Image by duncan c via Flickr
with Chris Hedges
RT America on Dec 17, 2021
On the show, Chris Hedges discusses The Trial of Julian Assange, a new book by Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.
In July 2010, Wikileaks published Cablegate, one of the biggest leaks in the history of the US military, including evidence for war crimes and torture. Julian Assange, the founder and spokesman of Wikileaks, immediately found himself a target, accused of hacking, and later sexual assault. He spent the next seven years in asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, fearful that he would be extradited to Sweden to face the accusations of assault and then sent to US. In 2019, Assange was handed over to the British police. On the same day, the US demanded his extradition. He faces up to 175 years in prison for alleged espionage and computer fraud.
It was at this moment that Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, started his methodical investigation into how the US and UK governments were working in tandem to imprison Assange for life in the United States. The more Melzer investigated the more it became apparent that the UK and the United States were grossly distorting the legal process to revoke Assange’s most basic rights, including due process along with the flagrant manipulation of evidence. The violations included the taping of Assange’s meetings with his attorneys, in violation of attorney-client privilege. Melzer gathered medical and psychological evidence to prove that Assange has suffered prolonged and orchestrated psychological torture. All these measures were instituted solely because Assange provided to the public evidence of war crimes, lies, corruption and a callous indifference by the United States to human life.
Nils Melzer is the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. His new book is The Trial of Julian Assange: A Story of Persecution.
See also:
Freeing Julian Assange: What It Will Take To End This Political Case, by Kevin Gosztola
From the archives:
The Judicial Kidnapping of Julian Assange, by John Pilger
Chris Hedges: Julian Assange Could Soon Be Extradited To The United States
Chris Hedges and Joe Lauria: The Extradition Hearing of Julian Assange
Kevin Gosztola: US Government’s Appeal Hearing In Assange Extradition Case: Day 1
Chris Hedges and John Pilger: The Appeals Hearing of Julian Assange
Kristinn Hrafnsson: The US Govt Contemplated Killing Julian Assange With UK Complicity
Chris Hedges and Nils Melzer: The Psychological Torture of Julian Assange
Swedish Prosecutors Drop Case On Julian Assange + Assange: I Will Not Forgive Or Forget
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