In his own words: Assange’s statement
Philip Roddis
Do you know the Swedish Chief Prosecutor initially handling the allegations of rape against Julian Assange found no case to answer? Are you aware she was succeeded by Marianne Ny, who has pursued a legally dubious course? Have you read Assange’s detailed statement?
Yesterday’s Guardian ran with Failure to extradite Assange to Sweden would endorse ‘rape culture’, say women’s groups. Four paragraphs in, it says:
Sarah Green, co-director of End Violence Against Women, an alliance of more than 80 organisations, said Assange’s portrayal as a victim was an affront to rape survivors.
“He’s always benefited from his cult hero status, painting himself as a victim and being very righteous. Yet this is about rape, it’s what he is accused of. It’s extremely serious.”
This is about rape? Really? Here’s me thinking the pretext for his arrest a technicality on bail, with the unsealed extradition request from Virginia speaking of conspiring to crack a password; end of.
Should Assange be extradited there’s no knowing, of course, what other charges may be added, including capital ones whose inclusion at this stage would debar extradition under UK law. But Green shows no concern and that, I fear, is of a piece with the recklessness with which, as Eric London argued, presumption of innocence is ditched by ‘progressives’ when sexual misconduct is alleged.
But insofar as that adjective can ever apply to rape, London is speaking of ‘normal’ cases. Since Assange’s could not be further from anything passing for normality, the recklessness I speak of rises exponentially. Given what Assange has told us, all of it falsifiable and none of it falsified, of the criminality of our rulers; given even what we knew before Wikileaks of their capacity to lie in circumstances less conducive, it takes myopia and blind faith to new and dizzying heights to insist that this is about rape.
No, Ms Green, with all due respect it is not, and that holds even in the unlikely event of Assange being convicted, through fair trial in a truly independent court, of that very serious crime.
In a 2012 piece, We are Women Against Rape but do not want Julian Assange extradited, Katrina Axelsson and Lisa Longstaff offer a reading that should have leapt out at anyone the moment the allegations, still repeatedly misrepresented as ‘charges’, saw light of day:
When Julian Assange was first arrested, we were struck by the unusual zeal with which he was being pursued for rape allegations.
It seems even clearer now, that the allegations against him are a smokescreen behind which a number of governments are trying to clamp down on WikiLeaks for having audaciously revealed to the public their secret planning of wars and occupations with their attendant rape, murder and destruction.
Quite. And if like me you say rape is a deadly serious matter, don’t you owe it yourself, Assange and his alleged victims to spend a little time reading what the man himself is saying? In 2016 he made a lengthy statement, not to my knowledge published in any corporate media – least of all a Guardian which, having gained handsomely from a book for which Assange received nothing, has led an odious narrative of vilification – but posted on Document Cloud and beginning thus:
You have subjected me to six years of unlawful, politicized detention without charge in prison, under house arrest and four and a half years at this embassy. You should have asked me this question six years ago. Your actions in refusing to take my statement for the last six years have been found to be unlawful by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and by the Swedish Court of Appeal. You have been found to have subjected me to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. You have denied me effective legal representation in this process. Despite this, I feel compelled to cooperate even though you are not safeguarding my rights.
The full statement can be downloaded in PDF form here. It took me the best part of an hour to read but that won’t put you off, I’m sure. Didn’t I hear you telling me rape is serious?
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His mistake was having two different girlfriends in Sweden, and one got a bit jealous of the other https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/sex-lies-and-julian-assange/4156420 – nothing REMOTELY RESEMBLING rape ever took place.
Thanks for the link to Julian Assange’s statement. I’ve just sent it to my Labour MP, asking for her views, and whether she will support the line taken by Jeremy Corbyn and Dianne Abbott. I’ve also expressed my disappointment at Emily Thornberry’s statements advocating his extradition to Sweden. As a human rights lawyer I would have expected better than that. I noted that she is on the Labour Friends of Israel supporters list.
I have to wonder where Amal Clooney is on this. She is the international human rights lawyer, who has been appointed by Jeremy Hunt to act as the foreign secretary’s special envoy on media freedom as part of his campaign to highlight assaults and restrictions on journalists globally.
He was invited by christian socialdemocrats , sexually used by one of them, and if brought to Court judged by social democrats and their allies, if he would have been an asylum seeker he could have done real bad things and go free.
— the invasion by 4chan nazis continues.
Please so not compare Julian’s situation with asylum seekers. Julian is an asylum seeker so it is a ridiculous assertion to say he is getting it tough compared to asylum seekers. It appears that you are hitting out against asylum seekers because you think asylum they have a cushy ride due to the generosity of Western governments. I would point out that most asylum seekers are caused by Western governments carrying out wars in their countries in an attempt to put in place new leaders under the thumb of Western Governments and corporations, and have destroyed millions of homes as well as public infrastructure. More importantly the modern method of conquest is to divide communities to the point of civil war and to assist the anti democratic usurpers as achieved in Iraq and Libya but not yet in Syria. Have you not seen what is left of Syrian cities that… Read more »
The shameful Guardian doubled-up yesterday with an-op ed by the disgraceful Labour MP Jess Phillips on exactly the same wave-length:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/14/julian-assange-case-makes-clear-womens-rights-secondary-political-games
PS the rant is so non-sensical, and unfounded that is difficult to find even a logic way to deconstruct it
God…. What fecken identity politics has done to the brains of these miserable control freaks. As someone else said ‘The gift that keeps on giving’ and none of these people even mention War Crimes or what Wikileaks exposed. Its all about rape and bad behaviour and narcissism and smearing poo on the embassy walls and bad hygiene and all the other trivialised crap these ‘people’ push out to continue the demonisation of Assange. But don’t mention the million dead in the Middle East or entire countries destroyed on complete lies. Just keep mentioning the word rape. I wonder if Sarah Green is also in #metoo?
The Guardian-Observer group endlessly promote opinions that presume the guilt of Assange. However, the Independent is not that far behind in the race to the bottom of journalistic integrity and the following is an interesting example. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/fleabag-phoebe-waller-bridge-julian-assange-arrest-call-the-midwife-a8870311.html Today I was surprised to see nothing about the Assange on the front webpage of the independent. At the top of the page were pictures of three journalists along with the titles of their articles. I clicked on the first (top left) despite its Identity politics oriented title “Jenny Éclair-Gents, thanks for your opinions on Fleabag, but please rein it in”. A title that manages to effortlessly combine patronising sexism with a nasty kind of passive aggression. I do not believe for a moment these are genuine words of thanks and being addressed as a “Gent” prior being told how I should think is plain arrogance. I had no prior knowledge of Fleabag… Read more »
The current crisis – symbolised by the dehumanisation of Julian for telling-the-truth-crime – is the nihilation of the principles of the Rule Of Law (i.e. unlawful detention; illegal and cruel punishment (solitary confinement); violation of Habeus Corpus; forfeiture of freedom without conviction; etc); the destruction of the Social Contract (binding ALL subjects to the Rule of Law – “Be ye ever so high, the law is above you”): and bureaucratic and administrative coup d’etat over the birthrights of subjects – Constitutionally guaranteed in perpetuity; without repeal or encroachment by Parliamentary would-be-despots. The country is in open revolt, and our birthright justices and freedoms are clearly eroded – if not completely nihilated. And the solution is…. …Among those I have garnered – broadly categorised: turn back time to some unspecified (pre-70s) social reboot point – a Social Systems Restore to the Rule of Law; mythical new management of those who respect… Read more »
Perfectly put, BigB: But, prioritise your mind logistically & legally, because, there is an extremely complex Deep State Gamers versus ‘The Resistance’/Patriots conflict, happening now, approaching Civil War in the U$A >>> & yer’ twisting your melons man 😉 and seemingly most others @OffG, inc. the author, it appears: slow down ! We know that the rape case was more than just fallible, even likely a largely fabricated distraction or at minimum a CIA engineered Psyop, with Deep State Media Hype, but NOT by Trump, who has had to endure precisely this self same DSMH & lies: for example, from the ex-MI6 C.Steele Report, Fusion GPS &&& (Fiction paid for by the DS Democrats, involving GCHQ, too!), then came the absurd case ‘Skripal’, as a Trump payback warning to the UK Deep State ! (only a CIA operative would have dumped that Nina Ricci bottle in a bin, so carelessly,… Read more »
there can be no reversion to summary British Justice – as administered at Amritsar 100 years ago
Rape, it seems, is more serious for some than others. I would impore people to look deeply into the competing seams of ethical thought which are being played out in cases such as Assange’s.
If a moral code regards rape as OK in certain circumstances, might this not translate eventually into a ‘justification’ for false allegations (-false prosecution even)?
Until we understand the historic and ideological roots of liberal identitarianism, we are no more than clearing up ashtrays after they’ve had their party.
[Israel Shamir’s books are a quid in digital format]
Crank
As Monty Python put it: “Wink-wink; Nudge-nudge; Say no more!”
What are the historic and ideological roots of liberal identitarianism? And which of Israel’s books should I be reading?
Further to our aligned views earlier: For domination, greed is just a means to the end. Yes, it is nice to sell air [to consumers] and to make a handsome profit. But maybe it is even nicer to refuse to sell [them] air and watch their death throes? After all, my ancestors, obsessed with the domination drive, paid good money for the Christian captives after the Persian sack of Jerusalem, then slaughtered the prisoners, refusing the profit-taking. Profit is not the last word; greed is not the ultimate sin. No greed can explain the drive of a billionaire to make more billions. He is after different game: domination. As we said, domination calls for slaves, and no man can be enslaved while he is connected to nature. That is the reason for the destruction of nature; it has to be done to enslave a man. But beyond the domination drive,… Read more »
Not theology, my friend – psychology. Self/Other; dominance/subservience; the Master/Slave dialectic; oppressor/oppressed; the ‘Will to Power’; dominion; the Thanatos psychosexualised drive to conquer death; or to offset death with ersatz immortality (Ernst Becker); transhumanism; AI; the Ubermensch and Untermensch; the suppressed counterdrive to create – Eros; the ‘Fearful Symmetry’ of the primal forces of darkness and light; order/chaos; birth/death; the known and unknown; The Sky Father; the Earth Mother; the mediator Son; the Divine Androgyne…. …Draw back the veil and you are looking straight into the theatre of the mind. Theology, teleology, progress, and even prosperity are all an ancient heady mix of mythology and psychology. We have been balancing the need to create and the primitive need to accumulate and dominate since the year dot. Have you read Michael Hudson’s masterful four part history of debt? We have been wrestling with the same problem since at least the Bronze… Read more »
“What are the historic and ideological roots of liberal identitarianism? ”
@BigB , lol, May I venture:- ‘Wannabes’ that support AntidisestablishmentArianism
https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Arianism
Sorry for jesting, but it was always just my favourite word, since school days, what with Hitler & The Aryans, I’m sure they’ll get Notre Dame rebuilt in no time, with the plenipotentiary powers of Macron (chuckle) and plenty of blood sweat & tears of laughter in Bohemia Grove 🙂
😉
the historic and ideological roots of liberal identitarianism
When Julian Assange gets locked up with no proper charge we see another miscarriage of justice in the making. Meanwhile Christopher Steele of the Dearlove coterie, both retired spooks who are allowed to feather their nests by spinning lies and deception, while trampling all over the official secrets act, walk free
So why are these real charlatans not being held to account?
On Her Majesties Secret Service bringing criminal actions [often international crimes] to a place near you. Using millions in tax payers money for totally useless fit-ups, disappearances and propaganda mocumentaries.
The gifts that keep on giving. The letter from 70 UK parliamentarians demanding that Assange be extradited to Sweden was organised and published on Twitter by Stella Creasy MP and supported and amplified by the usual suspects, Jess Phillips MP among the most prominent (plus the entire Tinge-Tigger Group, Labour Friends of Israel and assorted bad smells from the Blairite era & some Tory wets). Thus they were handed a stick to beat not only Julian Assange but simultaneously their other bêtes noirs, Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott. Three flies swatted at a single stroke? Genius? probably not; more a case of kicking the ball at an open net. All in all though, enough to be reported as serious news. Former home secretary Lord Blunkett was more explicit about the motives and said people giving Assange “unqualified support” were being “extremely unwise”. Writing in The Times, the former Labour MP… Read more »
Regarding Blunkett, as the old saying goes: There are none so blind as those who will not see.
Yes, the moment Jess Phillips – the self-serving, self deluded and supremely shallow promoter of all things Jess Phillips – threw in her Graun piece the other day, we knew that yet again a specific issue was being hitched to the more general one of ousting Jeremy Corbyn.
As for that chap from my own home town, I’m not a huge fan of Will Self but delighted in the time he featured in a radio interview with Blunkett. I forget the topic but when Blunkett made snarky allusion to Self’s motives, the latter replied, in that sneering tone I usually detest: “that’s a bit rich, from a man twice ejected from cabinet office for malfeasance.”
Such are the people now heeded as we sleepwalk into totalitarianism.
To paraphrase a joke by Mark Thomas:
‘David Blunkett is a racist shit…
…I bet nobody told him his dog is black’.
For those who didn’t see it, “A Very Social Secretary,” a docudrama about Blunkett’s relationship with Kimberly Quinn, publisher of “The Spectator,” is well worth a visit. Blunkett is brilliantly played by Bernard Hill; a priceless moment comes when Blunkett’s guide-dog chews up Quinn’s Louis Vuitton handbag.
I chaired a conference for a group campaigning against Thatcher’s social security cuts back in 1983 in Sheffield Town Hall. The keynote speaker was Gordon Brown, newly elected MP for Dunfermline East, and the opening address was given by the leader of the city council, one David Blunkett. If only we knew then what we know now – but therein lies the rub.
Yesterday was Palm Sunday.
The story is that the ordinary people praised the return of the rebel Jesus and welcomed him with palm leaves as he rode into Jerusalem. Later Jesus whipped the moneylenders out of the temple.
A shame that our contemporary ‘JC’ can’t turn over the tables of the corrupt ‘priests in the temple of Labour’.
Ah yes, dear old David Blunkett who famously declared that we must be prepared to give up our rights and freedoms in order to protect our rights and freedoms. As you say, there are none so blind as those who will not see.
The Guardian of course is not allowing comment on thee Observer article and so I worked a comment into the debate on the Australian election. For the third time they disappeared my post but without the usual comment by the monitor. I wrote another post complaining that I didn’t like their suppression of my polite but critical post. That too disappeared very quickly. Here is my comment. “As someone who has been a scrutineer it is obvious that quite a lot of the One Notion Party supporters came from Labor. These voters give Labor preferences before the Coalition. It will be interesting to see where the remaining supporters put their preferences. On another issue I have seen no meaningful statements from any political Party regarding the arrest of Assange . The cliche’ answer by the Foreign Minister that Australia will give the same consular assistance as any Australian means no… Read more »
Also Australian politicians believe in a ‘Robust British Justice System’ that arrests ‘Rudes’, ‘Ungratefuls’, ‘Narcissists’ and ‘Skateboarders’, and throw them in solitary confinement for a very long time.
50% of voters have some kind of an incurable disease. What is that disease, anybody knows?
Stockholm Syndrome.
I remember some time ago somebody telling me they were willing to accept “being watch” if that “prevents terrorism and save their lifes”…yup…
Seems incredible….but is real…
I think the disease you allude to is quite simply, ignorance ! Yes, just like ” British Justice ” it is totally un-informed this is the sickness that at least the majoritity of our National, nay the Global communitity suffer from ?
And, that is purpose of, the real duty of the free press like the publisher Julian Assagne is to inform the people of the realitity.
And they the press to explain why our ‘ ruling classes are determined to keep us un-informed ‘.
I gave up trying to comment in the Guardian a long time ago and cancelled my account. I never read it now. Their writers are a repulsive bunch of conceited Establishment liberals.
They do not facilitate comments on for example, abuse issues and women’s issues as they do not tolerate ANY dissenting opinion.
They also employ a team of people to police comments where they are permitted.
Free speech is completely meaningless in a medium that polices comments like the Guardian does.
There are some malevolent agents out there for sure, but the unProgressive ilLiberals are mostly useful idiots for the ‘Inverted Totalitarianism’ now gripping our society.
Anyone who has read even a fraction of the Embassy Cables released by Wikileaks knows the MO that is followed when it is deemed necessary to bring someone down or into line.
The dirty tricks, the innuendo, the scare tactics, all of these things were used over and over again.
I am not claiming to have inside knowledge of the situation in Sweden but it is clear that the Assange knew very well that he had pissed off powerful people and that they had -and have- the power and the wherewithal to exact any punishment they deemed necessary.
They have, and they will continue to do so.
For those who who would wish to know more about the original sexual misadventures of Julians’s brief speaking visit to Sweden, The best account, and the most credible is that of the former ‘ British Ambassader Craig Murray.
It is a must read on his website!
Given the backdrop there is not a snowball’s chance in hell Assange would receive a fair trial in Sweden- courts are held in secret and they do not have a jury system.
We already know that a key piece of evidence (the torn condom) was found NOT to have Assange’s DNA on it although we do know it allowed the ideologically driven Marianna Ny the opportunity to re-open the case.
Other evidence in the public domain such as the deleted tweets suggest Assange has not committed any crimes beyond exposing the US killing machine.
Harry, there is no evidence. These are malicious smears.
And a torn condom would not be evidence of rape even if it did have Julian Assange’s semen on it.
(Oh, and BTW do rapists usually wear a condom? No.)
I suspect, although I’m not completely certain, that the noises about reviving the rape case are just for effect and that it won’t happen. The ‘rape’ charge relates to Sofia Wilen, who tweeted several times that she didn’t want to accuse JA of anything and the police were just out to get him. I haven’t seen any statements from her since then – only from her lawyer, and those aren’t in the form of “My client says …” – but things like “We will do everything we can …”.
Bryan MacDonald writing about the US relentless focus on Assange, he explains why the determination to hunt Assange down is so intense:
“.. because he showed America for what it actually is, rather than how it likes to be perceived”
He also shows how much Washington values journalists. He reminds us of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. How did the US administration reacted? The presedent stood by the murderers and no sanctions or penalties ensued.
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/456344-assange-khashoggi-embassy-us-values/
No greater crime can be committed against the United States as to publicly reveal it for what it is.
John2o2o,
Succinct and apposite. Thank you.
The ‘ narrative of the ” missing millionare-playboy’s corpse ” to which you allude to?
Can be best understood that until his body shows up dead or alive, that the presumption of death is in
realitity a part of an international plot to overturn the current ruling family of Saudi Arabia, by the highest levels of both the CIA and Israeli undercover forces.
And according to no less an investigative journalist who now operates out of her home country, Sybel Edmunds, a former US intelligence operative who shares the widely held insider view, that the failure to produce the body is the key, to the foregoing international planning1
Her website is a must read for all who want to better understand if the playboy is dead or alive ?
It was never about “rape”, it is not about rape and it will never be about rape. Sexual allegations are the easier way to bring someone down, with sex being such a basic animal instinct and the moral issues related to it, it arouses almost instantly a defense barrier in people’s mind… The sexual allegations are another manipulation, another smear campaing…..the smoke screen to abort discussion of western goverments use of terror, shock and literally crime to control the population, to mantain the status quo. Had Assange and WikiLeaks released a video of Russia doing a similar thing he would have been made a Knight of the British Crown, an american celebrity and hail as the greatest hero of moder human history…..and he could f**** anyone, with or without violence….Trump is grabbing women by the p**** anyways… (“The president of the United States has been accused of sexual harassment or… Read more »
(“The president of the United States has been accused of sexual harassment or assault by nearly two dozen women.”
As was boy Clinton during his days at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. Clinton was expelled from Oxford University for allegedly raping a British classmate named Eileen Wellstone in 1992. He left the UK before finishing his degree under a cloud. Whether there was any substance to this story is difficult to tell, but he certainly had form in this regard. He certainly liked the ladies, although they didn’t always like him. Compare Assange’s treatment with Clinton’s.
“He certainly liked the ladies, although they didn’t always like him.”
Well that pretty much covers any non-gay male that ever lived.
And after rape accusations, the next most intense instant emotional reaction can be triggered by the charge of anti-Semitism. So if you can smear Assange as an anti-Semitic rapist then you’re onto a winner.
Clearly this needs to be dealt with first by Swedish Courts otherwise Assange cannot be treated fairly in the United States not knowing the outcome.
Julian is not under arrest in Sweden. Julian is not wanted in Sweden.
Clearly you are wrong Michael.
Here is a John Pilger documentary from quite a few years back. I first saw it on another website, couldn’t find it again until I found that someone uploaded it to DailyMotion a couple or so years ago. Sex, Lies And Julian Assange – Documentary Film When Julian Assange arrived in Sweden in August 2010 he was greeted like a hero. But within weeks there was a warrant out for his arrest and he was being investigated on allegations of rape and sexual misconduct. Today, Assange is cornered in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, arguing he won’t receive justice if he’s taken to Sweden and that authorities in the United States are building a case for his extradition. In Sex Lies And Julian Assange, Andrew Fowler retraces what happened in those crucial weeks while Julian Assange was in Sweden. What was the nature of his relationship with the two women?… Read more »
This is The Fraudian deliberately running interference for The Powers That (Should Not) Be, to confuse the public and direct people into supporting Julian Assange’s extradition to Sweden once Swedish prosecutors, under pressure from the British government, revive the rape allegations.
Why the zeal for Sweden to exhume what should stay buried and rotting and to rub everyone’s faces in again?
The reason must be that the Swedish extradition treaty with the United States may have a lower or broader standard in judging or deciding the conditions under which a person may be extradited to the US, compared to the UK equivalent; or that Swedish courts are more susceptible to pressure from the bully across the Atlantic.
Sweden is rape capital of the world according to those with close ties to Sweden, e.g. one being Ingrid N. “……What is illegal in Sweden is to make similar allegations against asylum seekers. Sweden became the rape capital of the world but horrific jail sentences and fines have been levied on victims who were brutally gang raped by economic and political refugees of the very issues that WikiLeaks was bringing to the attention of the world. … Sweden, sad to say, is making a precedent of inflating the importance of the private acts of a controversial journalist and ignoring the deeds of asylum seekers …”
For most of this century Sweden has enjoyed an undeserved reputation of having a liberal and principled ethos. Liberal yes, principled, no. Any country poodling for the US must be seen as complicit in their crimes.
After Luke Harding’s self-destroying Guardian public relations scandal, one would think the people there would have learned their very powerful lesson on intentional press deception. But lo and behold the “good friendly folks” at the Guardian have hit the bullseye again – and nuked themselves, first Harding’s Hiroshima and now Green’s Nagasaki, in another act of history-making press suicide while falsely smearing Julian Assange.
Thank you. But don’t confuse those who try to promote the idea that this is about rape, with progressives.
It is not about rape in our legal understanding; Sweden has a tighter law. The women were happy about sex with Assange and left plenty of messages to that effect on twitter or some such like. What they had not agreed on was the frequency of sex (one for the road) and the condom issue.
Assange had been cleared of wrongdoing by the Swedes – free to leave. But then they changed their minds.
There was once a decision from the West German highest court “an answer from a government department must be correct and incomplete’, meaning a revision two weeks later is not allowed.
With respect, you know nothing about this matter unless you were there. I think it worth saying that under UK (and international) law there exists a “presumption of innocence”. That is to say, a person is innocent in the eyes of the law until proven guilty. So Julian is guilty only of skipping bail. It is worth also saying that this case highlights the grave dangers of the current popular attitude that anyone making an allegation of sexual misconduct “must be believed”. I have never thought this a reasonable attitude and as a matter of principle I never believe allegations of sexual misconduct that cannot be evidenced other than by an accusation. And how can a torn condom (with or without Julian’s semen on it) be evidence of rape? If you are sexually active get one of your used condoms and tear it. Does that make you a rapist? NO.… Read more »
It would be nice to hear from these women’s groups as to what they exacted in tribute to betray Assange.
At least the Ecuadorian government was promised US$10 billion in loans from the IMF and various US govt and Wall Street agencies to betray Assange.
Just imagine, Assange sitting up in his cell at Belmarsh Prison and thinking, geez, I’m worth THAT MUCH MONEY to the US.
Attempting to scare the shit out of future whistleblowers almost certainly IS worth that much money to the US, but the world has always had its heroes who will nonetheless say it like it is, nonetheless pay the price, and nonetheless earn our eternal gratitude.