"Queen Elizabeth II Won't Intervene in 'Political' Case Against Julian Assange" -- Re: WikiLeaks: Set Julian Assange Free

[Comet Dweller]

On 17/02/2020 23:05, Zenaan Harkness wrote:

  Queen Elizabeth II Won't Intervene in 'Political' Case Against Julian Assange
  https://sputniknews.com/world/202002171078333304-queen-elizabeth-ii-wont-intervene-in-political-case-against-julian-assange/

    The development comes as several politicians including Australian MPs have spoken against prosecuting the journalist and called for his immediate release. Senator for Tasmania Peter Stuart Whish-Wilson called on the Australian government to intervene and bring Assange back home, saying journalism is not espionage.

    Queen Elizabeth II won’t get involved in the Julian Assange case because she "remains non-political at all times" says a letter sent to activist Christopher Lonsdale. Last month, he wrote a letter in support of Assange asking Her Majesty to pardon the whistleblower. "The persecution of Mr Assange, if taken to its ultimate conclusion (his death, or incarceration for life), will lead to destruction of press freedom, and freedom of speech globally".
    https://twitter.com/kungfu_mandarin/status/1229038902452813831

    On 16 February, Lonsdale received the reply from Buckingham Palace, which said that the Queen would not intervene in the case. The activist then posted it on his Twitter account.

        I have received a reply back from Buckingham Palace following my letter & petition to the Queen in support of #JulianAssange some weeks ago. The response says, basically, that the Queen cannot intervene in issues which are Political. This should be used in court. pic.twitter.com/GJVRiAXcTV
            — Chris Lonsdale⏳ (@kungfu_mandarin) February 16, 2020
            https://twitter.com/kungfu_mandarin/status/1228994305030643714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw



This is text of the letter from the Palace that I have copied from https://sputniknews.com/world/202002171078333304-queen-elizabeth-ii-wont-intervene-in-political-case-against-julian-assange/ :

" I have been asked to write in response to your letter to The Queen from which careful note has been taken of your comments regarding Mr Julian Assange.

I must tell you, however, that as a constitutional Sovereign, Her Majesty acts on the advice of her Ministers and remain strictly non-political at all times. This is, therefore, not a matter in which The Queen would intervene. "

The reality, of course, is that the Queen *never* gets involved in *any* day to day issues. It doesn't matter whether or not the issue is arguably political -- she never gets publicly involved in any (allegedly) criminal issues either. She never takes any public action. She has ministers to do all that and the constitutional convention is that she leaves them to get on with it.

In *private* she might well comment to the PM if she thinks it right to do so when she meets him for her private briefings. Who knows, she might well have done so in this case. Personally, I would not be overly surprised if she had done so. But it will always be in private.

The phrase "careful note has been taken" might well mean something of value. (Or not, who can tell).

In any case, the lack of public action from her is not surprising and does not tell us anything about whether or not she has taken any private action about the Julian Assange issue. Even if she did take some private action (e.g. speaking to the PM), it would have limited real world effect. Her ministers are the ones with power to act. And the words "non-political" in the letter from the Palace should not be taken literally.

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