By Enrique Amestoy on April 11, 2019
After this article was written it was reported that the U.S. Justice Department had requested Julian Assange’s extradition, charging him with the vague and broad crime of “conspiracy to commit a computer crime.” A hearing relating to the extradition has been set for May 2. Knowing the hatred that the U.S. and especially the Pentagon has for Assange, for exposing their crimes against humanity in Iraq and many other places, his safety has to be of great concern to all progressive people. It should be noted that all previous charges against Assange have been dropped long ago. The new charge today also links Assange to brave Pentagon whistle blower Chelsea Manning, who after spending 7 years in federal prison, had her sentence commuted by Obama before he left office. Just last month Manning was taken back into custody for refusing to testify before a grand jury. It seems unlikely that the timing of these two arrests is a coincidence. – editorial
Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno handed over to British police Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, awarded the Amnesty International UK Media Awards in 2009, among others, for reporting about extra judiciary killings in Kenya through his report The Cry of Blood.
In a three-minute video, Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno explained the reasons why he revoked Assange’s political asylum status. Among others, he alleged “disrespectful behavior” and “impolite statements.” Last December, he declared he did not like Assange and that the way was being paved for him to be evicted from Ecuador’s Embassy to London.
Months before taking office, President Moreno gave signals against political refugee and Ecuadorian citizen Julian Assange, affirming that he should not “intervene in the politics of friendly countries.”
Julian Assange sought asylum at Ecuador’s Embassy in London on June 19, 2012. The Rafael Correa Administration affirmed they had analyzed the asylum request in terms of defending human rights rather than political issues, understanding that Assange’s life was at risk given the possibility of an extradition to the United States, where the death penalty is enforced.
On August 16, 2012, Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño went on record saying that the Republic of Ecuador had granted political asylum to Julian Assange based, among others, on the following reasons:
1- Julian Assange is a professional journalist who has been awarded international prizes due to his struggle in favor of freedom of speech, freedom of the press and human rights in general;
2- Mr. Assange shared with people around the world privileged documentary information produced by several sources, which affected officials, countries and international agencies;
3- There are serious signs of possible retaliation on behalf of the country or countries which produced the information revealed by Mr. Assange, a revenge that puts at risk his safety, integrity and even his life;
4- Regardless of diplomatic efforts carried out by the Ecuadorean State, countries that were requested to provide enough guarantees to protect the life and safety of Mr. Assange have refused to do so;
5- Ecuadorean authorities are convinced that Mr. Assange might be extradited to a third country outside the European Union without duly guaranteeing his safety and personal integrity;
6- Legal evidence clearly shows that in case he is extradited to the United States of America, Mr. Assange would not be subject to a fair prosecution, he could be prosecuted by special or military courts, and it’s not impossible that he would receive a cruel and degrading treatment and be sentenced to life in prison or given the death penalty, thus his human rights would not be respected;
7- Even though Mr. Assange should respond to an investigation in Sweden, Ecuador is aware that the Swedish Prosecutor has showed a contradictory behavior that prevented Mr. Assange from exercising his legal right of self-defense.
Today there was an immediate response from former President Rafael Correa about events regarding Julian Assange. He posted in his Twitter account: “The greatest traitor in Ecuadorian and Latin American history, Lenin Moreno, allowed British police to enter our embassy in London to arrest Assange.”
As we write this report, we know little or nothing about the destination of Julian Assange, now prisoner of the British police and facing the possibility of extradition.
I am afraid that nothing good can come of this and I am convinced that his life is in danger given the unpleasant decision of the traitor to our people’s interests, allied to North American imperialism and tied to continental rightist groups that are seeking to make our people go back to moments of political and economic subordination to the United States and to destroy all the achievements obtained by progressive governments such as Rafael Correa in Ecuador, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil, Cristina Fernandez and Nestor Kirchner in Argentina, Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, among others.
https://lapupilainsomne.wordpress.com/2019/04/11/la-entrega-de-julian-assange-por-enrique-amestoy/
Source: La Pupila Insomne, translation, Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau