Attorney Richard Roth is suing the CIA for allegedly spying on people who visited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange while in custody.
Also an update on the impending extradition of Assange from the UK to the US to face criminal charges for publishing documents the government wanted kept hidden.
Why is Assange being targeted? Has the US government weaponized its power for political purposes? And what’s his defense?
Visit The Sharyl Attkisson Store today
Unique gifts for independent thinkers
Proceeds benefit independent journalism
Thank you for this interesting and informative podcast Sheryl.
There are some inaccuracies in it however Mr Roth did correct or clarify many of them.
In brief:
1. Julian has now been detained without conviction for 13 years, 1 month and 16 days, (not 8 yrs), including under asylum in London’s Ecuadorian Embassy (6yrs, 9mths & 25 days) and then forcibly-removed to the high-security HM Belmarsh Prison (4yrs, 9mths & 28 days).
2. It was Sweden (not Switzerland) that he was being investigated over sexual misconduct. He cooperated and was never charged (the investigation was dropped, re-opened, dropped, then again re-opened, then again dropped). You are correct in pointing out that this was an attempt to smear his character which is, sadly, a common MO of the CIA.
3. The Ecuadorian Embassy in London invited the London Police to enter the Embassy and forcibly remove Julian 4yrs, 9mths & 28 days ago (not 2 years ago) after the CIA financed civil uprising in Ecuador and a new President was sworn in. As a thank you for revoking Julian’s asylum status, the US facilitated a non-repayable ‘loan’ to Ecuador of $US 4.2 billion
4. As you mentioned, there is another Assange court case happening in Spain where the CIA have been exposed for infiltrating the Ecuadorian Embassy Spanish security firm and illegally bugging the London Embassy and spying on Julian including his privileged meetings with lawyers, doctors, politicians and journalists. Mike Pompeo has refused repeated requests to appear before this court.
5. Julian was not in the US when WikiLeaks plus 5 major global media outlets simultaneously published the Collateral Murder video including The NY Times. No other journalist or publisher has been charged by the US. Therefore this indictment falls under ‘extraterritorial reach’.
6. The UK extradition request by the US is against International Law, against British and Australian law and even US law.
7. It is the 1st time the Espionage Act is being used against a foreign journalist in a foreign country (extraterritorial reach). If the US succeeds, it sets the most dangerous precedent for democracy & the free press. If The US can do it, what stops Russia, China, Libya etc … from going after foreign journalists next?
8. Here a a summary of the defence legal arguments from Stella Assange detailing why the US extradition should not happen https://t.co/gX04bWIfZJ
Kind regards,
Jodie Harrison
PR
The Assange Campaign
This is the world USA citizens now live in. Our freedoms are quietly being drained and 75% don’t even know it. The standard reaction when told is, so what “I haven’t done anything wrong”. Totally missing the point. Maybe they should be investigating those in the corrupt circle of politics who do their own leaking? Those should be spied on and investigated. OH wait, how do you spy on yourself?
When NSA leaks information on a citizen, which we now know they do, think Tucker Carlson in Russia story, how can you fight corruption when its secretly done at the very highest levels?
You need honest people with principles. All that is missing in todays society.