On 22 September the criminal sentence of 50 weeks imposed on Julian Assange for breaching the bail conditions on which he was released from prison in 2010, while contesting his extradition to Sweden, reached its half-way point. That date being a Sunday, were he not being held for any other reason, he would have been released on the previous Friday. Instead, he remains detained pending extradition to the US to face espionage charges.
Assange is far from alone in being detained in a British prison purely under an extradition warrant. The government does not publish statistics on the number of prisoners held for this purpose as they are simply counted as ‘on remand’, along with the other 9,000 prisoners who are not currently convicted and awaiting trial; however anyone who has ever been to Wandsworth prison in particular, where Assange spent his first short period of imprisonment, can attest to significant numbers of prisoners who have been refused extradition bail and are awaiting hearings at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Assange’s many supporters are rightly outraged about his continued detention, as the ‘crime’ he is accused of in the US is that of being an effective investigative journalist who exposed imperialist war crimes. When the court asked him in May if he would surrender to the extradition warrant, he said: ‘I do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many, many awards and protected many people.’
The National Union of Journalists backs Assange, with general secretary Michelle Stanistreet telling the Morning Star that the extradition attempt ‘is a direct attack on the freedom of the press and journalists’ ability to work with sources to reveal information in the public interest’. However, that backing seems not to have been fed through to British journalists in the mainstream press, who continue to largely ignore Assange’s case, bar the occasional smear.
On 3 September, musician Roger Waters, who has repeatedly spoken out in support of Palestine, castigating musicians who breach the boycott of Israel, performed the classic Pink Floyd song ‘Wish you were here’ outside the Home Office in London in support of Assange at a rally also addressed by veteran campaigning investigative journalist John Pilger.
While Julian Assange remains unjustly detained in Britain, Chelsea Manning – who courageously provided documentary evidence of US war atrocities to him for publication on Wikileaks and was sentenced to 35 years, but pardoned and released by outgoing President Barack Obama in 2017 after seven years – has also been back behind bars since May 2019. She has no release date and, as well as being held in prison for contempt of court is being fined $1,000 a day for refusing to testify to the US Grand Jury against Assange.
Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning are political prisoners who exposed the horrors of the US and British wars against the people of Afghanistan and Iraq. They deserve all our support. In London the Julian Assange Defence Campaign has organised protests outside Belmarsh prison on 28 September, at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 11 and 21 October and outside the BBC on 26 October. For further information see events list at https://tinyurl.com/y4w4vjbw
Nicki Jameson
