I spent a few hours with Julian today in the Ecuador Embassy. It was the first time I had seen him since moving back to Scotland, so it was good to catch up and a great deal to talk about.
We had some good ideas for future projects, on which you will be seeing more as things develop. You will be pleased to hear that Julian himself is optimistic and very sharp, with sense of humour surviving, although obviously this close confinement, with no access to fresh air and exercise whatsoever, is becoming very wearing. It seems to me impossible to argue that the response to Julian is not disproportionate, especially the ludicrous waste of money paying so many policemen to stand around doing nothing 24 hours a day. How would it hurt the British government to agree to a protocol for daily exercise? Their position is vindictive and inhumane in the extreme.
I had not realised that Julian had so much Scottish ancestry or quite so recently. After independence, he will definitely be entitled to a Scottish passport!
I hope Julian knows that many hundreds of thousands of us care about him and that in this illusory democracy, all we can do is protest and campaign for his release from this cruel torture. Shame on those who have imprisoned him.
Chief amongst those is Theresa May. She has put in these new checks on those leaving these shores. The scheme is only a day old but has already had to be modified.
‘For the first month all passports will be scanned, but only 25% of passport holders will have their details verified.
In the second month 50% will be checked. By the middle of June, 100% of passports will be fully checked.’
http://news.sky.com/story/1460561/all-passports-to-be-checked-on-uk-exit
~~~~
She counted them in and counted them out.
MBC
7 Apr, 2015 – 10:31 pm
“Sorry Craig, no time for the guy and this ridiculous pantomime. Why doesn’t he face the music in Sweden and get it over with. The case will likely fall apart, there’s probably nothing to it. They won’t extradite him to the US. What kind of country does he think Sweden is?”
…………………………………………………………………………………………
What a stupid comment!
iMBeCile
” Quite, They want to pack him off to Sweden,on some trumped up charge,where Mr Assange can be renditioned to the USA,for a spot of water boarding, ”
Whether “they” want to or not is irrelevant. The law is the law and the SNP have been a firm supporter of the EAW, surely they wouldn’t be about to make an embarrassing U-Turn?
No-one gets renditioned from Sweden anymore, the practice was made illegal years ago, he can’t even be extradited without the permission of UK nor if he’s at risk of torture or a death sentence.
@Kempe
Apparently you are not aware of the 2013 Sweden Djibouti rendition case.
If he was extradited from the UK to Sweden, the UK Home Secretary would have a veto on any extradition from Sweden to the US. Does anyone suppose Theresa May would veto Julian Assange’s extradition from Sweden to the United States?
What about a life sentence? For doing nothing more villainous than publishing the news? What is the lowest bar in terms of “punishment” that would have you acquiescing to an extradition to the United States to face criminal charges for publishing the news?
[cm-org.uk – stuck in spam filter until 09:29]
Kempe wrote: “No-one gets renditioned from Sweden anymore, the practice was made illegal years ago, he can’t even be extradited without the permission of UK nor if he’s at risk of torture or a death sentence.”
Response: The rendition of the Egyptians in 2001 was illegal already then. No one has ever been charged for that. It is an embarrasing fact.
The legal procedure is different. A legal request for the extradition of Assange has not been done yet as far as is known. Common practice when US asks Sweden is to ask informally first. This might have happened already 2010 or 2011, who can tell? If the informal answer is no, noone will ever know. If the answer is yes, the formal request will appear at the appropriate moment.
Thanks very much for letting us know he is all right 🙂
More power to you Craig we need so so many more of your “ilk” by the way what do you make of the book “The New Pearl Harbour”
” Apparently you are not aware of the 2013 Sweden Djibouti rendition case. ”
Last time I consulted an atlas Djibouti was not in Sweden.
” What about a life sentence? For doing nothing more villainous than publishing the news? ”
You’re right; publishing the news is not an offence so he’s unlikely to be charged with that. Not sure what they could charge him with. Receiving stolen goods perhaps?