means that the British Government does not accept the judgement of the UN working group.
Pirates and crooks make up the rules as they go along. Hypocrites!
Anon1
That’s strange, because you can machine gun journalists and just walk away from it, even after WikiLeaks have revealed it.
Anon1, 10:48 am; what hypocrisy is this?
So stitch him up on trumped-up sex charges? Exactly what are you defending here? Tyranny?
CM – “this UN panel, which consists not of politicians or diplomats but of some of the world’s most respected lawyers, who are not representing their national governments.”
Yeah, only the Ukrainian Judge dissented !!
Indeed, Day of Judgement, and Ukraine’s abstention was enough for Newsnight to prompt that the decision of the working group was ‘not unanimous’, making out that it was somehow dodgy.
The Metropolitan police spend £11.1m of taxpayers’ money in pursuit of someone who allegedly had otherwise consensual sex but contravened the young lady’s wishes by not using a condom. (How many disadvantaged young people’s lives in London could have been helped with that sort of money?)
Compare this to the recent case where Russian national killed a cyclist in London, was summoned to appear before the courts, but despite the lack of any extradition treaty between the UK and Russia, had his passport returned to him with all travel restrictions lifted. He returned to Russia.
Only a cretin could fail to see that the Assange case is a stitch up from start to finish. The Guardian, with its blind obedience to feminist extremism, is unable to get past the risible Swedish charges because they feed the Graun’s right-on outrage at the patriarchy.
Yes, Craig, please publish the letter in which Google said in would remove from searches your article which makes perfectly valid inferences from established facts. Invoking the “right to be forgotten” is a nonsense here as the case in on-going.