The following is the speech delivered on Monday by Stella Assange to the National Press Club in Canberra, provided in a tweet by Gabriel Shipton, Assange’s brother.
Carlos Poveda, Julian Assange’s lawyer in Ecuador, spoke to CN Live! about Ecuador’s decision to grant Assange asylum; the C.I.A. spying in the embassy in London; Assange’s arrest and his lawsuit against the Ecuadorian government.
“This legal lynching marks the official beginning of corporate totalitarianism” — from a talk the author gave at a rally in New York on World Press Freedom Day.
The breakfast was held in the Australian capital Canberra just two weeks before President Joe Biden visits Australia and after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ended his “quiet diplomacy” on Julian Assange.
Julian Assange’s father and brother ended a 48-day North American tour in Mexico City, getting the president’s support and a letter from Mexican MPs to Joe Biden demanding he drop the charges, reports Joe Lauria from Mexico.
The Biden administration has no way of squaring its free-press rhetoric with its persecution of the world’s most famous journalist, writes Caitlin Johnstone.
The Australian prime minister told ABC, “I share the frustration. I can’t do more than make very clear what my position is,” that a diplomatic solution to Assange’s case must be found.