JULIAN ASSANGE IS FREE!

 

WELL, this is quite a day, one where Julian Assange is one step closer to being a free man. Today, he left London in a private jet to Bangkok en route to the American Protectorate of the Northern Marianas Islands in the Pacific Ocean. On Wednesday, he will make a final court appearance there* and plead guilty to one (trumped-up) charge under the U.S. Espionage Act, namely the crime of “conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate national defense information.” Then he will join his family in Australia as a free man. It’s part of a plea deal made with American authorities that will see him plead guilty to a single count and be released for time served. Julian has spent the past 12 years in confinement, first in the Ecuadorian embassy, in London, having requested political asylum there in 2012. Then, when a new president was elected in Ecuador (and after Wikileaks published an exposé on corruption within the Moreno government), he was expelled in 2019 and subsequently jailed  in Belmarsh's "high security prisoner prison" in SE London until now. Though he was only charged with "breaching the Bail Act" (usually a misdemeanor offense), when he requested asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy, he ended up spending over five years at Belmarsh (nicknamed "Hellmarsh" because of conditions there) living in a 2 by 3 meter cell, 23 hours per day, while his extradition case made its way through the courts. He was in the same prison along with rapists, serial killers and terrorists. What purpose was served by jailing him when home arrest or other measures could have been used by the British government to ensure he didn't flee the country? He should have been out on bail while his extradition hearing proceeded. But the years he spent in Belmarsh were meant to punish and demoralize him, of course, perhaps to the point of suicide. Such are the dark machinations of our elites. It was an outrageous and brazen abuse of power by  British and American authorities to deny Julian Assange justice.

WITH his health, both mental and physical, deteriorating, and prospects of extradition to the United States on “espionage” charges looming ever closer, this sudden reversal of fortune comes as a great joy for family, friends, and supporters of Julian around the world. That he will, at last, be free and united with his family after his ordeal is a blessing. But it is galling to recall that Julian's only 'crime' was acting as a journalist/publisher and doing journalism, i.e., reporting news and shedding light on government wrong-doing and corruption, news that is in the public's interest to know. And he has suffered greatly for simply doing his job.

 

👉FINALLY, a cautionary note should be added to this tale: the several charges leveled against Julian under the U.S. Espionage Act were in force until very recently when public opinion and complaints from the Australian government (Julian is an Australian citizen) that "enough is enough," no doubt raised White House concerns that President "Fried Brains" Biden was losing support among young voters who, by and large, favour Assange and his journalism.¹ Julian will plead guilty “to a single criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defense documents,” with the rest of the charges withdrawn. But even this reduced charge and its verdict have serious implications for journalism around the world.¹ Julian’s years of confinement and his guilty plea to a single (bogus) charge of "espionage" will have a chilling effect on journalists, going forward, who will have to decide how diligent they will be when investigating the state and holding the powerful to account, especially when consequences like the ones Julian suffered may be in the offing for them. Stay tuned.

 

Cheers, Jake.____________________________________

 

* Julian bordered a private jet en route to Thailand then to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. colony protectorate northeast of Australia, where he will have his plea bargain adjudicated. Julian did not want to enter the U.S. mainland for his sentencing hearing because he feared U.S. authorities would find some excuse to keep him in custody. I thought Julian would be “lawfared” to death and would die in prison while his legal carousel just kept spinning and spinning. So, some good news for a change.😄

 

1. In addition, the ungainly-named AUKUS alliance between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States is a new initiative to project Western power in the Indo-Pacific region and the U.S. wants to keep Australia happy and thinking itself relevant. It's another reason for the U.S. to go for the plea deal.

 

 

FREE! JULIAN ASSANGE IS FREE! FREE! JULIAN ASSANGE IS FREE! FREE! JULIAN ASSANGE IS FREE!