Not Pynchon but Assange

Sat Feb 1 11:43:29 UTC 2020

+ Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said she would drop<https://www.newsweek.com/tulsi-gabbard-julian-assange-edward-swowden-pardon-dropped-charges-joe-rogan-1425802> all U.S. charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and pardon NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden if elected president in 2020.

During an appearance on the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast on Monday, the congresswoman from Hawaii called Assange's arrest and possible extradition<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/11/dark-moment-press-freedom-snowden-leads-global-chorus-condemning-assange-arrest> to the United States a "great threat to our freedom of the press and to our freedom of speech."

"The fact that the Trump administration has chosen... to ignore how important it is that we uphold our freedoms, freedom of the press and freedom of speech, and go after [Assange], it has a very chilling effect on both journalists and publishers," Gabbard said.

"And you can look to those in traditional media and also those in new media, and also every one of us as Americans," Gabbard added ... +

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/15/tulsi-gabbard-says-she-would-pardon-snowden-and-drop-all-us-charges-against-assange

Am 31.01.20 um 15:58 schrieb rich:
Hard to disagree with the sentiments regarding press freedoms and whistleblowers but I only wish Assange wasn't the poster boy

rich

On Fri, Jan 31, 2020 at 9:51 AM Thomas Eckhardt <thomas.eckhardt at uni-bonn.de<mailto:thomas.eckhardt at uni-bonn.de>> wrote:
Here is the most complete account I have read. An interview with Nils
Melzer, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and professor of international
law at the University of Glasgow.
Melzer provides many interesting details and I highly recommend reading the
whole thing. This might serve as his conclusion:
"What does it mean when UN member states refuse to provide information to
their own Special Rapporteur on Torture?
That it is a prearranged affair. A show trial is to be used to make an
example of Julian Assange. The point is to intimidate other journalists.
Intimidation, by the way, is one of the primary purposes for the use of
torture around the world. The message to all of us is: This is what will
happen to you if you emulate the Wikileaks model. It is a model that is so
dangerous because it is so simple: People who obtain sensitive information
from their governments or companies transfer that information to Wikileaks,
but the whistleblower remains  anonymous. The reaction shows how great the
threat is perceived to be: Four democratic countries joined forces – the
U.S., Ecuador, Sweden and the UK – to leverage their power to portray one
man as a monster so that he could later be burned at the stake without any
outcry. The case is a huge scandal and represents the failure of Western
rule of law.
If Julian Assange is convicted, it will be a death sentence for freedom of
the press."
https://www.republik.ch/2020/01/31/nils-melzer-about-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange

On Wed, 29 Jan 2020 11:25:34 +0000
  Kai Frederik Lorentzen <lorentzen at hotmail.de<mailto:lorentzen at hotmail.de>> wrote:
>
> + 28 January 2020. The Parliamentary Assembly of the
>Council of Europe (PACE) has called on member states to
>oppose the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian
>Assange to the United States and resolve that “he must be
>promptly released.” Assange is fighting extradition to
>the United States in an unprecedented Espionage Act
>prosecution for journalistic activity. His extradition
>hearing opens at Woolwich Crown Court in London on 24
>February 2020 ... +
>
> https://bridgesforfreedom.media/council-of-europes-parliamentary-assembly-calls-for-assanges-prompt-release/

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