The British Ministry of Justice has told the Australian Associated Press that Julian Assange is not eligible for early release from prison in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis.
Consortium News
Imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange is not eligible for an early Covid-19 release from prison with other inmates because he is not serving a criminal sentence, the Australian Associated Press has reported.
British Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said Saturday that some low-risk inmates, weeks from release, will be let go with monitoring devices to help avoid a further outbreak of Covid-19 in the nations’ prisons.
Robert Buckland (Wikipedia)
So far 88 prisoners and 15 staff have tested positive for the virus in British prisons. More than 25 percent of the nations’ prison staff are quarantining themselves.
“This government is committed to ensuring that justice is served to those who break the law,” Buckland said in a statement. “But this is an unprecedented situation because if coronavirus takes hold in our prisons, the NHS could be overwhelmed and more lives put at risk.”
The Ministry of Justice told the AAP that Assange won’t be among those released because he isn’t serving a custodial sentence. In other words, because he has not been convicted of a crime, and is instead only being held on remand pending the outcome of the U.S. extradition request, he must remain in Belmarsh prison with high-risk inmates–the most serious and hardened criminals.
The Daily Maverick reported this week that there is one other prisoner on remand in Belmarsh, who would presumably also be left to rot in the jail as the virus spreads throughout the British prison system.
To minimize infection the UK is granting early release to all non-violent, non-Julian Assange prisoners.
— Caitlin Johnstone ? (@caitoz) April 4, 2020
Christine Assange, the publisher’s mother, tweeted:
#SaveAssangeCovid19#BailAssangeUK
The people are not fooled by the Orwellian political spin from the UK Ministry of "Justice"
See their replies.. https://t.co/pH94zDduFa
— Christine Assange (@MrsC_Assange) April 5, 2020
WikiLeaks Ambassador Joseph Farrell released this video:
"#Assange is locked up in what is becoming a vortex of infection with no self-defense. We don't have the luxury to allow this to happen. Don't let a him be a sitting duck for a virus that knows no bounds" @SwaziJAF #COVID19
Go tohttps://t.co/c4YtHCTqwG
&https://t.co/6VBNl1yHfO pic.twitter.com/4fRNzvurQd— Don't Extradite Assange (@DEAcampaign) March 30, 2020
Apparently, at least one prisoner in Belmarsh has already died of Covid-19,
Let’s not forget that among these inmates, people stood up to remove Mr Assange from confinement. The irony is that they recognize him not as a criminal but as somebody waiting for his day in court. So such a drastic emprisonment is contradictory and beyond acceptable. I know that they want him to taste before hand what its future “will” be, despite the fact that wgat they do is highly illegal. The goal behind this carnaval is revanche for exposing to the public illegal actions from the USA, England, France… There is no judicial process, point. It is just make believe. The guilty ones are condemning the man that is at the head of the ststem that helped expose them, to silenfe him. A little bit like witnesses… intimidation by the mafia.
Has Australia every made a formal request to the UK to send its citizen home?
It is amazing how closely the Empire is tracking “1984”. Assange impinged on the prerogative of the Ministry of Truth. But the fact seems to generate no dread awareness. You drop a “Big Brother”, “Ministry of Truth”, “Newspeak” into a conversation today and it disappears without a ripple. Conclusion: nobody reads the canon. The entire cultural heritage is lost; displaced by the mindless and soulless Society of Spectacle.
Bob, there are a hell of a lot more names that need to go on your list. And we could even dig up Reagan and send the corpse over so he could be hung by the neck until…well, yeah.
Everybody here knows that Assange dying in prison would be a wonderful outcome for those who rule us. I’m surprised that it hasn’t happened yet to be honest. The powerful have always killed those who spoke truth.
sealintheSelkirks
I see many on Twitter calling on people to contact their MPs demanding Julian be released. Here in Australia I have more than once contacted many of them from the Prime Minister down, and they do not respond. No response at all. I tend to think pestering them is the only chance for Julian now, but it will need vastly more people trying this avenue before it makes any difference.
Nice try, Robyn. I am also an Australian and I remember a long ago times when you could phone the Deputy PM in his Canberra office and talk to him directly. Alas no more. These days they hide behind smug and aloof staffers and digital walls. Even the elected councillors and overpaid staff at the local council think they are sacrosanct. There is no rule of law and no law they are not prepared to break because they do it with impunity so often. The Australian political class are self serving yes men with a take it or leave it mentality. I became sick of paying them tax and rates for no representation, to coin a phrase. That’s why I moved to New Zealand. If NZ had been governed like Australia it would have gone broke decades ago. The NZ system requires the various parties to consult with each other rather than the corrupt winner takes all and ram it through system of OZ. If they can abandon Assange they can do it to anyone. Shame Australia.
Robert Buckland, Boris Johnson & Donald Trump should be extradited to the Hague but they of course never will be. Assange should be allowed to go home. It’s too bad Ecuador couldn’t sneak him out of Britain.
Barbarism or Socialism people.
So he’s not a criminal… and that’s why they can’t release him
Because of Assange frail health condition he is very likely to die if infected by the Covid-19. . The authorities surely know this. So if Assange was to die because of the virus this can be considered as pre-meditated murder.
Couldn’t agree more Tom. If a doctor can get to him and save his life, it will be attempted murder.
Fulsome Prison Blues courtesy of Johnny Cash. With minor alterations
I hear the police van a comin’
It’s rollin’ ’round the bend
And I ain’t seen the sunshine
Since, I don’t know when
I’m stuck in Belmarsh Prison
And my extradition keeps draggin’ on
But my case keeps a-rollin’
On down to Washington
When I was just a baby
My Mama told me, “Son
Always be a good boy
Don’t ever buck the PTB”
But I filmed a shooting in Baghdad
To witness those Arabs die
When I hear that police van coming
I lift my head with pride
Tom and DonaldDuck, I am replying just to let you know that you are not alone in your thinking. I just watched the Collateral Murder video again. I sit here thinking about how could the American people could allow crimes such as this that are ordered by the US government to continue. I am sickened to realize that I am a citizen of the most macabre country in the history of the world.