Article 29 - Chaque citoyen a un droit égal de concourir à la formation de la loi et à la nomination de ses mandataires ou de ses agents.
Droits de l'Homme de 1793
{"169430":{"id":"169430","parent":"156821","time":"1582537200","url":"http:\/\/newsnet.fr\/169430","source":"http:\/\/www.medialens.org\/2019\/assange-arrest-part-1-so-now-hes-our-property\/","category":"documentaires","title":"Assange Arrest - Part 1: 'So Now He's Our Property'","catalog-images":"3\/\/1\/newsnet_169430_a915a9.png","image":"http:\/\/newsnet.fr\/img\/newsnet_169430_a915a9.png","hub":"newsnet","url-explicit":"http:\/\/newsnet.fr\/art\/assange-arrest-part-1-so-now-he-s-our-property-","admin":"newsnet","views":"427","priority":"3","length":"27264","lang":"en","content":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cimg style=\"max-width:100%\" src=\"http:\/\/newsnet.fr\/img\/newsnet_169430_a915a9.png\" \/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf 'journalism' meant what it is supposed to mean- acting as the proverbial 'fourth estate' to challenge power and to keep the public informed - then Julian Assange and WikiLeaks would be universally lauded as paragons. So would Chelsea Manning, the brave former US Army whistleblower who passed on to WikiLeaks more than 700,000 confidential US State Department and Pentagon documents, videos and diplomatic cables about the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe most infamous example was \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/collateralmurder.wikileaks.org\"\u003E'Collateral Murder'\u003C\/a\u003E, a video clip filmed from a US helicopter gunship, showing the indiscriminate killing of a dozen or more Iraqi civilians, including two Reuters journalists, in 2007. Shockwaves reverberated around the world, to the deep embarrassment of the US government and military. Today, Manning is incarcerated in a Virginia jail, and Assange is locked up in the high-security HM Prison Belmarsh.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 2013, Manning was given a 35-year prison sentence for daring to reveal brutal US abuses of power. This was commuted by President Barack Obama in 2017, two days before he left office, and Manning was able to go free. However, last month she was called to testify against WikiLeaks before a secret grand jury in Virginia. Recognising that this had clearly been set as a trap to incriminate both her and Assange, she \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/xychelsea\/status\/1104094170950578177_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E refused\u003C\/a\u003E to answer questions:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'I will not participate in a secret process that I morally object to, particularly one that has been used to entrap and persecute activists for protected political speech.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd now Assange, after almost seven years of political asylum in cramped quarters in Ecuador's embassy in London, and in fading health, has been literally dragged out of what should have been a safe refuge, \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/wikileaks\/status\/1116273826621480960_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E contrary\u003C\/a\u003E to international law, and placed at the mercy of UK and US power.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESean Love, a medical doctor who \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/metro\/2019\/04\/11\/medical-professor-once-did-exam-julian-assange-and-said-his-confinement-was-dangerous-physically-and-mentally\/9ISiteMHYwgXkd3C2hCWSO\/story.html\"\u003Eexamined\u003C\/a\u003E Assange while he was in the embassy, was \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/SeanLoveMD\/status\/1116499532882354177_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E clear\u003C\/a\u003E that the WikiLeaks co-founder had suffered badly while in asylum, and would carry that suffering with him for the rest of his life:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'Assange does not leave behind the physical and psychological sequelae of his confinement at the embassy. The harms follow him; they are irreparable. The inhumanity of his treatment and the flagrant denials of his universal rights by Ecuador and the UK are unconscionable.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe also \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/SeanLoveMD\/status\/1117075214209290241_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E countered\u003C\/a\u003E the scurrilous propaganda that Assange had \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/news.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/gy4pp3\/heres-why-ecuador-kicked-assange-out-of-the-embassy\"\u003Ebehaved badly\u003C\/a\u003E while in the embassy:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'Never did I witness Assange having poor hygiene or discourteous behavior toward embassy staff. His suffering was readily apparent, yet he was always pleasant, professional; admirable characteristics under extreme and punitive circumstances.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFidel Narvaez, former consul at the Ecuador embassy from the first day Assange arrived, on 19 June 2012, until 15 July 2018, said that the claims smearing Assange's behaviour in the embassy were 'absolutely false, or distorted, or exaggerated'. Narvaez \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/mabsegovia\/status\/1117649364011356168_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E added\u003C\/a\u003E that:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'whenever I was in the room with Julian, there was always an attitude of respect, of mutal respect, always, from all the diplomatic and administrative staff towards Julian and from Julian towards them... I challenge any member of the embassy staff to cite an occasion when Julian ever - \u003Cb\u003Eever!\u003C\/b\u003E - treated them with a lack of respect.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENarvaez says the atmosphere may well have changed after he left when, he believes, Moreno's regime tried to make life 'unbearable' for Assange in the embassy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPrime Minister Theresa May \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-ecuador-assange-may\/uk-pm-may-says-assange-arrest-shows-no-one-above-the-law-idUSKCN1RN1OA\"\u003Eboasted\u003C\/a\u003E of Assange's arrest to Parliament:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'This goes to show that in the United Kingdom, no one is above the law.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EForeign Secretary Jeremy Hunt \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jeremy*Hunt\/status\/1116275669447716864_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E opined\u003C\/a\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'Julian Assange is no hero'.\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDemocratic Senator Joe Manchin on Thursday \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2019\/04\/11\/politics\/joe-manchin-wikileaks-julian-assange-cnntv\/index.html\"\u003Ecelebrated\u003C\/a\u003E Assange's arrest, arguing that it's 'great for the American people':\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'We're going to extradite him. It will be really good to get him back on United States soil. So now he's our property and we can get the facts and truth from him.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut Rafael Correa, the former president of Ecuador who had granted Assange asylum in 2012, was \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/MashiRafael\/status\/1116289091061075968_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E scathing\u003C\/a\u003E about the man who had succeeded him in 2017:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'The greatest traitor in Ecuadorian and Latin American history, Lenin Moreno, allowed the British police to enter our embassy in London to arrest Assange. Moreno is a corrupt man, but what he has done is a crime that humanity will never forget.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJournalist John Pilger had \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/johnpilger\/status\/1116286034990387200_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E strong words\u003C\/a\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'The action of the British police in literally dragging Julian Assange from the Ecuadorean embassy and the smashing of international law by the Ecuadorean regime in permitting this barbarity are crimes against the most basic natural justice. This is a warning to all journalists.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFormer CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/Snowden\/status\/1116288726601277440_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E warned\u003C\/a\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'Assange's critics may cheer, but this is a dark moment for press freedom.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn an \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/2019\/4\/12\/chomsky_arrest_of_assange_is_scandalous\"\u003Einterview\u003C\/a\u003E on \u003Ci\u003EDemocracy Now!\u003C\/i\u003E, Noam Chomsky called Assange's arrest 'scandalous in several respects' and expanded:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'One of them is just the effort of governments-and it's not just the U.S. government. The British are cooperating. Ecuador, of course, is now cooperating. Sweden, before, had cooperated. The efforts to silence a journalist who was producing materials that people in power didn't want the rascal multitude to know about []... that's basically what happened. WikiLeaks was producing things that people ought to know about those in power. People in power don't like that, so therefore we have to silence it. OK? This is the kind of thing, the kind of scandal, that takes place, unfortunately, over and over.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe added:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'The other scandal is just the extraterritorial reach of the United States, which is shocking. I mean, why should the United States-why should any-no other state could possibly do it. But why should the United States have the power to control what others are doing elsewhere in the world? I mean, it's an outlandish situation. It goes on all the time. We never even notice it. At least there's no comment on it.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbig\u003EAssault On Press Freedom\u003C\/big\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInitial news reports had stated that Assange had been arrested merely on alleged breach of bail conditions. A \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/news.met.police.uk\/news\/update-arrest-of-julian-assange-365565\"\u003Eterse update\u003C\/a\u003E from the London Metropolitan police confirmed the real agenda: namely that the US is seeking his extradition. WikiLeaks \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/wikileaks\/status\/1116311109550710784_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E expanded\u003C\/a\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'Assange has been arrested in relation to a US extradition request for \"conspiracy with Chelsea Manning\" for publishing Iraq War Logs, Cablegate, Afghan War Logs, precisely the persecution for which he was granted asylum under the 1951 Refugee Convention in 2012.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald and co-author Micah Lee \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2019\/04\/11\/the-u-s-governments-indictment-of-julian-assange-poses-grave-threats-to-press-freedoms\"\u003Ewarned\u003C\/a\u003E that the US government's indictment of Julian Assange 'poses grave threats to press freedom'. They explain:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'The U.S. government has been determined to indict Julian Assange and WikiLeaks since at least 2010, when the group published hundreds of thousands of war logs and diplomatic cables revealing \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2010\/12\/24\/wikileaks_23\"\u003Enumerous war crimes and other acts of corruption\u003C\/a\u003E by the U.S., the U.K., and other governments around the world. To achieve that goal, the Obama DOJ [Department of Justice] \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2011\/may\/11\/us-opens-wikileaks-grand-jury-hearing\"\u003Eempaneled a grand jury\u003C\/a\u003E in 2011 and conducted a sweeping investigation into WikiLeaks, Assange, and Manning.\u003Cp\u003E'But in 2013, the \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/julian-assange-unlikely-to-face-us-charges-over-publishing-classified-documents\/2013\/11\/25\/dd27decc-55f1-11e3-8304-caf30787c0a9_story.html\"\u003EObama DOJ concluded that it could not prosecute\u003C\/a\u003E Assange in connection with the publication of those documents because there was no way to distinguish what WikiLeaks did from what the New York Times, The Guardian, and numerous media outlets around the world routinely do: namely, work with sources to publish classified documents.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, the new indictment under Trump attempts to dissociate Assange and WikiLeaks from journalism. Greenwald and Lee observed that:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'The indictment tries to cast itself as charging Assange not with journalistic activities but with criminal hacking. But it is a thinly disguised pretext for prosecuting Assange for publishing the U.S. government's secret documents while pretending to make it about something else.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor those scoffing in the corporate media and elsewhere that Assange is \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com\/2019\/04\/07\/assange-is-not-a-journalist-yes-he-is-idiot\"\u003E'not a journalist'\u003C\/a\u003E, Greenwald has a \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/ggreenwald\/status\/1116817034782883848_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E pertinent observation\u003C\/a\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'When you see professional media figures decreeing \"Julian Assange is not a journalist,\" compare how much corruption & criminality by the world's most powerful factions they've exposed in their work to how much Assange has exposed. That contrast will tell you all you need to know.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHistorian and foreign policy analyst Mark Curtis \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/markcurtis30\/status\/1117410241757483010_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E commented\u003C\/a\u003E succinctly of the BBC's continuing love affair with war criminal Tony Blair:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'Committing crimes overseas gets you to the BBC; revealing them gets you to Belmarsh.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDaniel Ellsberg, who famously leaked the Pentagon Papers about the Vietnam War, \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/therealnews.com\/stories\/daniel-ellsberg-on-assange-arrest-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-press-freedom\"\u003Etold\u003C\/a\u003E The Real News Network:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'It's a very serious assault on the First Amendment. A clear attempt to rescind the freedom of the press, essentially. []... This is the first indictment of a journalist and editor or publisher, Julian Assange. And if it's successful it will not be the last. This is clearly a part of President Trump's war on the press, what he calls the enemy of the state. And if he succeeds in putting Julian Assange in prison, where I think he'll be for life, if he goes there at all, probably the first charge against him is only a few years. But that's probably just the first of many.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EChris Hedges, formerly a reporter with the New York Times, gave an \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.truthdig.com\/articles\/the-martyrdom-of-julian-assange\"\u003Eominous warning\u003C\/a\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'The arrest [on April 11] of Julian Assange eviscerates all pretense of the rule of law and the rights of a free press. The illegalities, embraced by the Ecuadorian, British and U.S. governments, in the seizure of Assange are ominous. They presage a world where the internal workings, abuses, corruption, lies and crimes, especially war crimes, carried out by corporate states and the global ruling elite will be masked from the public. They presage a world where those with the courage and integrity to expose the misuse of power will be hunted down, tortured, subjected to sham trials and given lifetime prison terms in solitary confinement. They presage an Orwellian dystopia where news is replaced with propaganda, trivia and entertainment. The arrest of Assange, I fear, marks the official beginning of the corporate totalitarianism that will define our lives.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFormer UK ambassador Craig Murray \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.craigmurray.org.uk\/archives\/2019\/04\/chelsea-and-julian-are-in-jail-history-trembles\"\u003Emade\u003C\/a\u003E a telling point:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'If a Russian opposition politician were dragged out by armed police, and within three hours had been convicted on a political charge by a patently biased judge with no jury, with a lengthy jail sentence to follow, can you imagine the Western media reaction to that kind of kangaroo court? Yet that is exactly what just happened in London.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFormer Guardian journalist Jonathan Cook \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/2019-04-11\/julian-assange-lies-arrest\"\u003Eobserved\u003C\/a\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'For seven years, from the moment Julian Assange first sought refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, they have been telling us we were wrong, that we were paranoid conspiracy theorists. We were told there was no real threat of Assange's extradition to the United States, that it was all in our fevered imaginations.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey were wrong. As Assange \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/video\/2019\/04\/11\/julian-assange-arrest-wikileaks-manning-067983\"\u003Erelayed\u003C\/a\u003E to the public via his lawyer last week:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'I told you so.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECook continued:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'This was never about Sweden or bail violations, or even about the discredited Russiagate narrative, as anyone who was paying the vaguest attention should have been able to work out. It was about the US Deep State doing everything in its power to crush Wikileaks and make an example of its founder.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe added:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'Still the media and political class is turning a blind eye. Where is the outrage at the lies we have been served up for these past seven years? Where is the contrition at having been gulled for so long? Where is the fury at the most basic press freedom - the right to publish - being trashed to silence Assange? Where is the willingness finally to speak up in Assange's defence?\u003Cp\u003E'It's not there. There will be no indignation at the BBC, or the Guardian, or CNN. Just curious, impassive - even gently mocking - reporting of Assange's fate.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe take a look at both BBC News and the Guardian later in this alert.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbig\u003EEcuador Bends To Washington's Will\u003C\/big\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhy did Ecuador rescind Assange's political asylum? \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/456098-assange-spying-extradition-wikileaks\"\u003EAccording\u003C\/a\u003E to Fidel Narvaez, the former Ecuador consul to London, whom we quoted earlier:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'[President Lenin] Moreno is using the Assange crisis as a smokescreen to cover up a major corruption scandal that both he and his family are involved in. He claimed that, as a credible pretext to extradite Assange, the government is selling the idea that Assange has hacked President Moreno's phone, despite Assange's lack of internet access and with no evidence to substantiate the allegations, and no verification of the claims carried out.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe anonymous publication of the so-called \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.telesurenglish.net\/news\/INA-Papers-The-Corruption-Case-Against-Ecuadors-President-Lenin-Moreno-20190331-0007.html\"\u003E'INA Papers'\u003C\/a\u003E, implicating Moreno in corruption involving illicit payments to an offshore company, has been cynically exploited by Ecuador as a \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/defend.wikileaks.org\/2019\/04\/03\/ecuador-twists-embarrassing-ina-papers-into-pretext-to-oust-assange\"\u003Epretext\u003C\/a\u003E to expel Assange from the embassy. As journalist Elizabeth Vos \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2019\/04\/02\/ecuador-president-threatens-to-decide-assanges-fate-over-scandal\"\u003Eobserved\u003C\/a\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'WikiLeaks had reported about the scandal allegedly involving Moreno and his family with INA Investments Corp, though WikiLeaks has not published any documents related to the case.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnother salient factor is that, following his electoral victory in 2017, Moreno, who had once been Correa's vice-president, turned his back on his campaign promises. This is far from unusual in politics, of course. But this was a spectacular turnaround. As independent journalist Joe Emersberger \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/global\/world-analysis\/2019\/03\/21\/amid-assanges-ongoing-censorship-all-leftists-must-learn-from-ecuadors-hostile-takeover\"\u003Ecommented\u003C\/a\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'within three months of taking office, it was obvious that Moreno had been an impostor. He quickly devoted himself to stuffing the pockets and restoring the political dominance of the elites who hated Correa. Moreno has just signed a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which will further entrench his elite-friendly policies.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEmersberger added:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'Imagine Jeremy Corbyn, the day after he takes office in the UK, announcing that the Conservative Party manifesto is what he had really supported all his life. That would approximate what Moreno pulled off in Ecuador.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn short, Moreno is keen to bend over backwards to please Washington. Last December, the New York Times \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/12\/03\/us\/politics\/manafort-assange-wikileaks-ecuador.html\"\u003Ereported\u003C\/a\u003E that:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'President Len\u00edn Moreno of Ecuador and his aides sought to rid themselves of Mr. Assange in exchange for concessions like debt relief from the United States.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEcuador received $4.2 billion in a US-backed International Monetary Fund bailout on February 4. We are supposed to regard this as mere coincidence.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs recently as December 2018, UN human rights experts had \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/NewsEvents\/Pages\/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24042&LangID=E\"\u003Erepeated\u003C\/a\u003E their call for Assange to be allowed to walk free. They noted that he feared arrest by British authorities if he left, followed by extradition to the US. The UK, said the UN experts, should abide by its international obligations and free the WikiLeaks founder. The UK government rejected the call. On Assange's arrest, independent UN human rights experts \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2019\/04\/1036491\"\u003Ewarned again\u003C\/a\u003E of the risk of 'serious human rights violations' to him. \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/issues\/executions\/pages\/srexecutionsindex.aspx\"\u003EAgnes Callamard\u003C\/a\u003E, UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial executions, \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/AgnesCallamard\/status\/1116335113103716352_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E tweeted\u003C\/a\u003E that in 'expelling Assange from the Embassy' and allowing his arrest, Ecuador had placed him 'one step closer to extradition'. She added that the UK had arbitrarily detained him, 'possibly endangering his life'.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbig\u003EBBC And Guardian Fake News\u003C\/big\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe BBC was guilty of false framing throughout its coverage of Assange's arrest on April 11. In particular, when Huw Edwards read from the BBC News at Ten script that night:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'[Assange] took refuge originally to avoid extradition to Sweden over charges of sexual assault; charges that have since been dropped.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThere never were 'charges', as anyone familiar with the \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/defend.wikileaks.org\/about-julian\"\u003Efacts\u003C\/a\u003E would be aware. A BBC News website \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-47910820\"\u003Earticle\u003C\/a\u003E was later quietly \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/medialens\/status\/1117733291820494849_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E updated\u003C\/a\u003E, without any apology that we have seen, after we had \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/medialens\/status\/1116724930165530625_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E challenged\u003C\/a\u003E Nick Sutton, the editor of the website. As the Defend WikiLeaks website \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/defend.wikileaks.org\/2019\/03\/04\/false-statements-about-assange-and-wikileaks\"\u003Epoints out\u003C\/a\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange is, or has ever been, charged with an offence by the United Kingdom or Sweden.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAdding:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange applied for political asylum over \"sex allegations\" or \"extradition to Sweden\" or to \"avoid questioning\".'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt is a 'key myth', \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/defend.wikileaks.org\/about-julian\/#political-asylum\"\u003Esays\u003C\/a\u003E the Defend WikiLeaks website:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'Despite numerous false media reports, Julian's concern was never to avoid extradition to Sweden, but to avoid extradition to the United States - where he would be imprisoned, and, as Ecuador noted in granting asylum, \u003Cb\u003Ecould even face the death penalty\u003C\/b\u003E [our emphasis]. Julian would have accepted extradition to Sweden had the UK provided an assurance against onward extradition to the US.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDefend WikiLeaks adds:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'Despite false media reporting, Julian has also always been willing to present himself to the British police over the bail issue from 2012, again provided that the UK authorities give assurances that he would not be extradited to the US.\u003Cp\u003E'Neither the UK nor Swedish governments have ever provided such assurances against extradition.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESuch vital information was glaring by its absence from 'mainstream' reporting; not least in BBC News coverage.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe night of Assange's arrest, BBC Newsnight presenter Katie Razzell began in standard 'impartial' manner in describing his status:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'Out of his hiding place and under arrest.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E'Hiding place' is BBC newspeak for 'political asylum'. The implication was that Julian Assange had hidden in an attempt to evade justice. This was fake news, repeated on the airwaves and across the BBC website.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of the most notorious examples of Assange-related fake news was the \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.dumptheguardian.com\/us-news\/2018\/nov\/27\/manafort-held-secret-talks-with-assange-in-ecuadorian-embassy\"\u003Efront-page accusation\u003C\/a\u003E in the Guardian last November that Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's former campaigns manager, had met Assange in the embassy three times. No shred of evidence has ever been produced for this claim, which \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/wikileaks\/status\/1067430101548027906_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E WikiLeaks\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/paul-manafort-julian-assange-wikileaks-meeting-democratic-email-leak-trump-clinton-a8654556.html\"\u003EManafort\u003C\/a\u003E have both vehemently denied, and the story has been widely regarded as \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2018\/11\/27\/it-is-possible-paul-manafort-visited-julian-assange-if-true-there-should-be-ample-video-and-other-evidence-showing-this\"\u003Efake\u003C\/a\u003E from virtually the hour of its publication. \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/therealnews.com\/stories\/wheres-the-collusion-2\"\u003ELuke Harding\u003C\/a\u003E, the lead journalist on the story, and his editors \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/medialens\/status\/1107897350381600768_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E Paul Johnson\u003C\/a\u003E and \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/medialens\/status\/1113311866351181824_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E Katharine Viner\u003C\/a\u003E, have never apologised or retracted the story; nor have they responded to the many \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2019\/01\/02\/five-weeks-after-the-guardians-viral-blockbuster-assangemanafort-scoop-no-evidence-has-emerged-just-stonewalling\"\u003Echallenges\u003C\/a\u003E about it. As we have previously \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/medialens.org\/index.php\/alerts\/alert-archive\/2018\/885-how-to-be-a-reliable-mainstream-journalist.html\"\u003Enoted\u003C\/a\u003E, the Guardian has a disreputable record in publishing nasty, abusive and derogatory pieces about Assange.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA Guardian \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.dumptheguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2019\/apr\/09\/the-guardian-view-on-julian-assange-it-would-be-wrong-to-extradite-him\"\u003Eeditorial\u003C\/a\u003E on the eve of Assange's expulsion at least stated that Assange should not be extradited to the US:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'[He] has shone a light on things that should never have been hidden.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, John Pilger was \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2019\/04\/12\/assange-arrest-a-warning-from-history\"\u003Escathing\u003C\/a\u003E of the paper he called 'Assange's principal media tormentor [and] a collaborator with the secret state', noting that its editorial had 'scaled new weasel heights'. He continued:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'The Guardian has exploited the work of Assange and WikiLeaks in what its previous editor called \"the greatest scoop of the last 30 years.\" The paper creamed off WikiLeaks' revelations and claimed the accolades and riches that came with them.\u003Cp\u003E'With not a penny going to Julian Assange or to WikiLeaks, a hyped Guardian book led to a lucrative Hollywood movie. The book's authors, Luke Harding and David Leigh, turned on their source, abused him and disclosed the secret password Assange had given the paper in confidence, which was designed to protect a digital file containing leaked US embassy cables.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe editorial misled its readers on why Assange had sought refuge:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'When he first entered the Ecuadorian embassy he was trying to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations of rape and molestation. That was wrong.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs we saw above, this is a grotesque twisting of the facts. Indeed, the Guardian editorial was steeped in sophistry:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'the Assange case is a morally tangled web. He believes in publishing things that should not always be published - this has long been a difficult divide between the Guardian and him.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPilger \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2019\/04\/12\/assange-arrest-a-warning-from-history\"\u003Edemolished\u003C\/a\u003E the Guardian's obfuscation:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'These \"things\" are the truth about the homicidal way America conducts its colonial wars, the lies of the British Foreign Office in its denial of rights to vulnerable people, such as the Chagos Islanders, the expos\u00e9 of Hillary Clinton as a backer and beneficiary of jihadism in the Middle East, the detailed description of American ambassadors of how the governments in Syria and Venezuela might be overthrown, and much more. It is all available on the WikiLeaks \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/wikileaks.org\"\u003Esite\u003C\/a\u003E.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOn April 14, the Guardian website even ran an \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20190414202815\/https:\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/2019\/apr\/14\/assange-tried-to-use-embassy-as-centre-for-spying-says-ecuadors-moreno\"\u003E'exclusive'\u003C\/a\u003E that was essentially a disgraceful series of dishonest excuses by Ecuador president Lenin Moreno for kicking Julian Assange out of the London embassy. As Jonathan Cook rightly \u003Ca onclick=\"sj(this)\" data-j=\"popup_twit,call__3_https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jonathan*K*Cook\/status\/1117678071803461632_\" class=\"txtx\"\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"philum ic-tw\" style=\"font-size:16px;\"\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E noted\u003C\/a\u003E via Twitter:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'Notice how the Guardian is now the go-to place for vassal state politicians - Ecuador's Moreno, Venezuela's Guaido - to convey propaganda on behalf of the US national security state. And the Guardian has the gall to call such stenography an \"exclusive\"'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn an \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/456408-pilger-assange-going-underground\"\u003Einterview\u003C\/a\u003E with Afshin Rattansi on RT's Going Underground, Pilger pointed out that Assange and WikiLeaks had angered Washington by exposing US crimes and deceptions to the global public:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'what we are in the midst of is the world's greatest superpower struggling to maintain its dominance. Its information dominance, its technological dominance, its cultural dominance. And WikiLeaks has presented an extreme hurdle to this.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe concluded:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E'We've handed a whole world of abandonment of basic democracy, which is based on dissent, on challenging, on holding power to account, on revelation, on the embarrassment of power. Not trivial embarrassment, the embarrassment of odd celebrity, but real embarrassment. And WikiLeaks provided that public service of journalism.'\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/medialens.org\/index.php\/alerts\/alert-archive\/2019\/901-assange-arrest-part-2-definite-creep-probable-rapist.html\"\u003EPart 2\u003C\/a\u003E, we will examine corporate media coverage and Twitter responses from 'mainstream' commentators.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDC & DE\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.medialens.org\/2019\/assange-arrest-part-1-so-now-hes-our-property\/\"\u003Emedialens.org\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","_links":{"parent_art":[{"title":"170 ans de prison : les Etats-Unis annoncent 17 nouvelles inculpations contre Julian Assange","url":"http:\/\/newsnet.fr\/apicom\/id:156821,json:1"}]}}}