4 ms·

The serious decline of Assange's health is worrisome. Even Belmarsh prison (where Assange is currently) does not have the best record when it comes to human rig

by wbhart 7y ago

The serious decline of Assange's health is worrisome. Even Belmarsh prison (where Assange is currently) does not have the best record when it comes to human rights violations [1, pp. 21]. However, it seems the main concern at the moment is his lack of proper access to case files and lawyers, his health, and the relentless, ongoing public statements against him at the highest levels. I can accept the Rapporteur's assessment that his current condition is the result of very high level "collective persecution", e.g. the British Prime Minister stating "no one is above the law", the Australian Government stating "he won't receive special treatment", statements by Ecuador that he smeared faeces on the wall of the embassy and hacked the president's phone, and US politicians and pundits alike calling for him to be extrajudicially executed, for example. There has been a very high level campaign to get Assange and make an example of him at all costs, even though opinion is clearly divided on whether most of the actions he is charged with were protected under the First Amendment or even commonplace amongst media organisations, e.g. encouraging leaks of secured information and publishing them, and the remaining acts seem to be de minimis, e.g. offering to, but not actually, cracking a password (all counts of the indictment fall under one of the two categories, the summary wording being almost identical in all of them). In related news Chelsea Manning is back in prison for refusing to testify in a grand jury against Assange. She has now made the case that they didn't need her testimony for indictments [2], and has apparently written an eloquent letter explaining the history of abuse of the Grand Jury process, after seventy something days in prison to coerce her testimony. [1] https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/76000/eur450042006en.pdf https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/76000/eur45004200... [2] https://www.sparrowmedia.net/2019/05/chelsea-mannings-lawyers-file-motion-to-reconsider-sanctions/ https://www.sparrowmedia.net/2019/05/chelsea-mannings-lawyer...

Theodores 7y ago
I have no direct experience of the prison system but, from what I understand, Belmarsh is for Category A prisoners, part of the deal is that they get a helicopter flying above from the court room to the prison. In the UK we also have open prisons, where they have nice gardens and the prisoners agree to stay on the prison side of the fence. Open prisons are for white collar criminals that have behaved themselves in general population prisons. Belmarsh is an institution with a name that goes before it like how Guantanamo or US SuperMax prisons have a reputation. A suitcase full of cocaine will get a mostly harmless gentleman classed as Category A and escorted to Belmarsh, apart from people doing the wrong things in the drugs trade you have to have killed someone or sent someone to hospital to be 'Category A' - worst of the worse. Admittedly Assange might just stroll off an open prison, however, Belmarsh is a bit extreme, apart from anything else it makes him into this super-villain whereas the British state should have not bothered giving him and his ego the 'benefit' of that. I blame the Tory government for not getting this call right, they should have used standard procedures to put him in custody in a standard prison, category B, not Belmarsh. Historically countries have had special prisons such as the Tower of London which are reserved for high profile threats to the status quo, or a place to lock up a leader from another country. It seems this antique way still continues, anyone who messes with the Official Secrets Act is probably resigned to jail anyway, so this is probably why it has to be Belmarsh. Remember that guy who murdered scores of young adults on that island somewhere in Scandinavia a few years back and how he ended up in quite a posh prison where everything was nice? The British government should have such a place for political enemies. There is no reason to put the likes of Assange - love him or hate him - in with people who are known murderers. Apart from anything else the acting government run the risk of ending up in prison themselves. The former chair of the Tory party - Jeffrey Archer - had to be sent to jail a few years back. I think he too had a stint in Belmarsh. A lot of people would like to see Tny Blir in jail too - or just executed - and more recent Tory leaders have been in dubious legal territory with adventures in Libya. They could all be given the Belmarsh treatment as the situation currently stands, you would think they would have a Norway style nice prison just in case they end up there themselves.
mongol 7y ago
What is known about his health? On one hand, I am not surprised it has deteriorated, having stayed in a single location indoors for years. On the other hand, the health concerns could be yet another delay tactic of which he has used many in the past. I don't know what to believe.
- wbhart 7y ago
  The rapporteur has addressed that. He took medical professionals with him and their assessment is he is gravely ill. The specifics won't be made public, as that would violate his privacy, however they have been clear that he is suffering the effects of sustained psychological abuse amounting to torture and that this is most certainly not an act, in their opinion. I believe that in the embassy he had a chronic cough and a lot of pain in a shoulder (both potentially signs of lung cancer). But that is all I know that has been publicly released. One other piece of data is that he is said to be somewhat unable to hold a conversation.
  - free652 7y ago
    Do you have a citation that rapporteur took medical professionals?
    - wbhart 7y ago
      Yes, the NYT reported it for example [1]. Edit: ok, to be more clear, they were medically qualified to examine victims of torture, but they gave him a full medical evaluation. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/05/31/world/europe/ap-eu-un-human-rights-assange.html https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/05/31/world/europe/ap-...
- droithomme 7y ago
  > the health concerns could be yet another delay tactic He is currently incarcerated in prison in the UK. He's not personally choosing not to attend the hearing as part of some drama.
wbhart 7y ago
There was also a 3 million dollar extortion attempt against Assange to not publish footage of him in the embassy. His lawyers filed court proceedings in Spain. I'm sorry I don't have a reliable source in English for that. [1] [1] https://elpais.com/internacional/2019/04/26/actualidad/1556281667_286327.html https://elpais.com/internacional/2019/04/26/actualidad/15562...

by wbhart 7y ago

Theodores 7y ago

I have no direct experience of the prison system but, from what I understand, Belmarsh is for Category A prisoners, part of the deal is that they get a helicopter flying above from the court room to the prison. In the UK we also have open prisons, where they have nice gardens and the prisoners agree to stay on the prison side of the fence. Open prisons are for white collar criminals that have behaved themselves in general population prisons. Belmarsh is an institution with a name that goes before it like how Guantanamo or US SuperMax prisons have a reputation. A suitcase full of cocaine will get a mostly harmless gentleman classed as Category A and escorted to Belmarsh, apart from people doing the wrong things in the drugs trade you have to have killed someone or sent someone to hospital to be 'Category A' - worst of the worse. Admittedly Assange might just stroll off an open prison, however, Belmarsh is a bit extreme, apart from anything else it makes him into this super-villain whereas the British state should have not bothered giving him and his ego the 'benefit' of that. I blame the Tory government for not getting this call right, they should have used standard procedures to put him in custody in a standard prison, category B, not Belmarsh. Historically countries have had special prisons such as the Tower of London which are reserved for high profile threats to the status quo, or a place to lock up a leader from another country. It seems this antique way still continues, anyone who messes with the Official Secrets Act is probably resigned to jail anyway, so this is probably why it has to be Belmarsh. Remember that guy who murdered scores of young adults on that island somewhere in Scandinavia a few years back and how he ended up in quite a posh prison where everything was nice? The British government should have such a place for political enemies. There is no reason to put the likes of Assange - love him or hate him - in with people who are known murderers. Apart from anything else the acting government run the risk of ending up in prison themselves. The former chair of the Tory party - Jeffrey Archer - had to be sent to jail a few years back. I think he too had a stint in Belmarsh. A lot of people would like to see Tny Blir in jail too - or just executed - and more recent Tory leaders have been in dubious legal territory with adventures in Libya. They could all be given the Belmarsh treatment as the situation currently stands, you would think they would have a Norway style nice prison just in case they end up there themselves.

mongol 7y ago

What is known about his health? On one hand, I am not surprised it has deteriorated, having stayed in a single location indoors for years. On the other hand, the health concerns could be yet another delay tactic of which he has used many in the past. I don't know what to believe.

wbhart 7y ago
The rapporteur has addressed that. He took medical professionals with him and their assessment is he is gravely ill. The specifics won't be made public, as that would violate his privacy, however they have been clear that he is suffering the effects of sustained psychological abuse amounting to torture and that this is most certainly not an act, in their opinion. I believe that in the embassy he had a chronic cough and a lot of pain in a shoulder (both potentially signs of lung cancer). But that is all I know that has been publicly released. One other piece of data is that he is said to be somewhat unable to hold a conversation.
- free652 7y ago
  Do you have a citation that rapporteur took medical professionals?
  - wbhart 7y ago
    Yes, the NYT reported it for example [1]. Edit: ok, to be more clear, they were medically qualified to examine victims of torture, but they gave him a full medical evaluation. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/05/31/world/europe/ap-eu-un-human-rights-assange.html https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/05/31/world/europe/ap-...
droithomme 7y ago
> the health concerns could be yet another delay tactic He is currently incarcerated in prison in the UK. He's not personally choosing not to attend the hearing as part of some drama.

wbhart 7y ago

There was also a 3 million dollar extortion attempt against Assange to not publish footage of him in the embassy. His lawyers filed court proceedings in Spain. I'm sorry I don't have a reliable source in English for that. [1] [1] https://elpais.com/internacional/2019/04/26/actualidad/1556281667_286327.html https://elpais.com/internacional/2019/04/26/actualidad/15562...