Unite with WikiLeaks Julian Assange

By Ron Ridenour

HAVANA TIMES – To avoid rotting away in USA’s gulag Julian Assange took the difficult decision to seek political asylum at Ecuador’s embassy in London.

Britain’s politically oriented judges, and elitist politicians, seek to extradite him to Sweden. They neglect to respect asylum law over extradition law. British authorities endeavor to arrest a man not charged with any crime. They act in consort with the United States to place secrecy power over transparency, to assure the power of wealth over democracy.

In Sweden, Assange is sought for yet another police interrogation about whether the sex he had with two Swedish women, Anna Ardin and Sofia Wilen, both of whom had consensual sex with Assange, was with full consent, that is, whether a rubber was demanded or not.

Assange “had been driven by what he called ‘really terrible choices’ to make the last-ditch move, his New-York-based lawyer told the Guardian” [June 20], believing it highly likely that the US would seek his onward extradition from Sweden on espionage charges over the WikiLeaks cable releases. “What he was facing was never seeing the light of day for the next 40 years,” said Michael Ratner, of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, which represents the WikiLeaks founder in the US.”

“Rathner said Assange’s move had been prompted purely by his fears of future prosecution in the US where a secret grand jury has been empanelled into the WikiLeaks founder, rather than a desire to avoid the Swedish accusations, the Guardian: “Assange risks arrest in London if he leaves Ecuador embassy asylum.”

Ricardo Patino, Ecuador’s foreign minister, said that the WikiLeaks founder had written to the country’s president to ask for asylum. Ecuador had already offered a residence permit to Assange in November 2010.

Last month, Assange interviewed Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa on the RT program, “The World Tomorrow”. Correa told Assange: “Cheer up! Welcome to the club of the persecuted”.

An offer of asylum was made, the Associated Press reported, quoting a woman who had been present during the interview but spoke on condition of anonymity.

In an article by RT (Russia Today) June 20, “Is Ecuador America’s new enemy number one? President Correa could come under attack for appealing to Assange,” it was reported that relations between the US and Ecuador “have only worsened in the last year after a diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks revealed that the United States ambassador to Ecuador [Heather Hodges] was critical of the Correa administration, prompting the president to remove her from the role.”

Ecuador is the only country to have expelled its US ambassador over the WikiLeaks cable revelations.

Correa’s “agitation with oil companies has irritated the US in the past, but now his campaign against the banking giants that own the Ecuadorian media is causing a stir as well,” RT reported.

“Correa has praised Wikileaks for letting the world know the true intentions of secret governments, and says that he salutes them because he has nothing to lose through another leak.”

“Those that don’t owe anything have nothing to fears,” the president told Assange. “We have nothing to hide. Your Wikileaks has made us stronger.”

We need Assange free to continue his vital activism, to continue the paramount work undertaken by Wikileaks, which has started Friends of Wikileaks.

I hope that all decent-minded human beings everywhere in the world join up. We must not let the elitists stop the important work that Assange and associates, and whistleblower Bradley Manning, have revealed for the benefit of the 99% worldwide.