Julian Assange regards Brett Assange as his father.
He was involved in Julian's life since he was 1 year
old.

John Shipton has only recently been involved in
campaigning for his biological son's release.

As for the fairness of the British legal system?
We have to wait and see what the end results will be.
But having a man imprisoned for over 5 years without
a trial - hardly speaks of fairness.

I'm sure you'll agree.

"But having a man imprisoned for over 5 years without
a trial - hardly speaks of fairness.

I'm sure you'll agree."

No Foxy, I don't agree. Mr Shipton is in Belmarsh Prison because he skipped bail and hid in an embassy, else he would be out on bail. His imprisonment is a consequence of his preference to avoid answering for his actions, and the reason the extradition has taken so long is because of the stalling tactics used by his legal team, presumably in the hope of a political intervention.

Hopefully a decision will be made in a few weeks.

The judgement; "Assange you are found guilt of the crime of exposing America for what it is; "A corrupt bully boy, with 4% of the worlds population devouring 35% of the worlds resources, and wanting to lord it over, and exploit 100% of the worlds population, For your heinous crime there can be but one punishment... DEATH!"

.

Dear Fester,

.

It’s quite understandable that the Pentagon is distressed that over half a million of their secret records, and that the identity of many of their spies and informers have been exposed to public scrutiny.

Daniel Ellsberg, the former military analyst who in 1971 released the Pentagon Papers which detailed government lies and cover-ups in the Vietnam War is quoted as having declared :

« Every time there is a potentially embarrassing leak, the best justification they can find for secrecy is that lives are at stake. Lives are at stake as a result of the silences and lies that a lot of these leaks reveal. The same charges were made against the Pentagon Papers and turned out to be quite invalid ».

In the Wikileaks case, a Pentagon official told the McClatchy newspaper group that even three months later the US military still had no evidence that people had died or been harmed because of information gleaned from Wikileaks documents.

Here are the problems and consequences that have reportedly been identified :

• Failure of the US to protect its classified records,

• Disruption of the US spy and informant networks,

• Strained international relations and lack of confidence due to US security failure,

• Negative impact on the US anti-terrorist effort

• Necessity to revise US intelligence strategy, operational methods and procedures

The UK has an extradition treaty with the USA and in the first paragraph of article 4 of that treaty, it states : “Extradition shall not be granted if the offence for which extradition is requested is a political offence.”

I understand that what constitutes a "political offence" is not defined in extradition treaties. It depends on the motivation and the context.

Wikileaks is a not-for-profit organisation. Julian Assange was not motivated by personal gain. He did not commit a crime. He revealed war crimes allegedly perpetrated by the US in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If that is an offence, it is a political offence.

Julian Assange should not be extradited.

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Hi Fester,

The facts in the Assange case speak for themselves.
I have nothing further to add.

Enjoy your day.

Dear Banjo,

Thank you for your summation of the Assange case.

Let us hope that in his case - justice will be
done. It is long overdue.