Prime Minister Teresa May's government is in a tussle with the United Nations over the "disproportionate" 50-week sentence of Julian Assange for a "minor violation."
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, a UN panel of legal experts, also challenged May's Conservative government for holding Assange in a high-security prison "as if he were convicted of a serious criminal offense." The panel reiterated its recommendation that the British government free Assange.
May's isolationist-leaning government is rejecting the UN panel's findings as she works to remove Britain from international influence, whether it be that of the UN or the European Union. May's government is antagonistic to the panel -- even though the UN experts pointed out that in 2017 a Swedish prosecutor interviewed Assange at the embassy, and then declined to press charges.
In 2015 the Working Group accused Britain and Sweden of forcing Assange to be "arbitrarily detained" in the Ecuador embassy in London.
Meanwhile, most members of the public who wished to witness Assange's extradition hearing were barred. Only a few members of the press were able to squeeze into the courtroom. Authorities chose a small room no doubt to prevent Assange's supporters from getting in.
Assange was also barred from the courtroom and was given a terrorist-style video hearing from Belmarsh prison, sometimes known as the "British Guantanamo." The United States has slapped the publisher with a terrorism indictment, which the media are not mentioning, as a means of evading the statute of limitations on illegal cyber intrusion -- though that case appears very tenuous, lawyers say.
The Working Group said in a statement:
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, a UN panel of legal experts, also challenged May's Conservative government for holding Assange in a high-security prison "as if he were convicted of a serious criminal offense." The panel reiterated its recommendation that the British government free Assange.
May's isolationist-leaning government is rejecting the UN panel's findings as she works to remove Britain from international influence, whether it be that of the UN or the European Union. May's government is antagonistic to the panel -- even though the UN experts pointed out that in 2017 a Swedish prosecutor interviewed Assange at the embassy, and then declined to press charges.
In 2015 the Working Group accused Britain and Sweden of forcing Assange to be "arbitrarily detained" in the Ecuador embassy in London.
Meanwhile, most members of the public who wished to witness Assange's extradition hearing were barred. Only a few members of the press were able to squeeze into the courtroom. Authorities chose a small room no doubt to prevent Assange's supporters from getting in.
Assange was also barred from the courtroom and was given a terrorist-style video hearing from Belmarsh prison, sometimes known as the "British Guantanamo." The United States has slapped the publisher with a terrorism indictment, which the media are not mentioning, as a means of evading the statute of limitations on illegal cyber intrusion -- though that case appears very tenuous, lawyers say.
The Working Group said in a statement:
The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is deeply concerned about this course of action including the disproportionate sentence imposed on Mr. Assange. The Working Group is of the view that violating bail is a minor violation that, in the United Kingdom, carries a maximum sentence of 12 months in prison, even though the bond related to the bail has been lost in favor of the British Government, and that Mr. Assange was still detained after violating the bail which, in any case should not stand after the Opinion was issued. The Working Group regrets that the Government has not complied with its Opinion and has now furthered the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of Mr. Assange.
It is worth recalling that the detention and the subsequent bail of Mr. Assange in the UK were connected to preliminary investigations initiated in 2010 by a prosecutor in Sweden. It is equally worth noting that that prosecutor did not press any charges against Mr. Assange and that in 2017, after interviewing him in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, she discontinued investigations and brought an end to the case.
The Working Group is further concerned that Mr. Assange has been detained since 11 April 2019 in Belmarsh prison, a high-security prison, as if he were convicted for a serious criminal offence. This treatment appears to contravene the principles of necessity and proportionality envisaged by the human rights standards.
The WGAD reiterates its recommendation to the Government of the United Kingdom, as expressed in its Opinion 54/2015, and its 21 December 2018 statement, that the right of Mr Assange to personal liberty should be restored.
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