Julian Assange's father, John Shipton, gave an interview to the Strategic Culture Foundation recently, it has only been given coverage in Spanish, this is my English translation.
After arriving from Australia, his home country, Shipton visits several European states, including Russia, to draw public attention to the persecution of Julian Assange by the British authorities for his role as editor and author.
First, an introduction to the Assange case. Few media figures can be attributed to the transformation of international politics and the global media landscape. It could be said that Julian Assange, author, editor and founder of the Wikileaks whistleblower website (2006), is at the top level of people who change the world in the last decade.
Assange, born in Australia, has been awarded praise and respect for his real journalism that exposes massive crimes, corruption and harmful intrigues by the US government. UU. And its western allies.
One of Wikileaks' most impressive exposures was the video "Collateral Murder" (2010) that showed massive and indiscriminate fatal shootings by US troops in Iraq. Wikileaks also revealed similar war crimes committed by US troops in Afghanistan. The so-called "war on terror" of the United States and NATO was exposed as a fraud and a gigantic crime.
Assange worked with the American whistleblowers Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, the latter revealed illegal systematic global surveillance by US spy agencies against ordinary citizens and political leaders around the world in flagrant violation of human rights and the much boasted claims Washington to defend civil and international freedoms. law.
The factual powers have persecuted those who speak the truth with revenge for daring to expose their hypocrisy and their vile history. Snowden is in exile in Russia, unable to return to the United States for fear of being imprisoned for "treason." Currently, Manning is being held indefinitely in the United States because he refuses to testify against Assange. Julian Assange's innovative journalism that exposes the crimes of the government did so in such a way that many established Western media outlets could not do so by cowardly deference to the factual powers. The so-called "independent" media are now facilitating Assange's persecution by staining his reputation and ignoring his plight in prison. He has been defamed, among other slanders, as a "Kremlin agent" and a "cyber terrorist."
After almost seven years (2012-2019) confined in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he applied for political asylum to avoid arbitrary arrest by the British authorities for false claims of sexual assault (since he fell), Assange was illegally arrested in April this year for the United Kingdom. The police stormed the Ecuadorian embassy. Since then he has been detained in the maximum security prison in Belmarsh, where he is being held in isolation. He is being held indefinitely while the United States prepares a request to the British authorities to extradite him. If extradited to the United States, Assange will face charges under the Espionage Act that could result in 175 years in jail.
Belmarsh Prison in London is a special category A prison (the most severe of the four degrees of detention centers in the British criminal system). It has been used before to stop mass murderers and the most dangerous convicted terrorists. The ongoing imprisonment of Julian Assange there under confinement is absurd. It is an outrage and, however Western media outlets show little or no concern about reporting this serious violation of due process and human rights laws.
Earlier this month, on September 13, a British judge ordered Assange to be detained further, although he was to be released this week on September 22, after serving his sentence for a minor bail violation that occurred in 2012 when he fled to the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The breach of the bond is void, since the original claim of sexual assault in Sweden was withdrawn due to the lack of evidence against Assange.
Obviously, his detention is being used by the British government (no doubt at the behest of Washington) to destroy his health and his own being. At 48, his physical and mental condition deteriorates day by day under extreme conditions that amount to torture, as noted by the UN special rapporteur, Nils Melzer, after visiting the prisoner in May this year. The UN report called for the immediate release of Assange.
The following is an interview with Assange's father, John Shipton.
He is currently on a tour of European countries to highlight the serious judicial error of his son. Shipton visits Britain, Ireland, Austria, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden to campaign for Julian's immediate release. He is also traveling to Russia.
Unlike the indifference of the Western media, John Shipton says he has found great public support for Julian, demanding his freedom. Among his supporters are prominent public figures, award-winning journalist John Pilger, renowned thinker and writer Noam Chomsky, Pink Floyd singer and songwriter Roger Waters and the brave actress Pamela Anderson.
Interview
Q: Can you describe the current prison conditions for Julian and his health status?
Julian has lost 15 kilos of weight, is being held in the hospital of the maximum security prison in Belmarsh 22 hours a day in solitary confinement. Nils Melzer, United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture, visited with two experts to recognize the effects of torture. Nils' report indicated that Julian showed the effects of physical and mental torture. Since Nils' visit in May 2019, Julian continues to lose weight, now totaling 15 kilos. Nils and company describe Julian's deeply distressing condition in firm language.
Q: It is reported that he is restricted from contact with his son in prison despite having traveled from Sydney, Australia, to visit him. Is that correct?
Julian can receive two social visits of two hours per month. My visit was double booked with another one thus canceled. A week later, in the company of Ai Wei Wei, we visited Julian. Sitting in the prisoners' meeting room for 46 minutes, when they complained they told us that Julian could not be found. A couple of minutes later they brought Julian.
Q: Does Julian have restricted contact with his lawyers to prepare his defense against Britain's pending extradition case to the United States?
Yes severely. Sentenced to maximum security as a Grade B prisoner in solitary confinement, without access to a computer or library. I guess the prison library has no books on criminal law.
Q: The last development of this month, on September 13, saw a British judge ruling that Julian's detention at the Belmarsh maximum security prison in London will extend indefinitely even though he will be released on September 22 After serving his sentence for a bail violation in 2012 What is, in your opinion, objectionable about the last ruling of the British judge?
The judge, Vanessa Baraitser, rejected his request for bail on Julian's case, Baraitser who, with a bottomless ignominy, quickly rejected. In summing up his judgment, Baraitser used the phrase "likely to escape." Julian has participated in legal asylum agreements, and of which the United Kingdom is a signatory, reviewed and endorsed by 32 states in the Organization of American States, and has constantly offered Swedish prosecutors the opportunity to interview him on charges or travel to Sweden guarantees no extradition after the United States. The requests for freedom of information from Stephania Maurizi of the United Kingdom Crown Tax Service and the Swedish Crown Tax Authority revealed an irregular anti-procedural state cooperation that keeps Julian at Ecuador's embassy in London. They are no more than Mini Adolf Eichmanns, all of them are.
The Swedish prosecutor's office has had four prosecutors, two interviews, one in Sweden 2010 and 2017 at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, for nine years according to regulations that state that cases should be progressed. Reaching a man to the moon took eight years!
This is judicial and judicial insouciant malice towards Julian.
Q: What are your concerns about what could happen if your son is extradited to the United States, where he faces charges of violating the Espionage Law?
Julian will be killed in one way or another.
Q: What do you say to politicians and media figures, such as Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late US Senator John McCain, who denounces Julian as a "cyber terrorist"?
US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, jerk and scoundrel or, if he prefers, scoundrel and jerk, if memory serves, first uttered this phrase that supposedly brought Julian under the Patriot Act as a terrorist, therefore, he can be killed extrajudicially . The idiots who repeat repeat nonsense phrases that echo other nonsense with bubble head. All those morons are horrified and terrified of the truth and the facts that everyone can see and read on Wikileaks.
Q: Are you proud of your son's work as an editor and complainant? What do you see as your main achievement of your editorial work?
The achievements are many. In diplomatic cables we can read how the geopolitical world is composed and willing of people in it. We can understand what Uncle Sam wants and how the US state. UU. He gets what he wants. Many millions of people, communities and states benefit from Wikileaks, some greatly. Example, Chagos islanders in the International Court of Justice. Iraq war and Afghan archives that expose war crimes. Vault 7 exposing cyber illegalities and cyber crimes. The revelation of the "Collateral Murder" video of US war crimes in Iraq. The list of disclosures and beneficiaries is long and deep. Julian Assange and WikiLeaks are a must.
War crimes revealed, sordid practices, blackmail and bribery. Seven countries destroyed, millions of dead, rivers of blood and millions of displaced. However, only Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning, both innocent of causing harm and crime, rot in jail.
Q: Is Julian's treatment by the British and American authorities a serious warning to all citizens about the danger of the right to freedom of expression and independent media?
Yes, a bleak warning. Shut up or be crushed. What free press? The English-speaking media are homogeneous in their deceptions, prevarications and banal lies. Popular Internet search engines divert the query to corporate friends. The Facebook corporation is the embodiment of greed. All these entities need to be regulated. The states of the nations have powers, however, they do nothing but salivate about access to the data we generate ... our data.
For Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning, they are icons of oppressive state violence towards the revelation of astounding corruption and astonishing criminality.
Many talented and brave writers, commentators and filmmakers continue a furious struggle in alternative media and blogs. We thank and greet those men and women, because everyone knows, intimately, that there is no monster colder than the US oligarch and its allies.
Q: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Canberra government have refused to appeal for Julian's release despite being an Australian citizen. How do you see the lack of response from the Australian government to the case? Why are they apparently abandoned? For example, Prime Minister Morrison will visit the president of the United States, Donald Trump, this week, but reportedly plans not to raise the Assange case or request his release. Why is Morrison acting with such indifference and deference to the United States?
The Australian government is complicit. More than an accomplice since silence indicates an agreed participation. A notable exception is the former Australian Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, with the agreement of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, raising Julian with Jeremy Hunt, former UK Chancellor and Mike Pompeo, the current Secretary of State for U.S.
Q: Do you have hopes that Julian will be released in the near future? How important have public supporters such as John Pilger journalist, Pink Floyd singer and songwriter Roger Waters and actress Pamela Anderson, as well as common members of the public been for Julian's spirits.
For Julian's spirits, friends and supporters are alpha to omega of life.
Final note: For those interested in contacting John Shipton for more media interviews or details about Julian Assange's case, contact [email protected].
Other useful sources
Craig Murray expert on Torture, witnessed Assanges recent court case sham
The spanish article was a translation. [https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/09/24/theyre-murdering-my-son-julian-assanges-father-tells-of-pain-and-anguish/](This is the original in english).
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