{"id":115554,"date":"2018-07-30T12:00:23","date_gmt":"2018-07-30T11:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=115554"},"modified":"2018-08-06T12:59:50","modified_gmt":"2018-08-06T11:59:50","slug":"diabolical-plot-to-extradite-assange-to-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/07\/diabolical-plot-to-extradite-assange-to-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Diabolical Plot to Extradite Assange to US"},"content":{"rendered":"

24 Jul 2018 – <\/em>Ecuador granted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange political asylum at its London embassy in August 2012.<\/p>\n

According to an Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling, it\u2019s irrevocable under international law. Nations are obliged to uphold asylum rights, including the right of safe passage to the country granting it.<\/p>\n

Rule of law principles never stand in the way of Washington\u2019s imperial agenda\u2014nor co-conspiratorial nations like Britain, partnering in its high crimes.<\/p>\n

Assange\u2019s asylum is gravely threatened. In May, Ecuador\u2019s Foreign Minister Fernanda Espinosa said talks between her government and Britain were ongoing to decide his fate, adding:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a dialogue. There is a will and an interest to move forward in the solution of that matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Illegally revoking his asylum ahead of arresting and extraditing him to America appears imminent.<\/p>\n

A sealed indictment awaits him, allegedly accusing him of spying under the long ago outdated 1917 Espionage Act, enacted shortly after America\u2019s entry into WW I\u2014used to prosecute, frame, convict and imprison Chelsea Manning.<\/p>\n

AG Jeff Sessions earlier said arresting, prosecuting and imprisoning Assange \u201cis a priority,\u201d turning truth on its head claiming he\u2019s \u201cengaged in terrorism\u201d\u2014a US specialty, not his.<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo disgracefully said he caused \u201cgreat harm to our nation\u2019s national security\u201d\u2014a bald-faced lie.<\/p>\n

He lied calling WikiLeaks \u201ca non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia,\u201d adding, \u201cWe have to recognize that we can no longer allow Assange and his colleagues the latitude to use free speech values against us\u201d\u2014a flagrant constitutional violation against anyone if enforced.<\/p>\n

WikiLeaks is involved in whistleblowing investigative journalism, publishing material supplied by sources, unidentified for their protection.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not an intelligence operation. Nor it it connected to Russia or any other country.<\/p>\n

Assange earlier explained that WikiLeaks has the right \u201cto publish newsworthy content. Consistent with the US Constitution, we publish material that we can confirm to be true . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

If he\u2019s arrested, extradited to America, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned, it\u2019ll be another body blow to already eroding US and Western media freedom.<\/p>\n

According to RT\u2019s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan<\/a> days earlier, her \u201csources (indicate) Assange will be handed over to Britain in the coming weeks or even days,\u201d adding: \u201cLike never before, I wish my sources were wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

On July 15, the London Sunday Times<\/a> reported UK and Ecuadorian ministers at the highest levels are conspiring to revoke Assange\u2019s asylum and evict him from the country\u2019s embassy.<\/p>\n

President Lenin Moreno lied calling him a \u201chacker.\u201d He\u2019s targeted by Washington and Britain for publishing hard truths their regimes want suppressed.<\/p>\n

According to RT, UK minister of state for Europe and the Americas Alan Duncan is \u201cspearheading the diplomatic effort\u201d to expel Assange from Ecuador\u2019s London embassy, complicit with the Trump regime wanting him extradited to Washington.<\/p>\n

The Intercept<\/a> said revoking Assange\u2019s asylum and expelling him from Ecuador\u2019s London embassy is \u201cimminent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreno is in London, meeting with UK officials \u201cto finalize an agreement under which Ecuador will withdraw its asylum protection of Julian Assange . . . eject him from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and then hand (him) over to British authorities,\u201d the Intercept reported.<\/p>\n

An announcement could come any time. Ecuador\u2019s president since May 2017, Moreno shamefully transformed his country into a US vassal state, reversing Rafael Correa\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n

If reports by London\u2019s Sunday Times, RT and the Intercept are right, Assange\u2019s fate may be sealed.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll likely lose asylum protection, be extradited to Washington to be prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned for the \u201ccrime\u201d of truth-telling.<\/p>\n

_________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Stephen Lendman<\/em> lives in Chicago. His new book as editor and contributor is titled <\/em>Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III. http:\/\/www.claritypress.com\/LendmanIII.html<\/a>. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net<\/a>.Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 intrepidreport.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

24 Jul 2018 – Ecuador granted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange political asylum at its London embassy in August 2012. According to an Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling, it\u2019s irrevocable under international law. Nations are obliged to uphold asylum rights, including the right of safe passage to the country granting it\u2026 He\u2019ll likely lose asylum protection, be extradited to Washington to be prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned for the \u201ccrime\u201d of truth-telling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":108714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[224,65,51,53,62,139,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights","category-anglo-america","category-europe","category-latin-america-and-the-caribbean","category-media","category-justice","category-whistleblowing-surveillance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}