Chelsea and Julian are in Jail. History Trembles. 1010

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Tonight both Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange are in jail, both over offences related to the publication of materials specifying US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, and both charged with nothing else at all. No matter what bullshit political and MSM liars try to feed you, that is the simple truth. Manning and Assange are true heroes of our time, and are suffering for it.

If a Russian opposition politician were dragged out by armed police, and within three hours had been convicted on a political charge by a patently biased judge with no jury, with a lengthy jail sentence to follow, can you imagine the Western media reaction to that kind of kangaroo court? Yet that is exactly what just happened in London.

District Judge Michael Snow is a disgrace to the bench who deserves to be infamous well beyond his death. He displayed the most plain and open prejudice against Assange in the 15 minutes it took for him to hear the case and declare Assange guilty, in a fashion which makes the dictators’ courts I had witnessed, in Babangida’s Nigeria or Karimov’s Uzbekistan, look fair and reasonable, in comparison to the gross charade of justice conducted by Michael Snow.

One key fact gave away Snow’s enormous prejudice. Julian Assange said nothing during the whole brief proceedings, other than to say “Not guilty” twice, and to ask a one sentence question about why the charges were changed midway through this sham “trial”. Yet Judge Michael Snow condemned Assange as “narcissistic”. There was nothing that happened in Snow’s brief court hearing that could conceivably have given rise to that opinion. It was plainly something he brought with him into the courtroom, and had read or heard in the mainstream media or picked up in his club. It was in short the very definition of prejudice, and “Judge” Michael Snow and his summary judgement is a total disgrace.

We wrapped up the final Wikileaks and legal team meeting at 21.45 tonight and thereafter Kristian Hrafnsson and I had dinner together. The whole team, including Julian, is energised rather than downhearted. At last there is no more hiding for the pretend liberals behind ludicrous Swedish allegations or bail jumping allegations, and the true motive – revenge for the Chelsea Manning revelations – is now completely in the open.

To support the persecution of Assange in these circumstances is to support absolute state censorship of the internet. It is to support the claim that any journalist who receives and publishes official material which indicates US government wrongdoing, can be punished for its publication. Furthermore this US claim involves an astonishing boost to universal jurisdiction. Assange was nowhere near the USA when he published the documents, but nonetheless US courts are willing to claim jurisdiction. This is a threat to press and internet freedom everywhere.

These are scary times. But those may also be the most inspiring of times.

UPDATE

We are reassembling Wikileaks/Julian legal and media team from 10am Friday in Doughty Street Chambers. I and others will be available for further media interviews from then. I can be reached on 07979 691085.

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1,010 thoughts on “Chelsea and Julian are in Jail. History Trembles.”

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  • Anon1

    I propose a gigantic mosque to replace the Notre Dame as a symbol of the progressive new French republic.

  • Anon1

    Can someone explain how it is in the public interest for Wikileaks to publish the late Steve Jobs’ sexual health history?

    • Charles Bostock

      It is in the public interest for the same reason as it is apparently in the public interest for Mr Assange /Wikileaks (and their self-appointed spokespeople in the alt media) to be very coy about who finances them.

      A more serious answer would be more succinct : Steve Jobs (American, rich) BAD ! Julian Assange (not American, not rich) GOOD !

        • Charles Bostock

          There are “good” leaks and there are “reprehensible” leaks, Anon1 🙂

          • James Charles

            Is this ‘leak’, ‘good’ or ‘reprehensible’?
            ‘ Yitzhak Rabin, leaked censored version of Rabin memoirs, published in the New York Times, 23 October 1979; Rabin’s description of the conquest of Lydda, after the completion of Plan Dalet.
            “Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves … politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves… The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country.” ‘

      • Laguerre

        It might be interesting, were it the case that Wikileaks employed commercial companies for propaganda, in the way the far right do. But they don’t, so projecting far right finance practices onto others doesn’t work.

        • Shatnersrug

          Twostime, you bugger!! I haven’t read either of these two numb-nutted vigra munching trolls’ inane comments for months till you said “I’m ignoring it.”

          I do recommend everyone just scroll down though, it gets really easy to ignore them and the stupid argue threads they goad out of people. Just scroll on imagine if no one ever responds to them? They’d be invisible.

  • bob

    As Notre Dame burns there will no doubt already be preparations for the ‘let’s all unite amongst in our grief and save the EU/Planet/USA-UK evil axis to keep everyone from harm’ propaganda operation.

    Everyone should read this and follow the pieces set out here which plainly highlights the prison we are all about to endure:

    https://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2019/04/15/explosive-slog-special-how-may-was-installed-how-she-hid-defence-ties-to-the-eu-how-the-media-lied-about-the-october-brextension/

    The end of brexit, Assange’s arrest, the income controlling laws in the Criminal Act passed last Friday if you hadn’t noticed, the Internet Harms White Paper etc etc are all planned and provided for – welcome to hell – unless you want to change it …………

  • Twostime

    Once upon a time there was a troll called Habbacuck or something like that. It was a while ago. Can anyone provide me with a list of potential neo-anti-trolls it is actually worth spending thought or keyboard time persuading life might be better if hate ended?

    • glenn_nl

      Well… “Troll” is a bit pejorative. Maybe a bit of a contrarian, or at the very least, rubbed somewhat against the general drift of this blog. But yes – that was his name, and I believe a current poster who goes my the name of Charles Bostock might – at the very least – share some sympathies with that poster.

  • Paul Barbara

    @ Shatnersrug April 15, 2019 at 21:52
    They already claim successes in attacking Ecuadorean government agencies.

  • Twostime

    Really? are you dregging the thread out with UFOs? when do the MODS move in ? perhaps move to another manic thread elsewhere?…

  • Dave Lawton

    The convicted criminal Christine Lagarde and Bilderberger head of the IMF and the EU`s piggy bank gave a loan to Ecuador so Assange was Bought for $4.2 Billion and Former Ecuadorian President Confirms IMF Loan In Exchange For Assange. Ironic in that the last head of the IMF was Dominique Strauss-Kahn. A maid who worked in New York hotel in which Strauss-Kahn was staying claimed he had sexually assaulted her.It seems he got away with it by paying her a large undisclosed sum.

    https://www.globalresearch.ca/assange-bought-4-2-billion-former-ecuadorian-president-confirms-imf-loan-exchange-assange/5674374?fbclid=IwAR29l7np8zdZwH_WrUtAfpI7kOoJzNoRbseM3P4zpX9DrZmSnjwB2W9tXzQ

    • OnlyHalfALooney

      “A maid who worked in New York hotel in which Strauss-Kahn was staying claimed he had sexually assaulted her.It seems he got away with it by paying her a large undisclosed sum.”

      It was all a set-up. Strauss-Kahn didn’t “get away with it”. His career is finished. The maid’s testimony was so flawed the New York District Attorney dropped the case. The later concocted “Lille Carlton” case against Strauss-Kahn collapsed and was thrown out of court. My personal opinion is that Strauss-Kahn is probably a rather disagreeable man but that does not make him guilty. I don’t like my neighbour’s habits. Does that make him a criminal?

      • Stonky

        It was all a set-up… His career is finished…

        Yours is a kind of one-eyed version of events. Strauss-Kahn acknowledged that sex had taken place, but claimed it had been consensual. The maid claimed the opposite.S-K has a long history of dubious sexual conduct. I don’t find it implausible that he tried to force himself on her. I do find it implausible that she forced herself on him.

        But if it was all a set-up, then he deserves his career to be over for sheer stupidity. The guy is in his 60s and looks like a toad. A cleaner comes in to do his hotel room and finds him so irresistible that within minutes they’re coupling like rabbits? That never happened to me in 30 years as an international businessman, and I think even when I was young and didn’t look like a toad I would have been just a little suspicious if a cleaner had come in to do my hotel room and suddenly found me so irresistible that she just had to drag me between the sheets without a moment to be lost.

        I personally don’t think it was a honey trap, because if you were going to set up a honey trap you would choose someone (how to put this gently…) a little ‘more conventionally attractive’ than Diallo.

        • James Charles

          According to Mark Hosenball
          “WASHINGTON (Reuters) The two Swedish women who accuse WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of sexual misconduct were at first not seeking to bring charges against him. They just wanted to track him down and persuade him to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases, according to several people in contact with his entourage at the time. “
          https://www.reuters.com/article/us-wikileaks-assange-charges/special-report-std-fears-sparked-case-against-wikileaks-boss-idUSTRE6B669H20101207

        • OnlyHalfALooney

          However you look at it the story just doesn’t ring true. I don’t think whoever was behind it cared Diallo couldn’t get her story straight. The damage had been done. DSK had been arrested just before boarding a plane. The image of him being led away in handcuffs as a “sex offender” had gone around the world.

          Don’t imagine for one minute that an intelligence agency would ever expose one of their own agents or assets to such publicity and scrutiny. It would be far too dangerous. There are various possibilities, one of which is that it is at least possible that it had been “suggested” to Diallo that this would be a way to come into a nice sum of money.

          Interestingly, one of the text messages sent between Assange’s “sexual assault” accusers reportedly discusses selling their story to a tabloid newspaper for a lot of money. Of course this might also have been simply a joke.

          • James Charles

            Other ‘text messages’.
            Friday August 13, Mr. Assange has sex with Ms. Ardin, and the next day gives his talk. Ms. Ardin tweets twice after the incident later characterized as an assault.
            First on August 14, she tweets: “Julian wants to go to a crayfish party? Does anybody have a free spot tonight or tomorrow?”
            At 2 a.m. on August 15, she tweets that she is sitting outside, hanging out with “some of the smartest people on the planet.”
            When the police report is filed, the tweets disappear, but bloggers retain them.
            https://observer.com/2016/02/exclusive-new-docs-throw-doubt-on-julian-assange-rape-charges-in-stockholm/

  • John Christie

    The anger I feel at this injustice cannot be measured ? Rest-assured that I will one day release it/unleash it in full on the ‘fake as fuck’ establishment that runs all of Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. THEY want all of us dead and I’d rather die from a Russian nuke strike that takes them out, too, than die from one of THEIR knives in my back! ?

  • qjay

    the ripples are spreading in Ecuador

    https://www.mintpressnews.com/with-assange-arrest-ecuador-creeps-further-towards-authoritarianism/257381/

    “Just hours after Assange was arrested, Ecuador arrested Swedish national Ola Bini as Bini attempted to board a flight to Japan. Bini, who was living in Ecuador with valid work and residency permits, was held in detention without a hearing for 30 hours — the legal limit is 24 hours — and was only provided access to a lawyer after 17 hours.”

  • Sharp Ears

    Now the FBI come out with this. It’s rather late in the day.

    ‘US prosecutors have unsealed an affidavit against Julian Assange that outlines their case against the WikiLeaks co-founder on a single count of “conspiracy to commit computer intrusion” that may or may not have succeeded.

    As FBI special agent Megan Brown admits in the affidavit, “it remains unknown whether Manning and Assange were successful in cracking the password” to the Department of Defense computer they allegedly conspired to hack, meaning the sole charge against Assange remains his alleged attempt to assist Chelsea (then Bradley) Manning in accessing the documents that were eventually leaked in 2010.’

    https://www.rt.com/news/456650-us-unseals-assange-affidavit-fbi/

    16 April 2019 (affidavit shown)

  • Grhm

    I’ll be in London later this week and I’d like to show my support for Julian Assange. There’s obviously no point going to the Ecuadorian Embassy now, so where are people demonstrating? Belmarsh? I can’t seem to find any info on-line.

  • Sharp Ears

    Doctor Who Evaluated Julian Assange Told UN His Confinement Was Torture
    In the Ecuadorian embassy, the “cumulative severity of the pain and suffering inflicted on Mr. Assange—both physical and psychological—is in violation of the 1984 Convention Against Torture,” she wrote.
    https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/d3nzkj/doctor-who-evaluated-julian-assange-told-un-his-confinement-was-torture

    ‘In the last two months, the doctor, Sondra Crosby, has written letters to former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, and to the Organization of American States detailing the four evaluations she made of Assange between October 2017 and February 2019. Crosby, who specializes in refugee health and forensic medicine at Boston University and has examined nearly 1,000 torture survivors, wrote that the conditions of Assange’s confinement had “become observably worse since [her] initial visit.’

    It’s a wonder that there is not blood on their hands.

  • Sharp Ears

    Not a peep out of Amal Clooney so far since Assange’s arrest. Hunt appointed her as a special envoy on press freedom or some such.
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/05/amal-clooney-hired-by-jeremy-hunt-as-uks-media-freedom-envoy

    I once saw her husband playing the part of Ed Murrow in Goodnight and Good Luck. It was a brilliant portrayal of a man whi stood up to McCarthy’s witchhunt and fascism.

    No irony then Amal.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv4s0wdDOK0

    Hunt has so little to occupy him now, having moved on from wrecking OUR NHS, that he has been teaching English to Japanese school children. He laid himself open to criticlcal comments on this Twitter thread!
    https://twitter.com/Jeremy_Hunt/status/1117694706929029120

    He is an idiot.

  • SA

    T May has demonstrated that extreme incvompetence and weakness can also be an unassailable strength. She is equally hated by both sides of her party as well as the opposition but her party cannot and do not want to get rid of her because they fear that Corbyn will win an election if called today.

  • Sharp Ears

    David Cromwell and David Edwards of Medialens write:

    16 April 2019
    Assange Arrest – Part 1: ‘So Now He’s Our Property’

    If ‘journalism’ meant what it is supposed to mean– acting as the proverbial ‘fourth estate’ to challenge power and to keep the public informed – then Julian Assange and WikiLeaks would be universally lauded as paragons. So would Chelsea Manning, the brave former US Army whistleblower who passed on to WikiLeaks more than 700,000 confidential US State Department and Pentagon documents, videos and diplomatic cables about the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
    /..
    http://medialens.org/index.php/alerts/current-alert.html

    They have produced a very good round up of the MSM outpourings and other commentary. Craig’s words are there.

  • Paul Barbara

    I believe the following article may have been linked to already (there are too many comments to trawl through just to find out), if so, sorry.
    But there are a couple of highlights in it I’d like to point out to anyone who has not read it previously:
    ‘THE ASSANGE ARREST IS A WARNING FROM HISTORY’:
    http://johnpilger.com/articles/the-assange-arrest-is-a-warning-from-history
    ‘…Real journalism is the enemy of these disgraces. A decade ago, the Ministry of Defence in London produced a secret document which described the “principal threats” to public order as threefold: terrorists, Russian spies and investigative journalists. The latter was designated the major threat.
    The document was duly leaked to WikiLeaks, which published it. “We had no choice,” Assange told me. “It’s very simple. People have a right to know and a right to question and challenge power. That’s true democracy.”….’

    ‘The latter was designated the major threat.’ Get that? What’s the reasoning? Perhaps the ‘terrorist attacks’ and ‘Russian Spies’ (or ‘poisonings’) aren’t quite what they are made out to be?

    ‘…In the 1970s, I met Leni Reifenstahl, close friend of Adolf Hitler, whose films helped cast the Nazi spell over Germany.
    She told me that the message in her films, the propaganda, was dependent not on “orders from above” but on what she called the “submissive void” of the public.
    “Did this submissive void include the liberal, educated bourgeoisie?” I asked her.
    “Of course,” she said, “especially the intelligentsia…. When people no longer ask serious questions, they are submissive and malleable. Anything can happen.”
    And did.
    The rest, she might have added, is history.’

    To paraphrase: ‘When people no longer ask serious questions, they’re no longer called ‘conspiracy theorists’!

  • gpcus

    In an (un)expected new low Barclays\TSB rejected my payment to the Julian Assange support fund:
    Account number: 24345160
    Sort code: 30-94-57
    Does anyone else experienced the same? What is the best way to support this battle, for the little I can?

    • Twirlip

      I tried to make a payment (from an HSBC account, although that’s almost certainly not relevant to the problem), and got this message:
      “Sorry, the payee’s bank has advised they are unable to accept this payment as the sort code/account number is incorrect. Please contact the payee to confirm their account details.”
      (I had entered the correct details – as in your message, and as on the Wikileaks website.)
      By “Barclays/TSB”, I take it you mean Lloyds TSB, or just TSB Bank plc? It seems clear that they’ve disabled the account.
      I’ll have to see if they’ve made a statement on the matter, and if so, what “reason” they gave.. (Sharp Ears is probably already on it!)
      My Dad used to work for the TSB (sigh).
      (It’s the first time I’ve posted here, but I’ve been reading the blog for years, and I used to post to The Lifeboat News. I’m not very political, but even the likes of me have to take note when this sort of thing happens!)

      • gpcus

        Thanks all, I’ll surely find a way to get some bitcoins out… that’s not the problem. It is just I find it incredibly telling, and scary, of the path we are undertaking… I must admit I am shocked and possibly wanted someone to tell me it was just a mistake. By the way, Twirlip, Barclays is (but not for very long in the future) my bank; I do not know, yet, if they blocked the transfer or TSB did it at the receiving side.

    • Paul Barbara

      @ gpcus April 16, 2019 at 15:36
      Someone has informed me they accept Bitcoin, but I don’t know anything about that.
      You could check Paypal. Alternately, as you have the sort code, another bank will likely accept your donation, especially a Lloyds Bank, as that is their sort code.

      • Twirlip

        A shorter link: https://defend.wikileaks.org/donate/
        The credit card donation option *seems* to work (for Visa cards, at least).
        Niggle: it’s hard to check how much you have donated, if you have tried to specify an amount in UK pounds rather than US dollars.
        At any rate, I got the message:
        “Thank you for your support to I am WikiLeaks. Your donation was successfully processed.”

    • Twirlip

      It appears to be a cock-up, rather than a conspiracy!
      I made a polite complaint to TSB yesterday, and they contacted me by phone and text today. I phoned them back, and they explained that the account in question belongs to Lloyds Bank plc, 19-20 Upper Street, Islington, London (as can be verified from http://www.fasterpayments.org.uk/consumers/sort-code-checker). Confusingly, this has nothing to do with TSB!
      I spoke on the phone to someone at Lloyd’s business section, and he confirmed that the account exists, and is active.
      He suggested that payment may have been refused because the name of the account did not agree with the name that I had specified (taken from the WiklLeaks donation page). I then vaguely recalled having read something recently about banking regulations having been changed, for reasons of security, so that names of accounts, not just sort codes and account numbers, are now significant. He confirmed that that is the case.
      I have e-mailed the WikiLeaks Defence Fund, at [email protected], asking them to update the information at their website.
      I’ll follow up if things become any clearer.

    • Twirlip

      https://defend.wikileaks.org/donate/
      Donate – Defend WikiLeaks Defend WikiLeaks

      The donation page has now been updated – the bank transfer option has been removed.

      “Home › Donate

      Please donate to the WikiLeaks official Defence Fund
      Your support is vital

      WikiLeaks relies on supporters around the world to sustain itself in the face of increasing threats to its journalists and activities. Your contribution will be valuable in defending WikiLeaks and the public’s right to know.

      The various ways to donate are given below

      Your contribution to the WikiLeaks Defence Fund helps to support a dedicated campaign team which advocates across the world, especially in global media, to build support for WikiLeaks and the public’s right to know.

      We thank you for your support

      If you have a question about donating, please contact: [email protected]

      Donate:

      You can donate using various methods. Please select the one you’d like to use below:

      MasterCard, Visa, Amex, Discover
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  • Sharp Ears

    MEPs give Julian Assange ‘Defenders of the right to information’ award.

    Mairead Maguire is on the video. She wishes to give him the award personally at Belmarsh.

    Some MEPs have already held a protest there.
    https://youtu.be/6f6JTBMH92Y

  • David Jacobsen

    The character is denigrated as pathetic cover to no legal case for continued imprisonment. I have misgivings about the Louise IV grandesse of President Macron. That is wholly irrelevant to my critique of his economic political and social policies. Assange, Manning, the Guardian darling, Snowden, are examples of how corporate media owners use the information to boost sales then let loose to intelligence services, thier own journalists. The lives of all journalists are threatened bymedia owners with primary focus on share price and personal bias. Numerous other sources do an essential job holding illegal and murderous actions of governments, business conglomerates and military groups to account. Demand with united action the release andfreedom of Assange and reside in Britain safely or the country of his choice. Free Julian Assange.

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