Assange, the father in Rome: “Grotesque persecution from the English courts”. Maurizi: “Pay for having revealed the truth. Monstrous injustice”
“I saw my son Julian Assange a few days ago, in the prison of Belmarshon her wedding day with Stella Mori. After more than a decade of arbitrary detention, his health conditions are not the best, he has lost a lot of weight, the stress of the continuous struggle for freedom is felt. And now, if he is extradited to the United States, he will die in prison ”. The complaint comes from John Shiptonfather of the founder of WikiLeaks, interviewed by IlFattoquotidiano.it, during a meeting organized in Rome at the Basso Foundation, in with MicroMega, Philosophy in movement and the Center for State Reform.
Assange has been incarcerated for almost three years, from 11 April 2019, in the London maximum security prison, Belmarsh, which was to become the English ‘Guantanamo’. Indicted for making public documents testifying to the war crimes committed by US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, Assange lost his freedom on December 7, 2010. And since then he has never bought it back, while awaiting the conclusion of the complex British extradition process: the chapter was the denial of the Supreme Court on appeal against the decision by which the High Court last December 2021 had had overturned the verdict in the first instance. That is, the one who denies the extradition to the US of the Australian investigative journalist. A turnaround motivated with the belief that Washington is able to offer all guarantees to eliminate the danger of suicide during his detention. “Second Amnesty International however, these guarantees are not credible. Just as those about not sending him to the extreme prison, ADX Florence, Colorado, where criminals of the caliber of the king of drug trafficking, El Chapo Guzman, are held, as well as under the special rin regime of multiple American detention SAM, characterized from a ferocious isolation, ”he explains Stefania Mauriziinvestigative journalist collaborating with Fatto Quotidiano and one of the leading experts in the world of the case concerning the founder of Wikileaks.
“At this point the extradition request goes to the English Ministry of the Interior, driver from Priti Patela hawk minister from the Tory team of Boris Johnson. So it is very likely that it will be granted. The defense will still be able to appeal, but with what chances? ”, Maurizi continues. Still, Julian Assange’s father John Shipton doesn’t intend to give up: “We have to up the ante and fight even harder for Julian’s release. And insist that the English Court, applying its own laws, release Julian on bail before the next hearing. And then we’ll take the case to the European Court of Human Rights, ”he adds. Also because, in the event of extradition to the United States, with 18 chargesincluding the accusation of espionage, the activist risks 175 years in prison. “A grotesque persecution that has been going on for 13 years already. The choice to grant extradition would bring dishonor to the judges, it would be a stain in the administration of the law ”, reiterates Shipton.
“Julian Assange risks becoming the first journalist in US history to pay life-long imprisonment for only disclosing important documents, such as the true face of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and those 15 thousand civilian deaths and innocents never counted in official accounts of the Iraqi conflict. A monstrous injustice against which we have a duty to mobilize ”, is the appeal of Maurizi, who explains instead of“ not having faith in the legal process ”. His father, J0hn, also appeals to public opinion: “If I expected the election of Joe Biden as president of the United States in place of Donald Trump Could it change the fate of the case and represent a turning point? No, US policies remain for decades and decades, and right now the line remains to haunt Assange and other whistleblowers and publishers. Only with the activism of journalists, editors and public opinion itself can change be achieved, ”adds Shipton.
While Maurizi recalls: ”The indictment of Assange was promoted by Trump. In administrations Obamainstead, he had evaluated himself, but he had never done so. Today, however, Biden will not close the case “. A choice already hardly contested by Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst who spent many nights covertly photocopying thousands of top secret pages that revealed how the American authorities lied to their citizens about the Vietnam War and how they required thousands of young Americans to die. “The president could close the case at any time, within an hour. It is a shame that Biden is still pursuing Assange, ”he had attacked Daniel Ellsberg, interviewed by Maurizi herself. “You are right, it will have a devastating effect,” explains the journalist. A position shared by Sara Chessareporter in England following the case for Independent Australia and an activist for NGO project for free speech: “If he is extradited, it will be a defeat for everyone. The principle according to which we can be deceived by our governments on important facts such as war would pass, without the question of our interest ”. “Don’t stop mobilizing to get my son released. There is only one way to freedom and that is knowledge. We need press freedom, there is no other way, ”is Shitpton’s final appeal.