This week, the 16th anniversary of the founding of WikiLeaks, is a week of action around the world for WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange.
Assange is rotting in the UK’s Belmarsh Prison, fighting extradition to the USA, just so the Anglo-American war party whose crimes and cover-ups he exposed can make an example of him to anyone else tempted to blow the whistle on their governments’ crimes.
Julian Assange is the ultimate test of the independence of Australia’s foreign policy. Australians have until 20 April to unleash a shock wave of pressure on the UK to release him.
On 20 April, a magistrate at the Westminster Magistrate’s Court in London will issue the order to extradite Julian Assange to the United States.
The Victorian government’s new Pandemic Management Bill must be amended to limit the powers it bestows on the government to rule by decree. As Victorian Bar Association President Christopher Blanden wrote in a 27 October Open Letter: “It is one thing to allow temporary rule by decree to deal with an unforeseen and extraordinary emergency in circumstances of extreme urgency.
This media release is an article that was published in the Australian Alert Service on 26 February 2020. Julian Assange’s extradition hearing commenced on 24 February. Following a week of legal argument the proceedings were adjourned and will continue with three weeks of evidence scheduled to begin on 18 May.
