A five-minute video of Julian Assange apparently in Belmarsh prison was published Friday by Ruptly. Join the online discussion about it and other WikiLeaks news.
A video has emerged purportedly of Julian Assange in Belmarsh prison, showing a healthy Assange, while he instead remains hospitalised.
Watch the 33rd Vigil for Julian Assange on this and other stories, including Sweden failing to get a European Arrest Warrant; the U.S. deciding not to press charges on the Vault 7 releases though a new superseding indictment may be on the way; his father’s appointment to see him in Belmarsh canceled because doctors arrived to see Assange; and the “Assange Effect” that has led to police raids on major media in Australia.
Watch the replay here:
Part II:
According to journalist Liz Crokin, Assange is the only reason rampant pedophilia I high places — widespread child kidnapping, child imprisonment, child rape, child torture, child murder, in that order — was exposed.
Tuesday, June 11 new video on Assange’s condition via interviews with Chinese activist and Richard Assange, Julian’s father:
see at 2.12 and 2.22 (start of father’s comments)
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201906111075797541-assange-ai-weiwei-prison/
This video helps clarify Julian’s condition via his father’s remarks particularly. He has lost 20 pounds but his mind is clear and strong, as well as his determination. See also the post below indicating a letter he sent to a supporter.
“This video of #Assange pre-dates: my visit, Swedish reopening, US EspionageCharges, transfer to HealthCare & inability to stand trial. Identifying psych torture requires medical expertise, experience & specialized protocols. It’s not ‘written’ in your face”
— Nils Melzer, 2019-06-09
https://twitter.com/NilsMelzer/status/1137670415776735232
Why does the video appear to have a date 2017/07/07 on it?
At the very least the video appears to show that Assange is no longer in psychological isolation and has normal humans to converse with.
Emerging June 9 is report of a letter from Assange to a supporter.
The recipient is Gordon Dimmack.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51738.htm
Gordon Dimmack, reads the entire letter starting at approx 3:19 in this six minute youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es6OT4VsQAo&t=2s
*Assange’s letter is dated May 13, several days after Melzer’s report May 9.
*He describes his conditions of imprisonment and difficulty communicating in the first half of his letter. It is written in longhand and looks genuine.
June 9 (yesterday): report of a letter from Assange to a supporter:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51738.htm
the recipient of Assange’s letter, Gordon Dimmack, reads the entire letter at approx 3:19 in this six minute youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es6OT4VsQAo&t=2s
*The letter is dated May 13, several days after Melzer’s report May 9.
*Assange’s conditions are described in the second link, read by GDimmack, as the first half of the letter.
Please delete this second note repeating the first. It went first and I was told “something went wrong; your comment could not be posted” or similar to this.
Subsequent to being unlawfully dragged from the Ecuadorian Embassy, while facing a hearing on the 1st May 2019 at Southwark Crown Court for bail skipping, Nina Cross states: “[Judge] Taylor dismissed Assange’s mitigating reasons for jumping bail, citing the previous judges’ rejection.”
cf.: https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/06/04/why-assanges-belmarsh-sentence-is-wrong/
The ‘previous judge’s rejection’ referred to was judge Arbuthnot’s dismissal of Julian Assange’s claim during 2018 for dropping the bail skipping charges. Had there been a conflict of interest behind that ruling?
Wikileaks supporters have previously drawn attention to the fact that judge Arbuthnot’s husband, Lord Arbuthnot, former Conservative MP and Chairman of the Defence Committee, has been involved in activities and organisations whose misdoings Wikileaks has exposed.
Yanis Varoufakis has asked: “Did the judge who refused to withdraw Julian Assange’s arrest warrant labour under a gigantic conflict of interest?”
https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2018/02/15/did-the-judge-who-refused-to-withdraw-julian-assanges-arrest-warrant-labour-under-a-gigantic-conflict-of-interest/
Varoufakis postulates: ‘if’ Judge Arbuthnot is the wife of Lord Arbuthnot, and ‘if’ the former minister is on the advisory board of Thales – one of the largest arms manufacturers and dealers and, crucially, a company associated with corrupt deals whose role has often been exposed by WikiLeaks – then “a gigantic conflict of interest arises that should have compelled Judge Arbuthnot to have recused herself from this hearing.”
Let’s accept the first ‘if’ is now well established. The second ‘if’ appears unambiguous also:
https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/united-kingdom/news/appointment-lord-arbuthnot-chair-thales-uk-advisory-board
A search for ‘Thales’ on Wikileaks gives 1,980 results, many of which relate directly to arms and defence.
Craig Murray commented on the 14th February 2018, “All Pretence is Over in Persecution of Assange”:
https://off-guardian.org/2018/02/18/all-pretence-is-over-in-persecution-of-assange/
Cf., also: https://www.rt.com/uk/418820-wikileaks-julian-assange-judge/ :
“Arbuthnot’s husband – and ex-Conservative MP – Baron James Arbuthnot is listed as a former director of Security Intelligence Consultancy SC Strategy Ltd. The other two listed directors are former Head of MI6, Sir John Scarlett and Lord Carlile.”
SC Strategy Limited personal clients: Babcock International Ltd (defence services) (until 28 February 2019).
Wikileaks search for ‘Babcock International’ gives over 500 results.
Also included in the directorate of SC Strategy Ltd – former Head of MI6, Sir John Scarlett, who is synonymous with crooked security operations and personally wrote the notorious dossier of lies on Iraqi WMD”
Craig Murray’s commentary:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/02/assange-judges-husband-runs-security-firm-ex-head-mi6/
Numerous Wikileaks documents show the involvement of James Arbuthnot (as Chair of the Defence Committee) in perpetuating UK military presence in Iraq during Blair era, expressing support for expanding the UK military presence in Afganistan, and fraternising with Saudi officials, etc.
E.g.:
https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/31/3107017_-os-uk-us-afghanistan-mil-don-t-rush-afghanistan-pullout.html
https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/34/343649_-os-uk-afghanistan-nato-britain-blasts-nato-members-over.html
. . . ‘James Arbuthnot, the committee chairman, said in a statement that it was clear an international presence will be required in Afghanistan beyond 2009.
“If that commitment is to succeed, its size and strength must be very great, and in our view, considerably greater than the international community is at present willing to acknowledge, let alone to make”, he said.’. . .
The question I ask is: are the supporters of Julian Assange prepared to find this “gigantic conflict of interest” acceptable? We still have judge Arbuthnot presiding over Julian Assange this week in a context where the conflicting interests are even more glaring!
The labour under such duplicity would not be a novel experience for judge Arbuthnot:
https://andersonshelter.blogspot.com/2018/07/you-just-couldnt-make-it-up-judge-emma.html
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/aug/18/uber-judge-steps-aside
Of course, Bill, this gigantic conflict of interest, and the corruption therein indicated, is NOT acceptable.
The entire case proceedings against Assange have indicated guilty until proven innocent throughout, in the sense of how dare he and we will make an example of him.
Again as possibly supplementary (hoping not to distract from Bill’s excellent post above) . . .
Plus with the intent to add information on Assange’s case, versus those who say things like “he deserves it”–
*Assange honored conditions of his bail from 2010 until 2012 when he sought refuge in the Ecuador Assembly. This included wearing an ankle bracelet and checking in with police twice a day.
*The sex charges against Assange have been dismissed several times, and were always highly dubious.
*The key term in that embroglio is “consensual.” The record indicates the two women sought Assange’s company, and the first female (also accused of being a honeytrap for whatever that’s worth) offered him her apartment while she would be away.
*But she returned almost immediately to that apartment and had to share the single bed. I concluded this bed means “the only” bed, not a single twin-bed size.
*The second amour for Assange claims to have been dozing following an earlier bout of sexual consensual activity.
*This person also refused to allow a “rape” charge on his conduct. The condom affair is completely inconclusive. Any kind of “rape” while dozing would be extraordinary indeed.
*Both women continued to associate with Assange following his alleged indecencies, with the first showing some signs of annoyance at being competed with for his attention.
*All this was what led to wearing the ankle bracelet and conditions of bail for more than a year prior to his seeking refuge in the Ecuador Embassy on learning of his danger in being extradited from Sweden on these bogus charges to the US
*His seeking refuge the UN Rapporteur compared to getting into in a rubber boat in a pool surrounded by sharks.
*For skipping bail after following it for the course of time indicated, he has been sentenced to 10 months in jail in Belmarsh. This has been called harsh, unreasonable punishment–clearly a politicized case.
*If Sweden fails to renew the bogus case against him the US is desperate to find excuses wherein to extradite him to the US anyway–which surely is the principle issue–and reason for tracking this development closely–in the upcoming Arbuthnot hearing.
If any of this is in error, please correct it.
trolling my comment entirely off topic
My apologies. I was hoping to add context to the significance of your comment for those who might not have the full Assange story.
Speaking as a retired nurse on the video, it shows an extremely emaciated Julian, upright, but repeatedly sighing, so very stressed and unwell, but displaying a brave attempt to interact normally. It is the setting that is especially curious. It resembles an acute psychiatric inpatient facility I worked in 1975, and these were ancient then. It is quite unlike those built in the 90’s, a similar era to Belmarsh. The facilities that I worked in earlier this century accommodated some forensic patients, and are modern buildings with electronic locking doors and monitoring systems, not bars and such relics. It is good that other inmates appeared to be treating him well.
Lorraine Caddy wrote: “an extremely emaciated Julian, upright, but repeatedly sighing, so very stressed and unwell, but displaying a brave attempt to interact normally”
Yes, it seems so.
“It is good that other inmates appeared to be treating him well.”
I’m afraid it won’t be the same in the US prison system and with the constantly propagandized US population.
Tnx CN4 yr Activist approach2 U$ Censor Julian conspiracy.
I just finished online read of Will Eisner’s “The Plot” which points out The BIGLIE has worked4 over100 yrs… So Mr Assange’s persecution is not unique.
Given proviso that Israel overagresses 2 compensate4 past religious abuse (BDS= GOOD) I recommend Eisner’s work2 all CN readers who say2 self: “How can they get away w/Such Obvious BS?”
On the other hand, it could be a useful timeline. You quoted the inmate/videographer’s letter wherein he states the sub rosa video was taken “BEFORE J.A. became ill.” So this video does not contradict the UN rapporteur’s observations. Instead it’s proof that he arrived in a coherent state, was tortured / chemically interrogated AFTER this footage was taken, and was incoherent by the time the UN Rapporteur evaluated him.
I think the moment this video was made can be pinned with quite some accuracy.
There was a UN rapporteur Cannataci on April 25th, two weeks after JA was dragged from the embassy. There was also the visit by Pamela Anderson and the Wikileaks editor, who were more or less shocked by what they saw. There the UN rapporteur Melzer, who saw him on May 9th. And there was the hearing where he couldn’t be present on the 30th of May.
FWIW, I personally think, in this video, he doesn’t look all that worn down, and physically cannot (IMHO) be called skinny, nor obese. In other words, does not look like someone who is physically frail.
At first I was wondering why they were dressed in regular clothes etc if it was a prison; (maybe UK prisons are different than US prisons?) didn’t think they allowed cell phones in prisons; I thought JA was hospitalized and prior to in solitary confinement;
Then I noticed the date on the RUPTLY you tube is 7/7/2017… Does anyone else have that date on their you tube link of the video linked in this article?
1) As far as I know, UK prisons allow inmates to wear normal street clothes instead of uniforms, or at least some of them do.
2) Phones and cameras may be contraband, but people manage to smuggle and use things like this pretty regularly. In some American prisons there’s a full blown black market economy, including drugs and electronics and all kinds of stuff, even in super max.
3) As Ruptly indicates in the video description, the footage is supposed to have been taken prior to Assange’s hospitalization at Belmarsh, however I’ve read conflicting things on whether he was being held in isolation before that. The UN special rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer said he wasn’t, but Hrafnsson previously said he was confined to his cell “23 hours a day.” Still trying to figure that out.
4) The timestamp is mysterious, but we can be virtually certain it isn’t correct, as Assange would’ve still been in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London anytime in 2017. The Ruptly video was uploaded on June 7, 2019, the timestamp is probably just an error on whatever device was used to film this, as Ruptly suggests in the description (I believe they updated the description, as I didn’t see any of the explanatory stuff there when I first watched the clip).
Classic CIA psych op.
In my reading, Judge Arbuthnot appears to have more or less announced that these extradition hearings for Julian Assange are a kangaroo court, in intending the next hearing in Belmarsh Prison itself. In addition, the fact that this is likely to go on behind closed doors, raises grounds for even greater concern.
As quite rightly pointed out in 12st Century Wire, Sunday Wire, of June 2nd 2019, Episode 282, [https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/06/02/episode-282-stable-strategic-order-with-guest-emmy-butlin-and-more/ ](cf., section from 00.09.25):
“. . . and more than that, the magistrate is reported to have said that, ‘okay, he’s not well, he can’t give evidence’ – bearing in mind that he was not having to go anywhere to give evidence; it was evidence by video link; so they weren’t taking him out of Belmarsh to the Magistrates Court in order to give evidence; it was video evidence – he still wasn’t well enough to do that, and the Magistrate accepted that he wasn’t well enough to do that. So, what was reported was that she said that they would move the court hearing to the prison. So they’re clearly intending to proceed with the ‘trial’, whether or not [Assange] is fit for it!”
“So, they’re going to stage the kangaroo court in the prison, rather than go through the. . . “
“. . . rather than wait for [Assange] to get healthy.”
(Also a Segment with Emmy Butlin starts at 01.00.30 of Sunday Wire, Episode 282.)
The transfer of the Court to inside Belmarsh Prison appears to be a novel practice initiated by Arbuthnot last month (Arbuthnot is also apparently not adverse to ordering the direct use of force against prisoners in order to proceed with a prosecution schedule) [cf., https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9042244/alleged-serial-rapist-joseph-mccann-visited-by-magistrate-in-prison-after-refusing-to-attend-court/ ]:
“In an unprecedented move, [Arbuthnot] held the private hearing behind bars at Belmarsh prison on Thursday.”
“Reporters were updated from a makeshift courtroom in a nearby conference centre after the hearing in the prison’s healthcare wing.”
[cf., https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/05/09/court-hearing-reconvened-prison-alleged-rapist-refuses-leave/ ]:
” ‘We will have a hearing in there, which will be a private hearing, not in the presence of the press’, [Arbuthnot] said.”
“It is clear that the defendant has some health care issues and these will be addressed in the coming days,”
The notion of “Belmarsh Magistrates Court” may also be something of a misnomer. It appears rather to be a virtual concept which takes it’s name from whatever location they happen to take the court seal to!
If this is an indicator of the tactic the magistrate is planning to use for Assange’s extradition hearing then it appears that what is intended is that not only the public, but also the press, would be excluded from direct observation of the proceedings. There does not appear to be much difference between the received definitions of court hearings that are on the one hand held in ‘private’ and hearings that are on the other hand ‘secret’. But how would this square with justice being done and being ‘seen’ to be done? Would some special arrangement be made whereby the public would be allowed to enter the medical wing of Belmarsh Prison for the hearing, or are we supposed to rely on what is reported by a select press contingent, who are in turn relying on what would be announced by the court officials?
It appears that the magistrate has had her instructions, that there is a time schedule, and she is attempting to railroad the case through to that schedule. As someone with a level of insider knowledge of how these matters are conducted, Alexander Mercouris (the Duran), observes regarding Assange’s extradition proceedings [at 03.57 in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH3-DRuHfXM ], the operation involves many telephone calls backwards and forwards across Atlantic – “I think there is an agreed strategy by the British and the US authorities as to how to go ahead with this case. . . “
Thanks for this. Possibly supplementary:
Everything Assange is accused of:
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/julian-assange-explainer-819208/
Plus here is Alexander Mercouris on the latest development re Brennan in big trouble re Steele:
https://theduran.com/steele-cuts-a-deal-with-doj-brennan-in-big-trouble-video/
hetro,
Just to clarify, the quotes of Arbuthnot from the main stream press articles I gave were from completely unconnected proceedings concerning different defendant. The point was that Arbuthnot had previously established an unprecedented practice of having a hearing in the prison medical unit, in private – excluding public and press – regardless of whether the defendant was up to it or not.
If you have problems with Sunday Wire link:
https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/06/02/episode-282-stable-strategic-order-with-guest-emmy-butlin-and-more/
Recent Wikileaks tweets mention several news articles. Unfortunately, those tweets are images, and hence you cannot click on the links cited. Here they are as clickable text:
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/25/world/europe/wikileaks-back-in-news-never-left-us-radar.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2()
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4021166/Former-lcelandic-minister-claims-FBI-tried-frame-Julian-Assange.html
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24665
https://defend.wikileaks.org/2019/03/18/the-assange-precedent-the-threat-to-the-media-posed-by-trumps-prosecution-of-julian-assange/
https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2287922-justitie-vs-werkt-aan-nieuwe-aanklachten-tegen-julian-assange.html
https://www.visir.is/g/2014141229831/siggi–the-hacker–receives-a-two-year-prison-sentence
https://www dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4021166/Former-lcelandic-minister-claims-FBI-tried-frame-Julian-Assange.html
moderator, please place a dot after the very last ‘www’. Thank you.
The Ruptly video has a 2017/07/07 date stamp.
I agree that this footage is very much on the nose. We might take a bit of solace in the Yanks’ recent admission of humiliating defeat in Venezuela ! The last I heard, their “proclaimed President” Guaido has now taken up selling AMWAY.
It’s a responsibility for All as caretakers of truth and justice
I find it disturbing that there is no comment about this video from Julian’s legal team. It seems like the communication channel between his most ardent supporters – the Unity4J group – and his legal team is virtually nonexistent , or , at best , very sporadic.
Marko,
Maybe his lawyers cannot do much communication because they are constantly putting out fires! I wonder if this is a partial reason for this whole thing. Clearly, the “inmate” is trying to drive a wedge between supporters and attys.
Think about how complex this case is. Another nation, Iceland, just entered the picture w/their lawlessness. The resources arrayed against Assange are truly awesome to contemplate. How do they keep fighting back against adversaries with this much money, time, resources and evil intent arrayed against them and their client? The are preparing for a June 14th extradition hearing on which Assange’s life depends. It isn’t possible to put out every fire at the same time.
My feeling is, we can put out this fire. By relying on other people than his lawyers, it is possible to examine the evidence and try to find out who made this video, when. We can also try to understand why it was made and what the motive of the “inmate” may really be.
A video of the remaining two hours of this webcast is now up at the Unity4J YouTube channel.
Here is video from May 7 of Pamela Anderson and WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson visit Julian Assange at London’s Belmarsh high-security prison in which they describe conditions:
https://www.facebook.com/Ruptly/videos/live-pamela-anderson-visits-julian-assange-at-londons-high-security-prison/2744271542266467/
oscar grenfell at wsws.org dug into this perfidy of ‘extra charges, (and i’d thought it would be domsheit-berg who’s been givven immunity if he flips) which may come later):
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1136806131211411456
‘‘WikiLeaks warns US Justice Department preparing more charges against Assange’, 7 June 2019, wsws.org (some longish excerpts):
The charges, WikiLeaks said, would be based on the testimony of Sigurdur Thordarson, an FBI informant previously convicted of fraud, who recently travelled to the United States to answer questions aimed at preparing a new indictment.
The news came the same day as fresh warnings about the deterioration of Assange’s health. Assange’s father, John Shipton, was scheduled to visit his son in Belmarsh Prison but was turned away and told Assange was seeing a doctor for an apparently urgent visit.
“My visit was double-booked, it has been cancelled,” he told Australia’s Herald Sun. “[The doctor’s visit] must be at short notice because a double booking occurred.”
WikiLeaks’ press release, however, stated that the US is likely preparing a superseding indictment. It would include the already unveiled charges, along with new counts against Assange.
WikiLeaks noted: “Dutch public broadcaster NOS reported that Sigurdur Thordarson was flown to the United States last week where he was ‘comprehensively interrogated,’ in preparation for the filing of a new superseding indictment against Julian Assange by the end of next week.”
The WikiLeaks release continued: “NOS reported that on May 6th this year, FBI Special Agent Megan Brown, who leads the FBI investigation against Assange, travelled to Iceland together with prosecutor Kellen Dwyer from the Eastern District of Virginia, to re-interrogate FBI informant Thordarson with the help of Icelandic police.”
The collaboration between the Justice Department and Thordarson further demonstrates that the US attempts to extradite and prosecute Assange are a political frame-up being conducted in violation of fundamental legal norms.”
grenfell goes on at length to say why the FBI informant has no credibility, including criminal convictions for embezzlement, fraud, and sex with minors, his having volunteered to help the WL teams, then having stolen 50 grand from the organization…and other perfidy, including:
“In August 2011, Thordarson claims that he contacted the US embassy in Reykjavik, offering to assist in the “ongoing criminal investigation in the United States” against Assange. He was rapidly picked up as an informant by the FBI.
By his own admission, Thordarson met with FBI agents multiple times in Reykjavik between 2011 and 2012. During that period, US authorities flew him to Denmark three times and to the US on one occasion, for secret meetings about WikiLeaks.
Thordarson provided the FBI with eight hard drives of material he claimed was from WikiLeaks. He received thousands of dollars from the US government.”
there’s more, of course. but how hideous perfidy; hard not to see gina haspel’s hand it it, as well.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/06/07/assa-j07.html
i hadn’t known what to make of cassandra’s report, either. but i’d found it on suzie dawson’s twitter feed and she’d highly recommended it.
This is a link to the youtube video, viewed 5 minutes ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a9qh6OiEmE
The thing I noticed, was the chap, (fellow prisoner), at one point talks about himself being like a good samaritan, whilst he helps Julian Assange do his washing up.. and there in lies an observation, that JA was not up to doing the ordinary things.. and had not done his dishes.. it’s depression..
The likelihood of spending the rest of his life in prison– short of a miracle. How could he not be “depressed”? I’d call it despondent.
Nobody has mentioned the possibility of a deepfake — which is, after all, very timely.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/04/politics/house-intelligence-committee-deepfakes-threats-hearing/index.html
Haven’t tried to evaluate the video, and in any case I lack the technical expertise, but it’s worth keeping in mind that we can no longer trust our eyes.
The linked article at CNN is quite funny. It quotes Adam Schiff as follows —
“Schiff, a California Democrat, said he feared that Russia could engage in a “severe escalation” of its disinformation campaign targeting the United States ahead of the 2020 US presidential election.
“And the most severe escalation might be the introduction of a deep fake — a video of one of the candidates saying something they never said,” Schiff said.”
What is Schiff worried about. The mainstream media do this every day. The CIA and Pentagon have whole departments devoted to producing deep fakes. Schiff is quite a tool .
Adam Schiffty is a disgrace.
Of course the photos and now the video raise the following obvious question.
If this is an inmate with a contraband phone, he has now, for better or for worse, outed himself.
If, on the other hand, this is a guard (which there might possibly be some indication of, given the behavior at the cell entrance, and given that during the ‘standing’ fragment this person appears to be sitting), he or she has now outed themselves.
Both of these seem unlikely.
There is another possibility.
You guessed it.
He is smiling, looks defiant, and his morale seems to be good. Great!
The interview indicates the photos were taken prior to his removal to the prison hospital.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/06/exclusive-interview-belmarsh-prison-inmate-provides-photos-of-julian-assange-says-internet-is-the-one-thing-they-cant-control/
Thanks Hetro, yes, this Gateway Pundit’s interview with the photos from the video says for example:
“The photos feature Assange prior to his illness and being moved to the prison’s hospital wing last month. . . .
“The photos of Assange himself reveal considerable weight loss since I last visited him in the Ecuadorian embassy in March.
“After viewing photos of Assange prior to entering the prison, the inmate remarked ‘it’s true. Belmarsh has sucked the life out of him.’
“Speaking generally about how Assange is viewed by the other inmates, the prisoner said that he is well liked among the prison population. ‘Everyone’s got a million questions for him — like ‘is the illuminati real?’ He’s probably heard that question a million times,’ the inmate said, along with laughing emojis. . . .
“The prisoner stated that Assange is still currently in the hospital wing of the prison. He also said that Assange very much appreciates all the letters he is receiving from supporters and that there was one day when nobody in the roughly 300 person unit received mail — except for him.
“‘All of the post was for Assange,’ he said. ‘About 500 letters and it was all for him. It made him smile.’”
The timestamp on the video indicates it was taken on 7/7/2017. Rather odd. Like the entire improbable video itself. (And is HMP Belmarsh so chill that they provide WiFi for prisoners with clandestine devices to connect to the rest of the world at will? Didn’t know the Brits were that progressive.)
Herb Weber wrote: “He is smiling, looks defiant, and his morale seems to be good. Great!”
Yes, he is an admirably brave person, especially when he knows what is waiting for him in the US, where not only the immensely powerful MIC war profiteers are going after him, but also — according to a global poll — the only country in the world where a majority of the brainwashed population hates him:
What Public Opinion on Assange Tells Us About the US Government Direction — Strategic Culture
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/04/13/what-public-opinion-assange-tells-us-about-us-government-direction/
Eric Zuesse has been following popular opinion in America and around the world on Assange:
https://theduran.com/the-force-that-is-ending-freedom-is-lies/
The article roves widely across propaganda, Venezuela, Assange, and “the Empire” and includes the following:
On 11 April 2019, the YouGov polling organization headlined “53% of Americans say Julian Assange should be extradited to America”.
On 13 April 2019, I headlined “What Public Opinion on Assange Tells Us About the US Government Direction”, and reported the only international poll that had ever been done of opinions about Assange, and its findings demonstrated that, out of the 23 nations which were surveyed, U.S. was the only one where the public are anti-Assange, and that the difference between the U.S. and all of the others was enormous and stark. The report opened:
The only extensive poll of public opinion regarding Julian Assange or Wikileaks was Reuters/Ipsos on 26 April 2011, “WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange is not a criminal: global poll”, and it sampled around a thousand individuals in each of 23 countries — a total of 18,829 respondents. The Reuters news-report was vague, and not linked to any detailed presentation of the poll-findings, but it did say that “U.S. respondents had a far more critical view” against Wikileaks than in any other country, and that the view by Americans was 69% “believing Assange should be charged and 61 percent opposing WikiLeaks’ mission.” Buried elsewhere on the Web was this detailed presentation of Ipsos’s findings in that poll:
Oppose Wikileaks:
61% U.S.
38% UK
33% Canada
32% Poland
32% Belgium
31% Saudi Arabia
30% Japan
30% France
27% Indonesia
26% Italy
25% Germany
24% Sweden
24% Australia
22% Hungary
22% Brazil
21% Turkey
21% S. Korea
16% Mexico
16% Argentina
15% Spain
15% Russia
15% India
12% S. Africa
Those numbers agree very well with a recent survey by country showing the percentage of the population who had been lobotomized.
We’re #1 ! USA ! , USA! , USA!
I think the world already knows that Americans are freaks of nature. :( Only the Brits come close to matching their stupidity and ignorance:
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2019/04/11/third-britons-wanted-assange-out-ecuadorian-embass
36% wanted him kicked out of the embassy, and 50% are clueless.
“The number of Britons backing his arrest are down slightly since a poll in 2013 showed that a majority of the British public (58%) wanted him extradited to Sweden. Four in ten (43%) said they preferred waiting for him to leave the embassy and arresting him then to ignoring international law and entering the embassy by force, an option preferred by 15%.”
I wouldn’t do something like WikiLeaks – the majority of people aren’t worth it!
USA – the most propagandized country in the world. The statement sounds reasonable to me, but was bitterly contested ,and my “patriotism” questioned, by a “well-informed”, “liberal” professor, who also teaches critical thinking!!!
First, we don’t know the date of this video, as distinct from its publishing date. Recently we’ve had confusion from a comment he could not hold a normal conversation and was very ill (C Johnstone) versus a report from May 9 previously by UN Rapporteur Melzer that he was ill and nervous (were the two descriptions essentially of the same condition?). The video also seems to shoot down CN’s repeated claim he was/is in solitary confinement 23 hours a day. What’s the update here?
CN has not made any claims. We have reported what the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks said, that Assange was being held in isolation for 23 hours a day. The point is there are many unanswered question about this video.
No attack on CN intended, or rancor. Of course the situation is very difficult to understand and clear up.
hetroman, we know he’s in the infirmary now, so this is old footage. It, therefore, doesn’t bring anything into question. And how does this shoot down the claim that he’s locked up 23 hours of the day – at least for most of the time? Is this video 5 hours long then? Wow, I must have watched the heavily edited version! :(
It seems it’s in the segregation unit that prisoners are locked up 23 hours a day. From a HM Chief Inspector of Prisons report, under “Segregation” heading:
“Prisoners who refused to return to the main prison were only allowed three showers a week. Their time out of cell was therefore sometimes restricted to exercise and a phone call, which meant they were locked up for around 23 hours a day. Prisoners who could only be unlocked when there were several officers present because of their behaviour, were sometimes unable to access even this minimum time out of cell because of staff shortages.”
Have to read it to see what you can find – only just found it myself:
https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/06/Belmarsh-Web-2018.pdf
JackJackie it does seem that at one point he was NOT confined to a cell 23 hours a day– unless this is his one hour out where he can socialize a bit, or be preyed upon as the case may be. Sorry to make a fuss. I had an impression of grimmer circumstances than revealed here in this socializing. I do not have totally crystal clear impressions at this point as to what is going on. I see somebody saying “classic CIA,” and that’s very dramatic and impressive, but without a lick of further support or explanation. The CIA promptly whipped an inmate into Belmarsh on April 12? Maybe. Maybe not. Anyway, thanks everybody for the discussion.
Please think about this very carefully. It needs authentication and that authentication is possible. The time stamp is incorrect. The way to find the correct time stamp is internal to the video itself. Secondly, Mr. Melzer is able to say whether this looks like the place where he interviewed Assange. I would ask him about verifying it to the best of his ability.
What particularly worries me is the “inmate’s” interview yesterday, which this video helps to “confirm”. If you read the interview carefully the inmate’s words read like a Q-anon for Assange supporters. For example, the inmate says Assange’s lawyers aren’t doing a good job (no reason) and helpfully recommends a new attorney for him. The inmate has very little to say about what Assange himself is talking about, rather he opines on how Assange supporters should be acting. Further, why is this information coming out now? Assange isn’t able to hold a coherent conversation and is to the best of our knowledge, in a hospital wing. What help does this video bring at this time? Is it taking our eye off the ball?
Please ask these questions. Everyone is pretty desperate right now. That’s the time to be the most critical of information because that is when we are most vulnerable for a psy-op. It isn’t wrong to fall for a psy-op. It is a mistake to think one cannot fall for a psy-op and not consider this from many different angles. Always ask, who benefits.
Can you please link to this commentary by the prisoner on Assange? First I’ve heard of it. Thanks.
Sorry. Should have just done a search.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/06/exclusive-interview-belmarsh-prison-inmate-provides-photos-of-julian-assange-says-internet-is-the-one-thing-they-cant-control/
hetro,
I found it at CassandraFairbanks twitter. It’s at the Gateway Pundit. Let me see if I can get a link to post, often I cannot. I will put it in a new comment so that if the link doesn’t come through, you can find it via the pathway above.
“EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Belmarsh Prison Inmate Provides Photos of Julian Assange, Says the ‘Internet is the One Thing They Can’t Control’”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/06/exclusive-interview-belmarsh-prison-inmate-provides-photos-of-julian-assange-says-internet-is-the-one-thing-they-cant-control/
I hope this will work!
I was thinking along similar lines, of Caveat Emptor, for various reasons.
Maybe he has already been shipped to the US. After all, there is a power vacuum in the UK.
I wasn’t able to make out much of anything sensible from the audio; I need to see it again.
bjd,
The video was on youtube when is was trying to copy the link to post it here just a few minutes ago. After 2 seconds the video was replaced by a written comment saying the the video is not available.
There is something very wrong about this.
This video is clearly dated before he got hospitalized. Julien looks exhausted but he is talking and listening intensely. He is such a brave human being. I wish he will be set free very soon. We must all do our best to achieve this.
Thank you Julien for what you have done! Much luck and good thoughts!
Interviews with lawyers are conducted in a pre-booked secure room in the prison to which prisoners are taken, not in the cell shown in the video, which appears to be an authentic Belmarsh prison cell. There is a video on YouTube which shows the inside of a cell at Belmarsh Prison.
The time and date on cameras can be altered. On one of my cameras the date is wrong and I can’t correct it – I don’t know why. These things happen. In this case i’d guess it has been altered to protect whoever filmed it from being identified. Assange seems unaware of being filmed, so perhaps the camera was hidden.
What makes you think we haven’t thought carefully about this? I’ve been suspicious of this whole thing since I first saw the stills from this video that were released on Twitter on Thursday. It seems to me this was released to try to refute the conclusions of the UN rapporteur that Assange has been psychologically tortured and that he is now hospitalized.
Or your notion here could be out of whack. The article containing the photos clarifies that the photos were taken prior to Assange’s removal to the prison hospital, although not precisely when.
What stands out to me here via the photos alone is that, although possibly well-meaning and perhaps a busybody attaching himself to a star, Assange does not look the man directly in the face and does not seem engaged. He seems to be indulging and putting up with whatever his helper here is trying to do. The leaker here also could be a phoney, since he seems to have a great deal of information about Assange, but I don’t think Assange is stupid enough to be gulled in this situation.
hetero,
I am not saying anything about Assange at all. I am speaking to his supporters only. I raised specific issues that I believe are important to consider by all of us.
According to Assange’s father he is still in hospital as of Thursday.
Out of whack? I never indicated that the photos were taken after he went to hospital. They clearly were taken before that and held onto until now. Why? It confuses the public, who might think he is well now, blunting the strong criticisms of the UN rapporteur.
Yes, you could be right, especially if people get the impression the video and photos are current (as did an early commenter), and, in the case of the article, if they don’t read it thoroughly–it’s quite long. The article is clearly in sympathy with Assange and presents the person releasing the info as wanting to get up a fund to pay for a prisoner’s lawyer that has a good reputation at Belmarsh.
Is this genuine? Hard to say, and our naturally inclined suspicions are aroused. So, as you indicate (and as does Jill) it’s good to be alert to these possibilities amidst the horrific climate of propaganda assailing Assange.
God help us, Joe, if the public are so stupid as to think this video contradicts the U.N. rapporteur and shows that the government is looking after Assange. I despair – I really do! :(
We’ve had the Internet for over 20 years, but we might as well still be living in the 1980s.
Joe,
This isn’t a personal attack. I am worried because I have seen some responses that are very uncritical of both what was said in the interview and what is seen in the video. I hadn’t seen your personal thoughts about it until now.
I tried very hard to make certain I didn’t present this as a smear against any person. I mentioned ways the video might be authenticated (personally, I’d go ask Bill Binney if he or someone he knew could help with that). I then mentioned some very specific statements that make me worry this is a psy-op. Those are not personal attacks. Those are observations directly based on what is being presented and many of the responses I have seen to both.
I agree with your analysis actually.
Anyone here who can lip-read?
bjd,
://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylCDaBM3gHo&feature=youtu.be
the video is online again. It gives the impression as if Assange is not too keen on this conversation saying very little and listening politely but uneasy most of the time. The other man who is very talkative seems to impose himself on him.
A few times Assange seems to look directly at the camera as if he is knowing what is going on.
I agree with Joe Lauria that this video might have been released because of the Nils Melzer rapport.
One other possibility is that people are often not extradited because they are in ill health. This video muddies the waters with the public to lead some to believe he is healthy enough to be extradited, helping the British government’s PR to defend a controversial decision to send him to the US.
Assange’s solicitors must insist that there will be independant doctors, the Red Cross or someone of the UN, perhaps even the brave Nils Melzer present at the time of the extradiction. Prisoners are usually watched by these instutuions. That is what they usually do and what they are there for.
Unfortunatly the US have turned everything upside down and their European Vassalles sadly seem to have forgotten their cultural inheritance from the antique world up to the time of the French enlightenment.
Meaning “at the time of the possible extradition”. I do hope from all my heart that at least the British High Court will stick to the rules. They did not agree to the extradition of Lauri Love.
Lauri Love on Assanges extradition to th US – video on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKY1q4tdrxQ
…meaning Assange’s “possible extradition” of course.
As the UK won’t be able to pass the bucket to Schweden anymore and take full responsibility there is hope that the British High Court will stick to the rules and speak against an extradition to the US like it did in the case of Lauri Love.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kKY1q4tdrxQ
Lily,
I noticed as well he sometimes looks directly at the camera. Good observation. He wasn’t fooled by whatever was going on.