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Eve of Assange hearing - update from Assange Campaign Australia

Media
#1

Seems there’s been a surge in support in the Australian parliament (including the PM!)
Australian MP Andrew Wilkie will be in London.
There is German support too.
The hearing is supposed to be over two-days.
ED

Today marks the beginning of award-winning journalist Julian Assange’s two-day hearing in the UK High Court in London. This could be the final chance to stop his extradition to the US where he faces up to 175 years in prison.

It is not an overstatement to say that Julian’s life is at stake.

The hearing will determine whether Julian will have further opportunity to argue his case in the UK courts or whether he will be extradited to the US.

In the lead up to the hearing, calls to halt Julian’s extradition have been expressed across the world. Including calls from human rights organisations, civil liberties groups, US law professors and a UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. 75 German MPs have signed a letter demanding Julian’s release.

Last week Australian Federal MPs displayed an unprecedented level of political support for Julian. Independent MP Andrew Wilkie on behalf of the Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group submitted a motion calling for Julian to be allowed to safely return to Australia. The motion passed with 86 votes in favour including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s.

Andrew Wilkie MP will be in London for Julian’s hearing to crucially communicate that the majority of Australians and the Australian government want the persecution of Julian to end.

Stand with Julian - take action now!

1. WRITE TO THE US AMBASSADOR :writing_hand:

Julian’s lawyers are doing their best to protect Julian through the legal process. However, as Julian is a political prisoner, he requires a political solution. Sign our petition calling on the US Ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy to urge the US government to drop the charges against Julian.

SIGN NOW

action.assangecampaign.org.au/?pc=up1

2. DONATE :pray:

Julian’s father, John Shipton, and his brother, Gabriel Shipton have now arrived in London for the hearing. Your donation will assist in covering their costs, enabling them to channel all their focus and energy into advocating Julian’s release.

DONATE

action.assangecampaign.org.au/donate

3. ATTEND EVENTS ACROSS AUSTRALIA :fist:

Because we can’t all be gathered outside the UK High Court to support Julian, Free Assange groups have organised events across Australia for the hearing today and tomorrow. Come together at this critical time and attend an event near you.

SHOW UP FOR JULIAN

assangefreedom.network/event/

4. WATCH THE 24HR COUNTDOWN :movie_camera:

Wherever you are, tune into a livestreamed 24hr countdown to the hearing presented by Stella Assange and Assange Defence on YouTube - it’s already begun! The countdown is providing a complete overview of what Julian is facing at the two-day hearing. It will then go live from outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

WATCH NOW

It’s now or never. Act NOW for Julian!

#2

Death of irony.

The US is almost out of options to make Russia pay for Navalny’s death

Nothing on Assange since last October.

#3

[Assange ‘not well’, U.S. extradition hearing moved to June
Link: https://www.rawstory.com/assange-not-well-u-s-extradition-hearing-moved-to-june/
EDIT: Cancel that, I’m pretty sure the above is a mis-dated repeat of an old story which has somehow escaped into the news cycle.]

While the US seeks to magnify and exploit the moral concern over Navalny’s death, the previous Assange court had refused to hear details of its own plot to kill Assange in 2017.

‘Rule of Claw’ indeed’, as @CJ1 often says.

ED

"Another of Assange’s barristers, Mark Summers KC, took aim at the District Judge at Westminster Magistrates Court, who had in 2021 thrown out most of his legal team’s attempts to block the extradition.

Summers KC on Tuesday told the court there were several “red flags” the previous judge should have considered, including a “truly breathtaking” CIA plot to poison or kidnap his client.

The barrister pointed out that, while the plan was presented as evidence at the time of Assange’s hearing in January 2021, more details had emerged in a news story published by Yahoo later that year.

“Whatever her reasons for not considering the evidence of the plot to kidnap or poison the defendant, there is compelling evidence now in existence that the plot was real,” Summers KC told the court.

The lawyer told the court that the news story had detailed how “murderous sketches, plans and options” were requested by, and presented to, then-US president Donald Trump in 2017.

“This extraordinary plan only fell away when the UK authorities weren’t terribly keen on renditions or the potential for a shootout in the streets of London,” he said."

Link: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/509738/julian-assange-too-ill-to-attend-as-court-hears-of-breathtaking-plot-to-poison-him

#4

This is good I think

image
image665×899 126 KB

The little story is even better. One in the eye for monetarism :slightly_smiling_face:
ED

Shaun Gladwell A spangled symbolist portrait of Julian Assange floating in reflection

oil and aluminium flakes on canvas
151.5 x 112 cm

Shaun Gladwell describes this portrait as ‘a protest against the political persecution, psychological torture and illegal incarceration of Julian Assange. Through overt and covert symbolic imagery, I aim to present the inhumane conditions in which my friend has lived for 12 years, while celebrating his achievements as an investigative journalist, publisher and spokesperson for free speech.

‘I consider him a living Socrates, Spartacus, Ned Kelly and Karl Marx,’ adds Gladwell, who was an Archibald finalist in 2015 and is the subject of this year’s portrait by David Griggs.

‘Julian changed my worldview 14 years ago. After returning from Afghanistan as Australia’s official war artist, I was shocked by WikiLeaks’ 2010 video Collateral murder,’ says Gladwell.

Conducting a sitting was challenging, since Assange was in a maximum-security prison. ‘HMP Belmarsh didn’t allow me to bring anything except £25 for the canteen! When I was refused a pencil and paper, Julian suggested I sketch him with chocolate on a banknote. Despite the oppressive surroundings, it was wonderful to see Julian smile. He champions freedom, truth and peace. Let us now champion the freedom of this incredible human being.’