Hi Nina, I understand your point, but the *Guardian*'s article says that:
"Julian Assange <https://www.theguardian.com/media/julian-assange> is showing all the symptoms associated with prolonged exposure to psychological torture and should not be extradited to the US, according to a senior UN expert who visited him in prison. Whatever Assange has done, he should not be tortured, correct? My best, FN On Fri, May 31, 2019 at 6:13 AM "Nina Temporär" <nina-t...@gmx.de> wrote: > > "In the course of the past nine years, Mr Assange has been exposed to > persistent, progressively severe abuse ranging ….. from deliberate > collective ridicule, insults and humiliation...“ > > Seriously? > > Little reminder: > "Part of the problem is that there is two women. If there was one, you > could go: > 'She is a bad woman'. I think this would have happened by now. 'This > person is a > bad character, bad faith, and here is evidence that points to it.' > Because there is two, > it is much harder." > (Julian Assange in "Risk" by Laura Poitras, around min. 28) > > > *** Freedom for the whistleblowers - No to extradition - But for a more > differentiated coverage of the topic *** > > *Gesendet:* Freitag, 31. Mai 2019 um 12:24 Uhr > *Von:* "Patrice Riemens" <patr...@xs4all.nl> > *An:* nettim...@kein.org > *Betreff:* <nettime> Ben Quinn: Julian Assange shows psychological > torture symptoms, says UN expert (Guardian) > Original to: > > https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/may/31/julian-assange-shows-psychological-torture-symptoms-says-un-expert > > > Julian Assange shows psychological torture symptoms, says UN expert > UK government urged not to extradite WikiLeaks co-founder to US where he > faces decades in prison > > Ben Quinn, The Guardian, Fri 31 May 2019. > > > Julian Assange is showing all the symptoms associated with prolonged > exposure to psychological torture and should not be extradited to the > US, according to a senior UN expert who visited him in prison. > > Nils Melzer, UN’s special rapporteur on torture, is expected to make his > appeal to the UK government on Friday. It comes after Assange, the > co-founder of WikiLeaks, was said by his lawyers to be too ill to appear > by video link for the latest court hearing of the case on Thursday. > > Assange has been moved to the health ward of Belmarsh prison, London, > where he has been serving a 50-week sentence for skipping bail while > fighting extradition to the US. He is accused of violating the Espionage > Act by publishing secret documents containing the names of confidential > US military and diplomatic sources. > > After meeting Assange earlier this month in the company of medical > experts who examined him, Melzer will say on Friday that he fears the > Australian’s human rights could be seriously violated if he is > extradited to the US and will condemn what he describes as the > “deliberate and concerted abuse inflicted for years” on him. > > Assange was arrested in April after Ecuador revoked his political asylum > and invited police inside the country’s Knightsbridge diplomatic > premises, where he had sought refuge in 2012 to avoid extradition to > Sweden over allegations of sexual assault, which he has denied. > > “Physically there were ailments but that side of things are being > addressed by the prison health service and there was nothing urgent or > dangerous in that way,” Melzer said. > > “What was worrying was the psychological side and his constant anxiety. > It was perceptible that he had a sense of being under threat from > everyone. He understood what my function was but it’s more that he was > extremely agitated and busy with his own thoughts. It was difficult to > have a very structured conversation with him.” > > Melzer said that Belmarsh was an old prison and had issues about that > but he described it as well maintained, adding that characterisations of > it as a “supermax” or “the Guantanamo of Britain” were unhelpful. While > it does have a high-security wing Melzer said that Assange was not in > that section. > > The lawyer, who receives 10 to 15 requests each day from sources asking > for him to get involved, said that his office had been approached by > Assange’s lawyers in December. But he said that he was initially > reluctant to do so, admitting he was affected by what he called the > “prejudice” around the case. > > However, he began looking into the case again in March and, earlier this > week, wrote letters to the foreign ministers of the US, the UK and > Sweden. > > “In the course of the past nine years, Mr Assange has been exposed to > persistent, progressively severe abuse ranging from systematic judicial > persecution and arbitrary confinement in the Ecuadorian embassy, to his > oppressive isolation, harassment and surveillance inside the embassy, > and from deliberate collective ridicule, insults and humiliation, to > open instigation of violence and even repeated calls for his > assassination,” Melzer will say on Friday. > > He added the UK authorities had contacted his Geneva office to indicate > that the British government would be issuing a point-by-point rebuttal > of the assertions made in his letter. > > Melzer, who is urging the UK government not to extradite Assange to the > US or to any other state failing to provide reliable guarantees against > his onward transfer to the US, criticised the way in which Assange’s > case was handled after police took him from the embassy. > > “I was surprised, for example, to see that on the date he was arrested > he was immediately brought to court after six years in the embassy and > then convicted. Under the normal rule of law you would expect someone to > be arrested and then given a couple of weeks to prepare his defence at > least.” > > The former legal adviser to the Red Cross will say on Friday: “In 20 > years of work with victims of war, violence and political persecution I > have never seen a group of democratic states ganging up to deliberately > isolate, demonise and abuse a single individual for such a long time and > with so little regard for human dignity and the rule of law.” > > Assange could face decades in a US prison after being charged with > violating the Espionage Act by publishing classified information through > WikiLeaks. > > Prosecutors earlier this month announced 17 additional charges against > him for publishing hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic cables and > files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. > > The 47-year-old was previously charged with working to hack a Pentagon > computer system, in a secret indictment that was unveiled soon after his > arrest at Ecuador’s embassy in London. > > “He’s in fact far from well,” Assange’s lawyer, Gareth Peirce told the > hearing on Thursday at the Westminster magistrates court. The next > hearing on the extradition request was set for 12 June. > > A UK government spokesperson said: “The UK has a close working > relationship with UN bodies and is committed to upholding the rule of > law. We support the important work of the special rapporteur’s mandate > and will respond to his letter in due course, but we disagree with a > number of his observations. > > “Judges are impartial and independent from government, with any judgment > based solely on the facts of the case and the applicable law. The law > provides all those convicted with a right of appeal.” > > > # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission > # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets > # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l > # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org > # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject: > # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission > # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets > # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l > # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org > # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:
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