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20 Jul 2022 | Eric Hannaford
Julian Assange Deserves Freedom, Not Incarceration
He needs our help! Innocent Australian journalist Julian Assange rotting in an English jail, and not expected to live very long. Our Prime Minister is doing nothing. Julian needs our help! Please help bring Julian home so he can die in the arms of the people who love him. It’s time for a protest march and some fundraising for a political campaign. For public meeting details please email EricHannaford19@gmail.com or phone 0403498712. Wanting people to help build a website.
A loose cannon, a celebrity disruptor-narcissist, and a high-handed individual—these are just some of the labels they use to refer to Julian Assange. Julian Assange is more than just a founder of WikiLeaks, and he’s anything but crazy. He is an Australian citizen, a husband, a father of two, and a journalism genius, a purveyor of truth. Unfortunately, he’s facing 18 criminal charges of computer misuse and violations of the US Espionage Act.
UK Home Secretary Priti Patel approved his extradition to the US on June 17, 2022. This puts him at risk of possible detention conditions that would amount to torture and other ill-treatment, including prolonged solitary confinement. When deployed to the US, he’ll face his spying charges that carry a life sentence—and possibly, the death penalty.
Are you a defender of human rights and an opponent of imperialist wars? Then get involved and join our appeal to release Julian Assange!
Julian Did What He Did for the Public
Julian Assange, dating back to 2010, analysed and published over 500,000 classified US documents on WikiLeaks sent by a former US military intelligence officer, Chelsea Manning. Some of these include videos of human rights abuse by US forces, indiscriminate killing of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, and US troops killing journalists.
After Sweden issued an international arrest against Julian, the Ecuadorian embassy granted him asylum for 7 years upon his request.
Unfortunately, Ecuador lifted Julian’s asylum status on April 11, 2019, granting permission to the British police to enter the embassy. This led to his arrest and imprisonment in a maximum-security Belmarsh prison.
On March 14, 2022, Britain’s top court refused Julian Assange permission to appeal against a decision to extradite him to the US. This was on the grounds that he didn’t raise an arguable point of law.
However, he still has the right to appeal to the English High Court. But if refused, Julian Assange must be extradited.
A Journalist’s Obligation
A journalist must reveal the truth about broken systems, even if it means contradicting one of the world’s most powerful countries.
WikiLeaks is a valuable tool in journalism. According to Julian, it is a reliable platform to provide asylum to persecuted documents about wars, spying, and corruption. It has always existed to reveal the truth without commercial inclinations.
And now I ask you, because Julian Assange found out George Bush and the American government has been telling lies, is it right to throw him in jail? When Julian Assange is thrown in an American supermax jail, he’ll spend 175 years there—meaning the rest of his life.
Can we, defenders of truth, freedom, and human rights, stomach that? I say no—not when he was trying to save our democracy.
Dark Day for Press Freedom
Tell me, with all these backlashes, won’t you agree that this is just a prelude to the dark days of press freedom? Is this not a wake-up call for us that these movements intend to terrorise all journalists and whistleblowers? In fact, Julian Assange’s wife, Stella Assange, called his case an abnormality that criminalises journalism.
The Americans want Julian to rot and die in prison, like the one they run at Guantanamo Bay. Do you know what the Americans did to innocent prisoners in Guantanamo Bay after they invaded Iraq? There have been controversies around detainees’ legal rights and abusive treatment worldwide.
It will be inhumane, unfair, and horrifying for Julian to be held in a high-security US prison as well!
People Who Are Destroying Our Journalists Are Destroying Our Democracy
What do journalists do for us? They risk their lives to reveal the truth of how rotten and corrupt the government is. The time has come for us to fight for our journalist, Julian, and to set him free.
The only people who want to see Julian rot and die in prison are corrupt politicians, dishonest public servants, and people who don’t know what Julian has done for us.
One thing is clear: democracy around the world is failing. The more we allow these corrupt individuals to shut down journalism, the more our democracy will suffer.
The Australian government, for example, often cuts funding to the Australia Broadcasting Commission (ABC) because the ABC journalist will tell their listeners what the government is up to. Our politicians don’t like this, which is why they are trying to dismantle the ABC. This is what’s happening everywhere.
Another example is Donald Trump. He took advantage of WikiLeaks’ publication of Democratic party emails in the middle of the 2016 election, which heavily embarrassed Hillary Clinton and put Trump in an advantageous position. After he won, he just shrugged his shoulder and allowed the media and corrupt officials to highlight Julian as a criminal.
Are you willing to see human rights and democracy quickly taken away by those in authority just because they have the means and power?
The only people who want to see Julian rot and die in prison are corrupt politicians, dishonest public servants, and people who don’t know what Julian has done for us.
One thing is clear: democracy around the world is failing. The more we allow these corrupt individuals to shut down journalism, the more our democracy will suffer.
The Australian government, for example, often cuts funding to the Australia Broadcasting Commission (ABC) because the ABC journalist will tell their listeners what the government is up to. Our politicians don’t like this, which is why they are trying to dismantle the ABC. This is what’s happening everywhere.
Another example is Donald Trump. He took advantage of WikiLeaks’ publication of Democratic party emails in the middle of the 2016 election, which heavily embarrassed Hillary Clinton and put Trump in an advantageous position. After he won, he just shrugged his shoulder and allowed the media and corrupt officials to highlight Julian as a criminal.
Are you willing to see human rights and democracy quickly taken away by those in authority just because they have the means and power?
What You Can Do to Help
You can send an email to the Australian Human Rights Commission as I have if you would like to help set Julian free. Julian has done far more to slow down our rapidly decaying democracy than anyone I know.
He may be very brave or foolish to have risked his freedom to try to stop our democracy from continuing to slide into a sewer. No one died because of what he did; he protected all informants in more than 10 million documents and analyses published by WikiLeaks. His health is deteriorating, and it may get worse if he is unjustly untreated by the Americans.
If you want to help Julian get free and appeal against the decision to extradite him, please email your friends and post on social media. If you want more information about helping him, you are welcome to contact our organisation at Global Warming Politics on 0403498712. Be a part of our movement.
We aspire to create a space for independent politicians in Australia to fight for human rights. Together, let’s help our fellow Australian avoid facing an unfair trial!
He may be very brave or foolish to have risked his freedom to try to stop our democracy from continuing to slide into a sewer. No one died because of what he did; he protected all informants in more than 10 million documents and analyses published by WikiLeaks. His health is deteriorating, and it may get worse if he is unjustly untreated by the Americans.
If you want to help Julian get free and appeal against the decision to extradite him, please email your friends and post on social media. If you want more information about helping him, you are welcome to contact our organisation at Global Warming Politics on 0403498712. Be a part of our movement.
We aspire to create a space for independent politicians in Australia to fight for human rights. Together, let’s help our fellow Australian avoid facing an unfair trial!