struggle4progress
struggle4progress's JournalThe testimony of Hurtig at Belmarsh was not that Assange notified the prosecutors that Assange
intended to leave the country but that Ny told Hurtig there were no force measures preventing Julian leaving the country. Hurtig also testified at Belmarsh he had thought thereafter the rape case may be closed without even bothering to interview him. On 27th September 2010, Mr Assange left Sweden. Unfortunately, this testimony turned out not to be true:
He agreed that this was wrong. Ms Ny did contact him. A specific suggestion was put to him that on 22nd September he sent a text to the prosecutors saying I have not talked to my client since I talked to you. He checked his mobile phone and at first said he did not have the message as he does not keep them that far back. He was encouraged to check his inbox, and there was an adjournment for that purpose. He then confirmed that on 22nd September 2010 at 16.46 he has a message from Ms Ny saying: Hello it is possible to have an interview Tuesday. Next there was a message saying: Thanks for letting me know. We will pursue Tuesday 28th at 1700. He then accepted that there must have been a text from him ... She requested a date as soon as possible. He agrees that the following day, 22nd, she contacted him at least twice. Then he was then cross-examined about his attempts to contact his client. To have the full flavour it may be necessary to consider the transcript in full. In summary the lawyer was unable to tell me what attempts he made to contact his client, and whether he definitely left a message. It was put that he had a professional duty to tell his client of the risk of detention ... He referred to receiving a text from Ms Ny at 09.11 on 27th September, the day his client left Sweden ...
Thus, whatever Hurtig was told on 15 September, it is a matter of record that by 22 September he was aware that the prosecution sought to interview his client as soon as possible. It is also clear that on 22 September, Hurtig was at least aware prosecutors planned to interview Assange on 28 September. Hurtig testifies Assange left the country on the 27th. This is a rather large coincidence, especially as Hurtig testified he had seen a baggage ticket for Assange's flight. The magistrate at Belmarsh understandably found Hurtig's testimony somewhat unpalatable and concluded somewhat dryly that Mr Hurtig is an unreliable witness as to what efforts he made to contact his client. The court further noted Mr Hurtig said in his statement that it was astonishing that Ms Ny made no effort to interview his client. In fact this is untrue ... The statement was a deliberate attempt to mislead the court.
Somewhat more can be said here. Hurtig also testified that He was able to speak to his client on 29th September and Mr Assange offered to return ... for interrogation. Elsewhere in the Facts and Findings, it is stated that [link:www.bailii.org/ew/cases/Misc/2011/5.html|The
authorities believed Mr Assange would be in Sweden .. in .. October ... It appears that either the rumours were false, or Mr Assange changed his mind. In any event he was not apprehended or
interrogated then]. Other reports generally confirm this picture:
There is a pattern of prevarication here. Hurtig claimed to be unable to contact Assange but somehow managed to view a baggage ticket showing Assange's departure date! Assange himself admitted he had agreed to return for the second interrogation in October but then decided not to go. He subsequently spent a year and a half in the UK courts arguing little technicalities of the European arrest warrant, all of which were dismissed, in order to avoid extradition to Sweden. When he lost that case, he dropped further appeals and jumped bail, stiffing a number of people who had pledged for his appearance. The evidence all points directly to his utter contempt for the courts, and the most natural assumption is that he fled Sweden to avoid prosecution
Regarding Hurtig, the magistrate at Belmarsh concluded: The witness was clearly uncomfortable and anxious to leave
Mrs. Clara Sullivan's Letter
Scuddy, Kentucky
January 21, 1963
Dear Editor:
I recently read a magazine of yours about the labor unrest in Perry County and surrounding counties. I would like very much to get one of these magazines to send to my son in the service. I don't have any money to send you for it, but would you please send me one anyway?
The operators have the money and the miner doesn't have anything but a bad name. You couldn't find better people anywhere in the whole world ...
The operators wouldn't go in a mine for $50 a day. I've seen my husband come home from work with his clothes frozen to his body from working in the water. I have sat down at a table where we didn't have anything to eat but wild greens picked from the mountain side. There are three families around me, that each family of seven only had plain white gravy and bread for a week is true. Is this progress or what? I just can't understand it ...
Please, sir, could you send me a magazine? Thank you sincerely,
Mrs. Clara Sullivan, Scuddy, Kentucky, Perry County
http://mysongbook.de/msb/songs/m/mrsclara.html
Come all Ye Coal Miners
come all you coal minerswherever you may be
and listen to a story
that I'll relate to thee
my name is nothing extra
but the truth to you I'll tell
I am a coal miner's wife
I'm sure I wish you well
coal mining is the most dangerous work
in our land today
with plenty of dirty slaving work
and very little pay
coal miner won't you wake up
and open your eye and see
what the dirty capitalist system
is doing to you and me
they take your very life blood
they take our children's lives
take fathers away from children
and husbands away from wives
oh miners won't you organize
wherever you may be
and make this a land of freedom
for workers like you and me
dear miners they will slave you
til you can't work no more
and what'll you get for living
but a dollar in the company store
a tumble-down shack to live in
snow and rain pour through the top
you have to pay the company rent
your paying never stops ...
Backlash blues
mr backlashmr backlash
just who do think I am
you raise my taxes
freeze my wages
and send my son to Vietnam
you give me second class houses
And second class schools
do you think that all the colored folks
are just second class fools?
mr backlash
I'm gonna leave you
with the backlash blues ...
The coal owner and the pitman’s wife
... good morning Lord Firedampthis woman she said
I'll do you no harm
sir so don't be afraid
if you'd been where I've been
the most of me life
you wouldn't turn pale
at a poor pitman's wife
then where do you come from?
the owner he cried
I come from hell
the poor woman replied
if you come from hell
then come tell me right plain
how you contrived
to get out again
aye the way I got out
the truth I will tell
they're turning the poor folks
all out of hell
this to make room
for the rich wicked race
for there is a great number
of them in that place ...
and the coal owners selves
is the next on command
to arrive in hell
as I understand
for I heard the old devil
say as I come out
the coal-owners all
had received their rout ...
Coal miner's blues
... blues and more bluesit's a coal black blue
blues and more blues
it's a coal black blue
got coal in my hair
got coal in my shoes
these blues are so blue
they are the coal black blues
these blues are so blue
they are the coal black blues.
for my place will cave in
and my life I will lose ...
Busted
well the bills are all dueand the babies need shoes.
were busted
weve had a hard time
since they closed down the mines
were busted
got a cow that's gone dry
and a hen that won't lay
a big stack of bills
that gets bigger each day
tomorrow theyll haul
our belongings away.
were busted
well our friends are all leaving
this ole mining town
were busted ...
The blind fiddler
I lost my eyes in a blacksmith shop
in the year of 76
while working on a revolver
and it was out of six ...
I've been down to Knoxville
had a talk with Dr Lane
he operated on one of my eyes
but nothing could he gain
oh I'm so sad and lonely
and I am condemned to roam
well I am a blind fiddler
I'm a great long ways from home ...
Draft dodger rag
Sarah Harrison has a bad habit of misrepresenting facts:
"... Manning ... is currently serving a 35-year sentence for exposing the true nature of war ..."Um, no. Manning was sentenced for the unauthorized bulk release of approximately 730 000 restricted documents. Manning arrived in Iraq in October 2009 and was arrested in May 2010 -- a period not exceeding eight months. If, for sixteen hours a day during this eight months, Manning had done nothing but read those documents, Manning would have had to read and assess about 200 documents an hour, which is an impossibility The only conclusion is that Manning engaged in an unprincipled document dump
"Jeremy Hammond is facing a decade in a New York jail for allegedly providing journalists with documents that exposed corporate surveillance"
Um, no. Hammond was indicting for hacking. He pleaded guilty in May, at which time he also admitted his involvement in multiple additional hacks, including: the June 2011 hack of computer systems used by the Federal Bureau of Investigations Virtual Academy; the June 2011 hack of computer systems used by the Arizona Department of Public Safety, a state law enforcement agency in Arizona; the July 2011 hack of computer systems owned by Brooks-Jeffrey Marketing, Inc., a company based in Mountain Home, Arkansas, and various law enforcement-related websites; the August 2011 hack of computer systems used by Special Forces Gear, a company based in California; the August 2011 hack of computer systems used by Vanguard Defense Industries, a company based in Texas; the October 2011 hack of computer systems used by the Jefferson County, Alabama Sheriffs Office; the October 2011 hack of computer systems used by the Boston Police Patrolmens Association; and the February 2012 hack of computer systems used by the Combined Systems, Inc., a company based in Pennsylvania.
Hammond is a troubled man. He has in the past pleaded guilty to battery. In 2006, Hammond pleaded guilty and received a prison sentence for hacking activities and possession of stolen credit card information. In another case, he was convicted participating in a mob action with property damage
"Barrett Brown is indicted for reporting on unethical surveillance practices"
Um, no. Brown's first three indictments were for making an online threat, retaliating against a federal officer and conspiring to release the personal information of a U.S. government employee. Then he was indicted further for possessing stolen credit card numbers and CCVs. His third indictment was for obstruction of justice and concealing evidence
My editor Julian Assange has asylum over US threats, but the United Kingdom refuses to allow him to fully exercise this right, violating the law
Um, no. Assange jumped bail and fled to the Ecuadorian embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced prosecution for sexual assault. The legal process for his extradition took about a year and a half, and Assange chose to jump bail, rather than to continue his appeals. There is no reason to think that United States has ever threatened him. There is no universally recognized right under international law to diplomatic asylum in an embassy. Although Ecuador is itself party to some Latin American treaties governing diplomatic asylum between the signatories, the UK does not officially recognize diplomatic asylum and is not party to any such treaty, with Ecuador or anyone else
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