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A Journey In Support of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange

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  • London Borough of Royal Kensington and Chelsea – Freedom of Information Request for Julian Assange’s stay in the Ecuadorian Embassy

    ((No information is too insignificant in this gravest miscarriage of Justice))

    Dear Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, 10 November 2015

    Julian Assange has sought sanctuary in the Ecuadorian Embassy in
    June 19th 2012 was given Political Asylum by Ecuador in August 16th
    2012 and has remained in their Embassy in no 3 Hans Crescent,
    Knightsbridge, which is in your London Borough of Kensington and
    Chelsea to the present day. Please provide me with any information
    you hold regarding his stay there, any arrangements you have
    undertaken as a result of his stay, any communications you have
    received from government departments, police enforcement
    departments, traffic wardens, businesses, the press, public
    utilities and members of the public relating to his stay at the
    Embassy from June 2012 to the present day.

    Yours faithfully,

    Mrs Emmy Butlin

    1st Response:

    Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea 11 November 2015

    Dear Mrs Butlin

    FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST REF: 2015-1397

    I am writing to confirm that we received your information request on 10
    November 2015. For your information and future communications your request
    has been allocated the reference number FOI2015-1397. Please quote this
    reference in any future correspondence.

    We will consider your request and respond in accordance with the
    requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Our duty is to
    respond promptly or at least within 20 working days.

    Yours sincerely

    ********

    ((Will they, I wonder, send me the letter I wrote when I asked them to fix the street lighting – hehehehe))

    2nd Response:

    Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

    20 November 2015

    Dear Ms. Butlin

    FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REF: 2015-1397

    I am responding to your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000,
    which we received on 10 November 2015, for information held by the
    Council. You requested:

    Julian Assange has sought sanctuary in the Ecuadorian Embassy in June 19th
    2012 was given Political Asylum by Ecuador in August 16th 2012 and has
    remained in their Embassy in no 3 Hans Crescent, Knightsbridge, which is
    in your London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to the present day.
    Please provide me with any information you hold regarding his stay there,
    any arrangements you have undertaken as a result of his stay, any
    communications you have received from government departments, police
    enforcement departments, traffic wardens, businesses, the press, public
    utilities and members of the public relating to his stay at the Embassy
    from June 2012 to the present day.

    Section 12 of the FOI Act makes provision for public authorities to refuse
    requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed
    the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit is set at £450; this
    represents the estimated cost of one person spending 2.5 working days or
    18 hours in locating, retrieving and extracting the information. We
    estimate that the cost of dealing with your request will exceed the
    appropriate so we have decided to refuse your request.

    Asking for “any information you hold” makes your request too broad. The
    council do not have a council-wide correspondence system, so we would need
    to contact a large range of departments to determine if any correspondence
    from “government departments, police enforcement departments, traffic
    wardens, businesses, the press, public utilities and members of the
    public” has been received.

    You will need to narrow down your request substantially to enable us to
    fulfil your request. If you were to place some limits on your request such
    as limiting it to certain officers or teams, this may help to narrow the
    focus of the request to the point where the Council could reasonably be
    expected to provide some information.

    The Information Commissioner’s Office offer guidance on making FOI
    requests. Please see their ‘information requests do’s and don’ts’ in the
    link below which might be of some assistance to you:

    [1]http://www.ico.org.uk/for_the_public/off…

    In accordance with Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 this
    letter acts as a Refusal Notice.

    Complaints

    I trust this has satisfied your request. Should you be unhappy with the
    handling of your request, the Council has an internal complaints process
    for handling FOIA complaints. Complaints are reviewed by the Chief
    Solicitor and Monitoring Officer or her nominee. A form is available from
    our website to lodge your complaint
    [2]http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/councilanddemocra…
    Please contact us if you do not have website access and we can provide you
    with a copy of the form. Following this review, should you still be
    unhappy with how your information request has been handled, you have a
    further right to appeal to the Information Commissioner who is responsible
    for ensuring compliance with FOIA.

    Yours sincerely

    Robin Yu

    Information Protection Assistant

    Shared ICT Service

    The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

    The Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8 7NX

    Tel: 020 7938 8226

  • London Assembly Questions on costs for Assange Embassy siege and Answers May and June 2015

    On the 30th of April 2015 I wrote to several London Assembly members raising the issue of surveillance outside the Ecuadorian Embassy by Metropolitan Police that effect a siege on Julian Assange.

    Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe answered on the 21st of May London Assembly questions about the cost of the Julian Assange Ecuadorian Embassy police siege operation, ongoing for almost three years. He explained that none of the cost had actually been reduced.

    Transcript:

    JoanneMcCartneyAM(Chair):I want to come to you now, if I can, about police officer overtime. I know there was an ambition to reduce this. It actually looks like it is increasing. The MOPAC report we have states they are expecting it to increase to an overspend of£7 million by the end of March. That is the latest figure that we had. The explanation appears to be that the main pressures are in specialist operations of nearly £5 million where the high vacancy rate is covered by overtime. MOPAC reported that it would be managed by underspends elsewhere in specialist operations’ budgets. I am trying to get a sense of where that overtime is coming from. Is it from particular areas where there is real pressure, and what are you doing about those?

    Craig Mackey QPM (Deputy Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Service): There are two things.
    Literally we are in closing accounts at the moment. It will probably seem slightly strange from the report you have got, but we actually underspent by £2.9 million in the year.
    Joanne McCartney AM (Chair): On overtime, OK.

    Craig Mackey QPM (Deputy Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Service): Somethings are not
    reconciled in that report, and do not get reconciled until they close the report. You probably remember there was a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) conference last year at which we provided a very large and considerable resource in terms of mutual aid. That income line is now shown against it. Some of the counter terrorism work is actually covered by the grant funding from the counter-terrorism (CT) grant. You have got two big off -sets there in terms of that. Actually, the outturn at the end of the year was £2.9 million in the positive in terms of the pressures around it. Across TP -across the wider boroughs – certainly from the last figures I have got for the start of the year it is still going in the right direction in terms of the management of overtime and the work around it. Whilst we are very alive to the fact we could literally walk out of here and there will be another operational pressure, at the moment the overtime budget is not one of those ones that I am sitting worried about.

    Joanne McCartney AM (Chair): I noticed in our briefing that you had a mutual aid reimbursement of £5.2 million.

    Craig Mackey QPM (Deputy Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Service): Yes, that is the NATO one.

    Joanne McCartney AM (Chair): The £1 million for the Ecuadorean Embassy has that fully–

    Craig Mackey QPM (Deputy Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Service): Sorry, did you say
    £1 million?

    Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe QPM (Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Service): I cannot see the invoice.

    Joanne Mc Cartney AM (Chair): Yes, I have got £1 million here or there is a pressure of £1 million.
    Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe QPM (Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Service): We have not been
    reimbursed for it.

    Jenny Jones AM (Deputy Chair): Not a penny?

    Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe QPM (Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Service): No.

    Joanne McCartney AM (Chair): Presumably you have asked?Perhaps I could ask the Deputy Mayor for  Policing and Crime about this.

    Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe QPM (Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Service): There are two things.
    Clearly it is a great anomaly but it is an unusual set of circumstances. The broad argument against our claim is that the criteria for special grant, which is what we would be asking for, is 2% of budget. It has got to be a very significant sum before the Government will think about this and we have got a very big budget. We have a big budget and this is just flexing our resources around  royal and diplomatic protection. They are expected to protect the embassies and this is just another way of doing it. We are looking at whatever options we have to reduce that commitment but it is true to say we are getting no more money for it.

    Jenny Jones AM (Deputy Chair): What about all the other things that you do that a lot of us would prefer you did not do, like protecting Tony Blair’s [former Prime Minister ] houses. You are cutting back on things like policing of demonstrations which is a democratic right by people like me–

    Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe QPM (Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Service): What about us?
    Jenny Jones AM (Deputy Chair):– and yet still paying for things like the Ecuadorean Embassy or
    protection of houses that are not even lived in and so on. It is not very balanced, is it?It is an unbalanced situation.

    Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe QPM (Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Service): It is an unusual situation which I acknowledged. As you know, starting out with Tony’s [Blair] question trying to make comparisons across a big organisation is that fair? It is invidious to make some comparisons is my first point. In terms of protection of individuals and places we get specific grant, whether it be Parliament, Number 10, individuals. To be fair, these people are public figures who, where there is a genuine threat, deserve protection. That is why we do it. We do not do it because there is a theoretical threat. There is an actual one and every threat is assessed. There is a tripartite arrangement for that. We only get the funding for that protection if there is a
    threat. It is not, “You had that role therefore you must be protected”. Everyone is assessed. Over the years, that has come down although, as we know, over the last year threat levels have gone up generally. That has got to be acknowledged. In terms of this embassy obviously it is a unique situation. You have got someone who a country wants a to extradite. They have a legitimate warrant to do that. The person they want, and we want to arrest on behalf of that warrant, has diplomatic protection not by their personal status but by the building in which they are. They have been there for a long time. The embarrassment factor for us would be if they got out and wandered off and we could not arrest them when we have known all the time where they are. That is the thing we are trying to manage. I had hoped we could manage it with less people.

    Joanne McCartney AM (Chair): Thank you.

    End of Transcript

    On June 17th London Assembly Member Jenny Jones asked again on my behalf:

    What was the outcome of the review into options for the guard on Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy? Do you think that the decision by the Swedish Prosecutor to delay interviewing Assange at the Embassy for the last few years, has been fair on the British taxpayers, who have footed the bill for this stand off?”

    And this is the answer she received from the Mayor of London:

    The MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) remain under a legal obligation to execute the European Arrest Warrant, which has been issued for a serious criminal offence and continue to review options for policing the Ecuadorian Embassy with both the Home Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. My Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime has made representations to the Home Secretary about this matter.

    Screen Shot 2015-09-30 at 16.13.53

    Resources:

    My letter of the 30th of April 2015 http://atomic-temporary-41199926.wpcomstaging.com/2015/04/30/a-question-for-the-london-assembly/
    The London Assembly website: http://questions.london.gov.uk/QuestionSearch/searchclient/questions/question_282380#sthash.S3YxmElQ.dpuf

  • Spoken for the People #Corbyn shows the lost true colours of #Labour

    Learn, Challenge, Act, Now! and Free Assange Now!

    After listening to the Jeremy Corbyn questions and answers during Prime Minister Question Time one can easily say that we finally live in interesting political times in Britain. Earlier in May we saw how SNP conquered 69 seats at Westminster releasing the dove of hope for an independent Scotland, an equal among equals on an equitable social manifesto in line with the values of the Scottish people on Health and Education to say the least. As if they blew the horn of assembly to their brothers in the South, the hopeful political change they expressed swept down and here we found the most unexpected Leader of the Opposition grabbing the tossed relay baton and running to the finishing line, a winner! 🙂

    Labour have been given a tremendous opportunity and I wonder if they realise, all those comfortable with the Blaire governing establishment, so willing to yield power.

    PASOK’s degenerate social democracy saw the party crumble from a whopping 43.92% in 2009 to a humiliating 4.68% in the January 2015 elections with people wondering if they make it into the next Parliament in the Sep 20th elections. There was no Jeremy Corbyn figure there to save the party. There, the party machine refused to budge in denouncing its heroes who delivered the reigns of power again and again intermittently over a period of almost 40 years. Yes Britain has its own currency and has the City but its public debt per capital is not that different than the one the Greek has been lumbered with.

    The Labour file and rank, so power hungry can cross themselves. Jeremy Corbyn has jumped on the surfboard and instead of waterboarding him they should make waves and propel him on, he is the best chance of Labour to catch on with what the people of this country finally want: CHANGE 🙂

    Screen Shot 2015-09-16 at 19.20.46

     

    Spoken for the People Jeremy Corbyn shows the lost true colours of Labour. His call has been answered because this is what the people wish to hear. Just as the 61% result in the Greek referendum proved, the people will chose hope and reject the MSM screaming untruths at them. Jeremy Corbyn is offering this hope for Labour and attempts to subvert his efforts will only subvert any chances Labour has in surviving in any future political arena.

    Let’s hope for better things 🙂 Free Assange Now!

     

     

     

     

  • Western persecution: Is the UN Human Rights Council equipped to protect refugees from the West?

    Julian Assange speech at 1:00:00

  • MetPol Chief answers London Assembly questions about cost of the Ecuadorian Embassy Assange siege

    London Assembly 21st May 2015
    Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe answers London Assembly questions about the cost of the Julian Assange Ecuadorian Embassy police siege operation, ongoing for almost three years.

     

    Resources:

    1] A question for the #LondonAssembly: Has Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe reduced the cost of the Julian Assange siege operation? http://atomic-temporary-41199926.wpcomstaging.com/2015/04/30/a-question-for-the-london-assembly/
    2] UK government waste explored https://govwaste.co.uk/

  • Καθημερινη 04.06.2015 : «Στο φως» νέα απόρρητα έγγραφα του Wikileaks, TISA

    Το τεράστιο ενδιαφέρον της Τουρκίας για τον τομέα των ναυτιλιακών υπηρεσιών –τόσο διεθνώς όσο και στο Αιγαίο και μάλιστα εν μέσω της κρίσης στην Ελλάδα– αποκαλύπτουν απόρρητα έγγραφα που διέρρευσαν στα Wikileaks. Στα έγγραφα αυτά περιγράφονται οι μυστικές διαπραγματεύσεις των ισχυρότερων κρατών του πλανήτη στο πλαίσιο μιας νέας παγκόσμιας συμφωνίας για το εμπόριο των υπηρεσιών, της Trade in Services Agreement (ΤiSA).

    (more…)

  • Julian Assange 3rd Embassy Anniversary – Vigil Call Out!

    The third anniversary of Julian Assange, Editor in Chief of WikiLeaks, entering the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to seek political asylum is upon us on the 19th of June 2015. We Thank Ecuador for their brave stand in protecting his life and work.For three years he had no sunlight but with his WikiLeaks work has been throwing light on the darkest corners of governments and big business. Join us in celebrating his work within this great movement. Join us! Stand in Solidarity!
    Screen Shot 2015-03-09 at 17.39.27

    What:            Solidarity Vigil in support of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks

    When:            Friday 19/06/2015 between 5pm and 7pm 

    Where:           Ecuadorian Embassy in London, No 3 Hans Crescent, Knightsbridge

    By Tube:         Knightsbridge Tube Station ( Piccadilly Line)

    Please join us to a special commemoration of this anniversary, outside No 3 Hans Crescent, Knightsbridge, London on Friday 19th of June 2015.

     

    We send a call out to all individuals, human rights groups and organisations, members of the public, to join us in marking the anniversary, showing solidarity and thanking brave Ecuador for protecting Julian Assange’s human rights by granting him political asylum.

    We gather between 5 and 7pm outside the Ecuadorian Embassy, make short speeches, hold banners and posters, distribute flyers and engage with the passing public, informing them about our solidarity campaign.

    If you have never participated in our vigil before and need more information please text us at 07952 434569 and we will get in touch.

    In solidarity, Free Assange!

    Screen Shot 2014-04-17 at 10.14.44

     

    Screen Shot 2014-11-13 at 19.12.45

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • A question for the #LondonAssembly: Has Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe reduced the cost of the Julian Assange siege operation?

    Here is my latest letter to my London Assembly representative

    Screen Shot 2014-11-13 at 19.10.02

    Dear Mr Evans

    Re: Questions regarding the Cost and arrangements for 24/7 MetPol surveillance and guarding Julian Assange the Publisher of WikiLeaks outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in Knightsbridge, London.

    Since I wrote to you last, in January this year about Julian Assange and his status at the Ecuadorian embassy, a great number of developments have taken place.

    In February the cost of policing hit the £10 million mark causing a public outcry and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe told LBC Radio that the operation to keep Mr Assange under surveillance was “sucking our resources.” He said the Met is exploring alternative ways to provide security, adding “we won’t talk about tactics but we are reviewing what options we have.”

    Well, as a regular attendant at the solidarity vigil outside the Ecuadorian Embassy I can tell you that little has changed on the ground in the MetPol surveillance operation. The same number of police, the same number of MetPol vans (often as many as five) taking part in the operation and that is just what the naked eye can see, let alone what resources go into it that are undetectable by a member of the public like myself.

    Almost three months have passed since his comments. I am writing to you to ask you to inquire and confirm whether what Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said will happen has actually happened and that the cost of surveillance has reduced. The cost at the time was reported to be £10,000 a day. How long are we going to finance this surveillance operation, a siege of an embassy in the heart of London for reasons unclear and certainly not in any way connected to the Londoners’ public interest?

    In the meanwhile, Julian Assange’s legal team in Sweden has successfully petitioned the Swedish Supreme Court in February and they were just granted, a hearing. The Swedish Supreme Court will now allow Julian Assange to appeal the Swedish detention order against him. There is every chance that this development may lead to the lifting of the arrest warrant against him. In such case, will the Metropolitan Police continue with their surveillance and guarding operation?

    In addition to this development, the Swedish Prosecutor who raised a European Arrest Warrant against Julian Assange in 2010 has in March reviewed her decision and is pursuing Mutual Legal Assistance to question Julian Assange in London, thus progressing the case. This has been a victory for his legal team who have been actively pursuing the progress of the case for the last four years and requesting an interview in London, a path open to her that she had previously rejected to the detriment of our pockets. Since there is every sign of mutual co-operation between the Swedish side and Mr Assange for the progress of this case, what is the point of this expensive surveillance operation?

    I attach for your perusal an article by hazelpress investigating the many questions raised around the case that indicate to me the greatest miscarriage of justice has been carried out against Julian Assange over the handling of the Swedish case and we have to ask ourselves whether UK institutions have been complicit. That public money is spent towards the perpetration of this injustice is unbearable. That London Taxpayers including myself are spending our good money in such endeavours instead of financing the quality of our lives through valuable policing is outrageous.

    You will find the article here: http://hazelpress.org/rogue-prosecutor/4588948457

    Please take every opportunity to investigate the costing reduction as pledged by Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe.

    I would like to thank you in advance for your time and interest in this matter,

    Yours sincerely

    Mrs Emmy Butlin

  • April 15th, 2015 Commonwealth Law Conference in Glasgow: Julian Assange panel participation

    Listen to what Julian Assange said here: https://soundcloud.com/rttv/more-snowdens-assange#t=0:00
    Listen to what Julian Assange said here: https://soundcloud.com/rttv/more-snowdens-assange#t=0:00

    Re wider debate:

    http://www.fairtrials.org/press/guest-post-undermining-attorney-client-privilege-weakens-rule-of-law/

  • Informing The London Assembly about the Assange Case – Part 2

    Screen Shot 2015-03-22 at 21.50.36

    Since the case of Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy is politicised, it is important that London politicians become aware of the details of the matter. As MSM often disregard many of the details of the case, it is great to take small initiatives to inform them directly. This is a letter I sent to the London Assembly members in January 2015, with the latest at the time developments.

    16th January 2015

    Dear Mr/Mrs ********

    I am writing to you to draw your attention once again to the plight of Julian Assange, Editor in Chief of WikiLeaks, the publishing organisation. Metropolitan Police has a guarding and surveillance Operation on a 24/7 basis surrounding the Ecuadorian Embassy, in Hans Crescent, Knightsbridge since June 2012. The cost is over £10 million to date and growing. This is excessive and against his Human Rights, let alone wasteful of valuable resources.

    Julian Assange lost his extradition appeal in 2012 but recent changes in the UK law mean that the application of the same European Arrest Warrant today would not have lead to an extradition decision.

    “His case has been won lock, stock and barrel,” Gareth Peirce told me, “these changes in the law mean that the UK now recognises as correct everything that was argued in his case. Yet he does not benefit. And the genuineness of Ecuador’s offer of sanctuary is not questioned by the UK or Sweden.” [1]

    Where is the benefit to the London Taxpayer in holding Julian Assange captive at the Embassy? As a member of the GLA you scrutinise how our Tax money is spent. What justification can possibly exist for such expenditure? Do not stay silent to this injustice and waste of resources.

    UK government is refusing to grand him safe Passage to Ecuador where he has been given political Asylum to protect his human rights from US political persecution for his work with WikiLeaks. Still, at the British Parliament on 28th October 2014, government Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Hugo Swire, confirmed that the Swedish Prosecutor Marriane Ny was welcome to come question Mr Assange in London, breaking the stalemate.

    “Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con): Would the Government welcome a visit from the Swedish prosecutor if she were to seek to question Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London?

    Mr Swire: My hon. Friend will know that the Swedish prosecutor is, quite rightly, a fiercely independent lady, and independent of the Executive, as she would imagine. These are matters for the prosecutor to decide on, but if she wished to travel here to question Mr Assange in the embassy in London, we would do absolutely everything to facilitate that. Indeed, we would actively welcome it.” [2]

    November 20th 2014 the Swedish Court of Appeal upheld Julian Assange’s detention order but expressed criticism at the way the prosecutor has proceeded with the case.

    “The Court of Appeal notes, however, that the investigation into the suspected crimes has come to a halt and considers that the failure of the prosecutors to examine alternative avenues is not in line with their obligation – in the interests of everyone concerned – to move the preliminary investigation forward.” [3]

    Using Mutual Legal Assistance within EU could easily accommodate the expediting of the Swedish investigation. The Ecuadorian government is willing to accommodate the Swedish Prosecution in interviewing Mr Assange, his legal team has repeatedly offered his co-operation from the safety of the Embassy where he has been given political asylum, why does Sweden refuse to use MLA?
    Sweden’s handling of the Assange case will be addressed during its upcoming UN human rights review on January 26, 2015. Specifically, the prosecutor in charge of the case faces criticism over her failure to progress the case using routine methods while respecting Assange’s asylum status (see pt. 36-38). [4]

    The UK media do not report objectively on the case, contented with poorly researched articles full of inaccuracies and errors, like the Guardian’s repeated claim that Julian Assange faces charges, whilst he is wanted for questioning as part of a preliminary investigation. Even the Supreme Court had to issue a correction confirming that ‘Charges have not yet been brought against Mr Assange’. [5]

    But is it important to counter this narrative. I attach two articles both by John Pilger, a special investigation ‘The siege of Julian Assange is a farce’ and a speech he made at the recent Logal Symposium in London “War by media and the triumph of propaganda”. I hope they provide an opportunity to consider in a balanced way the situation of Julian Assange and what is at stake with his legal situation. The greatest miscarriage of Justice occurs under your watch. It is your position to question and scrutinise the decisions of the Mayor and who controls the purse strings, controls the government. It is your role to scrutinise the decisions taken.

    How long will the situation continue? How much more discrimination and oppression will state institutions bestow upon the founder and publisher of WikiLeaks? Even the BBC is adding to the media war against him. The forthcoming BBC4 comedy programme ‘Asylum’ that is supposed to celebrate 800 years of Magna Carta becomes another opportunity to de-humanise him and humiliate his condition. One of the writers of the programme has expressed in twitter on 16 Aug 2012:

    ”if the met want to regain my trust they should drag Assange out the embassy + shoot him in the back of th head in the middle of traf square” [6]

    My complaint to the BBC about Mr Phipps’ extreme views was dismissed by their Mr Lonergan (CAS-3059434) as “Mr Phipps is a comedy writer so it could be assumed his comment is almost certainly intended to be taken as a joke rather than a genuine call for Mr Assange to be murdered.” Is the BBC comfortable with such content being broadcasted to the British nation that has full understanding of the historic sectarian role of policing in Northern Ireland? Or the crimes perpetreted on radical Freedom of Expression publishers like the ones we witnessed in France against Charlie Hebdo? Mr Phipps certainly holds such extreme views whether he clothes them in his art is irrelevant. He is free to express his private views but what is BBC4 doing hiring such a person to write ‘Assange-inspired comedy Asylum’? [7]

    I repeat my call to you. Do not stay silent in what is evidently a politically motivated persecution. Do not let our London remain in history as the place where the radical publisher Julian Assange was walled in without sun until he perished and Londoners’ Tax money paid for the deed.

    Please contact me above if you want more information on the subject or with advise on how I can escalate my concerns.

    Many thanks

    [1] “The Siege of Julian Assange is a farce” http://johnpilger.com/articles/the-siege-of-julian-assange-is-a-farce-a-special-investigation
    [2] House of Commons Hansard Tuesday 28 October 2014 https://archive.today/sEsGN#selection-4031.0-4051.381
    [3] Decision on the detention of Julian Assange http://www.svea.se/Om-Svea-hovratt/Nyheter-fran-Svea-hovratt/Decision-on-the-detention-of-Julian-Assange%5C
    [4] Human Rights Council, Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, Twenty-first session see pt.36-38 http://hazelpress.org/unhrc-sweden-assange/4587877814
    [5] Supreme Court corrects paragraph 83 of the judgement on Extradition, see pt. 5 https://www.supremecourt.uk/news/julian-assange-v-swedish-prosecution-authority.html
    [6] Mr Phipps’ Tweet August 2012 https://archive.today/GOeWf#selection-631.0-983.21
    [7] Ben Miller to star in BBC4 Assange-inspired comedy Asylum
    https://archive.today/lPfKh#selection-1315.23-1315.58