THE HIGH Court is going to announce its decision on whether Julian Assange is going to be allowed to appeal against his extradition to the USA this morning.
Joe Brack, from the Julian Assange Defence Committee, told News Line yesterday: ‘They have limited the grounds on which he may appeal to three points, including assurances they have received from the US limiting further charges that would include the death penalty and his ability to argue First Amendment rights of freedom of speech.
‘His wife, Stella Assange, believes that these assurances have no value, mainly because the Espionage Act under which he faces 17 charges, each carrying a ten year sentence, specifically excludes a public interest defence, as does the Official Secrets Act in the UK.
‘I believe that it is a lose-lose situation for Julian Assange. If they turn down his appeal, they will extradite him. If they grant the appeal, he will suffer further incarceration at HMP Belmarsh for an indeterminate number of months, possibly years.
‘His physical and mental status is very precarious at the moment, proving that the punishment is in the process, not in any alleged criminal activity.
‘Julian Assange revolutionised online publishing with WikiLeaks and revealed irrefutable facts about the undermining of not only the working class globally by public servants and state agencies but the true effects of endless war, most notably in Iraq and Afghanistan, but inclusive of many other occupied countries.
‘He showed where our governments are spending our hard-earned money on sacrificing working people’s living standards on endless wars and currently genocide in Palestine.
‘We need lots of people outside the court tomorrow, of course.
‘But beyond that, we need the unions and the working people to come out, especially the National Union of Journalists, and to withdraw their labour until such time as Julian is set free because they are next.
‘If they get away with extraditing Julian any investigative journalist anywhere in the world will be liable for the same treatment – it is a precedent, abolishing freedom of speech and burning our Magna Carta rights.’
