Dear Friends

The situation we have in front of us is that Julian Assange, the publisher of WikiLeaks has been in jail at Belmarsh maximum security prison since the 11th of April after his brutal expulsion from the embassy by UK undercover policemen and into the back of a Metropolitan police van.

He was arrested both in connection to a bail violation, as if the International law does not protect the right to seek and obtain political asylum, and a request for extradition by the US, which was the very reason he sought political asylum in the first place. The same day Judge Snow at the Westminster Magistrates Court charged him and found him guilty of the bail violation with sentencing taking place tomorrow 1st of May 2019 at Southwark Crown Court. Theresa May’s government is planning to sentence a people’s hero on May Day! Despite the short notice a number of London based WL supporters we are planning to attend the court and witness this charade of justice for posterity. Join us. We shall meet at the public Gallery of Southwark Crown Court, 1 English Grounds, Southwarks, SE1 2HU, nearest tube station London Bridge and from there a short walk to the Court.

The challenge is that the USA is a powerful actor in these events both overtly through its military alliance and economic muscle as well as covertly through its diplomatic and security channels. Who can forget the case of German citizen El Masri who seeking recourse at German courts for his illegal rendition to Afghanistan and torture by the CIA and its local allies, due to a mistaken identity, he faced interference in his legal process at German Courts by the USA Embassy diplomatic staff. We know this because of WikiLeaks. Who can ignore that it was this influence that made Lenin Moreno the President of Ecuador to give up on his country’s sovereignty and expel Julian Assange out of the embassy in London and throw him in the hands of his persecutors. Whatever we are going to witness at Westminster Magistrates Court on Thursday the 2nd of May will not be all there is to be heard and seen about his case. Join us as fellow witnesses, and history will eventually reveal the corruption unfolding in front of our eyes. Join us! We shall meet outside Westminster Magistrates Court, 181 Marylebone Road NW1 5BR, nearest station Edgware Road on the Circle, District and Hammersmith and City lines.

How quickly he is being processed through the UK Courts, it’s remarkable. I wonder why is this so, could it be that express procedures have been put in place by Theresa May’s government in order to enable his extradition prior to a change in government in the UK?

Investigative journalist Stefania Maurizi has recently wrote:

The documents I have managed to obtain after a lengthy FOIA litigation, which is still ongoing, provide indisputable evidence of the UK’s role in helping to create the legal and diplomatic quagmire which has kept Julian Assange arbitrarily detained since 2010, as established by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD.)

Theresa May has been the one politician throughout Julian Assange’s Arbitrary Detention with real power over his fate, first as Home Secretary (2010-2016 in David Cameron’s government) and then as Prime Minister. But her political days are numbered. Is she rushing to ‘finish the job’? That this finishing off entail the extermination of a western publisher and his Publishing House WikiLeaks whilst she tenderly holds onto Trump’s hands and into the darkest of unfreedoms for this society, should concern every thinking British resident.

The expected forthcoming Prime Minister Jeremy Corbyn and his currently Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbot have both made their party’s position clear opposing any US extradition for Julian Assange. Jeremy Corbyn’s position on Press Freedoms and the Protection of Journalists and their sources will be repeated publicly during his attendance of the World Press Freedom Day this Friday 3rd of May 2019 when he will attend and address an NUJ organised event at Free Word. We shall be outside with our Free Assange and Thank you WikiLeaks banners, Join us! We shall meet at 6 pm outside Free Word, 60 Farringdon road, London EC1R 3GA, nearest tube station Farringdon on the Metropolitan, Circle and Hammersmith and City lines.

Our efforts are by no means alone in the UK, the Socialist Equality Party is organising a meeting to mobilise as broad as possible a base in defence of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning. We will be joining their public meeting: Sunday May 12th from 2pm (doors open 1.30pm) at YMCA Indian Student Hostel, Mahama Gandhi Hall at No 41 Fitzroy Square, London, W1T 6AQ, nearest tube station Warren Street on Northern and Victorian Lines.

In Solidarity! #FreeAssange