A film by Juan Passarelli – @jlpassarelli

Journalists are under attack globally for doing their jobs. Julian Assange is facing a 175 year sentence for publishing if extradited to the United States.

The Trump administration has gone from denigrating journalists as ‘enemies of the people’ to now criminalizing common practices in journalism that have long served the public interest.

WikiLeaks founder and editor Julian Assange’s extradition is being sought by the Trump administration for publishing US government documents which exposed war crimes and human rights abuses.

He is being held in maximum security HMP Belmarsh in London and faces a 175 years sentence if extradited.

There is a war on journalism – Julian Assange is at the centre of that war. If this precedent is set then what happens to Assange can happen to any journalist. Join director Ken Loach and filmmaker Suzie Gilbert for a discussion with Juan Passarelli about his new documentary

– The War on Journalism: The Case of Julian Assange “The Indictment of Julian Assange… is a threat to the press and the American People.”

– Glenn Greenwald Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist «What Julian Assange is being targeted for is the same or similar as many journalists have done…it’s surprising to me that more people can’t see that this case has worrying implications for all journalists”

– Alan Rusbridger former editor-in-chief of The Guardian “Assange is charged with asking for information, with receiving information, and with publishing information. And I don’t mind saying that those are exactly the things that I do.” – Barton Gellman Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning journalist https://labourheartlands.com/

Upcoming Solidarity Actions for Julian Assange of …

https://wiseupaction.info/2020/07/11/upcoming-solidarity-actions-for-julian-assange-of-wikileaks-july-august-2020-2/Assange’s U.S. extradition trial, due to recommence on the Monday, 7th September 2020 will be at The Old Bailey. Westwood’s activist son, Joe Corré, is behind the protest. Corré, who founded Agent Provocateur, famously turned down an MBE in 2007, in protest against the illegal war in Iraq that Tony Blair took Britain into.

‘It’s David v Goliath’: Assange’s partner launches …

https://www.rt.com/news/498512-assange-partner-crowdjustice-appeal/— Stella Moris (@StellaMoris1) August 20, 2020 Moris, who has two sons with Assange, issued the call to arms to «fight against extradition and his continuing imprisonment,» while warning that the case sets a dangerous precedent for press freedom around the world, especially given that Assange and WikiLeaks exposed US war crimes and human …

The show trial of Julian Assange: A cruel and pseudolegal …

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/08/15/pers-a15.htmlThe show trial of Julian Assange: A cruel and pseudolegal farce 15 August2020 Yesterday’s hearing in London made clear, if any further proof was needed, that the prosecution of Julian Assange …

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No Extradition: New film documents Julian Assange’s plight for freedom

by The Canary.. shared with thanks

According to the UN expert on torture Nils Melzer, the persecution of Assange by the US, the UK, Sweden, and Ecuador over the past decade has amounted to “psychological torture”. Melzer told The Canary in June 2019 that:

The consistent and repeated failure of all involved states to protect Mr Assange’s fundamental right to fair judicial proceedings and due process makes the hypothesis of mere coincidence extremely unrealistic and gives a strong impression of bias and arbitrary manipulation.

No Extradition film

The producer of the documentary Pablo Navarrete spoke to The Canary about the importance of the extradition case against Assange:

Julian Assange’s treatment by the UK government and possible extradition to the US where he could be sentenced to up to 175 years in prison for releasing information in the public interest, is one of the great injustices of our time. I think there are many people in the UK and around the world who are in denial about the fact that Julian Assange, a journalist, is [a] political prisoner of the UK government. According to Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Assange has been subjected to torture by the UK and other states.

My mother, who arrived in the UK as a political refugee in the mid-1970s and has been present at many of the Assange rallies (she features in the film), was herself a political prisoner under the US-supported Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. The difference between how the UK treated her and how it is now treating Assange could not be more different.

The timing of the documentary, Navarrete explained, is crucial:

The persecution of Julian Assange is emblematic of the decayed state of British democracy. The UK is a nation whose unaccountable elites are almost completely subjugated to the interests of successive US administrations. Arguably this subjugation has become even worse under [US president Donald] Trump and [British prime minister Boris] Johnson.

In my view, the fight to save Julian Assange from being extradited to the US (which begins again on 7 September) is also a fight to claw back some semblance of UK sovereignty. I’d like for people who watch the film to get a sense of the injustice being perpetrated on Assange and how his father and others are fighting tooth and nail to prevent this from happening.

In a short trailer for the documentary, Shipton explains what the situation is like as a father:

You get a bit driven… The greater the insults to Julian and members of my family, the stronger I become, and the more determined. So I no longer count the cost.

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