{"id":162999,"date":"2020-06-22T12:00:38","date_gmt":"2020-06-22T11:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=162999"},"modified":"2020-06-17T09:51:13","modified_gmt":"2020-06-17T08:51:13","slug":"politicians-call-on-uk-to-release-assange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/06\/politicians-call-on-uk-to-release-assange\/","title":{"rendered":"Politicians Call on UK to Release Assange"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>16 Jun 2020 &#8211; <em>A group of members of the European Parliament, and former members of Congress and local legislatures have written to Britain\u2019s secretary of state for justice urging that Julian Assange be released from Belmarsh prison on compassionate grounds.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div id=\"attachment_163001\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/assange-demo-uk.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-163001\" class=\"wp-image-163001\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/assange-demo-uk-1024x561.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"356\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/assange-demo-uk-1024x561.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/assange-demo-uk-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/assange-demo-uk-768x420.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/assange-demo-uk.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-163001\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vigil held outside Belmarsh Prison where Julian Assange is being held. From Twitter.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>The text of the letter signed by former British MP Chris Williamson, former U.S. Mike Gravel and former Congressman Ron Paul among other political leaders:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>June 1, 2020<\/p>\n<p>FAO The Rt Hon Robert Buckland QC MP<br \/>\nLord Chancellor &amp; Secretary of State for Justice<\/p>\n<p>CC The Hon Bob Neill MP<br \/>\nUK Commons Justice Committee Chair<\/p>\n<p>Dear Sir,<\/p>\n<p><strong>Request for Compassionate Release of Julian Assange<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As current and former elected representatives in democracies committed to human rights, the presumption of innocence and the rule of law, we wish to support the urgent appeal sent to you by Australian MPs Andrew Wilkie and George Christensen, who wrote:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe ask that you urgently reconsider providing Mr Assange with release from Belmarsh Prison to monitored home detention, as he fits all of the grounds noted for such early release by leading organisations as the World Health Organisation, the United Nations and the UK Prison Officers Association. These organisations have been unanimous in calling for the release of all non-violent COVID-19 prisoners, and we ask that you give compassionate consideration to the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mr Assange is a non-violent remand prisoner with no history of harm to the community. He is not convicted and is thus entitled to the presumption of innocence.<\/li>\n<li>Doctors of Mr Assange warn he is at high risk from dying if he contracts COVID-19 as he has a pre-existing chronic lung condition.<\/li>\n<li>We are advised that COVID-19 is rapidly spreading throughout UK prisons, and that there are infections [and at least one death] at Belmarsh Prison.<\/li>\n<li>We understand that the prison is short staffed and normal activity regimes are suspended.<\/li>\n<li>Mr Assange is in poor mental health due to spending so much time in solitary confinement over recent years, and prison COVID-19 lockdown measures are further undermining his mental health.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We ask that you give further consideration to the very reasonable request by Mr Assange\u2019s lawyers that this non-violent Australian prisoner be released into home detention with a 24-hour ankle monitor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the director of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention warning of a second wave of coronavirus during influenza season, we stress that even those vulnerable prisoners, such as Julian Assange, who survive the current crisis remain at risk.<\/p>\n<p>Yours sincerely,<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dr Arthur Chesterfield-Evans<\/strong>,\u00a0former Member of the Legislative Council of NSW, Australia<\/p>\n<p><strong>Clare Daly<\/strong>, Member of the European Parliament, Republic of Ireland<\/p>\n<p><strong>Andrew Feinstein<\/strong>, former Member of the African National Congress, South Africa<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mike Gravel<\/strong>, former US Senator, United States<\/p>\n<p><strong>Heike H\u00e4nsel<\/strong>,\u00a0Member of the German Bundestag, Germany<\/p>\n<p><strong>Eva Joly<\/strong>, former Member of the European Parliament, France<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ogmundur Jonasson<\/strong>, former Member of the Icelandic Parliament, Iceland<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ron Paul<\/strong>, former US Congressman, United States<\/p>\n<p><strong>Yanis Varoufakis<\/strong>, Member of the Greek Parliament, Greece<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mick Wallace<\/strong>, Member of the European Parliament, Republic of Ireland<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chris Williamson<\/strong>, former Member of Parliament, United Kingdom<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>Signatories from the European Parliament:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><b>Stelios Kouloglou<\/b>\u2013 Group of the European United Left \u2013 Nordic Green Left \u2013 Greece<\/p>\n<p><b>Dimitrios Papadimoulis-<\/b>Group of the European United Left \u2013 Nordic Green Left \u2013 Greece<\/p>\n<p><b>Marketa Gregorova<\/b>\u2013 Czech Pirate Party \u2013 Czech Republic<\/p>\n<p><b>Yana Toom<\/b>\u2013 Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe \u2013 Estonia<\/p>\n<p><b>Marisa Matias<\/b>\u2013 Group of the European United Left \u2013 Nordic Green Left \u2013 Portugal<\/p>\n<p><b>Maria Arena<\/b>\u2013 Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists &amp; Democrats \u2013 Belgium<\/p>\n<p><b>Carles Puigdemont<\/b>\u2013 Non Attached \u2013 Spain<\/p>\n<p><b>Antoni Comin<\/b>\u2013 Non attached \u2013 Spain<\/p>\n<p><b>Clara Ponsati<\/b>\u2013 Non attached \u2013 Spain<\/p>\n<p><b>Dietmar Koster<\/b>\u2013 Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists &amp; Democrats \u2013 Germany<\/p>\n<p><b>Kostantinos Arvanitis<\/b>\u2013 Group of the European United Left \u2013 Nordic Green Left \u2013 Greece<\/p>\n<p><b>Eleonora Evi<\/b>\u2013 Non attached member \u2013 Italy<\/p>\n<p><b>Martin Sonnenborn<\/b>\u2013 Non attached member \u2013 Germany<\/p>\n<p><b>Helmut Scholz<\/b>\u2013 Group of the European United Left \u2013 Nordic Green Left \u2013 Germany<\/p>\n<p><b>Clare Daly<\/b>\u2013 Group of the European United Left \u2013 Nordic Green Left \u2013 Ireland<\/p>\n<p><b>Mick Wallace<\/b>\u2013 Group of the European United Left \u2013 Nordic Green Left \u2013 Ireland<\/p>\n<p><b>Katerina Konecna<\/b>-Group of the European United Left -Czechia<\/p>\n<p><b>Jose Gusm\u00e3o<\/b>\u2013 Group of the European United Left \u2013 Nordic Green Left \u2013 Portugal<\/p>\n<p><b>Eugenia Rodriguez Palop<\/b>\u2013 group of the European United left \u2013 Spain<\/p>\n<p><b>Klaus Buchner<\/b>\u2013 Greens \u2013 Germany<\/p>\n<p><b>Idoia Ruiz Villanueva<\/b>\u2013 European United Left \u2013 Spain<\/p>\n<p><b>Manuel Bompard<\/b>\u2013 Group of the European United Left \u2013 Nordic Green Left \u2013 France<\/p>\n<p><b>Damien Careme<\/b>\u2013 Greens \u2013 France<\/p>\n<p><b>Marc Johan Botenga<\/b>\u2013 Group of the European United Left \u2013 Nordic Green Left \u2013 Belgium<\/p>\n<p><b>Cornelia Ernst<\/b>\u2013 Group of the European United Left \u2013 Nordic Green Left \u2013 Germany<\/p>\n<p><b>Diana Riba Greens<\/b>\u2013 Spain<\/p>\n<p><b>Derk Jan Eppink<\/b>\u2013 European Conservatives and Reformists Group \u2013 Netherlands<\/p>\n<p><b>Rob Roos<\/b>\u2013 European Conservatives and Reformists Group \u2013 Netherlands<\/p>\n<p><b>Rob Rooken<\/b>-European Conservatives and Reformists Group \u2013 Netherlands<\/p>\n<p><b>Petros Kokkalis<\/b>-Group of the European United Left \u2013 Nordic Green Left \u2013 Greece<\/p>\n<p><b>Patrick Breyer<\/b>\u2013 Greens \u2013 Germany<\/p>\n<p><b>Alviina Alamets\u00e4<\/b>\u2013 Greens -Finland<\/p>\n<p><b>Martin Buschmann<\/b>\u2013 Non attached \u2013 German<\/p>\n<p><b>Sira Rego<\/b>\u2013 Group of the European United Left \u2013 Nordic Green Left- Spain<\/p>\n<p><b>Manu Pineda<\/b>\u2013 Group of the European United Left \u2013 Nordic Green Left \u2013 Spain<\/p>\n<p><b>Ismail Ertug<\/b>\u2013 Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists &amp; Democrats \u2013 Germany<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/popularresistance.org\/politicians-call-on-uk-to-release-assange\/\" >Go to Original &#8211; popularresistance.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>16 Jun 2020 &#8211; A group of members of the European Parliament, and former members of Congress and local legislatures have written to Britain\u2019s secretary of state for justice urging that Julian Assange be released from Belmarsh prison on compassionate grounds. The text of the letter signed by former British MP Chris Williamson, former U.S. Mike Gravel and former Congressman Ron Paul among other political leaders:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":163001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[229,918,910,942,487,378,651,234,911,454,572,639,292,70,126,921,113],"class_list":["post-162999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activism","tag-activism","tag-assange","tag-big-brother","tag-ecuador","tag-human-rights","tag-journalism","tag-justice","tag-media","tag-surveillance","tag-sweden","tag-torture","tag-uk","tag-un","tag-usa","tag-violence","tag-whistleblowing","tag-wikileaks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162999","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=162999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}