I am trying to write a report of what I saw in Westminster Magistrate’s Court today, but my hands keep shaking with rage, frustration and sadness to the point I can’t type, and my heart keeps going into atrial fibrillation. I have got myself a cheese sandwich and bottle of Irn Bru and still hope to finish it this evening.
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To me it looks as if the government wants to keep this well away from serious courts and have it dealt with summarily. I’m pretty sure that an English solemn court would not fast track an extradition case like this. Irn Bru has got me through many a dark night of the soul.
I can imagine how you are feeling now as a good few will be feeling the same, myself included. I know your report will give us the real story on today Craig. Human rights are now being eroded as we sleep. It used to be only third world banana republics who had human rights abuses cast onto them. But we are at a stage where The Fourth State is no more. No MSM are reporting or if they do,its all a bunch of lies. I hope your Irn Bru can give you the push you need to start writing Craig? Regards to you. Angie x
You might care to mention the deafening silence of the mainstream media in Australia, and of course the Federal Government.
Shameful.
And where is Hollywood? Where is the #hollywooddemandsjusticeforassange? Only Pamela Andersen, the apparently dumb blonde big boobs bimbo girl stood up! The rest of the di caprio hypocrites remain quiet. Shame on all of them! Thank you Pamela!!!!!
So who’s side is your MP on?
While there are long overdue signs that opposition in beginning to stir in the Australian Commons, where are the MPs in Westminster ready to side with Julian, Justice and the sort of honest disgust with imperialism that once characterised the, not very radical, noncomformist lobby?
The sordid truth is that all the supposed Opposition parties are looking the other way as the Tories (and the Blairites who fathered this disgraceful extradition treaty) are putting the boot in to the defenceless victim.
Thank you for never selling out and for your continuing efforts to free Julian Assange.
Yes I feel the same way. I am so grateful for Craig Murray’s diligence.
what can we do to help Julian Assange?
Craig, and John Pilger.. Outside court. Shocked at Julian’s condition –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbrC-O-7t30&feature=youtu.be&
Exasperation and sheer frustration at the impotence of the public in the face of total anarchic rejection of the rule of law by the authorities.
The very authorities,commissioned and entrusted by society to administer the these same rules of law, for all of society – to the exclusion of no one, especially the lawmakers.
Thank you Craig.
The Australian government and media treatment of the persecution and slow motion murder of Australia’s most famous citizen is predictably contemptible. Neither the ALP or the LNP has lifted a finger in Julian’s defense, and except for a few independent parliamentarians (Andrew Wilkie is the outstanding exception) almost nobody speaks about this travesty of justice.
What a grovelling lot the Aussies have become. They love to bang on about freedom and human rights but, in reality, there seems to be no limit to their subjugation to their colonial masters.
No justice!
It is outrageous that he is being murdered by British and USA intelligence officials and torture specialists, slowly, surely and in plain sight of us all.
If we had enormous courage, we should be manning the barricades, torching the prisons, digging the Ditch. But we all know where that would lead, so instead, we cower in our cosy houses, hunching over our devices and scratching each other’s back in futile anger.
We need to take our lead from those with at least a little voice of authority, Craig,
Not a member or attender, but I have to ask, where are the voices of the Church leaders?????
Before the Church was subverted and corrupted by the corporate-fascisto-complex, some of the archbishops had more than a grain of integrity and courage. Remember Runcie? David Jenkins of York? Williams, Basil Wotnot, others in the Thatcher and even the Blair years?
Did Businessman Welby EVER say ANYTHING worthy of a “man of god”?????
Cheese, bread, and a sugary drink? No offense, but if you don’t upgrade your diet, they won’t even need to “suicide” you to shut you up.
I am not remotely close to Assange, Craig, but I was overcome with nausea reading Assange’s desperate words in court, so I can only imagine how much worse it is for you.
A side note: 1 million marched to Remain this weekend, and only 100 showed up to protest at Julian’s hearing. This ratio of 1:10000 feels about right re the informed and the ignorant, the principled and the easily manipulated.
Stay strong.
Sopo-That’s a pretty good observation.
Please find the inner strength to complete this piece, and continue your campaign for justice for Julian Assange. His mental and physical state evoked images of what happened to so many in Stalin’s Russia.
We are all waiting to hear your report. In the meantime, we are heartsick.
I stayed up until 2:30AM watching Ruptly trying to get a glimpse of Julian’s arrival for the hearing and am now for the past two hours getting caught up with this (here in the US). I feel similarly to you, Mr. Murray, with each item that I read. Take your time with your thoughts, as this is the most I have written thus far. I feel so helpless, I pray for him each night as that is all that I can afford to do at present. I have followed Julian’s extraordinary work since 2012.
It seems to me that only by bringing Julian ‘s situation firmly into the public mind, can we hope to get some stirrings of concern from the majority of parliamentarians and the media at large. The Free Assange t-shirts worn by Clare Daly and others at the EU parliament opening were helpful ,but something needs to be adopted more widely that attracts comments such as selling both white and red poppies in the weeks to Armistice Day and explaining why . A song that is widely known , even ‘Baby Shark’, could be adopted, although nothing would equal the impact of Welsh( and Cornish) rugby supporters singing ‘And shall Trelawney Die” at the World Cup to shame Britain before the world.
Why anyone is shocked about “The British Judiciary” is beyond me.
Nothing but barbarians in Savile Row suits.
~ A Palestinian
Wonder whether in due course media might present Assange to US as somehow equivalent as Sacoolas to UK and broad brush it is as fair and all the same?
I must say I do not consider a magistrates court an an appropriate place to hear extradition proceedings. Particularly not in a highly political case like this one. Magistrates courts are for minor driving offences, petty theft, late payment of bills and the like.
If you are going to be extradited, then surely a jury of ones peers are the appropriate folk to send you packing? All a magistrates court should do is determine if there is a case for a crown court to deliberate on…
Perish the thought that a compos mentis jury might throw the whole sorry farcical proceedings out by a 12-0 score….
Totally agree with your point there Rhys. The Mags is not an appropriate Court to hear such a case as this. But given the pressure being brought to bear by the ptb, would the outcome at a higher Court turn out any different ? Can’t see them allowing a Jury anywhere near it though.
Rhys Jaggar
Have to agree with you Rhys, it is sweeping the matter under the carpet, getting it done as quickly as possible.
Pinochet went all the way up in appeal and then was sent back down for the mags to decide.
I’m touched, really. You feel another’s injustice as your own.
I am so so angry and frustrated at our Australian Government for the obvious lack of human rights and freedom of the press . Every time I hear about the treatment of Julian I am driven to tears . Feel so helpless
Susan
Assange will be punished. His culpability is irrelevant.
This is what we have become. I am ashamed.
It’s traumatic to realise that expressions like “police state” have become reality. We live in a police state. Stop-n-frisk requires no justification. Arbitrary detention requires no justification. Tasering is routine. Extending jail terms is all the rage. Political prisoners have no due process, no habeus corpus, no equality of access to law. There is no free speech except in small corners of the public knowledge space. The 4th estate has no interest in anything but propaganda and adoration of the royal family. Misery and hunger haunt the land like a miasma while “benefits” are used as a tool of oppression.
I seriously wonder what government thinks it will do when our debt-fuelled economy hits a bump and the ability to disguise economic performance with consumer spending disappears. The country has been drained like a bladder. We have become like Chile and Columbia, but without the passion. Perhaps our post-Brexit US vassalage will save us.
Reports suggest that Assange isn’t in a good place, that he could barely state his name and date of birth when asked for.
Reports also say that John Pilger and Ken Livingstone were also in the public gallery as well.
The charlatan District judge Vanessa Barait refused to grant defence lawyers more time to gather evidence, Assanges next hearing is December 19th.
Assanges lawyer QC Mark Summers, said we’re up against a superpower with unlimited resources, reports say Summers looked as though he was fighting to hold back tears, and added I’m not allowed access to my writings, I can’t think straight.
Is there really any difference between what the Spanish courts are doing to the ex-Catalan independence leaders and what the English judiciary is doing to Assange? I think not.
Bless you sir.
Governed by liars. A hateful situation that makes many people ill even if they know not why. You have done your work and we are grateful. Pause and rest as long as you need. Many of us now need a miracle. You cannot provide that sadly.
I want to do something to fight against the bastards , but what can we do ? If someone organises a demonstration I’ll go .
The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to law, and particularly to deny him judgement by his peers for an indefinite period , is in the highest degree odious, and it is the foundation of all totalitarian Governments, whether Nazi or Communist….Nothing can be more abhorrent to democracy than to imprison a person and keep him in prison because he is unpopular. This is really the test of a civilization. Winston Churchill November 1942
These so-called Magistrates are nothing of the sort. They factotums of state supported terrorism.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=9780674404199&i=stripbooks&linkCode=qs
Thanks for bringing us the news on Julian. Our press does not ever cover his plight and the injustice of his imprisonment. So happy you are. Peace, Don Timmerman of Casa Maria Catholic Worker, Milwaukee WI
Very moving articles, thank you.
Poor you. I’m still totally shocked at his treatment.
Poor guy. Horrifying.