London Report on Assange Extradition - John Kiriakou (English)

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John Kiriakou is a former CIA Counterterrorism Officer and former Senior Investigator on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

He is our guest after the first day of the hearings regarding the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States. This interview is in English and recorded from London.

Kiriakou worked for the CIA during the Iraq war in the time the US extradition request focusses on. He blew the whistle on the CIA waterboarding/torture program in Guantanamo Bay.

In this interview we talk about Assange, Wikileaks, Securedrop, Publeaks, the American elections and about communicating securely via the Internet.

links:

Parliamentarians travel to London to monitor Assange extradition hearing

follow updates on https://assangecourt.report/

* Delegations from Germany, Italy and the European Parliament will be in court on Monday; 10 seats have been set aside for political monitors in Woolwich Crown Court

* 33 parliamentarians from twelve different European countries have joined the initiative, the largest of its kind ever seen in the UK

* Bridges for Media Freedom launches the Assange Court Report and will issue twice-daily updates from the hearing 33 parliamentarians from twelve different European countries have committed to monitor the Julian Assange extradition case which is due to begin in London this Monday, 24 February. WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange is fighting extradition to the United States in an unprecedented Espionage Act prosecution for journalistic activity. The monitoring group, which is organised by the freedom of expression project Bridges for Media Freedom includes parliamentarians from Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom.

The initiative, which also includes international NGOs Reporters Without Borders and International PEN, legal experts and medics is the largest of its kind ever put together in the United Kingdom. In response to a series of letters which European politicians have written to the UK Ministry of Justice since November last year, Woolwich Crown Court has set ten seats aside for political monitors in the court's media annexe. - "He is to be buried alive in prison" Die LINKE MPs Sevim Dagdelen and Heike Hänsel, both members of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the German Parliament, will be attending the Assange extradition hearing every day this week.

They said: "Following the massive manipulations by the Swedish police and judicial authorities in the prosecution of Julian Assange, international monitoring by observers of the extradition proceedings brought by the USA against the journalist and founder of Wikileaks is more urgent than ever. "The reports about the impunity offered by US President Donald Trump to Julian Assange in return for the assurance that the publication of confidential documents of the Democratic Party in the 2016 presidential campaign would have no connection with Russia underline once again the political instrumentalisation of the case. After his refusal, the journalist is now to be put on trial in the USA for publishing US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he faces up to 175 years imprisonment. "The prison conditions, the restrictions on access to defense lawyers, and insufficient access to documents and a working computer, do not meet the conditions for a fair trial under the rule of law. "An extradition of Julian Assange to the USA, where he is to be buried alive in prison, must be prevented. We demand the release of Julian Assange on bail so that he can recover from the consequences of his years of isolation in the Ecuadorian embassy and solitary confinement in Belmarsh in terms of his health and be able to defend himself adequately.”

- "we are joining the most authoritative institutional voices on human rights" Italian Senator Gianni Marilotti, who is President of the Italian Parliamentary Intergroup for Monitoring the Assange case, will be attending court on Monday. He said: "According to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer, Assange has been subjected to sustained collective persecution, including threatening statements and incitement to violence against him. These and other human rights violations are not compatible with the foundations of the European democracies, which gave themselves laws based on the respect of the human being, a principle that will never be negotiable. "The Council of Europe and its Human Rights Commissioner recently joined Melzer’s appeal, since the use of the Espionage Act against a publisher who is only accused of revealing real facts raises concerns about the protection of those ones that publish classified information in the public interest. "As the Italian Parliamentarian Intergroup for the monitoring of the Assange case, we are aware we are joining the most authoritative institutional voices on human rights and freedom of the press."

- "This case is a matter of democracy and human rights against secrecy and impunity" Sira Rego MEP, who will be in court on Monday, said: "We stand against the extradition of Julian Assange to the US because democracy is at risk. We are talking about protecting basic fundamental rights. The right of the people to know the true face of their governments. "The assassination of the Reuters cameramen in Iraq and the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs showed the world how governments and especially the US Government commit crimes against humanity with total impunity. This case is a matter of democracy and human rights against secrecy and impunity. "States, governments, international institutions must protect the people who work for us to know the truth. It is not not only Julian Assange's life at stake today. It is Chelsea Manning's, Glenn Greenwald's, Edward Snowden's and everyone who, like them, work to make our societies more transparent and just."

MEPs Miguel Urban Crespo and Marketa Gregorova will also be in court on Monday. Seven further parliamentarians will be attending court later in the week. - Bridges for Media Freedom launches the Assange Court Report Bridges for Media Freedom will be issuing twice-daily updates from the proceedings. Reports, photography and video will be published on the Assange Court Report website (https://assangecourt.report). Reuse of this material is encouraged. Julian Assange has been charged in the Eastern District of Virginia with 17 counts under the 1917 Espionage Act, all related to WikiLeaks publications of 2010-11. He also faces a further conspiracy charge related to journalist-source communications. EDVA is a judicial district located in the greater Washington DC metropolitan area.

-- Bridges for Media Freedom https://bridgesforfreedom.media


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