Category: The Saga Explained

On March 13 publications reported

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the release of former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who has been incarcerated since May for refusing to testify to a grand jury.

U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga ordered Manning’s release from jail after prosecutors reported that the grand jury that subpoenaed her has disbanded.

The judge left in place more than $256,000 in fines he imposed for her refusal to testify to the grand jury, which is investigating WikiLeaks. The fines had been accumulating at a rate of $1,000 a day.

Read articles in
Politico
Aljazerra
New York Times
any many many others

On March 11 2020 Chelsea Manning’s Legal Team issued a statement

Alexandria, VA — On Wednesday, March 11, 2020, Chelsea Manning attempted to take her own life. She was taken to a hospital and is currently recovering. 

Ms. Manning is still scheduled to appear on Friday for a previously-calendared hearing, at which Judge Anthony Trenga will rule on a motion to terminate the civil contempt sanctions stemming from her May, 2019 refusal to give testimony before a grand jury investigating the publication of her 2010 disclosures. 

In spite of those sanctions — which have so far included over a year of so-called “coercive” incarceration and nearly half a million dollars in threatened fines — she remains unwavering in her refusal to participate in a secret grand jury process that she sees as highly susceptible to abuse.   

Ms. Manning has previously indicated that she will not betray her principles, even at risk of grave harm to herself. 

Writing in a 2019 letter to Judge Trenga, Ms. Manning said: “I object to this grand jury … as an effort to frighten journalists and publishers, who serve a crucial public good. I have had these values since I was a child, and I’ve had years of confinement to reflect on them. For much of that time, I depended for survival on my values, my decisions, and my conscience. I will not abandon them now.” 

Her actions today evidence the strength of her convictions, as well as the profound harm she continues to suffer as a result of her ‘civil’ confinement — a coercive practice that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, recently said violates international law. 

Prior to her current incarceration, Ms. Manning served seven years in a military prison under unusually difficult conditions, including eleven months of solitary confinement. 

For more information about Chelsea’s ongoing legal situation visit: https://ReleaseChelsea.com

Read Chelsea’s letter to Judge Anthony Trenga HERE

Read more about the UN Rapporteur on Torture’s letter calling for her release HERE

Original Post from Sparrow Media

Posted 24th February 2020 – RT Documentary on YouTube

The fate of Julian #Assange will soon be decided, as he prepares to fight for his freedom in a landmark extradition hearing in London. The US wants to get its hands on the #WikiLeaks founder in what the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture called “the collective persecution” by a group of “democratic” states. If convicted, Assange could face decades in a US jail. In April 2019, Julian Assange was dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy and sent to Belmarsh Prison for breaching his bail terms.

Through WikiLeaks, Julian Assange published a trove of classified documents on the powerful elite, including war crimes committed by the military on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and embarrassing details from politicians’ emails.

The Assange Story pieces together accounts from Assange’s friends, family and former colleagues to build up a clearer understanding of the personality and motivation in the man behind what’s been called the ‘biggest leaks in intelligence history’.

Formative years in Australia
02:24 Introduction to an underground hacking community
04:41 First hacking escapades
06:28 ‘Live dangerously’ and relationship with father WikiLeaks
09:31 ‘Undoubtedly a war crime’:

Collateral Murder footage in Iraq
14:36 Julian Assange’s rise to global fame
19:26 ‘That’s the power of WikiLeaks’
22:40 #Cablegate Sexual assault allegation in Sweden
25:58 ‘It’s understandable that he would be attractive to young women.’
28:05 It was unprotected, but consensual sex
29:30 ‘I think that if Julian went to Sweden at that point he would have been extradited’
30:07 Smear campaign

The Embassy chapter
33:17 WikiLeaks HQ at Ellingham Hall
35:55 ‘I realised that I’d just lost my bail money.’
36:33 The Ecuadorian Embassy in London
40:36 How the Democratic National Committee (#DNC) removed Bernie #Sanders to secure #Hillary Clinton’s nomination for the 2016 US presidential election

No longer welcome
42:56 Election in Ecuador
43:49 ‘The Moreno government was determined that they had to get rid of him and turned his life into hell’
46:43 ‘He looked very old, not at all youthful anymore.’

Belmarsh and US extradition request
47:41 HM Belmarsh Prison – place for ‘murderers, terrorists and brutal people’
50:08 US espionage charges
52:00 ‘Every journalist in the United States should feel an cold icy hand running down their spine.’

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The 1 hr 30 min video, Hacking Justice (2017) was created by the directors Clara López Rubio and Juan Pancorbo
Covers events and players up to Julian’s forceable and unlawful eviction from the Colombian embassy

Full Video on Open Tube

Citizens, journalists, artists, human rights organisations and journalists’ unions gathered on January 29th in Brussels to call on the Belgian government to do its utmost to protect Julian Assange and impede his extradition to the United States.

The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ and EFJ) joined the two Belgian civil society organisations, Carta Academica and Belgium4Assange, in two public actions organised in Brussels to defend freedom of expression, freedom of the press and our right to know in general, and Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning, Sarah Harrison and Edward Snowden in particular.

Over 120 personalities, artists, activists and journalists and a dozen organisations, including the International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ and EFJ), signed a joint petition to the Belgian authorities to urge action on Julian Assange’s case. The text asks the Belgian government to recognise Julian Assange as a political prisoner, send observers to his trial, grant him international protection and do its utmost to impede his extradition to the US.

“This text calls on the Belgian government to recognise Julian Assange as a political prisoner, to send observers to his trial, to grant him international protection and to do everything possible to prevent his extradition to the United States,” said Vincent Engel, representative of Carta Academica, at the Palais des Académies.

The event also served as a ceremony to grant an Academic Honoris Causa title to four whistleblowers for their contributions to citizens’ right to know by denouncing crimes and state secrets. This honorary title was granted to Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, Sarah Harisson and Julian Assange, whose father, John Shipton received it on his behalf.

“We are receiving lots of support from all over the world, also in Europe. Recently, the Council of Europe voted unanimously against Julian’s extradition and calling for his immediate release. All these actions are very important. Thank you all for all the efforts you are doing, especially to the IFJ“, John Shipton said after receiving the title. 

IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger, also sent an official request to the Commune of Brussels –the local council of the city- to provide Julian Assange with the Brussels’ honorary citizenship. The request was rapidly accepted by its mayor.

“I solemnly asked today the commune of Brussels and its mayor to recognise Julian Assange as an honorary citizen of Brussels. Assange’s father, John Shipton, said he will be delighted to come to the Grand Place, in the heart of Europe, to receive the title on behalf of Julian. I am at the disposal of the Mayor of Brussels to organise everything“, said Anthony Bellanger.

“I am very happy today to celebrate with you these modern-day heroes who have sacrificed themselves to defend the citizens’ right to know” said Edwy Plenel, founder and president of Mediapart“,

“Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning and Sarah Harrisson are the resistance fighters of the 21st century. They sacrificed their freedom and lives for telling the truth,” added Anthony Bellanger

Articles in the International Federations Of Journalists web site in English and French

On 1st June 2019, Philip Williams interviews Nils Melzer on ABC Radio AM regarding Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s denials of the Rapporteur’s charges.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has issued a statement denying an accusation by a U-N rapporteur on Torture that our government has failed to support Julian Assange, and is complicit in his psychological torture. 

Nils Melzer recently visited Mr Assange in a British jail with a doctor and psychiatrist to assess his condition, and said he feared the Wikileaks founder could die in prison.

Julian Assange is facing possible extradition to the United States, where he could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Mr Melzer says he wouldn’t get a fair trial in the U-S, and added the Australian Government was failing to protect a citizen.

Listen to interview podcast on Radio AM
and subsequent coverage in the Workers Socialist Web Site with quotes and commentary from the interview