On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to UN Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer about his assessment of Julian Assange’s condition. He says Assange has shown signs of psychological torture and that he has not seen anything as bad as the WikiLeaks founder’s case in his 20-year career. Next, we speak to former president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, on the arrest and imprisonment of Julian Assange. He describes his successor Lenin Moreno as a traitor for allowing the UK to arrest Assange. Correa says Moreno has violated asylum law and talks about corruption allegations against the current president.
" … he has not seen anything as bad as the WikiLeaks founder’s case in his 20-year career."
Considering what kinds of things went on in Abu Ghraib and Gitmo, let alone in places that don't even pretend to pay lip service to human rights, anyone making a statement like that is utterly lacking in any credibility whatsoever.
Andre: I don't think any U.N. human rights advocates would have been allowed entry to Gitmo or Abu Ghraib. Other places are war zones. He has a right not to risk his life going to such places. I do not give credibility to your assertion in the least.
I have asked before and I ask again. If this were a dissident publisher in Russia, what would the UK political and media class be saying about his being dragged out by armed police, and convicted and sentenced to jail by a judge without a jury, just three hours later, after a farce of a “trial” in which the judge insulted him and called him a “narcissist” before he had said anything in his defence? The Western media would be up in arms if that happened in Russia. Here, they cheer it on.
Julian’s personal possessions have been seized by the Ecuadoreans to be given to the US government. These include not only computers but his legal and medical papers. This is yet another example of completely illegal state action against him. Furthermore, any transfer must involve the stolen material physically transiting London, and the British government is taking no steps to prevent that, which is yet another of multiple signs of the degree of international governmental coordination behind the flimsy pretence of independent judicial action.
Peter Pavimentov • 6 hours agoThe internationally organized moves for liberating Assange make it politically more expedient to have him expire while imprisoned. He is apparently already in intensive medical care. That would solve all political complications for Britain, Sweden and the US.
The US and it's allies care not for what the UN says against them….look the US and Britain invaded Iraq which lead to the death of 100s of thousands of people….against the UN.The UN has already spoken about Assange….they brushed it off….all of them, the State and the MSM.
The MAIN target for criticism re Julian Assange should be first and foremost the AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC AND AUSTRALIAN REGIME. Assange is one of THEIR own yet very little criticism is directed against a country who portrays itself as "democratic" and "freedom loving" when in reality it totally supports – including most of the population – US Aggressions and sanctions. Assange has repeatedly pleaded for help from HIS OWN COUNTRY but he has received nothing. Worse, the so called "centre-left" including ex-PM Julia Gillard have described Wikileaks as quote "a criminal organisation". Assange's case really highlights what Australia has been for decades: a total US-British lackey and coward who is forever fearful of standing up to US Imperial terror and propaganda.
What evidence is that Assange has ever been tortured, even psychologically?
Basically he was going to be extradited to Sweden and pretty soon thereafter he was in the Equadorian Embassy.
It is true the UK authorities did not withdraw the arrest warrant, but could they really be expected to do so?
Assange would have been vastly better off if he had gone through the justice system of Sweden. All he did was delay the inevitable and probably at considerable psychological damage to himself due to self imposed isolation.
Ah, Wayne, the special rapporteur on torture for the UN human Rights Commission probably has far more expertise on this matter than you. If you haven't read the report or heard of it you've been living under a rock
And if you can't see how the Assange case in Sweden has been grossly politicised you're probably practising wilful ignorance
Read the link. The UNCHR mandates special rapporteurs because of their expertise in the field.These are the guys who determine whether torture has occurred or not
Mezler has that expertise and is far more qualified on the subject than you .
Although you probably have some knowledge on the other side of the ledger
Francesca, you are a serious and concerned individual. Dr Mapp is the very opposite of that. He's been lying about torture, and defending torturers, and telling lies about journalists for years. Here he is being questioned in parliament in 2011….
Keith Locke: Has the Government done anything to follow up on the welfare of the Afghan civilians who were mistreated and tortured on that occasion, in order to provide some form of compensation, for example, given that it was the SAS that handed them over to mistreatment at that point?
Hon Dr WAYNE MAPP: Well, the mistreating authority was in fact the United States; surely the responsibility must lie with the United States, not New Zealand.
Keith Locke: Will the Government allow an independent inquiry to be held, so that the hard-won evidence of the journalist Jon Stephenson and the evidence that the Government has can be put to independent examination, and the full facts of whether New Zealand is handing over prisoners to mistreatment or failing to follow them up properly in Afghan detention can be brought out into the public domain?
Hon Dr WAYNE MAPP: Can I say this: the New Zealand Defence Force has investigated the allegations by Mr Stephenson—particularly those relating to 2002. Those allegations have been proven to be false, and I am frankly surprised that Mr Locke continues to rely on those allegations, which have been proven to be false. I also say on this issue that the National Government—and, I would like to think, other members in this House—believes the information given to us by the New Zealand Defence Force. I believe Lieutenant General Jerry Matepārae and Lieutenant General Jones on this issue.
What happened is Assange had consensual unprotected sex. The woman later grew apprehensive and asked him to take an STD test. He foolishly refused. She then went to the police and asked them if he could be constrained to do a test. He has never been charged even in absence with rape either by the woman or the police. he was freely allowed to leave Sweden. The torturous aspect I suggest you do a little research and it'll be as clear as a bell. We all have to educate ourselves sometimes. It's well publicised that the U$ is after him and intend to lock him up in a prison hell hole until dead. Mainly for the exposure of war crimes in IRAQ.
That is your view of the alleged crime in Sweden. Obviously the Swedish authorities had a different view. And were prepared to file for extradition in the UK and a trial in Sweden.
Both countries have an independent judiciary of high repute, and Assange should have trusted that.
Gordon Dimmack
@GordonDimmack
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1h
A subscriber of mine has sent me this:
"Just spoke to Belmarsh Prison 0208 331 4400 and was told the following:
1. You can send Mr Julian #Assange a money order of up to £250.00, out of which he will be allowed £15.50 a week for in prison purchases and this: phone calls…
"Earlier this month, tech giant Microsoft announced its solution to “protect” American elections from interference, which it has named “ElectionGuard.” The election technology is already set to be adopted by half of voting machine manufacturers and some state governments for the 2020 general election. Though it has been heavily promoted by the mainstream media in recent weeks, none of those reports have disclosed that ElectionGuard has several glaring conflicts of interest that greatly undermine its claim aimed at protecting U.S. democracy.
In this investigation, MintPress will reveal how ElectionGuard was developed by companies with deep ties to the U.S. defense and intelligence communities and Israeli military intelligence, as well as the fact that it is far from clear that the technology would prevent foreign or domestic interference with, or the manipulation of, vote totals or other aspects of American election systems."
That persons who endeavour to seize the digital, published or unpublished property of nations – without permission – are likely to be caught up in a serious maelstrom.
Having read the background of Julian Assange such as on Wikipedia, I gather that Assange has a spotted and unsettled life.
He appears to have been given runaway, indeed lavish, support from assorted lawyers, Journalists, Newspapers and merry go-round cheer leaders. None of whom secretly took on nations such as USA, or Australia, or the UK.
Assange's girl Friday, Chelsea Mannering did. Julian partially did. He suffered huge difficulty with what he had done. Fearing murder on the part of the USA.
But the "supporters of Assange" – wanted to drag the unwise Julian through impossible violations of national security and determination.
No Nation of any importance is going to allow even minor breaches of security to take place. Assange ran a strange – weird – gauntlet.
Those who rubbish their own Nation, and any outsiders, are seen as treasonous. The populations of attacked Nations do not support theft and the inevitable global damage of their nation.
Julian Assange is not a typical citizen. Not a typical Australian. The Full Psychclogy of Julian is unknown. It has always been thus.
Hopefully, A less eratic future lies ahead for Assange, Chelsea, and Snowden.
One of the reasons why establishment historians and educators refuse to allow New Zealand history of British colonialisation and conquest and war in our schools, is that it might bring an understanding of the true nature of imperialism, conquest, plunder, colonialism, racism and war, that still has relevance today.
The obvious impetus for the New Zealand Wars was land – Māori had it, the British wanted it, the New Zealand Company overpromised on it. But land was not the sole cause. For a start, imperial troops were not always sympathetic to settlers’ land hunger. In 1855, Governor Thomas Gore Browne complained that many of the settlers were “insatiably greedy for land”, and when land could not be procured honestly, “still they desire to have it”.
The wars were also about power and hierarchical ideologies. The increasing number of settlers – by 1858, their population equalled that of Māori – arrived in New Zealand with deeply entrenched Victorian assumptions of racial superiority. They were certainly not willing, says O’Malley, “to defer to a bunch of people they dismissively called ‘natives’”.
@GordonDimmack
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1h
A subscriber of mine has sent me this:
1. You can send Mr Julian #Assange a money order of up to £250.00, out of which he will be allowed £15.50 a week for in prison purchases and this: phone calls…