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US celebrities back Assange ayslum - but some fight shy
Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky and Naomi Woolf urge Ecuador to accept WikiLeaks founder's application
PROMINENT American supporters of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who woke up this morning having spent a seventh night in the Ecuadorian embassy in Hans Crescent, London, have written to the president of the South American country to urge him to grant political asylum to the 41-year-old Australian political activist, The Guardian reports.
Film directors Michael Moore and Oliver Stone, as well as political activist Noam Chomsky, actor Danny Glover, author Naomi Woolf and whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971, have all signed the letter to Rafael Correa which was delivered to the embassy on Monday and which has also been posted online.
In the letter, Assange's stateside backers claim that he has “good reason to fear extradition to Sweden, as there is a strong likelihood that once in Sweden, he would be imprisoned, and then likely extradited to the United States”. Were he to be charged in Sweden, they claim he could be held under "oppressive conditions" which would involve "secret hearings".
Assange is set to be extradited from the UK to Sweden, where he faces accusations that he raped one woman and coerced another woman into sex during a visit to Stockholm in August 2010. He denies the charges, which could see him imprisoned in Sweden and subsequently extradited to the US. He went to the Ecuadorian embassy after his final legal bid to remain in the UK failed last month.
Noting that Assange could face the death penalty should be tried under the US Espionage Act for exposing military secrets via WikiLeaks, his supporters conclude "because this is a clear case of an attack on press freedom and on the public's right to know important truths about US foreign policy, and because the threat to his health and well-being is serious, we urge you to grant... political asylum".
Conspicuous by their absence from the letter’s signatories, however, are many of Assange's high-profile London supporters, who would previously have been expected to join such a public message of support but who now risk losing £20,000 each in bail money they put up for Assange.
Although Jemima Khan, the "British writer and campaigner" as she is listed in the letter, has signed up, those who have not are:
Vaughan Smith, the photo-journalist who runs London's Frontline club and housed Assange at his country home in Norfolk for more than a year during his legal appeal. Smith said last week he was "shocked" by Assange's decision to seek political aylum in Ecuador and was "troubled" that he might lose the bail money;
Journalist and fellow Australian Phillip Knightley, who said that "when I first heard about it [the asylum bid] my reaction was one of surprise";
The left-wing filmmaker Ken Loach, who stands to lose the same amount of cash.
One man less concerned about the fate of his money is the firebrand journalist and novelist Tariq Ali, who told The Independent: "I totally approve" of Assange's actions. "Why the double standards? A Chinese dissident becomes a folk-hero for reaching the US embassy, but a Western dissident doing the same... is not kosher. Fuck the money." ·
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A point that seems to get missed in these articles is what about Sweden? I had an idyllic idea of Sweden which no longer exists. I no longer have any desire to go there. Is Sweden corrupt without moral value for freedom of the press? The charges in Sweden against Assange are bizarre, so how does Sweden treat its own citizens?
It would seem that money is more important than principle to the London luvvies! Inadvertently, Assange has not only exposed US military secrets, he has exposed the hypocricy of Ms Khan et al.
This article is shabby and misleading. Half of your report is bogus. I have spoken to Philip Knightly and Jemima Khan and they continue to support Assange. Both have expressed there solidarity recently in the media but you have ignored that. Myself, I signed this letter online but I wouldn't expect its organisers to flag my support, even if they have spotted in amongst the numerous other signatories.
Vaughan Smith
I'm under the impression that you, unnamed author of this article, did not speak to any of Mr Assange's supporters at all - some of the people you quoted above have previously made statements in the press which are diametrically opposed to what you claim in this article.
For instance, Mr Vaughan Smith did not seem to have been "shocked" by Mr Assange seeking asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy - he was quoted in The Guardian on 20 June 2012 as having said (quote) "I certainly didn't expect this to happen" (unquote) and as being "surprised" (The Daily Telegraph, 20 June 2012).
Furthermore, Mr Smith stated the following concerning the bail money he put up for Mr Assange:
(quote) "I’m trying not to think about whether I will or will not lose any money. I hope I won’t. But first and foremost Julian is a friend. If I were to lose money it would impact the wealth of my family. But at the same time my family are not living in fear of their lives, and I genuinely believe that Julian is.” (unquote, The Daily Telegraph, 20 June 2012).
You also did not print a rather interesting and important part of Mr Smith's statement, which is as follows: (quote) "If somebody in Britain feels the need to walk into an embassy and claim asylum I think we as a society have to ask ourselves some questions." (unquote, The Independent, 20 June 2012)
Equally, you omitted large parts of what Mr Philiip Knightley had to say on Mr Assange's decision to seek asylum (The Independent, 20 June 2012):
(quote) “When I first heard about it last night, my reaction was one of surprise. Not total surprise because I’d been expecting something like this for a long time."
“He did send an email and said something like this might happen.He sort of apologised and said ‘don’t worry, it will all work out in the end.’He was reaching the end of the line. He had to make some dramatic move to look after his own future.”
“I would do it [support Assange & put up bail money] again."(unquote)
Taking quotes out of context and (deliberately) misreporting facts is a total disgrace for any journalist, a fallacy, and also runs afoul of any ethical and profesional standards in journalism.
I have just realised that whilst I was busy sourcing and typing my rather lengthy comment, Mr Vaughan Smith himself chose to comment on this article.
There is disappointment in some of these celebrities. They seem to have not taken the time to read the actual law.
You're not alone in your disappointment.
I too was surprised.
Then I learnt that Sweden has in the past interviewed 'suspects' abroad which they now refuse to do, at the behest of the cia.
Also at the behest of those noble liberators and bringers of democracy they have in the past sent asylum seekers to Egypt to be tortured.