This blog will be going dark for a few months. The Queen kindly paid for my dinners for over twenty years while I was a British diplomat and Ambassador, and now she is going to be paying for my dinners again. That is very kind, I thought she had forgotten me.
The following is a statement from Nadira:
29.07.21
Today is the most heartbreaking day. My husband whose health has been found to not be suitable for prison must hand himself in for detention within hours following the UK Supreme Court’s decision not to hear his appeal.We were extremely hopeful that the Supreme Court would hear his case and had no doubt that this particular case should have been heard given how important and relevant it is in the context of Freedom of Speech in the UK. Instead, the Supreme Court declined to hear it.
Yet again my heart is deeply saddened to find that the UK, once a country which placed great importance on Human Rights issues, has failed to listen to my husband’s case. Additionally, the Scottish Court outright dismissed Craig’s poor health, having been made aware through the mandatory Social Work report and doctor’s reports that his wellbeing would be at risk if forced to go to jail.
At first I tried to come to terms of him being jailed in the hope he would be granted dignified conditions in jail but I am saddened and shocked to learn he could be placed among criminals, with no ability to bring books or enable him to write, with no entertainment allowed. He is being treated like a criminal. This is not a just punishment, this is a deliberate attempt to break the spirit of anyone brave enough to make use of free speech.
Given a pen and paper what do you do? You write in your own voice speaking the truth. Having been with Craig for two decades he has always spent his time and energy highlighting injustices and standing up for what is right, carefully, considerately and consistently.
I was brought up during Soviet times, and post independence in my own country, Uzbekistan. I have witnessed and personally experienced myself what the price of freedom of speech truly is. Opponents were ‘disappeared’ or it was claimed they had ‘taken their own life’, or been locked away in asylums. I am filled with fear this pattern is now repeating itself in the UK. It is appalling to see Craig is going through the same treatment in the so-called ‘human rights’ respecting country UK.
This is an attack on Truthtellers. His writings are those of a highly qualified Journalist, Human Rights Activist, former Rector of Dundee University and former British Ambassador. To us, his family, this situation is devastating: I am now left with my 5 months old baby, yet to find a good way to explain Craig’s jail sentence to his confused and anxious 12 year old son.
Of any readers concerned with the loss of freedom of speech and equality before the law I ask that you show active and outspoken solidarity with my partner.
A Craig Murray Justice Campaign has been formed which I hope you can support. Find them on twitter @cmurrayjustice . Their website will be up shortly and details will be posted on this site.
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I am well aware that the last few weeks I have posted very little, because the constant worry of having a jail sentence hanging imminently over my head, which became very oppressive. For the last several Friday afternoons I was watching the clock until the time came when I was confident no warrant would come and I could have another weekend with my children.
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This is another example of the establishment lashing out at those that expose their injustices and bias.
If you weren’t impacting them then they would be ignoring you,
Please stay strong in the knowledge of that.
I look forward to reading your future posts when you are released.
I doubt we will, but I would particularly like to know why the Supreme Court refused even to look at Craig’s appeal. That would seem, on the face of it, a dereliction of their duty to review controversial and unprecedented judgements, and to safeguard the quality and universality of justice.
It seems more than possible that they were well aware of the eccentricity and injustice of this jury-free judgement – the lack of evidence, and the hypothetical suppositions it was based on. And of course, the very important question of whether writers and journalists not in the MSM can be subjected to harsher and different rules of conduct (as well as the ludicrous assumption that the body for standards in the MSM is remotely fit for purpose). All of these matters are important for future cases, and therefore are a prime facie case for review by thet Supreme Court. What is their function otherwise?
I can only conclude that they knew any impartial review of the case would have thrown it out, perhaps issued a fine, or a suspended sentence. But the political machinations which were already a core feature of Dorrian’s judgement evidently extend to the SC, who clearly do not want to interfere, or hold Dorrian and the inadequate Scots legal system up to ridicule, which they would be bound to do. Otherwise why even refuse to listen to the arguments? They are supposed to function as part of the legal system, overseeing decisions and allowing plaintiffs a review of their case – so why do they refuse to perform their important part in the UK legal system now? What kind of dereliction of duty is that?
Terrible. Thoughts are with you Craig.
(reply to Ian @ 1506)
-I think they decided to look after their own
(Facts? Who bothers with facts any more if you have power)
The Supreme Court cannot hear an appeal unless permission has been given by a lower court. As the Court of Session declined to do this, the SC was left without much choice in the matter – or have I got this completely wrong? If I haven’t, perhaps it is as well to remember that the SC was initiated by Blair. Why? To remove the Lords of Appeal from the appeals process, and ostensibly – though not in practice – to separate the powers of the judiciary and the executive. This was controversial from the start – the old system wasn’t bust and didn’t need fixing.
Given that Sturgeon is so amenable to temporising on independence, and has rather got into the habit of doing not very much about it, what suits Sturgeon’s interest probably suits HM (UK) G’s, for now.
The complacency and blatant dishonesty of the legal system is well seen by Dorrian’s award of six months’ imprisonment to Clive Thompson, who explicitly named five of the women in the case on Twitter, and eight months to Craig, who much less explicitly hinted at four names. This I do not understand. Justice was not done, and still less can anyone pretend it was seen to be done.
While I think Craig’s sentence is unfair, unprecedented and undeserved, and wish him well, there is a salutory lesson here. The law is not apolitical. It is naive to expect it to be, for all the noble aspirations of a so-called democracy. A spell in a cell is a hazard of activism. But where would any revolutionary group be if it had no martyrs?
Given that the SNP will undoubtedly push for Scottish independence again at some future point, CM and others will be useful to Westminster in demonstrating that said party are far from tolerant of dissenting opinions, or personalities that may challenge the ruling clique.
Rough old game politics.
No one ever jailed Marx and Engels
“I have witnessed and personally experienced myself what the price of freedom of speech truly is. Opponents were ‘disappeared’ or it was claimed they had ‘taken their own life’, or been locked away in asylums. I am filled with fear this pattern is now repeating itself in the UK. It is appalling to see Craig is going through the same treatment in the so-called ‘human rights’ respecting country UK.”.
Does anyone in the Scottish or UK Legal system not feel eternal shame to read these words?
If you (be-wigged) don’t believe our system (by the people for the people one would hope) is now a worldwide embarrassment, there is no hope for you.
DRDADE especially with hypocrite Christ-ens
……lost for words.
Strength & heartfelt good wishes to Craig & particularly to his family, be well.
I soooo know this is isn’t the time or place to ask the following, but I can’t help myself.
I just DDG’d “how do you address an ex Ambassador” & it said “Ambassador”.
Does that mean that whilst Craig is pleasuring her majesty at HMP whatever, the screws will have to call him ‘Ambassador Murray’? I sincerely hope so.
Don’t let the b*st*rds grind you down.
Scottish ‘justice’ is dead. It has been made hollow by corrupt politics and I suspect interference from the british establishment. I’ll be happy to help fund whatever you wish to do next.
Just upped my subscription to help you and your family out. The whole situation is very depressing. Stay strong.
First person in the UK to be jailed for media contempt in over half a century; and in a case where polling showed any “jigsaw identification” was achieved by means of mass media coverage.
A nakedly political persecution of a prominent dissenter. Convection achievable only by means of a sham trial in a Diplock court with a judge either incapable or contemptuous of logical thought.
So where are the liberal lions who routinely bellow at approved enemy states about the “British” values of due process, a free press, free speech and so on? Same place they have been throughout the persecution of Julian Assange.
F-R-A-U-D-S
Stay healthy and safe, Craig. Villains, protect this man, he is 100% innocent and should not be in there. His only crime is exposing crime and hypocrisy.
Craig’s imprisonment for the honest reporting of a court trial beggars belief. This decision will be used by China, Russia and Iran to justify their own legal processes. I am stunned and never believed that I would see this day. I also never anticipated such silence on such a crucial issue from the UK’s ‘free’ media. And I was also astounded that leave to appeal to the UK Supreme Court was refused. I only hope that this case is heard in the European Court of Human Rights as a matter of urgency. Scottish justice is shamed.
This decision will be used by China, Russia and Iran to justify their own legal processes.
No it won’t, Wade. You made the exact same comment on the previous page and posting it twice won’t change anything.
Stop looking at the world as a battle between the “free” West and “unfree” East. That’s NATO’s schtick and it only makes the world a more dangerous place.
I imagine Mr Putin at a meeting in his secret bunker under the Kremlin, “Comrades, we desperately need justifications for our actions, or we are all screwed! Any ideas?” Dead silence follows. Then his secretary rushes in with a telegram, “Urgent news, Vladimir Vladimirovich! They just jailed Craig Murray!” Laughter, high-fives and screams of joy follow. “We are saved!” declares Putin, “Right on time! Let’s drink some vodka!”
Dear Craig,
When the day comes, and you are vindicated, you will be paid some measure of compensation.
Deducted from that compensation will be charges for food and lodging accrued while you were a guest of Her Majesty.
That amount will have been calculated by Queen Elizabeth herself, as was the case with the Birmingham Six and all of the other Irish people framed by the Windsor State.
After all, at her age she doesn’t have many pleasures left.
Best wishes to you Craig, Nadira. Kia kaha.
Thank you for your informative blogs. I first discovered these while seeking developments on Assange’s case and the injustices you reported have opened a lot of people’s eyes to puppets like Baraitser and now Dorrian. I and others will continue to make as much noise as we can and perversely look forward to reading your prison memoirs. Keep your chin up and strength to your family.
You are in good company Craig, some of the finest people who have ever walked the earth, who have stood-up for what is right, have been attacked by the ‘established order’ and many have been political prisoners. Hardly a consolation but hopefully that gives you some strength. I wish you and your family well (I’m sure they are proud of you), & hopefully there will be some way we will hear from you or hear how you are getting on.
In solidarity.
I’m so sorry you are being treated this way. You are a hero. From the US.
In Solidarity
I’ll be maintaining my (small) monthly subscription – I wouldn’t dream of cancelling it at this time.
I don’t see why you shouldn’t be allowed to blog from inside, Craig, but I’m not surprised.
To Craig’s son:
Your father has been locked-up for saying things that needed to be said. You should be proud to have such a principled man as your father. He’s a remarkable man, and he has many admirers. I don’t believe his reputation is damaged by these events; rather, the reputation of those who have persecuted him has been damaged irreparably.
He’ll be released in a few months, and then the worst of these events will be in the past.
You’re the stand-in head male in the family for the next few months; but don’t panic – you don’t suddenly have to be a grown-up.
Take care, and all the best.
Craig joins Julian. The suppression of Craig’s case details has ended. On the parchment of Hansard, the Parliamentary Record, Kenny has made a speech in the Commons detailing the injustices. People all over the world are thinking of you Craig and will continue to support you.
I didn’t really mean “head male in the family” – I meant “man about the house”.
There are those who might think that the SNP’s early enthusiasm for fascism, never went away, it simply went underground.
The denial of an appeal and the jailing of Craig Murray are both appalling but like Assange and the treatment of Jeremy Corbyn, the actions have clearly illustrated who the enemies of democracy and the people are.
Where known, we need to remember their names and the organisations they represent.
It is my belief that every office and function of the UK state is now corrupt.
When it’s known can we please have the name, address and prison number?
I think he’ll get letters from all over the world,
Good luck Craig, Nadira and family. Stay strong and beat the bastards.
Such a travesty. Stay strong.
“Will no one rid me of this turbulent blogger?”
I increased my subscription in hope that it will make harder to fulfil that wish.
The rot in the Scottish body politic was quite clearly shown to be gangrenous, when in 2001 Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was fitted up for the 1988 Lockerbie murders by Scottish Judges.
All other forces that should have stepped in to maintain a healthy balance of power and ensure justice for Megrahi failed in their duty.
Our failure to get justice for the victims who died, because of a bent Scottish judiciary’s decision to convict an innocent man, exposed a very dangerous governance in Scotland.
Craig’s jailing shows how perilously fragile freedoms have become and how deep is the rot.
The balance of power that prevents tyranny in any nation, state or country is founded on free speech.
Without free speech tyrants will tower over us, with free speech they will cower before us.
In Scotland the boundaries between arms of the state have corroded; there is now no difference between Civil Servants, The Judiciary and Government.
Thankfully they don’t have executive control of any military personnel……I’m led to believe…_
Craig was right.
The law isn’t necessarily about justice – it’s a tool of control for those in power.
Still, like all of us, I’m really shocked that it has been manipulated to this extent to entrap Craig. I thought some principled legal mind would step in at the last moment and upend such an obviously unfair stitch-up.
I wonder about the dark minds of the ambitious people who did this, probably with real spite and callous disregard for the crisis which is created for Craig and his family.
Craig, I’m a great admirer of your writings, have learned so much from your blog, and have précised many for V. Westward’s Climate Revolution. I will miss your commentary and illuminations. My small contribution will continue and I will await whatever news there is of you. I think of you as a personal friend although of course you do not know who I am.
I am hoping that the experience of prison will have some positive outcome for you, an enlightenment which will be unexpected but which will give you important insights. Meanwhile I shudder at the thought of your being forcibly shut up by the power of the state as dictated by a scheming functionary, away from all personal life, while knowing there is no justification for this.
I join all who care about you, wish you very well and will be thinking of you while you deal with separation and this injustice.
I just reread Solzhenitsyn’s “First Circle”. Some can learn from being imprisoned.
In light of the Covert Human Intelligence Sources Bill (I invite you to read it if you haven’t already) protecting as it does the legal impunity of agents of the United Kingdom to commit any crime without limitation presumably then, the the right to life of British citizens is not held to be inviolable in UK law. Can anybody reasonably be expected to submit to any body of law that does not respect the right to life of its subjects?
Fuck. That is all.
A dark day indeed, but the light will always find a way. Stay well, rest and come back stronger.
What a horribly depressing situation. I’m so sorry you’re having to go through this, Craig. One can only hope things turn around soon for you, your family, Scotland, the UK, and the rest of the world. We will be looking to help you however we can.
Surely the people behind this, the so called judge and the rest are exposed by this extrodinarily biased decision. Now its up to the flower of Scotland to show that this will not stand.
A travesty of justice, but the free press don’t care. Dorrian says they are at no risk so long as they keep to establishment scripts. Hope the next few months whizz by and you can put the nightmare behind you.
There can be little doubt that Craig Murray has been treated unfairly , singled out in order to discourage journalists critical of government .It’s a classic case of an action pour encouragez les autres!
Pour les decourager.