Subscription 790/year or 190/quarter

Professor Mads Andenæs: "Assange is exposed to several human rights violations"

John Y. Jones
John Y. Jones
Cand. Philol, freelance journalist affiliated with MODERN TIMES
WEBINAR / Oxford professor Liora Lazarus recalled the situation for Julian Assange. "Human rights are not for the flawless, but for all."




(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)

[A BETTER TRANSLATION WILL APPEAR SOON!]. Liora Lazarus participated in a webinar 5.2. together with i.a. the Norwegian lawyers Mads Andenæs and Eva Joly. It emerged in the webinar that there are several violations of Assange's human rights: there are violations of the law on freedom of expression, freedom from torture, arbitrary deprivation of liberty and freedom of movement.

"When Judge Baraitser believes that Julian 'could leave the embassy' at any time 'where he sat for seven years, she is wrong," Andenæs stated. He referred to the widow of peace prize winner Liu Xiaobo who was prevented from leaving his home for eight years. Dozens of threatening civilians surrounded Liu Xia, 59, as soon as she set foot outside her house. Formally, she could move freely, but in practice she was prevented: "It was a form of punishment with deprivation of liberty", Andenæs thought. The UN has blamed Liu Xia's situation on China. [Liu Xia was allowed to leave China to receive medical treatment in Germany in 2018, following an extensive support campaign, editor's note]

Illegal deprivation of liberty

On 5 July 2015, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UN-WGAD) stated that Julian Assange had been subjected to unacceptable and illegal detention by the British and Swedish authorities. Professor Mads Andenæs had led the work and thought Assange was exposed to something similar to Xiaobo's widow. Later, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, also concluded that Assange had been treated illegally, in a way that led Assange to show the same symptoms as torturers.

Assange's fears were justified

South Americans have a long tradition of respecting the right to asylum at embassies. It was therefore not unnatural for Assange to seek refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy on 19 April 2012. His reasoning was to prevent him from being extradited to Sweden with the risk of being extradited to the United States. British and Swedish authorities, the press and politicians ridiculed this as "conspiracy theories".

"When Judge Baraitser believes that Julian 'could leave the embassy' at any time 'where he sat for seven years, she is wrong." Andenæs

Seven years later, on April 11, 2019, at the same time as British police arrested Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy, ​​British authorities from the United States received a request for extradition. And Sweden was urged by the British not to withdraw their extradition declaration. It turned out that Assange's fears were well-founded.

Eva Joly was especially upset about Marianne Ny at the Swedish prosecution, who blogged that she could not travel to London to interrogate Assange. He had to come to Sweden physically for questioning. Either Ny was unaware of ordinary European case law, or she blogged against knowing better, Joly thought. That Ny would not meet her about this either (Joly is a Member of the European Parliament and a lawyer), Joly interpreted as a confirmation that there was something underneath that could not stand the light of day. (See comment page 8.)

"In the Nordic countries, we believe that 'we are the good ones'," said Andenæs. "Human rights violations only happen in 'other countries'. And it is unfortunately almost impossible to get the Swedish authorities and leaders to take seriously that serious mistakes have been made against Julian Assange. "

Sweden's lack of respect for the UN

UN-WGAD are UN experts on deprivation of liberty. When the Swedish authorities ignore the working group, it is a sharp signal to the countries of the world about Sweden's lack of respect for the UN, the panel said.

The Setjulianfree campaign earlier this year criticized precisely that the Swedish authorities have arrogantly ignored the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. But many prominent Swedish personalities have gone against the flow and joined the campaign, among them Carl Tham, Sven Hirdman, Paulina Reyes and Hilda Hellwig.

British media are against extradition

The leader of the Non-Disclose-Assange campaign, John Rees, recalled that British newspapers such as the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and The Times have changed their minds and oppose the extradition of Assange to the United States. "This is ultimately what the trial against Assange is about, and therefore this change is particularly promising," Rees concluded.

            See www.netjulianfree.org

- self-advertisement -

Recent Comments:

Siste artikler

Conservation of wild salmon

"Now they are on their way to making the same mistakes in Iceland as they have made in Norway. We have already seen terrible…

Who takes care of the salmon?

ISLAND:Salmon farming is an expanding industry that is fed by several Norwegian investors, and Iceland's biodiversity is in the pot. In scenic Iceland, there is a bitter battle between the farming industry and local activists. The open cages are a ticking bomb for both the environment and animal welfare.

When the truth becomes threatening

JULIAN ASSANGE: Aftenposten had learned from Julian Assange and sucked what they could from his WikiLeaks data universe, and millions of secrets, before quickly throwing him under the bus. Assange created the whistleblowers' perpetuum mobile, WikiLeaks, an unlimited infinity machine of truth where truth whistleblowers all over the world were given the opportunity to reach out – and lift the blankets that hide the lies of power, their war crimes, corruption, tax fraud, hidden bank accounts, fortunes and conspiracies. What now?

The art of moving

WITH HUMAN DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL: The Norwegian documentaries Ibelin and Ukjent landskap, both of which have made a strong international impression, tell moving stories about special individuals – but at the same time provide enriching perspectives on our social life. Both films give heartwarming portrayals of a person who is no longer alive, but who has left a strong imprint.

When Muslims, Jews and Christians lived side by side

ETHNICITY: Maimonides is considered one of the most important Jewish thinkers ever. In his time, the relationship between the Muslim, the Arab and the Jewish was mutually enriching. Rather than viewing the relationship between Jews and Arabs in a polarized way, Maimonides' example shows that their enmity is redundant and intellectually debilitating. The conflict is not about religion, because Judaism and Islam have far too many central similarities.

Afropessimism, Afrofuturism and Afropolitanism

AFRICA: Disruption opens up for the capitalists a new display of power and new income: People, society and nature are reduced to raw material. The author Achille Mbembe's horizon is always the widest possible – the cosmic, earth-historical and planetary. Africa, despite all harrowing problems, is being called forth as a vibrant world center that still has powers in reserve, a teeming wildlife and a wealth of cultures.

How we sense other people and the world

SUBJECTS: Hartmut Rosa points out that today's late modern people react to the flood of information without "developing a stable understanding of what is relevant, of direction and prioritization". But does the well-educated academic here become an ideologue with religion as a weapon against an increasingly purpose-rational world where the economy colonizes the social?

Respectful and lovingly humorous

DOCUMENTS: In well-composed black-and-white images, Øystein Mamen follows four men in Halden prison. All inmates have committed particularly serious crimes. He shows what recognition and charity can do to people.

I was completely out of the world

Essay: The author Hanne Ramsdal tells here what it means to be put out of action – and come back again. A concussion leads, among other things, to the brain not being able to dampen impressions and emotions.

Silently disciplining research

PRIORITIES: Many who question the legitimacy of the US wars seem to be pressured by research and media institutions. An example here is the Institute for Peace Research (PRIO), which has had researchers who have historically been critical of any war of aggression – who have hardly belonged to the close friends of nuclear weapons.

Is Spain a terrorist state?

SPAIN: The country receives sharp international criticism for the police and the Civil Guard's extensive use of torture, which is never prosecuted. Regime rebels are imprisoned for trifles. European accusations and objections are ignored.

Is there any reason to rejoice over the coronary vaccine?

COVID-19: There is no real skepticism from the public sector about the coronary vaccine – vaccination is recommended, and the people are positive about the vaccine. But is the embrace of the vaccine based on an informed decision or a blind hope for a normal everyday life?

The military commanders wanted to annihilate the Soviet Union and China, but Kennedy stood in the way

Military: We focus on American Strategic Military Thinking (SAC) from 1950 to the present. Will the economic war be supplemented by a biological war?

homesickness

Bjørnboe: In this essay, Jens Bjørneboe's eldest daughter reflects on a lesser – known psychological side of her father.

Arrested and put on smooth cell for Y block

Y-Block: Five protesters were led away yesterday, including Ellen de Vibe, former director of the Oslo Planning and Building Agency. At the same time, the Y interior ended up in containers.

A forgiven, refined and anointed basket boy

Pliers: The financial industry takes control of the Norwegian public.

Michael Moore's new film: Critical to alternative energy

EnvironmentFor many, green energy solutions are just a new way to make money, says director Jeff Gibbs.

The pandemic will create a new world order

Mike Davis: According to activist and historian Mike Davis, wild reservoirs, like bats, contain up to 400 types of coronavirus that are just waiting to spread to other animals and humans.

The shaman and the Norwegian engineer

cohesion: The expectation of a paradise free of modern progress became the opposite, but most of all, Newtopia is about two very different men who support and help each other when life is at its most brutal.

Skinless exposure

Anorexia: shameless uses Lene Marie Fossen's own tortured body as a canvas for grief, pain and longing in her series of self portraits – relevant both in the documentary self Portrait and in the exhibition Gatekeeper.