British Trash Magna Carta in Bowing to U.S. Diktat on Assange

Friday Marks Julian Assange's 3rd Year Cooped Up in Ecuadorian Embassy

A Reminder From Sunshine Press With Comment By Ray

19 June 2015 marks three years since Mr. Assange, an Australian citizen, entered the embassy of Ecuador in London. He was granted political asylum under the 1951 Refugee Convention due the ongoing espionage case against him in the United States. Mr. Assange risks extradition to the US from both the UK and Sweden.

Mr. Assange has been detained--without charge--in prison, under house arrest and in the embassy for nearly five years. He has not seen the sun in three years as the embassy has no outdoor area. ...

Both the UK and Sweden refuse to provide legal or diplomatic assurances not to extradite Mr. Assange to the US (in violation of their obligations under the Refugee Convention), ...

Mr. Assange has been the subject of severe restrictions on his liberty (in prison, under house arrest, and in the embassy) since 7 December 2010. His passport was seized the same day. 

More than five years ago, in February 2010, the US commenced its ongoing 'espionage' investigation into Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks. The case has been described in diplomatic cables as “unprecedented in scale and nature” (http://www.smh.com.au/world/assange-targeted-by-fbi-probe-us-court-documents-reveal-20140520-38l1p.html) and is widely regarded to be the largest ever investigation of a publisher in US history. The FBI file alone is known to run to more than 42,135 pages. (https://epic.org/foia/doj/wikileaks/)

Warrants issued to Google, which were revealed late last year, show that the US is seeking to prosecute Mr. Assange under the following criminal laws for his work as editor of WikiLeaks:

-Espionage: 18 U.S.C. § 793(d)

-Conspiracy to commit espionage: 18 U.S.C. § 793(g) 

-The theft or conversion of property belonging to the United States government: 18 U.S.C. § 641 

-Violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act: 18 U.S.C. § 1030

-Conspiracy: 18 U.S.C. § 371 

The Swedish investigation was initiated six months after the US investigation commenced but has remained at the 'preliminary investigation' phase ever since that time. The prosecutor still has not made a decision as to whether to charge him, but also refuses to disclose to the courts key exculpatory evidence to enable Mr. Assange to properly challenge the basis of his ongoing detention. This evidence includes SMS messages between the two complainants, which state the allegations were “made up” by the police who were “trying to get” Mr. Assange. Another statement in the police report by one of the women said that she was “railroaded” by police and others. (https://wikileaks.org/IMG/html/Affidavit_of_Julian_Assange.html#efmNdPN05). Both women state they had no intent to bring a case. 

Sweden has granted every US extradition request for at least the past 15 years. Sweden has also been complicit in CIA renditions ... Apart from the Swedish risk, there remains an extant risk that the UK authorities would extradite Mr. Assange if he were to leave the Embassy. The UK refuses to confirm or deny whether it has received a US extradition request for Mr. Assange. Even if the Swedish case is dropped, the UK has stated publicly that they will arrest Mr. Arrange when he leaves the embassy.

As there are no formal criminal charges against him, Mr. Assange has not been able to exercise the rights of a defendant.

The legal basis for Mr. Assange's extradition from the UK has completely vanished since the split Supreme Court decision in 2012. In response to the injustice of his and similar cases, the UK Parliament in July 2014 decided to ban future attempts to extradite persons from the UK without charge, however the UK executive says that it would be 'retrospective' to apply the change in law to Mr. Assange. ...

Mr. Assange has no access to fresh air or sunlight because the embassy premises do not have an outdoor area. The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners requires a minimum of one hour of exercise outdoors each day. (http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/treatmentprisoners.pdf) Ecuador has requested that Mr. Assange be permitted outdoor exercise without risking his political asylum, but the UK has refused. 

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Ray Comment:

Julian Assange now held without charge for three years, and the UK says it will arrest him as soon as he steps outside the Ecuadorian Embassy!

This reminds me that the now defunct Magna Carta has not yet received a proper burial.  Shame on Britain where, 800 years ago, English nobles with backbone stood up to a king.

End the pretense!  There should be a proper funeral, memorial service, and burial for the Magna Carta after eight centuries of protecting the human rights now denied to Julian Assange, to over a hundred still captive in Guantanamo, and to many others.

The lawless U.S. "Justice" Department now plays the role of king, and British lawyers shame their ancestors, as well as their profession, in bowing low to carry out Washington's diktat regarding Julian Assange.

Sadly, this comes as no surprise.  The same British lawyers did backflips to apply a veneer of legality to "justify" the U.S./U.K. attack on Iraq, launching what the post-WWII Nuremberg defined as a "war of aggression" with its "accumulated evil" of kidnapping and torture, in which London also cooperated.

“British law” has become an oxymoron.  And only a moron could be blind to the reality that Britain's servile lawyers are putty in Washington's hands.  U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch had no business being at Runnymede on June 15, the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta.  Neither did the queen, nor any of today's much more malleable barons.