We were so grateful to Chris Williamson for his statement of support obtained and read out by JADC’s David Mizrachi.

The abject failure of the mainstream media in general, and the Guardian in particular, to expose the lies being peddled about Julian Assange, or accurately report on the show trial and torture to which he is being subjected, on British soil, has been truly breathtaking.

Even by the corporate media’s incredibly low standards, its treatment of Julian Assange has plumbed new depths.

But it is the Guardian that deserves most opprobrium, because it used and then abused, its relationship with Julian Assange for its own material gain.

The newspaper cashed in on the explosive revelations Julian Assange provided and then threw him under the bus

Many of us used to treat the Guardian as an oasis of responsible and fearless journalism, in a desert dominated by billionaire-backed propaganda factories, which make up the vast bulk of the fourth estate.

Before they double-crossed him, it would have been inconceivable that the Guardian, of all media outlets, would be the one that is culpable for Julian Assange’s current plight.

Not only did the Guardian publish the password to the encrypted cables, that Julian Assange had given them in the strictest confidence, they subsequently carried numerous stories designed to smear and undermine Assange’s reputation.

After I became the target of a vicious smear campaign by the Guardian last year, I gained a personal insight into how far they had descended into the gutter.

But the consequences for me were miniscule when compared to what Julian Assange has already endured, with even worse to come, should the US succeed in its endeavour to extradite him.

It’s the Guardian’s Judas kiss that is central to the efforts of the US to silence Julian Assange, destroy Wikileaks and crush any future attempts to expose the abuse of state power.

The Guardian’s mealy-mouthed efforts to absolve themselves of blame is probably the most egregious example of its betrayal of Julian Assange and a complete abdication of the five core principles of journalism.

Those principles require truth & accuracy, independence, fairness & impartiality, humanity and accountability.

While Julian Assange embodies those principles, the Guardian has failed every single one of them.

When parliament is about to introduce legislation authorising criminal conduct by the security services at home and absolving war crimes overseas, there has never been a more important time for the kind of fearless journalism that Julian Assange represents.

The Guardian’s proud heritage has been besmirched by the way it’s dealt with Julian Assange.

So, if it is ever to regain its reputation, the Guardian must change course, stop acting as a poodle for the UK and US administrations, admit that it has wronged Julian Assange and start speaking out in defence of a genuine free press.