https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jul/10/us-pledge-that-julian-assange-...

The US will say whatever it can get away with while still leaving enough ways to fuck Assange, just as it has been trying to do since day one. History shows time and again that State's only place for those who embarass, truth, and speak against it are disappeared down a quiet prison hole, or dead. McAfee a recent example of that convenient silencing game. The tide must begin to shift... #FreeAssange https://twitter.com/DEAcampaign US pledge that Julian Assange could serve any jail sentence in Australia is ‘grossly misleading’, partner says In the event Assange is convicted, any transfer would need to be approved by the Australian government Stella Moris says the US undertakings are ‘not worth the paper they are written on’ because Julian Assange already holds the right to apply to serve any sentence in Australia. US government undertakings that Julian Assange could serve any prison sentence in Australia were “grossly misleading”, his fiance has said, and “a formula to keep Julian in prison effectively for the rest of his life”. The US government is attempting to extradite Assange from the UK and put him on trial in the US for allegedly violating the Espionage Act by publishing classified information through WikiLeaks. He faces up to 175 years in prison if convicted. But the US government lost its extradition application in January, when judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled Assange could not be extradited because of concerns over his mental health and risk of suicide in a US prison. On Wednesday, the UK high court allowed the US government to appeal that decision, on limited grounds. Stella Moris said the US undertakings were “not worth the paper they are written on” because Assange already held the right to apply to serve any sentence in Australia. “What is crucial to understand is that prisoner transfers are eligible only after all appeals have been exhausted. For the case to reach the US supreme court [it] could easily take a decade, even two. What the US is proposing is a formula to keep Julian in prison effectively for the rest of his life. “Julian would remain in a US prison under atrocious, solitary confinement conditions that the magistrate’s court said would end his life,” Moris said in a subsequent statement. Julian Assange's fiancée Stella Moris @StellaMoris1: "Reports about US 'undertakings' are misleading and worryingly uncritical. Let's not forget what this is all about: Journalism Is Not A Crime!" #DontExtraditeAssange #DropTheCharges #FreeAssange pic.twitter.com/CuHKfsZvPt — Don't Extradite Assange (@DEAcampaign) July 8, 2021 A spokesperson for the Australian attorney general’s department confirmed Assange, as an Australian citizen, would have the right to apply to serve his sentence in Australia if convicted and sentenced to prison in the US, but that no transfer could be agreed before legal avenues were exhausted. “International prisoner transfers to Australia are initiated by an application from a prisoner after the prisoner has been convicted and sentenced,” the spokesperson said. “If the Australian government received an application for the transfer of a prisoner from the US, it would consider the application at that time in accordance with Australia’s legal framework.” In the event that Assange was convicted and applied to come to Australia, his transfer would need the consent of the Australian government, and of the state or territory government where he would be imprisoned. Any transfer would also need the consent of the US government. In a suite of “assurances” provided to the UK high court, the US government said it “hereby agrees to consent to the transfer”. Other assurances offered include that the US would not impose Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) – such as solitary confinement – on Assange, and that he would not be jailed at the “supermax” prison in Florence, Colorado. However, the US retained the caveat it could renege on those promises: “the US retains the power to impose SAMs on Mr Assange in the event that … he was to commit any future act that met the test to the imposition of a SAM”. Assange turned 50 behind bars at Belmarsh prison earlier this month. Moris visited him, accompanied by their four-year-old son, after the high court’s decision to allow the US appeal. “Julian is very unwell,” Moris said after visiting. “Belmarsh prison is a horrible, horrible, place. Just yesterday, another prisoner was found dead in his cell. The suicide rate is three times higher than in other UK prisons. It’s a daily struggle. “He won his case in January. Why is he even in prison? Why is he even being prosecuted? There is no legal case against him. All there is is an indictment based on lies.” The Australian parliamentary friends of the Bring Julian Assange Home group has consistently called on the US government to drop its prosecution of Assange, and on the UK government to release him from prison and send him back to Australia. “Like politicians in the US and UK, we are elected to defend our citizens’ rights. Voters expect us to hold accountable those who commit wrongdoing, not to punish those who expose it, such as Julian Assange,” the cross-party group said. “Julian Assange is right now being arbitrarily detained in the UK for publishing activity. His treatment [violates] the convention against torture, and his persecution threatens journalists worldwide.”