Julian Assange – I was naive to believe in the law
JVL Introduction
In the first speech given by Julian Assange since the end of his dreadful and cruel incarceration, he reflects on the failure of international law to protect the freedoms we thought we had. Assange stated: “unprecedented global effort was needed (to secure my release) because of the legal protections that did exist, many existed only on paper …”
Jailing journalists and their alleged sources should concern us all. Former CIA officer Joshua Schulte, allegedly a Wikileaks source was sentenced to 40 years in jail in February 2024… ” under conditions of extreme isolation. His windows are blacked out and a white noise machine plays 24 hours a day over his door so that he cannot even shout through it. These conditions are more severe than those found in Guantanamo Bay.”
This is torture in anyone’s book and the threat of such treatment, like that experienced by Assange himself has already deterred many from speaking out against the powerful.
LL
This article was originally published by Savage Minds on Thu 3 Oct 2024. Read the original here.
"My Naivete Was Believing in the Law"
Addressing the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
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The terrible injustices suffered by Julian Assange were inflicted by ‘people’ and ignored by those who should have been outraged. Unfortunately there are many scummy people who live among us who are only too willing to inflict harm upon others for a reward. If those people are allowed to attain high office, for example by becoming Prime Minister, great harm can be done to citizens and the integrity of a country. That harm can be compounded many times when charlatans who lead countries, combine their malevolent intents with others of a similar despicable nature. Normally, we should be able to rely upon our judicial system to protect us, but when that judicial system has also been corrupted by self serving tossers, there is only one way to go………..
it would take too long to comment fully on this speech.
Just to say what Julian Assange experienced was the Empire fighting back. All the legal safeguards in Britain and Sweden were not up to it given the deference of the judiciary and politicians.
We have seen with Gaza that international law has become impotent. Completely ignored. We are perhaps in the dying days of the US Empire as it begins to set the Middle East alight alongside its proxy Israel.
All I can say is that the left needs to reexamine all of its assumptions and strategies. We have two neo-liberal parties in parliament and an impotent and divided left. That does not need to be the case but at the moment that is the case