Je Suis Assange (2024)

Kamera: Zenza Bronica SQ-Ai

Linse: Zenzanon PS 50mm

Film: Ilford Delta 100 @ ISO 100

Kjemi: Rodinal (1:25 / 9 min. @ 20°C)

 

Friday 15 March 2024: I have a little story about Julian Assange (b. 1971) and WikiLeaks from the time when I had UN-affiliated assignments in the occupied West Bank (2007-2011), Palestine. Early in 2010, there was released a classified video of the 12 July 2007 Baghdad airstrike with Apache helicopters on WikiLeaks - a video that completely horrified the world and exposed US military conduct and war crimes in Iraq for everyone to see. I can still remember the video - «Keep shoot ’ n. Keep shoot ’ n. Keep shoot ’n»

 

Later that same year, in December, us norwegians were going to have a Christmas dinner at the base together. We were going to be accompanied by embassy personnel who would be celebrating together with us. The Embassy brought us chocolate courtesy of the Swedish King Cral Gatsuf Gustf Carl Gustaf XVI. Kind of insensitive to bring to a Norwegian Christmas dinner, I thought - but what the hell. As a Christmas gift I received a small Tea tray made by Palestinian school children, which I still have and use. After some formalities and speeches we started eating and small-talking as you do. The big theme when conversing with the embassy personnel that year was WikiLeaks. Just a few days before, WikiLeaks had released a massive amount of diplomatic material, now known as Cablegate. I remember the fear and the squirming of the embassy personnel; they were so afraid of secret embassy documents potentially going public; and they could not know if there was any incriminating material there at the time or not. They really felt helpless. Revealed. Personally, I thought «Good on them».

 

WikiLeaks was truly revolutionary. I wish something like this could happen again today. From Israel I only knew about their leaked Koenig Memorandum from 1976, but that was way before everyone started being dependent on the internet and electronic documents. But that is exactly why I think Julian Assange should be set free. People have a right to know what is going on. What the politicians - who we are voting for - are doing. What our militaries are doing. I want to know the full truth behind the US politics in regards to Gaza, Israel and Palestine right now. I want to know who those Israeli bastards are who are responsible for and committing massacre after massacre on crowds of starving Palestinians awaiting humanitarian aid; day after day.

 

History will remember Julian Assange as perhaps the world’s most revolutionary journalist that ever lived. Justice for Julian.

 

*PS: If you are wondering about the number my colleague is holding up in the picture - that’s Julian’s prisoner number in Belmarsh Prison.

 

 

Richard Medhurst: Why the US is trying to imprison Julian Assange and why you should care (publ. 7 March 2024):

 

 

My name is Richard Medhurst - I’m a British journalist and I've been covering Julian Assange's extradition for 4 years. I was in the courtroom this week for his latest hearing, so let me tell you what happened and why you should care about this case. But first some key facts: Julian Assange (b. 1971) is an Australian journalist in the United Kingdom and the founder of WikiLeaks. He published documents that were given to him by a US Soldier called Chelsea Manning (b. 1987) which showed us war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and much more.

 

Now the United States want to extradite Assange from the UK to America and put him on trial for publishing these classified documents. They're threatening him with 175 years in prison and the reason this case is so serious is because it essentially makes journalism illegal. The United States claimed that Assange asked Manning for classified documents and that this is a crime - it's not! They're saying that if you possess and publish the documents that this is also a crime - it's not! Asking for classified documents; protecting sources - these are things that journalists do every single day around the world - but because these files were so embarrassing to the United States, they're threatening Assange with almost two centuries in prison; and to do it they're accusing him of being a ‘spy’ and being a ‘hacker’ and have charged him with 17 counts under the Espionage Act and one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.

 

The goal here is to make an example out of him; to make other journalists afraid to publish things that the public have a right to know. If extradited Assange would be put in the worst prison conditions imaginable; called special administrative measures or SAMs - this is basically solitary confinement with no contact allowed with other prisoners; barely any contact with your family - it is internationally recognized as torture - and he would be sent to the worst prison in America - ADX Florence; a Super Maximum Security Prison.

 

In January 2021 a British judge Vanessa Baraitser, she actually blocked Assange's extradition because US prison conditions would be so oppressive in his current state as to drive him to suicide. However, although she blocked the extradition on health grounds, she agreed with all of the political bogus charges. I was in court for all of these hearings and I was there when when these smears were debunked by literally dozens of expert witnesses. But the judge still chose to agree with the United States. She chose to criminalize journalism in Britain and America and agree with these claims that Assange is a ‘hacker’ and a ‘spy’.

 

Now after this, the United States went to the English High Court. They appealed the ruling (because she blocked the extradition on health grounds) and they won. And they won by giving empty, garbage promises that they would treat Assange well in the United States. Even though the US have a history of violating extradition promises; I exposed this when I published classified documents from the David Mendoza case. Now after the US had succeeded, all they needed was one thing - a signature from the Home Secretary - and she allowed the extradition to go ahead.

 

So this is everything that happened between 2020 and 2024, and that brings me to this week's hearing. Assange's lawyers basically asked for permission to appeal two things:

 

The first is the ruling from 2021. They're saying: Yes, the judge was correct to block Assange's extradition on health grounds, but she was wrong to agree with all these political charges that call him a ‘hacker’ and a ‘spy’. This is undemocratic, it criminalizes journalism, and it doesn't take into account the fact that these files that Assange published, they expose enormous US war crimes that the public have a right to know about. The judge, she also agreed with the United States’ assertion that Assange had ‘harmed’ the names of informants and spies, even though the US military already investigated this when they court-martialled Chelsea Manning (b. 1987); the one who gave Assange the documents. And the US military found that no one, not a single person, has ever been harmed by these publications.

 

And this US claim that Julian Assange, you know, he simply copied and pasted all these documents without ever censoring or redacting names, just isn't true. I listened and watched

many journalists testify to the court, how they spent countless hours sitting down with Assange and redacting names.

 

Assange's lawyers are also arguing that the judge in the lower court failed to undertake a balancing act: She just accepted blindly the United States’ premise that all these informants - who were never harmed - are more important than the people killed and tortured by the United States. I mean, this is tantamount to saying: Yeah, the United States should be allowed to continue committing these crimes in secret. It's okay for them to butcher people in Iraq and Afghanistan and the public have no right to know.

 

But even if what the United States is saying is true, these documents were not published first by Assange. John Young, the owner of a website called cryptome.org, testified to the court - he said: «I am the one who published these documents first, the United States never prosecuted me and never asked me to take them down.» This shows you that the whole case against Assange is selective, political, and has nothing to do with the law.

 

Remember now, Julian Assange is a journalist, a publisher. He is not a government employee. He is not a soldier. He has never signed a contract that binds him to government secrecy. He is under no obligation to be quiet. Julian Assange isn't even from the United States! He has never lived or worked there. The Espionage Act that they're using to charge him with was also created during World War I, in 1917! And it's always been used as a political tool. It was used against Eugene Debs (1855-1926), for example, or whistleblowers like Daniel Ellsberg (1931-2023) and Edward Snowden (b. 1983), who exposed the extent of the US war in Vietnam and NSA mass surveillance. If you're charged under the Espionage Act, you're also forbidden from arguing a public interest defense. That means even if you expose colossal government crimes, you still go to prison.

 

So that is regarding the first part of the appeal. Now, the second part of the appeal that Assange's lawyers made this week, was that the Home Secretary was wrong to allow the extradition. She knew there is a high likelihood that Assange could be killed in the US. The United States could give him additional charges once he's in America. They could even give him the death penalty. In court, the US lawyers didn't even bother pretending otherwise. But it is illegal in Britain to send someone to another country when you know that they could be given the death penalty. It's against the law. And even if there's no death penalty, at 50 years old, if you give Assange 30 years in prison it's akin to a death sentence. So how could the home secretary agreed to send Assange to a foreign country that so clearly wants him dead?

 

Mike Pompeo (b. 1963), who back then was head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and then president Donald Trump (b. 1946), they together began this legal case against Julian Assange, and they even drew up plans to kidnap or assassinate him in London. Donald Trump has also called for Julian Assange to be given the death penalty in the past.

 

- WikiLeaks, you had nothing to do with the… WikiLeaks?

- No, but I think it’s disgraceful.

- Do you think it’s disgraceful?

- I think there should be like death penalty or something.

 

Mike Pompeo has said Assange has ‘no First Amendment rights’. All these political denunciations of Assange and WikiLeaks were then followed with real threats against him and his family.

 

- It's time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is: A non-state hostile intelligence service …

 

Assange is not being accused of bank robbery or you know, arson. He’s just a journalist. Now, the United States can claim all they want that this is ‘espionage’, but guess what? Espionage is a political offense. It is forbidden to extradite someone for a political offense under the US-UK Extradition Treaty 2003, section 4.

 

Now the Extradition Act, which is the implementation of the treaty inside British law, is somehow missing this section… That's because this law was passed during the ‘War on Terror’ in 2003. It allows the US a blank check to just snatch people, drag them to America and throw them in prison for no reason. No matter how you look at this case, it is illegal and it is unfair.

 

The United States want to prosecute Julian under US law, but at the same time deny him any protections under US law? He has no free speech? How can you say he has no First Amendment rights, as a foreign national, and then prosecute him as a foreign national outside the US? You can't apply half of US law to Julian Assange. That's unfair.

 

And if you look at the European Convention on Human Rights, which again, this is included in British law through the Human Rights Act, you find that Julian Assange's rights are being violated; almost every single one. Article 5 protects you from arbitrary detention. Because this is a political case, it's a violation of the extradition treaty to send Julian to America. And

therefore he has no reason to be in prison. It's illegal.

 

Number six, article 6 gives you the right to a fair trial. This is already violated because we know the United States spied on Julian's conversations with his lawyers. They stole laptops and collected medical records and legal records. And could use this in court - but that's tainted evidence. This is illegal. Any judge - any real judge in the world would have thrown this out from day one.

 

We also know that he will not get a fair trial if he's sent to America because the jury is made up of people who work in the CIA and have friends and family working in the intelligence community. These are the same people whose crimes Julian Assange exposed. The court in Virginia that issued these Espionage charges and will hold this trial is used specifically for that reason because the government know they can't lose. It's already guaranteed that he's going to get convicted and go to prison. The United States could even use secret evidence against Julian Assange, that he wouldn't even be able to see because it's ‘classified’.

 

Article 7 protects you from being punished retroactively for something that wasn't a crime when you did it. Now Julian Assange is being prosecuted for something that's unprecedented, no journalist in America has ever been prosecuted, let alone convicted for publishing classified documents. This case criminalizes journalism and therefore also violates article 10 which guarantees freedom of expression.

 

Assange's lawyers spoke a lot about the European Convention on Human Rights because it's incorporated into British law, meaning the country has to follow it. Not only that, but they hinted at this to sort of tell the judges that: If you don't give us permission to appeal, we're going to go to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, and they're going to look down on this court's decision, on the fact that you didn't allow us to appeal.

 

The court in Strasbourg is going to see these US crimes were real, they were happening on the ground at the time, and by publishing these documents Assange altered the United States’ behavior. These helicopter massacres that you see in the ‘Collateral Murder’ video stopped, the Iraq war came to an end, but you see while all of this plays out in court, Assange is slowly dying.

 

He was put in Belmarsh Prison on purpose by the security state. Belmarsh Prison is nicknamed ‘Britain's Guantanamo Bay’. It is the worst prison in England and notorious for housing violent criminals and terrorists, not journalists like Assange, convicted of a bail infraction or held on remand pending extradition. There is no reason for him to be in prison, never mind in a maximum security facility, locked up 23 hours a day. And before being taken to Belmarsh, Assange was forced to go to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and seek political asylum. He stayed in what was basically a minuscule apartment for 7 years because he feared the United States would try to grab him and take him to America, very much as you're seeing now. As a result, Julian's health has declined greatly. He is in poor physical and mental shape because of this persecution and has been deprived of a normal family life. And the times that I saw him in court, he really did not look well.

 

The United Nations have a working group that ruled: This is tantamount to arbitrary detention. Many UN experts agree that Assange's human rights have been violated and the conditions he was put in both inside the embassy and in Belmarsh amount to torture. The aim of the United States is to kill him, either in the US or slowly killing him in an English prison and having him jumping back and forth from one court to the next.

 

Unfortunately, this is how we treat journalists in Britain and the United States. The media could have easily launched a campaign and public appeal to free Assange, but have chosen to do nothing. All these outlets that profited greatly from working with Assange, but are now silent when he needs them should be ashamed of themselves. And I'm talking about The Guardian, The New York Times, Der Spiegel, Le Monde. This is because they lack integrity and they lack courage, and Assange reminds them that they are not real journalists.

 

This case is so damning to the political and media establishment that they're conducting it like a secret trial in a kangaroo court. I'm telling you, and I've attended all these hearings, they make it difficult for journalists to get access, they make it difficult for journalists to get inside, they make it difficult for Reporters Without Borders and other NGOs to observe the case, they make it difficult for for politicians, MEPs that have come from overseas, to attend the case. They make it difficult for people to hear or see anything if they're attending remotely or they're just next door in an overflow room. To me, this is unacceptable for an advanced, developed country, and one that claims to be committed to open justice, it's absolutely inadmissible. And many people speculate that they're doing this on purpose, because they know deep down that this persecution and prosecution are immoral and illegal.

 

Now we don't know how the High Court will rule, but if they deny Julian permission to appeal, his lawyers can temporarily block the US from putting him on a plane with a ‘Rule 39 order’ and then take his case to the European Court of Human Rights. The problem is that this again can take years to play out, all the while, Assange’s life hangs in the balance because the United Kingdom locked him up in a maximum security prison on behalf of the US.

 

This case is without question the biggest attack on free speech and journalism on the planet. I am here as a witness to warn you that if we do nothing, journalism is going to die. Julian Assange is the most famous political prisoner in the world, but time is running out. I've made this video precisely so that anyone can understand this case and then share it far and wide for others to also learn about the case. So please make sure that you do that.

 

And if you want more detailed reporting on the previous stages in this extradition case, I have videos and playlists on my YouTube channel covering every single day of the court proceedings as they unfolded in the Old Bailey, then the High Court and so on. And I've also got interviews with the Assange’s family, lawyers and more.

Done