Morning Star, September 25, 2024
Julian Assange on board a flight to Bangkok, Thailand, following his release from prison, June 25, 2024
JULIAN ASSANGE will address the Council of Europe next week to give evidence following a report highlighting the implications of his detention on human rights and the freedom of journalism.
The Pace inquiry report found that the WikiLeaks founder qualified as a political prisoner and called on Britain to conduct an independent review into whether he was exposed to inhuman or degrading treatment while incarcerated.
Thorhildur Sunna Avarsdottir, report author and general rapporteur for political prisoners, emphasises how Mr Assange’s case is a high-profile example of transnational repression.
The report discusses how governments employ legal and extra-legal measures to suppress dissent across borders, posing significant threats to press freedom and human rights.
Mr Assange will give testimony before the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights on October 1, making it his first since before his imprisonment in 2019.
Campaigners have said that his appearance before Europe’s foremost human rights and treaty-setting body emphasises the broader implications of his case.
Peace and Justice Post 
Shame of US Justice
January 12, 2011By Yvonne Ridley, Foreign Policy Journal, Jan 10, 2011
America’s international standing as a fair and just country does not match its superpower status as the world’s greatest democracy.
When it comes to basic human rights it is there in the gutter alongside some of the world’s most toxic, tinpot dictatorships and authoritarian regimes.
So there’s little surprise that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange fears being extradited to The States where some politicians and Pentagon officials have already called for his execution and Attorney General Eric Holder admits his government may invoke the US Espionage Act.
But it’s not just the persecution and the prosecution Assange should fear, either – the wheels of justice can be agonizingly slow in a process which could take years. And in the case of the Guantanamo detainees there is no end in sight – the majority of them have not been charged but simply forgotten.
Having stepped inside US prisons – both military and civilian – I can tell you there is nothing civilized about the penal institutions in the United States.
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Tags:Bradley Manning, Human rights, Julian Assange, prisoners, U.K., United States, Wikileaks, Yvonne Ridley
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