12:26 AM 1 June 2019 – London, England – The way Julian Assange has been treated and the bundle of quivering human flesh he has been turned into has the UN Official Rapporteur on Torture worried.
“My most urgent concern is that, in the United States, Mr. Assange would be exposed to a real risk of serious violations of his human rights, including his freedom of expression, his right to a fair trial and the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” said Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture. Read if you wish the UN statement on Melzer report.
by Micheal John
August 2014 photo of Julian Assange. ~ Photo Credit: Cancillería del Ecuador
Cropping, retouch and Photo Art: Rosa Yamamoto FPM.news
Donald Trump, on the evidence, probably conspired with Mohammed bin Salman to at least ambush Jamal Khashoggi. This criminal conspiracy or in the alternative, at least criminal negligence of the White House led to the death and dismemberment of the Washington Post columnist.
FPM.news researchers have no doubt this is true based on information obtained indirectly from the CIA and other sources which indicate the matter was discussed between the White House and Mohammed bin Salman directly, in advance of the crime.
What this may say about Julian Assange is that the United States has no credibility in its allegations against Mr. Assange because of the US government’s campaign against journalists and its attempt to muzzle news reportage the White House feels is not in the interest of certain of its leaders.
Julian Assange is paying the price for reporting news that Britain and America did not want reported about crimes in Afghanistan and in Iraq.
Certainly there are some boundaries for what can and should be published in the media, but not many. If a journalist can learn a thing through sources, then anyone can. Writing the article should be done in such a way that no harm other than due and lawful process can be brought to anyone as a result of the article’s content.
Julian Assange repeatedly learned of government’s wrongful behaviour. He exposed some very horrible crimes committed by American and British actors in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2003. What has been done about those crimes?
The answer to that question is partly coming from what happened about the Afghanistan crimes.
Fatou Bensouda has been bullied endlessly by the United States’ Trump administration and she has not been able to do her job. Who is she? She is the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
The United States’ authoritarian Donald Trump, banned Fatou Bensouda from the country in the same manner as did Rodrigo Duterte and Omar al Bashir who also sought impunity for their alleged crimes.
“I’m announcing a policy of U.S. visa restrictions on those individuals directly responsible for any ICC investigation of U.S. personnel,” Trump’s Secretary of State Pompeo told a news conference in Washington.
“These visa restrictions may also be used to deter ICC efforts to pursue allied personnel, including Israelis, without allies’ consent.”
In the end, Fatou Bensouda’s request to investigate potential war crimes by US soldiers in Afghanistan was denied in a lengthy written decision by the judges of the International Criminal Court.
It’s a lot like Donald Trump’s lengthy record of using gobs of money for dodging legal attacks by alleged rape survivors and people he has allegedly swindled. Today the world hears of backroom threats of terminated trade agreements, tariffs, sanctions and cancelled contracts to get its own way in various matters.
The International Criminal Court suddenly ruled that Fatou Bensouda’s “request establishes a reasonable basis to consider that crimes within the ICC jurisdiction have been committed in Afghanistan and that potential cases would be admissible before the court” but the Court went on to say that denied cooperation of the United States, the Taliban and Afghanistan made the case too difficult to prosecute.
FPM.news attempted to interview victims but was repeatedly told that fear of reprisal was behind emphatic, “No”.
The International Criminal Court said,
- “according to the prosecution, there is a reasonable basis to believe that:
- “since May 2003, members of the US armed forces and the CIA have committed the war crimes of torture and cruel treatment,
- outrages upon personal dignity, and
- rape and other forms of sexual violence pursuant to a policy approved by the US authorities.”
FPM.news researchers have heard such allegations from other sources.
Feminine-Perspective:
Some very shameful conduct has been committed, but no court has been able to assign guilt. That leaves a terrifying outlook for current and future crime victims. It also leaves the United States and Britain with zero credibility for their future claims that weapons must be bought and wars must be fought because “the wolf is coming”.
Like Donald Trump said about his own alleged crimes, “There was insufficient evidence and therefore, in our Country, a person is innocent. The case is closed.”
The same applies to persons who have allegedly commit heinous crimes. The Court of jurisdiction has been defanged by the accused nation, America, which has (probably illegally) muzzled all parties.
FPM.news has had access to sufficient volumes of leaked material in question and has determined beyond any internal doubt or speculation that:
- the material is authentic, and
- the crimes are indeed heinous war crimes.
Getting back to Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture.
“Since 2010, when Wikileaks started publishing evidence of war crimes and torture committed by US forces, we have seen a sustained and concerted effort by several States towards getting Mr. Assange extradited to the United States for prosecution, raising serious concern over the criminalisation of investigative journalism in violation of both the US Constitution and international human rights law,” Melzer said yesterday.
Mr. Assange is currently being held at London’s high-security Belmarsh prison, having been removed from the Ecuador embassy in April and sentenced to 50 weeks for allegedly skipping bail when he entered the embassy years ago.
Mr. Melzer was accompanied during a Belmarsh visit with Mr. Assange on 9 May by two medical experts specialised in examining potential victims of torture and other ill-treatment.
The team were able to conduct a thorough medical assessment of Mr. Assange on his consent.
“It was obvious that Mr. Assange’s health has been seriously affected by the extremely hostile and arbitrary environment he has been exposed to for many years,” the expert said. “Most importantly, in addition to physical ailments, Mr. Assange showed all symptoms typical for prolonged exposure to psychological torture, including extreme stress, chronic anxiety and intense psychological trauma.
File photo: London (United Kingdom), August 18, 2014, Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño and Julian Assange offered a press conference with the presence of international media. Photo Credit: David G Silvers. Chancellery of Ecuador.
“The evidence is overwhelming and clear,” the expert said. “Mr. Assange has been deliberately exposed, for a period of several years, to progressively severe forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the cumulative effects of which can only be described as psychological torture.
“I condemn, in the strongest terms, the deliberate, concerted and sustained nature of the abuse inflicted on Mr. Assange and seriously deplore the consistent failure of all involved governments to take measures for the protection of his most fundamental human rights and dignity,” the expert said. “By displaying an attitude of complacency at best, and of complicity at worst, these governments have created an atmosphere of impunity encouraging Mr. Assange’s uninhibited vilification and abuse.”
“In 20 years of work with victims of war, violence and political persecution I have never seen a group of democratic States ganging up to deliberately isolate, demonise and abuse a single individual for such a long time and with so little regard for human dignity and the rule of law,” Melzer said.
“The collective persecution of Julian Assange must end here and now!” (Mr. Melzer)