Jan 2024 – Page 9

The Last Flurry: The US Congress and Australian Parliamentarians seek Assange’s Release

January 19, 2024 : Dr Binoy Kampmark,

On February 20, Julian Assange, the daredevil publisher of WikiLeaks, will be going into battle, yet again, with the British justice system – or what counts for it.

The UK High Court will hear arguments from his team that his extradition to the United States from Britain to face 18 charges under the Espionage Act of 1917 would violate various precepts of justice.

At this point, the number of claims the defence team can make are potentially many. Economy, however, has been called for: the two judges hearing the case have asked for a substantially shortened argument, showing, yet again, that the quality of British mercy tends to be sourly short. The grounds Assange can resort to are troublingly vast: CIA-sponsored surveillance, his contemplated assassination, his contemplated abduction, violation of attorney-client privilege, his poor health, the violation of free-speech, a naked, politicised attempt by an imperium to capture one of its greatest and most trenchant critics, and bad faith by the US government.

Campaigners for the cause have been frenzied. But as the solution to Assange’s plight is likely to be political, the burden falls on politicians to stomp and drum from within their various chambers to convince their executive counterparts.

In the US Congress, House Resolution 934, introduced on December 13 by Rep. Paul A. Gosar, an Arizona Republican, expresses “the sense of the House of Representatives that regular journalistic activities are protected under the First Amendment, and that the United States ought to drop all charges against and attempts to extradite Julian Assange.”

The resolution sees a dramatic shift from the punishing, haute view taken by such figures as the late Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, who was one of the first political figures to suggest that Assange be crucified on the unsteady timber of the Espionage Act for disclosing US cables and classified information in 2010.

The resolution acknowledges, for instance, that the disclosures by WikiLeaks “promoted public transparency through the exposure of the hiring of child prostitutes by Defense Department contractors, friendly fire incidents, human rights abuses, civilian killings, and United States use of psychological warfare.” The list could be sordidly longer but let’s not quibble.

Impressively, drafters of the resolution finally acknowledge that charging Assange under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) for alleged conspiracy to help US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea (then Bradley) Manning access Defense Department computers was a fabled nonsense. For one, it was “impossible” – Manning “already had access to the mentioned computer.” Furthermore, “there was no proof Mr Assange had any contact with said intelligence analyst.”

Ire is also directed at the espionage counts, with the resolution noting that “no other publisher has ever been prosecuted under the Espionage Act prior to these 17 charges.” A successful prosecution of the publisher “would set a precedent allowing the United States to prosecute and imprison journalists for First Amendment protected activities, including the obtainment and publication of information, something that occurs on a regular basis.”

Acknowledgment is duly made of the importance of press freedoms to promote transparency and protect the Republic, the support for Assange, “sincere and steadfast”, no less, shown by “numerous human rights, press freedom, and privacy rights advocates and organizations”, and the desire by “at least 70 Senators and Members of Parliament from Australia, a critical United States ally and Mr Assange’s native country” for his return.

Members of Australia’s parliament, adding to the efforts last September to convince members of Congress that the prosecution be dropped, have also written to the UK Home Secretary, James Cleverly, requesting that he “undertake an urgent, thorough and independent assessment of the risks to Mr Assange’s health and welfare in the event that he is extradited to the United States.”

The members of the Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group draw Cleverly’s attention to the recent UK Supreme Court case of AAA v Secretary of State for the Home Department which found “that courts in the United Kingdom cannot just rely on third party assurances by foreign governments but rather are required to make independent assessments of the risk of persecution to individuals before any order is made removing them from the UK.

It follows that the approach taken by Lord Justices Burnett and Holroyde in USA v Assange [2021] EWHC 3133 was, to put it politely, a touch too confident in accepting assurances given by the US government regarding Assange’s treatment, were he to be extradited. “These assurances were not tested, nor was there any evidence of independent assessment as to the basis on which they could be given and relied upon.”

The conveners of the group point to Assange’s detention in Belmarsh prison since April 2019, his “significant health issues, exacerbated to a dangerous degree by his prolonged incarceration, that are of very real concern to us as his elected representatives.” They also point out the rather unusual consensus between the current Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, and his opposition number, Peter Dutton, that the “case has gone on for too long.” Continued legal proceedings, both in the UK, and then in the US were extradition to take place “would add yet more years to Mr Assange’s detention and further imperil his health.”

In terms of posterity’s calling, there are surely fewer better things at this point for a US president nearing mental oblivion to do, or a Tory government peering at electoral termination to facilitate, than the release of Assange. At the very least, it would show a grudging acknowledgment that the fourth estate, watchful of government’s egregious abuses, is no corpse, but a vital, thriving necessity.

The Last Flurry: The US Congress and Australian Parliamentarians seek Assange’s Release

Spain: Court finally rules against Macho killings in victory for huge Feminist Campaign – Eng/Español

from thefreeonline on 2o Jan 2024 by David Arquimbau Sintes at Stigmatis EFE

Spain: Court warns against Extension of sexist violence to daughters for being women

Spain: the Supreme Court finally rules against Macho killings- warns of the extension of sexist violence to daughters for being women

The Supreme Court has warned in a sentence for sexist violence the “extension” of the feeling of “domination” and “possession” of the aggressor not only towards his partner, but also towards his daughter, “due to the fact of being women” in a “ group context of significant violence.”

The high court demands the “necessary gender perspective” when addressing sexist crimes and the “vicarious extension of domination” towards daughters, all in a context in which the “feeling of possession of the man towards the woman” prevails. “

The magistrates have warned of this need after confirming the 44-year prison sentence for murders with treachery and gender aggravation of a 57-year-old man who murdered his wife, 56, and his daughter, 24, in Abanto (Bizkaia).

According to the jury’s verdict, the aggressor first attacked the mother and then the 24-year-old daughter, in two “surprise attacks” in which “there was no possibility of defense.”

Femicides increase in Spain: there have been at least 31 so far in 2023 Repuntan los feminicidios en España: hubo al menos 31 Aug 1, 2023 — Spain has recorded 31 homicides due to gender violence since the beginning of this year and until July 31, according to data provided by the Government Delegation against Gender Violence…

A crime that the Supreme Court condemns in which it rejects that the convicted person’s conscience and will were affected because, it says, “the ‘human evil’ in these crimes within the family cannot imply a kind of supposition, or presumption, of alteration of the psyche of the subject.”

Repuntan los feminicidios en España: hubo al menos 31 en lo que va de 2023Aug 1, 2023(CNN) — España ha registrado 31 homicidios por violencia de género desde inicios de este año y hasta el 31 de julio, según datos facilitados por la Delegación del Gobierno contra la Violencia de…

The Supreme Court endorses the application of the aggravating factor of gender with respect to both murders, also in the attack on the daughter, as it is “an action of vicarious crime” carried out for “the same structural reason and the same foundation” as the murder. of your partner.

He recalls in a note issued by the Chamber that, according to psychiatry experts, “evil is not a psychotic category, but simply refers to people who commit a crime, assuming the evil of the act and with knowledge and will to cause it.”

Only global community can end Gaza conflict – Ndileka Mandela

from thefreeonline on 20 Jan, 2024 10:26 by Africa

There is no organization that can end war alone, says Nelson Mandela’s granddaughter

Ndileka Mandela, who is the founder of Thembekile Mandela Foundation and granddaughter of Nelson Mandela

In an exclusive interview this week, Mandela, who is a social activist, claimed that only the “global community” can achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.

“No one entity has ever ended wars. It can’t just be the UN. It has got to be the global community in my view,” she said.

One of the claims that South Africa made at the court is that Israel is breaching the UN Convention on the Prevention of Genocide.

Mandela pointed out that “the Geneva Convention says that when any country starts attacking civilians, unarmed civilians, hospitals, and attacking humanitarian aid … it [stops] being self-defense. It [becomes] like war, [with] crimes of war, and genocide.”

Remembering the era of South African apartheid, when a white minority relegated all other ethnic groups to a sub-class, Mandela explained why Pretoria supports the people of Palestine, saying..

“these are the people that were in the dungeon with us during apartheid and supported us … without their freedom we are, honestly, not free.”

She said that South Africa has “the authority to be able to intervene” because it’s “a best-case study, [demonstrating] best practice of how we [Africans] gained our democracy.”

About 1000 people marched to Parliament in Cape Town on Wednesday, protesting against the recent deadly Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip, that have escalted since Monday. (Photo: Victoria O’Regan)

“We are a good case study of a democratic dispensation across Africa that was recorded without bloodshed,” Mandela added.

The ICJ began on Thursday to hear South Africa’s application accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians.

Houthis claim FOUR ‘direct hits’ on US ships in 4 days! Demand END to US backed and funded Gaza Genocide

on thefreeonline 19 Jan, 2024 Home World News.

In yet another successful Houthi coup a US chemical tanker sailing from Saudi Arabia to Kuwait came under attack. President Joe Biden has admitted that the US blasts have not stopped the Houthis, and WILL NOT stop them, but said their own bombing and genocide support will continue.

Houthis Flaunt ‘Direct Hit’ On Israel-bound Ship the Zografia With Missiles In Red Sea | ‘Victory For Palestine’

The Ansar Allah movement (Houthis) have survived a nine year war and naval blockade by Saudi colonists, backed and directed by the US and suffered an estimated 77,000 deaths, and have militant solidarity with Palestinians suffering US backed Israeli genocide.

The Houthis ship attacks have so far reportedly NOT KILLED ANYONE while the US/UK replies have reportedly killed dozens in Yemen.

The attack Wednesday and another on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday targeted U.S. owned ships, apparently in defiance of the U.S. led strikes conducted last Thursday and an additional three mass bombing attacks by the U.S./UK since then.

U.S. owned bulker Genco Picardy hit by Houthi drone Less than a day after the latest series of US-led airstrikes on Yemen, the Houthis targeted yet another American ship with naval missiles, Saree said in a televised address on Thursday, claiming the attack resulted in “direct hits.”

View.. What Does ‘Rules-Based International Order’ Mean When US Can Bomb Yemen at Will? – The Free

“The Yemeni Armed Forces confirm that a retaliation to the American and British attacks is inevitable, and that any new aggression will not go unpunished,” he declared.

The Ansar Allah Houthi army have a a long history of developing their own drones and missiles during the 9 year resistance to the US backed Saudi colonial war.

The M/V Chem Ranger, looking the worse for wear.- Houthi militants in Yemen have carried out a missile strike on the US-owned tanker Chem Ranger in the Gulf of Aden, the group’s spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree has claimed.

In fact the Houthi drone attacks on the Saudi military across 1000’s of kms were a big factor in finally blocking and defeating the Saudis from installing their candidate Hadi as president, and this despite US technical bombing aid and the Saudi purchase of up to $100 billion in US armaments.

Despite 4 nights already of bombing the US/UK have not stopped the Houthi blockade attacks in defense of Gaza, which is not surprising, as the Saudis could not find their missiles in 9 years of war.

Ship ‘hit by missile’ off Yemen coast despite US and UK airstrikes Ambrey said three missiles were reportedly launched by the Houthis, with two not reaching the sea and the third striking the bulk carrier.

On Monday, Houthi rebels struck another U.S.-owned ship in the Gulf of Aden.– the Gibraltar Eagle, causing a fire, but the vessel remains seaworthy, according to Sky News.

The ZOGRAFIA en route to Israel

16th Jan 24.. Yemen’s Houthis target the ship “Zografía” headed to Israel M/V Zografia, a Maltese-flagged bulk carrier reported they were struck but still seaworthy, the MT Zografia sustained material damage, but there were no injuries after it was hit near the Yemeni Red Sea port of Saleef,

The US Central Command has confirmed the incident, but reported no injuries . The Ansar Allah Houthi movement, the de facto Yemen government, rebels “launched two anti-ship ballistic missiles at M/V Chem Ranger, a Marshall Island-flagged, US-owned, Greek-operated tanker ship,” CENTCOM posted on X (formerly Twitter), stating that the ship continued its journey after the “crew observed the missiles impact the water near the ship.”

U.S. owned bulker Genco Picardy hit by Houthi drone“There were no injuries but damage reported,” Jan 15, 2024 19:35

The Yemeni militants have carried out dozens of drone and missile attacks in the region since the beginning of the war in Gaza, vowing to continue targeting Israeli-linked vessels until the blockade of Gaza is lifted, and the killing of Palestinians is stopped.