I should be grateful if you would join Noam Chomsky, Yanis Varoufakis, David Hare, Roger Waters, Robert Black, Kristinn Hrnafsson, Christine Assange and many others in signing the open letter against the politically motivated legal harassment of people including Mark Hirst and myself.
I am not asking you to endorse our political views; I am asking you to support free speech and oppose this rather startling authoritarianism and highly selective prosecution.
To the Lord Advocate
DEAR Mr Wolffe,
We are writing to you to express our growing concern over the actions of both the Crown Office and Police Scotland.
In recent weeks vocal independence supporters and backers of the former First Minister Alex Salmond, specifically the former UK diplomat, human rights campaigner and journalist Craig Murray along with fellow journalist Mark Hirst, have been arrested and charged in relation to comments they made publicly during and following the trial of Mr Salmond. Other supporters of Mr Salmond have also been contacted by police and warned over online comments they made in the wake of the trial.
We are particularly concerned to note that the investigating police officers are the same detectives who led the investigation against Mr Salmond over a period of two years and at considerable cost to the public purse.
As you know, the prosecution following from that investigation, pursued again at considerable cost to the public purse, resulted in the acquittal of Mr Salmond on all charges and now raises the most serious questions about why that investigation and that prosecution were pursued.
Whilst we appreciate that you cannot be involved in individual cases you will undoubtedly be aware that complaints of alleged Contempt of Court were made against six other individual journalists widely regarded as being hostile in their reporting of Mr Salmond. No action by the Crown Office or Police Scotland has been taken against any of those individuals. This leaves the distinct impression that Police Scotland, at the direction of the Crown Office, is acting in a manner that is both biased and disproportionate.
As you will be aware, for public confidence to be maintained in our independent legal system the law must be able to both demonstrate it is acting impartially and be seen to be doing so.
The actions taken so far risk establishing a public perception that both Police Scotland and the Crown Office are conducting themselves in a manner which is biased and is indeed political in nature.
Such perceptions risk seriously damaging confidence in the Scottish legal system.
We would welcome your fullest public response to the concerns raised in this letter and any meaningful public assurances you can offer that both Police Scotland and the Crown Office are complying with their obligations to act with complete impartiality and to apply the law fairly.
Professor Noam Chomsky (linguist and political scientist)
Yanis Varoufakis (Author, former Greek Finance Minister, philosopher, economist)
Professor Robert Black QC (Professor Emeritus of Scots Law, Edinburgh University)
Sir David Hare (Playwright, screenwriter and film director)
Kristinn Hrnaffson (Investigative journalist and Editor in Chief of Wikileaks)
Tariq Ali (human rights campaigner, journalist and historian)
Roger Waters (co-founder Pink Floyd, political activist)
Lawrence B. Wilkerson, (US Colonel, Ret, former Chief of Staff, US Department of State)
Paul Kavanagh (Columnist, The National newspaper)
George Kerevan (Journalist, Former SNP MP, former Associate Editor of The Scotsman)
Tommy Sheridan (Convenor, Solidarity and former MSP)
Ann Wright (US Colonel, Ret, and former US Ambassador)
Christine Assange (human rights campaigner and mother of Julian)
Gordon Dangerfield (Solicitor Advocate)
Hugh Kerr (Former Labour MEP, author and journalist)
John Kiriakou (CIA whistle-blower)
Coleen Rowley (Retired FBI Agent and former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel, 2002 Time Magazine Person of the Year)
Ray McGovern (Former CIA Officer, Founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity)
Robert Tibbo (lawyer to Edward Snowden)
Annie Machon (former MI5 officer, author and journalist)
Katherine Gun (former GCHQ whistle-blower)
Clive Ponting (former MOD whistle-blower)
Stuart Campbell (Editor, Wings over Scotland)
James Kelly (Editor of SCOT goes POP! and columnist with The National)
Neil MacKay (Singer-songwriter, Scottish independence activist)
Liz Dangerfield (solicitor)
Campbell Martin (Broadcast journalist and former SNP MSP)
Elizabeth Murray (former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East & CIA political analyst)
Robin McAlpine (Political strategist)
Bogdan Dzakovic (9/11 aviation security whistle-blower, FAA Security, Ret.)
Robert Wing (former US Foreign Service Officer)
Marshall Carter-Tripp (Political science professor and former Division Director, State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research)
Details of charges against Mark Hirst are here. The indictment against me is here. You can sign the letter against this persecution here.
This hearing on 10 June is supposed to be public, but it will be virtual because of coronavirus. While it is a case management hearing, I shall nevertheless be grateful if you are able to “attend” virtually, as I am very keen indeed that I am not stitched up out of the public eye. Please send an email requesting access to the virtual hearing on 10 June to [email protected]. I am very keen as many people do this as possible. Journalists please in addition copy in [email protected] for accreditation.
This is a procedural hearing before three appeal court judges. It is not the trial itself, but as with Julian Assange it is vital that the whole process is independently witnessed and that there is no potential for injustice to thrive in the dark. I am very grateful to the 700 people who have already registered.
——————————————
Unlike our adversaries including the Integrity Initiative, the 77th Brigade, Bellingcat, the Atlantic Council and hundreds of other warmongering propaganda operations, this blog has no source of state, corporate or institutional finance whatsoever. It runs entirely on voluntary subscriptions from its readers – many of whom do not necessarily agree with the every article, but welcome the alternative voice, insider information and debate.
Subscriptions to keep this blog going are gratefully received.
Choose subscription amount from dropdown box:
Paypal address for one-off donations: [email protected]
Alternatively by bank transfer or standing order:
Account name
MURRAY CJ
Account number 3 2 1 5 0 9 6 2
Sort code 6 0 – 4 0 – 0 5
IBAN GB98NWBK60400532150962
BIC NWBKGB2L
Bank address Natwest, PO Box 414, 38 Strand, London, WC2H 5JB
Subscriptions are still preferred to donations as I can’t run the blog without some certainty of future income, but I understand why some people prefer not to commit to that.
Done. Best of luck, Craig.
Keep up the fight .✌
Human Rights have been replaced by Rights for Oligarchs, Thieves and Liars. Shame on all of our Governments for rolling over to the dictates of the Unhinged States of Amnesia.
Shocking bias
Keep up the good fight, when the state is after you then you know that you are on the right track. It will be interesting to what comes to the suface when this whole barrel is fully stirred. Best wishes.
Done!
Done. I hope that all your commentators will see that there is enough merit in supporting you in spite of any differences they may have with each other, or from which end of the political spectrum they come from.
I have signed a letter this morning from a different link on the previous subject page, but this one does not work for me.
I’m aghast that they are actually going through with this self harm, do they not realise that such one sided bias marks the end of the last whiff of trust the public had in Scottish justice?
This link is not working
STAND UP FOR Julian Assange and Freedom of SPEECH and PRESS FREEDOM.
Duly signed and sent. You are a very brave man and you and your family are very much in my thoughts and prayers.
Done. Give ’em every chance to avoid reaping the whirlwind.
Cynt i fwyd brain
Nog i argyfrain
We all should be allowed freedom of speech
Journalism is not a crime. Free Julian Assange.
Endorsed.
Signed, simply appalled by this.
Stuart Campbell over on Wings has received another response from COPFS, lost for words is the polite way of putting it regarding the content of the letter.
https://wingsoverscotland.com/justice-for-some/
Done
Done both. Good luck Craig!
No comment.
Good luck sorry I can’t donate on a pension
Done
slàinte mhath
Craig, as someone who probably has access to Mark Hirst, could you prevail on him to mount a clain for malicious prosecution once he has been found not guilty.
While your prosecution is vindictive, his is simply risible. A quick targeted search indicates that the words he is being prosecuted for using have been employed on about 600 occasions in the recent past by journalists from the BBC and the Guardian alone. A more careful search would show that the number of times they have been used in a politicial context numbers dozens or possibly even hundreds.
These proto-fascists need reined in, and as an open and shut case, this is a perfect opportunity. I have contributed to both of your defence funds and I would be more than happy to see any excess being used to fund legal action against the authorities in Scotland.
I support all people fighting for democracy and human rights.
This. Signed, and all the best!
Done
Done
Done!
Good Luck
Done.
My best wishes and heart felt thanks for everything you are doing on this matter.
Good luck
All done Craig (using my real name of course). Very best of luck to you both – if I’m cautiously upbeat it’s because I think you’ll both win through here. All my best, Tintin.
Signed with pleasure and total support.
e-mail sent, automatic reply received, awaiting grant of access.
Good luck, Craig.
Judicial Communications have replied advising me that “Judicial Communications will email an expected starting time; dial-in number; and access code in advance of the case calling. This will most likely be sent on 9 June 2020.”
I believe the following will be useful information for those who haven’t yet requested access:
“The hearing will be closed 15 minutes after it starts so you are advised to dial-in within that time.”
and please take note of this missive:
“Although not physically attending court, those dialling in are subject to the same rules as if they were present in Court. Anyone failing to obey or respect the authority of the Court may be subject to Contempt of Court proceedings. In particular, those accessing a hearing:
· must not record or store the proceedings
· must not broadcast the proceedings
· must not, during the course of a hearing, comment on the proceedings using live texted based communications (such as Twitter).”
If it is a “dial-in” number, does that mean there will be phone charges. For those of us from outside of the UK, that might add up. I was hoping that there would be some kind of video feed which we could log into.