Afgelopen
maandag hebben Naom Chomsky, Chris Hedges, John Pilger e.a. Ecuador
opgeroepen om de isolatie van Julian Assange op te heffen. Middels
zogenaamde jammers heeft Ecuador het Assange onmogelijk gemaakt nog
te communiceren met de buitenwereld……

Uiteraard
is dit onder druk van de VS gebeurd, die Assange het liefst fiks wil
straffen. Met deze isolatie is het verblijf van Assange in de Engelse Ecuadoraanse ambassade veranderd in een volledige gevangenschap……

Lullig
dat de ondertekenaars van dit pleidooi niet ook Groot-Brittannië
hebben opgeroepen de waanzinnige bewaking van de ambassade in Londen en de
dreiging van Assanges arrestatie in te trekken (arrestatie als Assange één been buiten de ambassade
zet). Assange is een klokkenluider die met het door hem opgerichte Wikileaks juist de wereldbevolking dient….

Zoals gesteld in het volgende artikel: zelfs de VN vindt de
dreiging van arrestatie voor Assange onaanvaardbaar. Assange is in feite een
klokkenluider die het opneemt voor de gewone mens tegen de willekeur
van overheden en dan m.n. die van de grootste terreurentiteit op
aarde, de VS……

Assange
wordt het spreken onmogelijk gemaakt, niet in China of Saoedi-Arabië,
maar midden in het westen dat boogt op de vrijheid van meningsuiting
en waar men keer op keer beweerd klokkenluiders te willen beschermen,
terwijl de praktijk het tegenovergestelde laat zien, een praktijk
waarvan Assange wel het meest sprekende voorbeeld is……..

Vreemd
ook dat men hier niet een internationale petitie van heeft gemaakt,
een paar miljoen handtekeningen maken ‘net iets meer indruk…’

Maar
geen gezeur, deze oproep is alvast een geweldig begin:

APRIL
2, 2018

The
Isolation of Julian Assange Must Stop

Photo
by thierry ehrmann | CC
BY 2.0

by NOAM
CHOMSKY, CHRIS HEDGES, JOHN PILGER, ET AL*

We
call on the government of Ecuador to allow Julian Assange his right
of freedom of speech.

If
it was ever clear that the case of Julian Assange was never just a
legal case, but a struggle for the protection of basic human rights,
it is now.

Citing
his critical tweets about the recent detention of Catalan president
Carles Puidgemont in Germany, and following pressure from the US,
Spanish and UK governments, the Ecuadorian government has installed
an electronic jammer to stop Assange communicating with the
outside world via the internet and phone. As if ensuring his
total isolation, the Ecuadorian government is also refusing to allow
him to receive visitors. Despite two UN rulings describing his
detention as unlawful and mandating his immediate release, Assange
has been effectively imprisoned since he was first placed in
isolation in Wandsworth prison in London in December 2010. He has
never been charged with a crime.

The Swedish case against him
collapsed and was withdrawn, while the United States has stepped up
efforts to prosecute him. His only “crime” is that of a true
journalist — telling the world the truths that people have a right
to know.

Under
its previous president, the Ecuadorian government bravely stood
against the bullying might of the United States and granted Assange
political asylum as a political refugee. International law and the
morality of human rights was on its side.

Today,
under extreme pressure from Washington and its collaborators, another
government in Ecuador justifies its gagging of Assange by stating
that “Assange’s behaviour, through his messages on social
media, put at risk good relations which this country has with the UK,
the rest of the EU and other nations.”

This
censorious attack on free speech is not happening in Turkey, Saudi
Arabia or China; it is right in the heart of London. If the
Ecuadorian government does not cease its unworthy action, it, too,
will become an agent of persecution rather than the valiant nation
that stood up for freedom and for free speech. If the EU and the UK
continue to participate in the scandalous silencing of a true
dissident in their midst, it will mean that free speech is indeed
dying in Europe.

This
is not just a matter of showing support and solidarity. We are
appealing to all who care about basic human rights to call on the
government of Ecuador to continue defending the rights of a
courageous free speech activist, journalist and whistleblower.

We
ask that his basic human rights be respected as an Ecuadorian citizen
and internationally protected person and that he not be silenced or
expelled.

If
there is no freedom of speech for Julian Assange, there is no freedom
of speech for any of us — regardless of the disparate opinions we
hold.

We
call on President Moreno to end the isolation of Julian Assange now.

List
of signatories (in alphabetic order):

Pamela
Anderson,
actress and activist

Jacob
Appelbaum,
freelance journalist

Renata
Avila,
International Human Rights Lawyer

Sally
Burch,
British/Ecuadorian journalist

Alicia
Castro,
Argentina’s ambassador to the United Kingdom 2012-16

Naomi
Colvin, Courage
Foundation

Noam
Chomsky,
linguist and political theorist

Brian
Eno,
musician

Joseph
Farrell,
WikiLeaks Ambassador and board member of The Centre for Investigative
Journalism