Umthombo: Inyaniso
Why is Joe Biden’s Department of Justice continuing Donald Trump’s persecution of WikiLeaks umseki, umpapashi kunye nentatheli uJulian Assange?
Barack Obama, concerned about threats to the First Amendment freedom of the press, decided against indicting Assange for exposing U.S. war crimes. Trump did indict Assange, under Espionage Act charges that could garner him 175 years in prison. A British district judge denied Trump’s request for Assange’s extradition from the U.K. to the United States because of the extremely high likelihood that it would lead Assange to commit suicide. Trump appealed the denial of extradition.
Instead of dropping Trump’s extradition request, Biden is vigorously pursuing his predecessor’s appeal against Assange, which the U.K. High Court will hear on October 27 and 28. At that hearing, the High Court should determine what effect the CIA’s recently revealed plan to kidnap and assassinate Assange will have on his fragile mental state in the event he is extradited to the United States.
Judge Baraitser’s Denial of Extradition
On January 6, U.K. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser issued a Isigqibo esinamaphepha angama-132 khanyela extradition. "Ejongene neemeko ezikufutshane zokuzihlukanisa ngokupheleleyo kwaye ngaphandle kwezinto ezikhuselayo ezibeka umngcipheko wakhe kwi-HMP Belmarsh [apho u-Assange evalelwe ngoku]," wabhala, "Ndanelisekile ukuba iinkqubo ezichazwe nguGqr [Leukefeld] aziyi kumthintela uMnumzana. .Assange ekufumaneni indlela yokuzibulala.”
U-Baraitser wayethembele kakhulu, nangona kungabikho kuphela, kubungqina bukaNjingalwazi uMichael Kopelman, unjingalwazi ophumayo we-neuropsychiatry kwiKholeji yaseLondon yaseLondon. U-Kopelman wafumanisa ukuba u-Assange une-post-traumatic stress disorder kunye nokudandatheka okuphindaphindiweyo waza wagqiba ngelithi, "Ndiqinisekile njengogqirha wengqondo ukuba kunokwenzeka ukuba, ukuba i-extradition e-United States yayiza kusondela, uMnu. Assange uya kufumana indlela yokuzibulala."
"Ndanelisekile ukuba umngcipheko wokuba uMnu. Assange uza kuzibulala mkhulu," uBaraitser wazimisela. "Ndifumanisa ukuba imeko yengqondo kaMnu. Assange inokuba yingcinezelo ukumthumela eUnited States of America."
The Biden administration is arguing that Baraitser should have disregarded Kopelman’s evidence or accorded it less weight because he didn’t write in his first report that Assange had a partner, Stella Moris, and they had two young children together. Although Kopelman knew about them, he was mindful of Moris’s anxiety about her children’s privacy. Both Kopelman’s subsequent report and his testimony at the extradition hearing referred to Moris and their children. By then, it was public knowledge.
UBaraitser, owaqwalasela zombini iingxelo zikaKopelman kunye nobungqina bakhe ngaphambi kokulawula, wabhala:
[U-Kopelman] wavavanya uMnumzana Assange ngexesha likaMeyi ukuya kuDisemba ka-2019 kwaye wabekwa ngcono ukuba aqwalasele okokuqala iimpawu zakhe. Uye wanyamekela kakhulu ukubonelela ngengxelo enolwazi ngemvelaphi kaMnu Assange kunye nembali yengqondo. Unike ingqwalaselo ethe kratya kumanqaku ezonyango entolongweni kwaye unike isishwankathelo esicacileyo esifakwe kwingxelo yakhe kaDisemba. Ungugqirha onamava kwaye wayesazi kakuhle ukuba kunokwenzeka ukubaxwa kunye nokunyelisa. Ndandingenaso isizathu sokuthandabuza uluvo lwakhe lwezonyango.
The United States will be allowed to present “assurances” that if Assange is extradited and imprisoned, he will not be subject to special administrative measures (SAMs) — onerous conditions that would keep him in virtual isolation — or be held at the ADX maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado. The U.S. intends to provide an additional assurance that it would not object to Assange serving any custodial sentence he may receive in Australia. These so-called assurances, however, are conditional. The U.S. reserves the right to impose SAMs or hold Assange at ADX if his future behavior warrants it. Moreover, the U.S. cannot guarantee that Australia would consent to hosting Assange’s incarceration.
INkundla ePhakamileyo kufuneka inike ubunzima obuninzi kwindlela apho izityhilelo ezintsha eziqhumayo zeyelenqe lolawulo lukaTrump lokuxhwila nokubulala u-Assange luya kuyichaphazela impilo yakhe yengqondo ukuba uyakhutshelwa ngaphandle.
High Court Should Consider U.S. Plans to Kidnap and Assassinate Assange
Isityholo esichasene no-Assange sisuka kwi WikiLeaks' 2010-2011 izityhilelo zase-US zolwaphulo mthetho e-Iraq, e-Afghanistan naseGuantánamo. Babandakanya iingxelo ze-400,000 zentsimi malunga neMfazwe yase-Iraq, i-15,000 yokufa okungachazwanga kwabemi base-Iraq, kunye nobungqina bokungcungcuthekiswa okucwangcisiweyo, ukudlwengulwa kunye nokubulawa emva kokuba imikhosi yase-US "inikezele amabanjwa kwiqela le-Iraqi lentuthumbo," amaxwebhu atyhila. They included the Afghan War Logs, 90,000 reports revealing more civilian casualties by coalition forces than the U.S. military had reported. And the Guantánamo Files contained 779 secret reports revealing that 150 innocent people had been imprisoned there for years and documenting the torture and abuse of 800 men and boys, in violation of the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Mhlawumbi ukukhululwa okuphawulekayo ngu WikiLeaks yayiyividiyo ka-2007 ethi "Collateral Murder", apho inqwelo-ntaka yeApache yoMkhosi wase-US eBaghdad yayijolise kwaye yatshisa abantu abangaxhobanga. Ubuncinci abantu abali-18 babulawa, kuquka ababini Reuters iintatheli kunye nendoda ezama ukuhlangula abenzakeleyo. Abantwana ababini bonzakele. Itanki yoMkhosi wase-US emva koko iqhuba phezu kwesinye sezidumbu, inqumle phakathi. Ividiyo ibonisa ezintathu ezahlukeneyo zolwaphulo-mthetho lwemfazwe ithintelwe yiNgqungquthela yaseGeneva kunye ne-US Army Field Manual.
Ibiyi WikiLeaks' ukupapashwa kwe-CIA izixhobo zokugqekeza ezaziwa ngokuba yi "Vault 7," leyo arhente yabiza ngokuba "yeyona lahleko inkulu yedatha kwimbali yeCIA," eye yabangela ingqumbo yoMlawuli weCIA kaTrump uMike Pompeo. Izixhobo ezisi-7 zeVault ziveze uphononongo lwe-elektroniki kunye nemfazwe ye-cyber yiCIA.
Ngo-2017, uPompeo wafowuna WikiLeaks "inkonzo yobuntlola engeyiyo eyelizwe" kunye neCIA kunye namagosa karhulumente aqandusela "izicwangciso zemfazwe eziyimfihlo" ukubamba nokubulala u-Assange, ngokutsho okumangalisayo. Yahoo! Iindaba umbiko. Amanye amagosa aphezulu eCIA kunye namagosa olawulo lukaTrump acele "imizobo" okanye "ukhetho" lweendlela zokubulala u-Assange. UTrump "ubuze ukuba iCIA ingambulala na u-Assange kwaye imnike 'ukhetho' lwendlela yokwenza oko," ngokutsho kwengxelo.
Pompeo advocated “extraordinary rendition,” which the CIA used in the “war on terror” to illegally seize suspects and send them to its “black sites” where they were tortured. The scenario was that the CIA would break into the Ecuadorian Embassy in which Assange was staying under a grant of asylum and clandestinely fly him to the United States to stand trial. Others in the agency wanted to assassinate Assange outright by poisoning or shooting him to avoid the hassle of kidnapping him.
I-CIA yahlola WikiLeaks, kwaye ijolise ekuhlwayeleni ingxabano phakathi kwamalungu eqela kwaye ibe izixhobo zabo zombane, ngokutsho Yahoo! Iindaba umbiko. The CIA also conducted illegal surveillance inside the Ecuadorian Embassy and spied on privileged attorney-client communications between Assange and his lawyers.
Ixhala lokuba i-CIA inokuthimba okanye ibulale u-Assange, nto leyo enokubeka emngciphekweni ukutshutshiswa kolwaphulo-mthetho, iSebe lezoBulungisa (i-DOJ) lifake isimangalo esiyimfihlo kuye ngo-2018. ipeyinta i-Assange njenge-hacker endaweni yentatheli. U-Thordarson kamva wavuma kwiphephandaba lase-Icelandic Studin ukuba uxoke ngo-Assange ngokuba ngumqhekezi ukuze akhuseleke ekutshutshisweni yi-FBI.
In 2019, after a new pro-U.S. president came to power in Ecuador, in order to facilitate the U.S.’s attempted extradition, London police dragged Assange from the embassy and arrested him for violating bail conditions. Assange remains in custody in London’s maximum security Belmarsh Prison pending Biden’s appeal of the extradition denial.
The High Court should give great weight to the U.S. plans to kidnap and assassinate Assange. The knowledge of those revelations will put even more mental stress on Assange, whom former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer described as having suffered “prolonged exposure to psychological torture” during his confinement. The High Court should affirm the district court’s denial of extradition.
A Window Into U.S. War Crimes and Threats to Investigative Journalism
"Xa u-Assange epapasha amakhulu amawaka amaxwebhu omkhosi kunye nozakuzo ngo-2010, uluntu lwanikwa ifestile engazange ibonwe ngaphambili yokunqongophala kwesizathu kunye nokuba lilize kweemfazwe zase-Afghanistan nase-Iraq." kunye noNoam Chomsky wabhala at Newsweek. "
Utyhilelo lwakutsha nje lwezoyikiso zikaPompeo ngokuchasene no-Assange ezivele ngaphakathi Yahoo! Iindaba zikhanyise ngeengozi ezibangelwa ngurhulumente wokhuseleko lwesizwe kubuntatheli obuphandayo kunye nelungelo loluntu lokwazi. Ngenxa yolu bhengezo lutsha, imanyano ye-25 yenkululeko yeendaba, inkululeko yoluntu kunye nemibutho yamazwe ngamazwe yamalungelo oluntu iye yaqinisa biza ukugxothwa yezityholo ze-DOJ ezichasene no-Assange.
U-Adam Schiff, usihlalo weKomiti yoBuntlola beNdlu, uthe ikomiti yakhe icele iCIA ngolwazi malunga nezicwangciso zokuxhwila okanye ukumbulala u-Assange.
INkundla ePhakamileyo iya kuthatha isigqibo malunga nokuba iyasiqinisekisa okanye isitshitshise isigqibo sejaji yesithili uBaraitser ekhanyela ukubuyiselwa kwelinye ilizwe. Ukuba bayasiqinisekisa isigwebo sikaBaraitser, abaphathi beBiden banokucela iNkundla ePhakamileyo yase-UK ukuba iphonononge eli tyala. Ukuba iNkundla ePhakamileyo iyasichitha isigqibo sikaBaraitser, u-Assange unokubhenela kwiNkundla ePhakamileyo yase-UK emva koko kwiNkundla yaseYurophu yamaLungelo oLuntu ukuba isigwebo seNkundla ePhakamileyo siyamchasa.
Isibheno sika-Biden sokukhatywa kokuthunyelwa kwamanye amazwe kufuneka sikhatywe. UJulian Assange kufuneka akhululwe kwaye abhiyozelwe ngenkalipho yakhe.
Akuvumelekanga Thunti. Iphinde yashicilelwa ngemvume.
UMarjorie Cohn ngunjingalwazi ophumayo eThomas Jefferson School of Law, owayesakuba ngumongameli weNational Lawyers Guild, kunye nelungu le-bureau yoMbutho wamaGqwetha weDemokhrasi weZizwe ngezizwe kunye nebhodi yesizwe yeengcebiso. Assange Defense.
I-ZNetwork ixhaswa ngemali kuphela ngesisa sabafundi bayo.
Nikela