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On the 14th September 2022, the Assange Campaign issued this press release

Calls of ‘Truth not War’ can be heard around the globe this week as supporters of the world’s most famous political prisoner, Australian journalist Julian Assange, rally for his immediate release by the 21^stanniversary of the United Nations International Day of Peace (21 Sept 2022). 

Julian’s growing army of millions of supporters – from ordinary people to governments, politicians, professional and non-government organisations, charities, activists, lawyers, journalists, authors, academics, doctors, artists, unions and grass-roots community groups – are all calling on the USA and UK Governments to stop the US extradition and drop the charges against the award-winning Australian journalist and WikiLeaks founder.

On 5 April 2010, WikiLeaks published ‘Collateral Murder’, a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen civilians in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff.

Julian has now been detained and imprisoned in the UK for over 12 years in what former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer describes as “murder by slow torture”.

Julian’s father, John Shipton says that the politically-motivated US charges are ‘unprecedented in our times, of attacking knowledge’: our right to know the truth, the truth about government war crimes and policies, adherence to law and international law and abrogation of the International Declaration of Human Rights.

“Julian Assange, for publishing the truth; the truth of monumental state crimes, is constantly pursued with severe and unrelenting malice, exceedingly bitter animosity and a vile, deceitful and unscrupulous crusade of lies and slander,” says John.

“The precedent set by this political prosecution is extremely dangerous. The extraterritorial application by the United States of its laws to Australian citizen Julian Assange and the death penalty sentence equivalent, 175-year incarceration. Julian will pay the ultimate price for exposing the truth and his persecution inevitably chills and intimidates exposure of government criminality and public contribution to policy formation. Erecting a wall of secrecy between government and the people. Results of which, are before our eyes; corruption, war crimes and crimes against humanity … us!”

“I mention the destruction and emiseration of Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Yemen … We cannot and must not allow this to occur.”

he United States government has charged Julian with 17 counts under the Espionage Act 1917 and one charge of conspiracy to commit unauthorised access to a government computer, a violation of the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), a terrorism offence under the US Patriot Act.

However, last month US Republican Senator Rand Paul called for the repeal of the Espionage Act after it was used by the FBI to justify a recent raid on the home of former US President Donald Trump.

The US Government and its spy agency the CIA, now face multiple court proceedings in the UK, USA and Spain over:

• their ongoing persecution of Julian Assange including the plot to murder and kidnap him
• violations against Julian’s basic human rights
• illegal bugging of a foreign embassy (the London Ecuadorian Embassy)
• hacking into world leaders’ personal phones and emails
• the violation of the US First Amendment of American citizens who visited Julian during the 7 years he spent in asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy before he was forcibly dragged out by London police, and
• Julian’s ongoing, unjustified, solitary confinement incarceration in the high-security HM Belmarsh Prison where he is seriously ill and being denied lifesaving medical attention, access to his legal team and regular family visits.

Julian’s brother, Gabriel Shipton – who is in Mexico with his father for talks with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador- says that Assange relatives, along with those of Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Che Guevara have been invited by the President as special guests to attend the country’s Independence Day celebrationson 16 September. 

“We are humbled by the invitation from Mexican President Obrador. The Mexican President continually stands for Julian’s freedom publicly and in his talks with President Biden. He has also offered Julian the protection of Mexican citizenship. Our family again plead with the Australian government to simply stand up for one of its own citizens and publicly call for Julian’s immediate release,” says Gabriel.

Adds John Shipton: “We urge Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to act soon, otherwise it may be too late to save Julian’s life. And if Julian dies or if the US extradition succeeds, it will also be the death of truth in war, the death of press freedom and journalists, freedom of speech, the protection of human rights plus international law and whistle blowers. There’s a lot at stake here.”

In Australia, UN Peace Day events will be held in:
Melbourne
– Sunday 18 Sept noon-2pm,
– – State Library of Victoria Peace Day ‘Truth Not War’.
– – FreeJulian Assange event (More)
Sydney
– Wednesday 21 Sept 10am,
– – US Consulate
– Thursday 22 Sept 11am-12pm,
– – Electorate office PM Anthony Albanese Marrickville.
Canberra 
– Wednesday 21 Sept 12.30pm,
– – Garema Place Canberra City
Adelaide 
– Wednesday 21 Sept – 12.30pm 
– – Parliament House Steps Adelaide 
– – Free Assange SA Government Vote (More)

Listen or download radio grabs of John Shipton speaking about his son, Julian Assange 

Media contact: Jodie Harrison 
media@assangecampaign.org.au
+61 (0)425 754 370

Download press release
Australian edition
International edition

On the 4th September 2022, the editors collected after work and memes that had been retired from the site for later reference

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On the 28th August 2022, The Assange Campaign Inc wrote to the Prime Minster of Australia and copies to other senior ministers. The open letter reads:

Subject: Open Letter on the Concerns of Many Australians About the Well Being and Future of Julian Assange.

To:  Honourable Anthony Albanese MP, Prime Minister
CC: Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong
        Attorney-General, Hon Mark Dreyfus QC, MP

Dear Prime Minister, 

As secretary for the Assange Campaign Inc., I wish to raise with you the concerns of many Australians about the well being and future of Julian Assange.The Assange Campaign Inc is Australia’s peak body supporting Julian Assange.  The concerns and issues we raise below represent the views of:

• 700,000+ petitioners on change.org
• senders of more than 110,000 + emails to Members of Parliament
• 500,000+ viewers of the film Ithaka on the ABC
• numerous groups that participate in events nationwide
• a multitude of users active online and in social media
• active groups of professionals such as:
  • Lawyers for Assange
  • Doctors for Assange
  • Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA)
  • concerned religious groups

Recent polling shows us the majority of Australians who are aware of Mr. Assange’s circumstances favour his return to Australia.

I am writing to ask you to use your influence with your colleagues in the UK and the United States to ensure Mr Assange is released from  Belmarsh prison and into a home detention and/or electronic monitoring setting as soon possible.

We were very encouraged by your election commitment that the “ongoing pursuit of Mr Assange” served no evident “purpose” and that “enough is enough”.  We wish to take up your offer to “change the way politics operates in this country and actually answer questions”, and to provide some “transparency” of process long denied by the previous Government.

Our question, then, is what progress in your ninety-nine days of government has been made to ensure that Mr Assange’s mental and physical health are prioritised which means his release from Belmarsh prison.

This request is made on the basis it addresses many urgent concerns relating to Mr. Assange such as:

• unrestricted access to medical attention of his own choosing
• unrestricted access to legal services in his own timing and choosing
• unrestricted access to the healing benefits of family life
• a non violent detainee should not be incarcerated with violent criminals
• an uncharged detainee should not be incarcerated with convicted detainees
• an uncharged detainee should not be incarcerated in an institution lacking facilities to provide for uncharged detainees
• one thousand, two hundred and fifteen days incarcerated in Belmarsh Prison without conviction

We have been warned Mr Assange’s situation is life threatening and this request is based on the presumption of innocence before conviction and other core international human rights. Both the UK and Australia are signatories to common binding treaties.

This is simply a request for you to stand up for fair play for Australian citizens when detained abroad.

Our grassroots connections believe that your commitment to ‘change the way politics operates in this country’ has added heart into the management of our country, better reflecting our national spirit of fairness. Your commitment to the Voice to Parliament has been critical to this. We understand you will receive various official briefings on the Assange case but, for all those in Australia and globally who fear for Julian, we hope you can reply not just from your head but with some of this heart your Government has shared elsewhere.

We wish you every success in Government and feel our democracy will be strengthened by it.

Yours Sincerely
Matthew Bretherton

P.S.

In support, a quote from the book,

‘The Trial of Julian Assange’ by  Nils Melzer (Former UN Rapporteur on torture)

“Quite obviously, however, for purely preventive custody, the extremely restrictive conditions at Belmarsh were neither necessary nor proportionate – two mandatory basic requirements for any lawful interference with fundamental rights. Instead, Assange should have been moved to a less securitized institution or to guarded house arrest, with unrestricted access to his professional activities, to his family, his lawyers and the outside world more generally.”

(Page 273

A summary of this book is available at https://www.assangecampaign.org.au/trial-assange/

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Letter can be downloaded as a pdf

References for commitments used in letter
1. Daily Mail 2021-2-3
‘Enough is Enough’ he [Mr. Albanese] responded. ‘I don’t have sympathy for many of his actions but essentially I can’t see what is served by keeping him incarcerated.’ 
2 Sydney Morning Herald Albanese reveals two-term strategy if Labor wins
The Labor leader said if he won government on Saturday he wanted to “change the way that politics operates in this country” by avoiding soundbites and “actually answering questions”.
3. Twitter @AlboMP
The Australian people deserve accountability and transparency, not secrecy.
4. ALP National Platform 2021 Page 144
Labor believes that the Australian government should be doing everything necessary to ensure that Mr Julian Assange is treated fairly and humanely, and welcomes the priority given to the health and welfare of Mr Assange in the UK Court’s decision. This includes ensuring that under no circumstances should Mr Assange or any Australian face the death penalty. The UK Court has found that Mr Assange should not be extradited to the USA given his ill-health, and Labor believes it is now time for this long drawn out case against Julian Assange to be brought to an end.

On the 25th August 2022, calls for Ithaka, The Movie, to be considered for Australian Academy for Cinema, Television and Arts (AACTA) Awards appeared in social media.

On the 11th August 2021 the Assange Campaign is appealing for volunteer assistance

Do you want to help spread the word of Julian’s human rights, press freedom and democracy?
Perhaps you’re interested in the grassroots of political parties?
Do you enjoy finding and creating a vibrant office space?
Or, know anyone who might?

Assange Campaign Inc. is a volunteer-driven organisation and we are looking for 2-3 people to support our small team with three key projects.
We are currently

1. Social media volunteer: The role will involve brainstorming and sourcing content, drafting copy, designing social media tiles on Canva and moderating comments. Time commitment: 3-5 hours per week, ideally a minimum commitment of 6 months. Experience: Good written communication skills. Previous social media experience is preferred. Location: Remote.
2. Branch mapping volunteer: The role will involve researching and documenting which branches of Australia’s political parties are supportive or otherwise when it comes to freeing Julian Assange. Time commitment: 3-5 hours per week, ideally until mapping is complete. Experience: Good understanding of or interest in Australia’s political party structure and process. Previous research experience is preferred. Location: Remote.
3. Office procurement and setup volunteer: The role will involve researching and inspecting potential office spaces, supporting rental applications, and, ideally, helping set up the office space, once secured. Time commitment: 3-5 hours per week, ideally until office space is setup. Experience: Desire to facilitate a vibrant and functional office space. Previous experience in office procurement or office management preferred. Location: Melbourne’s Inner North.

Please email our coordinator, Zey, via volunteering@assangecampaign.org.au with any expressions of interest or questions, including any relevant experience. Please note that you will need to supply your own devices and transport, but we will provide you access to any required software and supporting staff members.

On the 10th August 2022, Lisa Beaumont posted this observation on a Campaign mail list

Senator Penny Wong 
Joint statement on UK decision to extradite Julian Assange
with: The Hon Mark Dreyfus QC MP
17 June 2022

The Australian Government notes the decision of the United Kingdom Home Secretary to extradite Julian Assange to the United States.
We also note that Mr Assange has several avenues through which he can appeal this decision.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will continue to offer consular assistance to Mr Assange, noting that Australia is not a party to Mr Assange’s case, nor can the Australian government intervene in the legal matters of another country.
We will continue to convey our expectations that Mr Assange is entitled to due process, humane and fair treatment, access to proper medical care, and access to his legal team. 
The Australian Government has been clear in our view that Mr Assange’s case has dragged on for too long and that it should be brought to a close. 
We will continue to express this view to the governments of the United Kingdom and United States.

Senator Marise Payne
Statement on Sentencing of Alexei Navalny 
03 February 2021

Australia is deeply concerned by Russian authorities’ arrest and subsequent sentencing of Alexei Navalny to two years and eight months’ imprisonment. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) concluded that Mr Navalny’s 2014 conviction, which was used as grounds for his current detention, was “unlawful” and “politically motivated”. We call for Mr Navalny’s immediate and unconditional release.
Australia is also concerned by the approach of Russian authorities against peaceful protesters and journalists detained in recent weeks. We call for their release without delay. Australia supports all peoples’ right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
We reaffirm a call for Russia to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into Alexei Navalny’s poisoning using the banned Novichok nerve agent last August.

Nils Melzer
The Trial of Julian Assange
First Published 8th Februray 2022
Page 106 On Political Persecution

Official arbitrariness almost always constitutes a central element in political persecution and related ill-treatment

In August 2022, George Miller posted an article translated from Nils Melzer in Le Monde Diplomatique

Double standards on ‘Britain’s only political prisoner’

Julian Assange is in the UK’s Belmarsh high-security prison, fighting extradition to the United States. The implications of his treatment for democracy go far beyond one man’s fate.

As Special Rapporteur on Torture, I was mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor compliance with the global prohibitions on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments and punishments, investigate alleged violations of these prohibitions and transmit questions and recommendations to the states concerned with the aim of clarifying individual cases. When I investigated Julian Assange’s case, I found irrefutable evidence of political persecution and arbitrary judicial decisions, as well as deliberate torture and ill-treatment. Yet the states responsible (the US, UK, Sweden and Ecuador) refused to cooperate with me in carrying out the investigative procedure required under international law.

The Assange case is the story of a man persecuted and mistreated for revealing the sordid secrets of the powerful, in particular, war crimes, torture and corruption. It’s a story of deliberately arbitrary judicial decisions made by Western democracies eager to claim exemplary human rights records. It’s a story of deliberate collusion by intelligence services without the knowledge of national parliaments and the public. And it’s a story of manipulated and manipulative reporting by the mainstream media to deliberately isolate, demonise and destroy an individual.

In a democracy governed by rule of law, everyone is equal before the law. In essence, this means that comparable cases should be treated in the same way. Like Julian Assange, who is currently being held in Belmarsh high-security prison, the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was held in British extradition detention, from 16 October 1998 to 2 March 2000. Spain, Switzerland, France and Belgium sought to prosecute him for torture and crimes against humanity. Like Assange today, Pinochet described himself as ‘Britain’s only political prisoner’.

Unlike Assange, however, Pinochet was not accused of having obtained and published evidence of torture, murder and corruption, but . . .

Nils Melzer is Human Rights Chair at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and was UN Special Rapporteur on Torture from 2016 to 2022. He is the author of The Trial of Julian Assange: a Story of Persecution, Verso, 2022, on which this article is based.

Read original article in Le Monde Diplomatique

On the 2nd August 2022, the Assange Campaign posted this Media Release

20220801-Final-Poll-Release

#BelmarshBreakOut

On the 28th July 2022, approximately 150 people gathered on the Lawns of Parliament House in support of Julian Assange. The following speeches were recorded by Cathy Vogan from Consortium News

Senator David Shoebridge
“No Australian citizen should face over a century in jail for the crime of telling the truth”
https://twitter.com/Consortiumnews/status/1553200327821668352
https://youtu.be/pn3bH79qw1s

Senator Jordon Steele-John
“Julian Assange today should be a free man. He is a publisher. His organisation Wikileaks obtains & publishes, freely, information it obtains: the literal definition of journalism. It happens every day in newsrooms across the continent. It is the key pillar of democracy”
https://twitter.com/Consortiumnews/status/1553567217517600769
https://youtu.be/gU5ACuS6wL0

Andrew Wilkie MP
“I take this opportunity again to say to Anthony [Abanese], when you boil it all down this is about a Walkley award winning Australian journalist, who published hard evidence of U.S. war crimes, and in response the U.S. wants to get even.”
https://twitter.com/Consortiumnews/status/1553641730741657605
https://youtu.be/kAJAPjMNBHc

Senator Peter Whish-Wilson
“Julian Assange & wikileaks: the great truth-tellers of [the Iraq] war… If we let Julian Assange be extradited and he dies in a maximum security prison in the U.S., then we will get another war, and another one…” 
https://twitter.com/Consortiumnews/status/1553696732931690496
https://youtu.be/6_cQYKeKXrE

Christian Lambang-Foyne (Amnesty International)
“The treatment that Julian Assange is getting and is likely to get, should he be extradited to the U.S., is degrading and inhumane, and that’s not something that Australia stands for”
https://twitter.com/Consortiumnews/status/1553837214034890752
https://youtu.be/DUp5CUfSeRk

Bridget Archer MP
“This is a question of mercy and compassion for an Australian citizen who has endured inhumane conditions and has suffered significant mental and physical challenges as a result of his ongoing incarceration due to this protracted battle”
https://twitter.com/Consortiumnews/status/1553851089979551744
https://youtu.be/GgfcBY0Bo48

Mary Kostakidis (on releasing a dove)
“Many years ago Julian Assange said if wars can be started with lies, peace can be started with the truth. The dove is the symbol of peace, justice and freedom. Our dove represents press freedom. Our dove is Julian Assange”
https://twitter.com/Consortiumnews/status/1553852634385174528
https://youtu.be/dJQmXBRAZAU

Dr. Monique Ryan MP
“He’s an award-winning journalist who has been convicted of no crime and I think we all know that he would not be in this position were it another sovereign power seeking to take him from the U.K.“
https://twitter.com/Consortiumnews/status/1553859914484699136
https://youtu.be/9foiMJB9bCY

Dr Sue Wareham AOM
“How can Australia credibly point to other nations and the war crimes that they commit, when we allow treatment of a man like this, who has simply exposed the crimes of our ally the U.S. in Iraq and elsewhere?”
https://twitter.com/Consortiumnews/status/1553872406510333954
https://youtu.be/ckE_08GgjLI

James Ricketson
“After 15 months in jail I was found guilty of espionage & sentenced to 6 years. 3 weeks later the guards told me I was being released immediately… I discovered shortly thereafter that Malcolm Turnbull, our then PM, had done a deal”
https://twitter.com/Consortiumnews/status/1553895473332641792
https://youtu.be/vMV6Y80vUqw

Julian Hill MP
“I understand the reasons from speaking to his legal team why Julian has to date refused consular assistance from the Australian government. It may be time that that decision is reconsidered because it is frankly very difficult for the government of Australia to get involved in these issues, and seek assurance and push assurance around health issues, when consular assistance has been rejected.” 
https://youtu.be/RsLITLaUT8k

Gabriel Shipton 
“Over 90 German parliamentarians are now calling for Julian Assange to be released… Germany are very concerned. Even the German government are very concerned about what Julian Assange’s prosecution means for their journalists.”​​​https://youtu.be/gv2UA3XpJ-E

Kathryn Kelly (Alliance Against Political Prosecutions)
“It is clear that Julian Assange did not commit espionage… We urge PM Albanese to put an end to this persecution of an innocent courageous man and to speak loudly and clearly to the U.K. and U.S. governments to free Julian and drop all the charges. If the friendship between our countries cannot stand that, what is it worth?”

All media is Creative Commons and may be republished citing Consortium News
More from Cathy Vogan on CN

Wau Holland Stiftung has published a flow chart of the extradition process from June 2022 complete with timings. When you review the process going forward please consider the thoughts of Nils Melzer posted below

ja-court-diagram-2022-v1_0

As long as Assange remains isolated in prison, neither the United States nor the United Kingdom will be in a hurry to bring the extradition proceeding to a conclusion. The longer every procedural step can be spun out, the more Assange’s health and stability will deteriorate, and the stronger the deterrent effect on other journalists and whistleblowers will be. As the authorities know very well, it is only a matter of time before Assange’s resilience breaks. If he should die in prison, or if his mental health should deteriorate to the point where he can be stripped of his legal capacity and locked away in a closed psychiatric institution for the rest of his life, then the case could be closed without fear of the judicial precedent of 4 January 2021 being overturned by a panel of conscientious judges at the higher British courts, the European Court of Human Rights or, ultimately, the US Supreme Court. Should Assange have the strength to withstand the pressure of his isolation until the end of the extradition proceedings, on the other hand, his resilience will no doubt be used against him as purported evidence disproving his medical frailty and suicide risk. Once the judiciary has been instrumentalized for political purposes, there is no escape.

Nils Melzer in ‘The Trial Of Julian Assange’ page 322