Follow Up: Alleged Torture of Julian Assange
Just a brief follow-up on a story we ran a few days ago, ALLEGED Chemical Torture of Julian Assange. This article generated a lot of discussion below the line, mainly around its reliance on an anonymous source. Many raised concerns that the accusation of “chemical torture” is unsubstantiated.
We reached out to the author for her input, and below is her reply (which she gave us permission to publish).
Clearly scepticism, especially relating to anonymous sources, is very healthy, and is one of the foundational principals of this website. We don’t want our readers to take anything on faith and encourage our readers to find all the information they can, and make up their own minds.
We wish to make it clear that OffG can neither confirm nor deny these claims.
I cannot reveal my source, but I have full faith in the person and the access this individual has.
The people stating that this is untrue and fake news are not offering any substantiation, just mostly name-calling, while I have a source that I trust and who is well placed. I received a few emails from people, calling me a liar and demanding to know my source. I think that’s what these critics are after, in addition to downplaying the current state tactics being applied to Assange.
I do wonder why anyone would doubt that what I am sharing is factual, or at least very likely, given the historical record from the 1960s to the present day in terms of how the US government handles extrajudicial interrogations of people charged with security and intelligence/terrorism related crimes.
In almost every case drugs, government-hired medical and psychological experts to soften up the detained, and a variety of internationally recognized techniques of torture have been used. The question perhaps is, “Would the British government allow American interrogators access to Assange without his lawyer present?” and while I don’t know how unusual that is, the British government has been hand in glove with the US on renditions and treatment of “terrorism” suspects for many years.
Hope this helps, and you could indeed use this as a statement received from me in response to the raging commentators.
Karen
Thanks for reading...
You can help us keep doing what we do. Every little helps and is hugely appreciated.
For other ways to donate, including direct-transfer bank details click HERE.
wpDiscuz
