June 12, 2024 — Unedited from Assange campaign, by email:
| This morning we woke to the news of Julian Assange’s final appeal date. Britain’s Judicial Office has announced that the appeal will take place on 9 and 10 July 2024. |
| In May, the UK High Court granted Julian the right to an appeal. The court found that a US diplomatic note was not enough to guarantee that Julian would not be discriminated against for being an Australian Citizen in relation to his freedom of expression rights. |
| Now a date has been set, for what will be a two-day hearing that cuts to the very core of this unprecedented attack on the human rights of not just Julian, but everyone in the United Kingdom and beyond who publishes facts about state criminality of the highest order. The UK High Court now has a chance to rule on the right side of history and stop Julian being extradited to what the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has said would be conditions that amount to torture. |
CarrZee notes: The US claims Assange broke the law when he revealed war crimes that were deliberately hidden from the world’s people, including state secrets.
The timing of these “final” hearings is suspicious because they fall a few days after the UK elections on July 4, where the Labour Party’s Keir Starmer is set to become prime minister, according to polls.
(I’m running against Starmer’s party as an independent for the Cities of London and Westminster constituency, so … warning — I may be biased. Any election content is authorised by and for me, Bow, East London — PO box paid for with Royal Mail and pending).
The key fact and context to know is that Starmer was deeply involved in Assange’s prosecution when he was director of public prosecution.
Lawmakers and the judiciary should have separation of powers under our democratic system of government … so each arm of government separately protects the people and so they scrutinize each other… they should not work against the people and gang up on them.
This decision smacks of a judiciary doing the bidding of the lawmakers/ the executive.
It’s unacceptable.
The hearings should take place before the British election, if possible, so that Starmer can be held to account and so the British judiciary does not end up in a situation such as that in the US, where presidential hopeful Donald Trump faces several pieces of litigation ahead of November’s vote.
The UK judiciary have failed so far, in my opinion, to properly undertake an assessment process that balances the societal benefits that Assange achieved via his whistleblowing vs his alleged crimes.
One other view:
I will give Starmer a chance to comment via X as soon as I publish this update … put out these notes on the context.
(More to come)
