Fri 4 June, 2021 Tony’s speeches
I’m here to start where this all started, on the 7th of December 2010, approaching 11 years ago, 10 and a half years ago, Julian Assange was placed under house arrest. He spent 18 months under house arrest. Then when it looked like he was about to extradited to Sweden and onto the United States on trumped-up charges, he took asylum from the Ecuadorian Embassy, in London, where he stayed for almost seven years, before a corrupt change of government [was] offered a $4.2billion loan in return for Julian Assange. Julian Assange was then illegally stripped of his Ecuadorian citizenship and his asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy and placed in Belmarsh Prison, where he served a 50 week sentence for skipping bail. That in itself was an injustice also because the bail charge pertained to these fake charges in Sweden. Anyway, that was more than… [two years] ago. We’re now on day 784. Julian Assange has been in Her Majesty’s Prison, Belmarsh, in solitary confinement lockdown for 784 days. The United Nations define anything in excess of 15 days in solitary confinement as torture.
Julian Assange has spent 769 days in excess of that limit, which is defined as torture. This outrageous injustice must end and it must end now and notable people all round the world are standing up and coming forward and I urge you all to join us.
Now I’ll read some of those quotes. Thank you.
The first one is from Massimo Moratti from Amnesty International, who states ‘Were Julian Assange to be extradited to any other transfer to the USA, Britain would be in breach of its obligations under international human rights law.’
John Pilger, a very famous Australian investigative journalist and film maker said ‘Assange’s [alleged] “crime” is to have initiated a wave of truth telling in an era of lies, cynicism and war.’
Mary Kostakidis – a very fine Australian journalist said ‘Julian is in great danger now. We cannot stand back and let this happen. They talk about bracket creep. This is human rights creep. It’s going to get worse and worse for us, the citizens of this country.’
And here I’ll add a little quote from Julian Assange, which reminds me of what he says. He in fact says they’re not after him, “they’re after you.” He just gets got in the way. So just remember that folks, they’re not after Julian Assange, they’re after you, so please, I implore you to stand up for Julian Assange, for your own sake and for the sake of your Children and Grand Children and Great Grand Children.
Andrew Fowler, another very fine Australian investigative journalist says ‘[Mr] Assange is being prosecuted, not for what he did, but what he stands for and what he stands against – the rise of authoritarianism. That is why Assange is in the dock at the Old Bailey.’
Now from a Magistrate Eva Joly says ‘if Julian Assange is extradited, it’s the end of the rule of law in the west.’ That sums it up. She is also a former Member of the European Parliament.
Now I’ve got some words from a judge, Baltasar Garzón who is the coordinator of Julian Assange’s legal team and he says ‘the political nature of Julian Assange’s extradition process to the United States can be proven beyond any reasonable doubt, as it involves [alleged] large scale espionage operations, violations of Attorney/client privilege and cross-Atlantic political pressures.’
Now from Brian Eno – a very famous musician and he says ‘Julian Assange is a threat to power because he exposes an allusion that we are generally being told to support and that allusion is that we live in a democracy.’
Now, let’s hear from Scott Ludlam, [the] former Australian Senator ‘In this mockery of due process, endless delay is the point. Our friend, already serving jail-time for charges under US Espionage law, that may never even be heard in an open court. Every day this sadistic process drags out, is another day Julian Assange spends without sunlight, friends, family and freedom and that’s the whole point.’
It’s commonly referred to as “lawfare,” where the law is used in a punitive way and in fact that’s the topic of our talks today. We’re talking about how has been used to punish Julian Assange – illegally punish him too, by the way.
About Lawfare: A Brief History of the Term and the Site – Lawfare (lawfareblog.com)
Yanis Varoufakis is a Greek professor of Economics and was formerly [a] professor at the University of NSW and a very close friend of Julian Assange’s and he says ‘war criminals are trying to kill the body and soul of Julian Assange. It is our job to create a movement, which will make their lives difficult, to such an extent that they will let him live. Let’s save his life before we do anything else.’
Now a quote from another investigative journalist Stefania Maurizi, who says ‘what is the purpose of journalism if you can’t expose war crimes safely?’
Ok, and now from Bob Carr the former Australian Foreign Minister and former NSW Premier and Bob Carr has said: “ ‘Julian Assange’s case boils down to the fact that Julian Assange exposed war crimes in Iraq. If America gets away with plucking him out of the UK, to die in prison, then all our freedoms are compromised.’ ” Thank you Bob Carr.
Now here’s a quote from Stella Moris. Stella Moris is Julian Assange’s partner and the mother of his two small children, aged two and four, Gabriel and Max, and Stella says ‘Julian is a once in a generation thought leader. I don’t just say that because I love him, millions in the US and around the world know it too. His prosecution is bad for everyone because the world desperately needs him during this crisis of freedom and democracy.’
Now we’ll hear from Professor Nils Melzer. He is the UN Rapporteur on torture and cruel and other inhumane treatment and he says; ‘Julian Assange is not, and has never been, an enemy of the American people. Wikileaks fights secrecy and corruption throughout the world and therefore acts in the public interests, both of the American people, and of humanity as a whole.’
I have another quote here from Andrew Fowler, the award winning Australian investigative journalist and he says ‘the ultimate purpose of Assange’s treatment is a warning to others, particularly other journalists. It’s the modern-day equivalent of crucifixion – putting heads of enemies on spikes or public hangings.’
The last quote I’ve got here is from Daniel Ellsberg. Those of you who are old enough will really remember this man with a great deal of fondness. He was the whistle blower who produced the Pentagon Papers. Again, he was an insider. He was like Chelsea Manning. He was a second or third generation military man – died-in-the-wool – a true patriot, so much though, that when he saw what was going on in Vietnam and the lies the public was being told, he produced the Pentagon Papers and put his freedom at risk, but was ultimately exonerated. He, as you can imagine, is a very strong supporter of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden and others, who are revealing crimes of the American deep-state. Anyway, I’ll get on with the quote. This is what Daniel Ellsberg says: “If [Mr] Assange is extradited, no journalist in the world is safe from life imprisonment in the United States of America.” and I might add that Julian’s incarceration for more than 10 years has already had a chilling effect on journalism . We’re not finding out about current criminal behaviour and corruption by our leaders and the reason we’re not, is that journalists and publishers alike are too scared. They’re too scared they’ll end up like Julian, so they’re quiet, so in effect, the purpose of Julian Assange’s incarceration is working. That’s possibly the reason why he’s still alive. A lot of people have said to me ‘how come they don’t kill just him? That’s what they used to do.’ Well, he’s worth more alive to them because when he’s alive and he’s being brutally tortured, (and) it puts the fear of God into any investigative journalist anywhere in the world, talking about criminal behaviour and corruption in government and we’re now at the point where the leaders of countries, who we’ve commonly criticised for their suppression of free media and they’re laughing at us. They’re laughing at us because we’re doing it worse than they do. We’re being more sadistic than the worst fascist regime which has ever walked this planet, so folks, as Julian says, ‘they’re after you,’ he’s just getting in the way, so you really need to think about whether you’re going to stand up for this guy and if enough of us do, I think there’s enough of our democracy, that we can change what’s happening in the world, so if you’d like to take the first little step, what I suggest you do is get the smart phone out of your pocket, bring up your favourite search engine and type in two words; “Assange petition”, and one of the first entries will be the Philip Adams petition, which now has been 605,000 signatures and is in front of our Federal Parliament and it’s also in front of the International Criminal Court in the Hague, because folks we’re not going to stop when Julian is released, we want the war criminals to take his place. The true criminals need to occupy the two metre by three metre dungeons which Julian has been placed in now for 784 days.
Ok, I’ve got some more quotes to read.
This one is from the former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Kevin Rudd says, oh by the way, Kevin Rudd was embarrassed by Wikileaks. Kevin Rudd’s behaviour was not perfect back in 2012 and when Wikileaks leaked the diplomatic cables back in 2012, it was very embarrassing for the then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, but even though he has suffered being exposed by Wikileaks, he still, supports Julian Assange. He supports Julian Assange because he knows that a democracy cannot survive without free media and this is what Kevin Rudd has to say: “If the US Prosecutors case is essentially that Mr Assange broke the law by obtaining and disclosing secret information, then I struggle to see what separates him from any journalist who solicits, obtains and publishes such information. In other words, why should Mr Assange be tried, convicted and incarcerated, while those who publically released the information, are afforded protection under provisions of the US Constitution, concerning press freedom? Ultimate responsibility for keep sensitive information secure, rests with the governments. The United States Government demonstrably failed to effectively secure the classified documents relevant to this case. The result was the mass leaking of sensitive diplomatic cables, including some [which] caused me some political discomfort at the time, however, an effective life sentence is an unacceptable and disproportionate price to pay. I would, therefore, oppose his extradition.” Thank you Kevin Rudd – a true statesman who, once his defects are revealed, he ‘owns up’ to them and says ‘I’m sorry.’ And he doesn’t want to see the head of the person who exposed him on a pike. He thinks that’s not right. That’s not what a democracy does. That’s not what free speech calls for. So thank you, Mr Rudd. I only wish Kevin Rudd would step up to the plate at the next Federal Election. We need a man like that to lead this country out of the quagmire of criminality.
The next quote I’ve got is from Greg Barns SC, Australian Barrister: “The Australian Government and all MPs, we hope, will place pressure on the US, to make it understand the treatment of an Australian citizen this way, is a not something, which should happen. Mr Rudd and Mr Carr could never be described as anti-Washington, but they clearly understand the need for Canberra to take action to prevent this grose injustice.”
The next quote is from Pamela Anderson, an actor. She came to Australia to talk to our Prime Minister, but all he did was cast disparaging comments towards her. What a pathetic individual he is. Anyway Pamela Anderson says; “He doesn’t want special treatment. He just wants to be treated like any other Australian citizen and journalist, but he has not committed any crime for which a precedent in law stands. Every Australian needs to be aware that if Julian Assange is extradited to the USA for publishing, then every other journalist and publisher of fact on the internet, is vulnerable to execution or 175 years imprisonment, simply for publishing the facts which were delivered to them by whistle blowers. The precedent, which will be established will endanger every single Australian, who dares publishes facts on the web, which expose war crimes and systematic corruption, remembering that this is exactly the state of practice of every investigative journalist, who works for the ABC, SBS, Channel 9, TEN, 7 and SKY, here in Australia. [Mr] Assange has been isolated into a smaller and smaller place, under constant surveillance in the Equadorian Embassy. Then without warning and after weeks of his shaving equipment being withheld to make him look untidy, he was literally dragged out and thrown into a van for more psychological torture. Then he was further psychologically tortured, thrown into a super-max prison with mass murderers and the most violent and brutal of humanity. It was the cruellest moment and it hurt me terribly. I could only imagine what it felt like for him. Just do the same as your party’s predecessor did with Mr Rickettsen, given a royal pardon in a Cambodian prison on espionage charges. Do as your previous leader did for James Ricketson – pick up the phone and save an Australian hero. Pick up the phone and call the president and call the Prime Minister Boris Johnson and tell them to do their part to save the peoples’ democratic right in the western world and free Julian Assange. Silence is complicity when faced with the onset of tyranny and the destruction of human rights, as this case symbolises, in the highest order. Join together and free Julian Assange and do what your people demand.” Thank you Pamela Anderson – Very fine words, thank you.
Free Julian Assange
There are two decisions. One his no extradition and the other is compensation. He needs to be compensated for 10 years of his life. As if there’s any amount of money which could compensate him for 10 years of his life. He was 39 when he was first arbitrarily detained. He’s now 49. There’s less than a month to go until his the 50th birthday.