Speech by Adriana, 2nd April
Well hello Sydneysiders. We are the Julian Assange Town Hall Gathering and we’re gathered here every Friday to let you know what’s going on with Julian Assange, Australian publisher, journalist, who is in prison in Belmarsh. This is a high security prison for terrorists, and it is in London. The reason why an Australian journalist and publisher, who has committed no crimes anywhere in the world, is in a prison in the UK, is because our ally – our friends, the Americans – have decided that they want to make him an example to all other journalists. They don’t like what Julian Assange has written. They don’t like the fact that he has disclosed war crimes, committed by the Americans. They don’t like the fact that he shows independence and integrity. What they prefer is mainstream journalists, who simply write for the Telegraph and other media like that, and they really don’t care about the truth. They prefer those kinds of journalists, but not Julian Assange.
You might recall that Julian assisted in the disclosure and publication of a very important historical video, which is all true because the Americans recorded it, showing how they assassinated people in Iraq, including children, and including Reuters Journalists. That is the reason why Julian Assange is in prison in the UK.
But not everyone puts up with the Americans’ attempts to silence us, so we have very courageous world leaders, courageous institutions, human rights institutions; courageous journalists and they are all writing to our representatives, asking that they take effective action to secure Julian Assange’s release. I want to share with you, one of the so-many representations and submissions made to the UK Government by such courageous people. This one is called a Request for Compassionate Release of Julian Assange. It is addressed to the Prime Minister of England, Mr Boris Johnson and also the UK Commons Justice Committee and it states the following:
As current and former elected representatives in democracies committed to human rights, the presumption of innocence and the rule of law, we wish to support the urgent appeal sent to you by Australian MPs Andrew Wilkie and George Christensen, who wrote:
We ask that you urgently reconsider providing Mr Assange with release from Belmarsh Prison to monitored home detention, as he fits all of the grounds noted for such early release by leading organisations as the World Health Organisation, the United Nations and the UK Prison Officers Association. These organisations have been unanimous in calling for the release of all non-violent COVID-19 prisoners, and we ask that you give compassionate consideration to the following:
Mr Assange, our acclaimed journalist, Nobel prize nominee, Australian, is a non-violent remand prisoner with no history of harm to the community. He is not convicted, and he is entitled to the presumption of innocence.
[Adriana’s speech continues in her own words] A lot about the presumption of innocence has been heard recently in Australia, about a Mr Porter. Mr Porter, we’re told, is entitled to the presumption of innocence. He was our Attorney General, until recently.
It sounds a little bit ironic, doesn’t it?, that that same presumption of innocence is not given to Julian Assange. How is that?, we say. How come Mr Porter is entitled to the presumption of innocence, but not so Julian Assange, who has never been convicted of any crimes? The allegations against him are simply for very good journalism. He is an investigative journalist. He’s done a great job, so he’s in prison because of that.
I’ll continue reading from this letter anyway.
Doctors of Mr Assange warn he is at high risk from dying if he contracts COVID-19, as he has a pre-existing chronic lung condition.
[Adriana continues with her own comments] Now if you know someone is at a high risk of dying and you do nothing, you are complicit in that person’s death, if the person dies. We say that to the Government of Australia. We say if you know Mr Assange might die in Belmarsh, and you do nothing about it to assist him – a fellow Australian – where you have a duty as our Government to assist and to provide diplomatic protection, we say if Julian Assange dies, we are complicit in his death.
Doctors for Assange, a very reputable organisation, with hundreds of doctors internationally, of all specialities [have told our government, which should take heed and they should do something about this quickly}. We mustn’t allow an Australian citizen [and] Journalist to die in [Belmarsh Prison].
[Adriana reverts back to one line of the letter] We are advised that COVID-19 is rapidly spreading throughout UK prisons, and that there are infections [and at least one death] at Belmarsh Prison.
[Adriana continues with her comments about the letter] Now, with that information, clearly we should be taking action. But we are not; because our Government does not want to embarrass the US. Our Government and Mr Morrison does not want to embarrass the US, but we say we have a special relationship with the US. We are allies and when you are an ally, when you are friends, you can talk openly about matters with your friend. You can tell them: Look guys, there’s some problem here. We really need you to release Assange. We really need you to review this silly extradition request and we need [you to behave like] a friend and ally and let Assange go back home. We want Assange to be back in Australia, with his family and with his kids. He is a journalist. He is a publisher. He’s not a criminal. He should never have been prosecuted by the US
[Adriana reverts back to one line of the letter] Mr Assange is in poor mental health due to spending so much time in solitary confinement over recent years, and prison COVID-19 lockdown measures are further undermining his mental health.
[Adriana continues with her comments about the letter] Imagine that. You, me, anyone in solitary confinement, day after day, night after night, for close to two years. That is torture. It is something you should not do to an animal. If someone did that to an animal, they would be picked up and prosecuted, but we have Julian Assange in solitary confinement for close to two years.
The people who wrote this very courageous letter to the UK Government are asking that:
… you give further consideration to the very reasonable request by Mr Assange’s lawyers that this non-violent Australian prisoner be released into home detention with a 24-hour ankle monitor.” [if they wish]
[Adriana continues her comments about the letter] Give him a chance to gain the weight that he’s lost. He’s lost 15 kilos in that prison. Fifteen kilos. Mr Assange is in really poor condition at the moment in Belmarsh and we should be acting to protect his life, to maintain his life, to secure his integrity, his right to health, like we do with everyone here in Australia.
[Adriana reads the names of the signatories] The letter has been written by:
Dr Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, former Member of the Legislative Council of NSW, Australia
Clare Daly, Member of the European Parliament, Republic of Ireland
Andrew Feinstein, former Member of the African National Congress, South Africa
Mike Gravel, former US Senator, United States
Heike Hänsel, Member of the German Bundestag, Germany
Eva Joly, former Member of the European Parliament, France
Ogmundur Jonasson, former Member of the Icelandic Parliament, Iceland
Ron Paul, former US Congressman, United States
Yanis Varoufakis, Member of the Greek Parliament, Greece
Mick Wallace, Member of the European Parliament, Republic of Ireland
Chris Williamson, former Member of Parliament, United Kingdom
[Adriana continues with her comments on the letter] So many parliamentarians from all over the world say, “Enough is Enough!” Let’s release Assange. Let’s, in fact, allow him to recover. Let him go back to his family. Stop this nonsense. Stop this dreadful and embarrassing prosecution of an Australian journalist, of an Australian publisher. He has won so many international awards for journalism. He has been nominated more than eight times for the Nobel prize, both in literature and journalism and why? Because he’s a tremendous Australian – someone I am very proud to call a co-Australian, co-citizen of this country. We need him free. We need our Government to accept responsibility for his wellbeing. Let’s get Julian Assange back home.
Please sign the petition that is in Change.org. It is a petition that has more than 600,000 – 600,000 signatures from all over the world – a good chunk of those signatures come from here in Australia. Please sign the petition to have Julian Assange released. At the moment that petition is tabled in our parliament and it will have to come up and be discussed and be argued in parliament; and also the 600,000 signature petition is before the International Criminal Court, because what we say is that a crime has been committed against Mr Assange and the crime is one of slowly killing him. That’s what they’re doing. They’re trying to slowly kill Mr Assange. They’re trying to silence someone’s freedom of speech. They’re trying to silence someone who speaks for each of us, for our right to [keep] our government accountable. They’re trying to silence someone who is an honest journalist. That is what Assange is – a brilliant, honest journalist and because of that, because he made public war crimes committed by the US, he’s being persecuted for over 10 years. That is not fair. We say enough is enough! It is actually shameful. It should not continue.
Please sign the petition. Go to change.org.au. Write to your parliamentarian. Tell them you don’t like what’s happening. Tell them it’s not how we are in Australia. We are aware now of what’s happening. We don’t like the fact that they’re slowly killing an Australian citizen in Belmarsh prison. Tell your parliamentarian that you will remember next time he or she comes up for election, whether or not they’ve done something about Julian Assange. If they didn’t, don’t vote for them. If they haven’t assisted in his release, don’t vote for that person. They don’t deserve your vote. They don’t deserve to be your representative. Please remember you have the power to choose those who protect freedom of expression; freedom of the press. You have the power to elect those who will do something to save Julian Assange. Thank you.
Adriana’s second speech, 2nd April
So hello everyone. This is Good Friday and of course. We remember Christian values and we try to, in fact, behave like good Christians. We want to tell you a little bit about some recent news, from the head of the Catholic Church.
[She reads the article] According to Consortium News, Pope Francis delivered a message of support last Sunday to Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange, after a hard night in Belmarsh Prison, according to a statement tweeted by Assange’s partner Stella Morris.
“After a hard night, Julian [Mr Assange] woke up this morning, to a kind personal message from Pope Francis, delivered to his cell door, by the prison priest. Our family wishes to express our gratitude, to the many Catholics and other Christians, campaigning for his freedom,” she tweeted.
The Pope’s message was sent on Palm Sunday, the Christian celebration of Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem, which takes place a week before Easter.
[Ms] Morris did not disclose the content of the Pontiff’s message. The Vatican considers such missives private and will not confirm or deny their existence, according to Rome reports. Pope Francis reportedly sent a similar message to imprisoned former President of Brazil Lula da Silva, in 2018.
During the extradition hearing, the court heard that [Mr]Assange had been in contact with the Samaritans, a suicide prevention organisation, began by a vicar, and had been given absolution from a Catholic priest, in preparation for his death.
[Mr] Assange remains imprisoned in HMP Belmarsh in London, despite the case for extradition to the United States having been denied in January, on grounds that he was at high risk of taking his life. Judge Vanessa Baraitser then refused the journalist bail, while the US, under the Donald Trump administration, appealed Baraitser’s decision. The appeal was continued by the incoming Joe Biden administration, earlier this year.
Biden, a practicing Catholic, had previously said the WikiLeaks founder was more like a “high-tech terrorist,” than a teller of truth.
As a member of his flock, the Pope should consider delivering an Easter message this Sunday to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Biden needs to hear from the leader of his faith, that he should allow [Mr] Assange to be reunited with Morris and their two children and that he has suffered enough for fulfilling his duty, as a journalist, to tell the truth.
“Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?,” Paul wrote in Galatians 4:16.
The Pope might also quote to Biden Proverbs 12:19: The lip of truth shall be established forever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.
If extradited [Mr] Assange faces up to 175 years in solitary confinement, in an American dungeon, on charges stemming from Wikileaks’ revelation of classified material, including evidence of war crimes committed by the United States.
[Adriana continues her comments on the article] We thank Pope Francesco (Francis) for his kind words to Julian Assange and to his family, but we say that every single Catholic, every single Christian person should now be writing to their parliamentarians, to their representatives anywhere they are, both in their church, as well as in politics.
They should be writing to state parliamentarians, federal parliamentarians, to our priests and so-fourth.
They should take active participation in their Christian organisations and they should demand that Julian Assange be freed.
This is a special week for us. We should use this week, not only to pray for Mr Assange, but also to demand that our representatives secure his release. Enough is enough. Let’s not continue this shameful, fraudulent extradition proceeding. Let’s look deep into our hearts and say we’ve made this man suffer enough. Bring him home. Release him to his family. I plead to you Mr Morrison, to do so. I plead to you Mr Biden, to do so.
The letter, entitled Request for Compassionate Release of Julian Assange, stated that the director of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention warned of a second wave of coronavirus during influenza season. We stress that even those vulnerable prisoners, such as Julian Assange, who survive the current crisis remain at risk. It was published on June 15, 2020 in the Centre for Research on Globalisation
Talk by Adriana: 9.4.21
We are commemorating two years of wrongful imprisonment of Julian Assange in Belmarsh high security prison – a prison built for terrorists. Julian Assange is a journalist, completely innocent. We’re extremely proud of being an Australian like Julian Assange.
We’re extremely proud of his integrity, his honesty, the fact that he has actually given his life, his profession for the truth, to disclose the truth and to set up this wonderful facility called Wikileaks, where journalists, investigators, researchers and citizens in common, download and [obtain] information that is normally privileged by governments, simply because it discloses war crimes, government corruption and abuse.
So it is two years that we are commemorating now, of this fateful day, where Ecuador basically sold Assange for $4.2 billion… It’s a huge sum and it’s simply a way of selling a human being to those who are in power. We condemn that. We condemn the fact that our government has done nothing to secure Assange’s release, and in that way our Government has been complicit in the fact that Assange is slowly being killed in prison.
I’d like to read this quote that relates to the job of Assange and it’s from Professor Nils Melzer, the United Nations Rapporteur on torture 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 interest, both of the American people and of humanity as a whole.”
So I want to say that to Mr Biden, to remind him of this. He says he’s a Democrat. I ask Mr Biden to review this prosecution, to review this endless persecution of Julian Assange, to remind himself of what Professor Nils Melzer has said and to basically say “enough is enough.” Let’s put an end to this embarrassing prosecution. Let’s bring Julian back home. Thank you.