MPs demand to meet with Assange before court decides his fate Archived Message Posted by sashimi on December 18, 2020, 7:36 am 18 December 2020 (quote) Call follows concerns raised by UN special rapporteur on torture that the Wikileaks publishers' treatment amounts to torture A cross-party group of MPs has demanded a meeting with jailed journalist Julian Assange ahead of an expected January 4 announcement on whether he is to be extradited to the United States. The MPs, including Labour's Richard Burgon, Diane Abbott and John McDonnell, have written to Justice Secretary Robert Buckland seeking a video meeting with Mr Assange. Their call follows a recent meeting with United Nations special rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer, who expressed concern about violations of the WikiLeaks founder's human rights. Mr Assange exposed US military atrocities in Afghanistan and Iraq and faces a possible 175-year jail sentence if extradited. The letter says: "Amnesty International has expressed concern about the implications of this case on press freedom, stating that 'prosecuting Julian Assange on these charges could have a chilling effect on the right to freedom of expression'. "Mr Assange is held in HMP Belmarsh only on remand, awaiting the extradition hearing and not for any violations of UK law. "Given this, provision should be made for him to communicate with UK lawmakers deeply concerned by the implications of this unprecedented extradition case." (/quote) -- https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/mps-demand-to-meet-with-assange-before-court-decideds-his-fate Message Thread: MPs demand to meet with Assange before court decides his fate - sashimi December 18, 2020, 7:36 am Re: MPs demand to meet with Assange before court decides his fate - pete-g December 18, 2020, 10:55 am So late in the day, silence up to now has been excruciating - margo December 18, 2020, 11:24 am To my shame I don't know who this is, margo - scrabb December 18, 2020, 12:28 pm Re: To my shame I don't know who this is, margo - margo December 18, 2020, 2:29 pm Melzer spoke out in May 2019 - wtf have these muppets been doing since then? - Ian M December 18, 2020, 6:26 pm   Searching