Australian diplomats visit Assange, told of 'deteriorating health'
https://www.smh.com.au/...-diplomats-visit-assange-told-of-deteriorating-health-20190201-p50uyq.html

Australian diplomats have reportedly visited Julian Assange in Ecuador’s embassy in London to hear firsthand about what his lawyer says is his “deteriorating health”.

Greg Barns, an Australian lawyer and adviser to Assange and WikiLeaks, revealed the visit had taken place.

He said he and his colleagues will now directly appeal to Foreign Minister Marise Payne to petition the UK government to let Assange leave the embassy for urgent medical care without being arrested.




Tony Kevin, a former Australian ambassador, defends Julian Assange & WikiLeaks & reveals a plan to get him safely from Ecuador’s London embassy back to Australia. He is interviewed by CN Editor Joe Lauria for Unity4J.

CN Radio: Australian Ambassador Tony Kevin's Plan to Free Julian Assange
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjqsbyGGUIE

http://www.ecuadorenvivo.com/...dor-con-solicitud-de-medidas-cautelares-de-assange.html#.XFN2KYGJLIU

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has notified the Ecuadorian State with the request for precautionary measures presented by Julian Assange's lawyers and has asked him to provide information on the situation of the asylee at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

The notification arrived on January 29 and "after the Ecuadorian justice twice established the legality of the 'Special Protocol of Visits, Communications and Medical Care' to Mr. Julian Paul Assange," which guarantees both the rights of the founder of WikiLeaks and the fulfillment of his obligations as an asylee, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The request for precautionary measures is based on the "existence of a potential risk" for Assange, for which they request the IACHR to "require Ecuador to end the situation of isolation" of the same.

Also that the State be requested to guarantee the privacy of the Australian "of illegitimate interference and attacks against his honor, in particular of espionage within the diplomatic mission against him and his lawyers".

In addition, that prevents "the delivery of Mr. Assange to any country that does not give guarantees of non-extradition to the United States."

According to the Foreign Ministry, in accordance with the rules and procedures of the IACHR, "Ecuador will respond promptly to the request of the Commission, with the certainty that it has guaranteed the human rights of Mr. Assange during his stay in the Ecuadorian diplomatic mission as an asylee political, since August 16, 2012 ".

It adds that the IACHR will proceed with the analysis of the documentation received, in order to issue its decision

.@metpolice (#ScotlandYard) just complied with the #London Tribunal order on my FOIA on @Wikileaks. My lawyers @estelledehon @suigenerisjen and I will provide more info in due course

https://twitter.com/SMaurizi/status/1090710546331156496?s=19

US national security judge Brinkema (background: https://t.co/GvAx1iGHVb ) has today ruled that charges against Julian Assange must be kept secret until his arrest, despite confirmation of their existence by AP, Washington Post and court filings

https://www.apnews.com/21288cb5819b49dd9042c0cf19ff2734
https://t.co/H2vXjZXu9q

Glenn Greenwald on Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and the debacles of the Corporate Media
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz0FkOHlymI

Julian Assange launches legal challenge against Trump administration | Media | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/...nge-launches-legal-challenge-against-trump-administration-extradition

“The revelation that the US has initiated a prosecution against Mr Assange has shocked the international community”, the legal submission to the IACHR states. The US government “is required to provide information as to the criminal charges that are imputed to Mr Assange in full”.

The application alleges that US prosecutors have begun approaching people in the US, Germany and Iceland and pressed them to testify against Assange in return for immunity from prosecution.

Those approached, it is said, include people associated with WikiLeaks’ joint publications with other media about US diplomacy, Guantánamo Bay and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Assange’s lawyers say the Trump administration has pressurised Ecuador to hand over Assange, making increasingly overt threats. In December, the New York Times reported that Ecuador’s new president, Lenin Moreno tried to negotiate handing over Mr Assange to the US. in exchange for “debt relief”.

The application also highlights what it says are “espionage operations” against Assange in the London embassy.

Open Letter to President Trump
https://defend.wikileaks.org/openletter/

We are journalists, activists and citizens from the United States and around the world who care about press freedom and are writing to you in response to the latest threat of prosecution against WikiLeaks for its journalistic work. We ask you to immediately close the Grand Jury investigation into WikiLeaks and drop any charges against Julian Assange and other Wikileaks staff members which the Department of Justice is planning.

This threat to WikiLeaks escalates a long-running war of attrition against the great virtue of the United States — free speech. The Obama Administration prosecuted more whistleblowers than all presidents combined and opened a Grand Jury investigation into WikiLeaks that had no precedent. It now appears the US is preparing to take the next step — prosecuting publishers who provide the "currency" of free speech, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson. It is reported that charges, including conspiracy, theft of government property and violating the Espionage Act are being considered against members of WikiLeaks, and that charging WikiLeaks Editor, Julian Assange, is now a priority of the Department of Justice.

Open Letter
https://medium.com/@LandoFree/open-letter-16d14fb91932

36 members of the German Bundestag, the Dutch Parliament and the European Parliament sent an Open Letter to UN Secretary General António Guterres, Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno and British Prime Minister Theresa May to demand the protection and immediate release of Julian Assange to a country that is safe for him.

Ciaron O'Reilly: Ecuadorian Embassy vigil for Julian Assange update PART 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44OdSQYo9yg

Three British undercover police have just stopped and demanded ID from one of Mr. Assange's legal team exiting the embassy. At least two undercover cars are currently staking out the embassy in shifts, together with police surveillance cameras emplanted on opposing buildings.

@DefendAssange’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/DefendAssange/status/1086273246863880192?s=09

SCHWEPZ:

Ecuadorian opposition activist and Guardian contributor Villavicencio runs an "investigative journalism" site that churns out nonstop propaganda against Correa, the left, and @WikiLeaks.

He does not disclose his funding, but this NED (US gov) grant description looks very similar https://t.co/XDOloHNIP5

rozhovor s pilgerem

https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/article25661115.ece

WikiLeaks has achieved far more than what The New York Times and The Washington Post in their celebrated incarnations did. No newspaper has come close to matching the secrets and lies of power that Assange and Snowden have disclosed. That both men are fugitives is indicative of the retreat of liberal democracies from principles of freedom and justice. Why is WikiLeaks a landmark in journalism? Because its revelations have told us, with 100 per cent accuracy, how and why much of the world is divided and run

On Jan 7 DoJ issued letters rogatory to interrogate six former diplomats & staff at Ecuador's London embassy following Guardian's fabricated story of Assange-Manafort meetings. Ecuador scheduled all to be interrogated tomorrow in Quito

The move comes after six Democrats, citing the Assange-Manafort story in the Guardian, wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to demand that the U.S. request that Ecuador supply such information: https://t.co/uFolQaNSKt

An intentionally planted front page false story in the Guardian has now led to statements in Congress, the activation of the U.S. Secretary of State, the DoJ, Ecuador's DoJ, and Ecuador's astonishing agreement to formally let a foreign power interrogate its diplomatic staff.

src: https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1085942846048350213

Rosenstein, DOJ exploring ways to more easily spy on journalists | TheHill
https://thehill.com/...iciary/425189-rosenstein-doj-exploring-ways-to-more-easily-spy-on-journalists

For months now, the Department of Justice (DOJ) quietly has been working on a revision to its guidelines governing how, when and why prosecutors can obtain the records of journalists, particularly in leak cases.

...

In layman’s terms, the current system requires prosecutors in most cases to exhaust all obvious investigative methods for identifying leaks before seeking to intrude on a journalist’s free-speech rights.

In addition, the rules generally have required DOJ to alert news organizations in advance of a possible subpoena, giving both sides a chance to negotiate before the subpoena — viewed as a nuclear button by most journalists — gets pushed.

Multiple sources familiar with the ongoing DOJ review tell me that it has two main goals. The first is to lower the threshold that prosecutors must meet before requesting subpoenas for journalists’ records; the second is to eliminate the need to alert a media organization that Justice intends to issue a subpoena.

...

the arguments for changing the rules emanate from the stresses that a massive increase in criminal leak investigations have placed on the DOJ.

Sessions disclosed more than a year ago that there has been a threefold increase in criminal leak probes, which have ensnared everyone from fired FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe to a senior Senate staffer who handled classified documents.

Advocates for the change argue that prosecutors have spent inordinate time and resources trying to find leakers that could be more easily detected via the reporting news organization’s subpoenaed records. The savings in resources could be deployed to other criminal enforcement endeavors, advocates argue.

WikiLeaks takes on The Guardian for alleging ties to Paul Manafort: 'Legal action will now commence' - Washington Times
https://www.washingtontimes.com/...s/2019/jan/15/wikileaks-takes-guardian-alleging-ties-paul-manafo/

Michel Midi Special Assange avec Viktor Dedaj
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW0HOaywufE

The U.S. Government Has Amassed Terabytes of Internal WikiLeaks Data
https://gizmodo.com/the-u-s-government-has-amassed-terabytes-of-internal-w-1831640212

Julian Assange 'is living in conditions akin to a Stasi-era dissident' at Ecuadorian embassy
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/...ge-living-conditions-akin-Stasi-era-dissident-Ecuadorian-embassy.html

American friend and political commentator Cassandra Fairbanks said going to the embassy was 'more invasive than visiting someone in a federal penitentiary'.

She said the pair were forced to 'pass notes' amid fears that their conversations were being taped by the Ecuadorians 'under pressure from the US'.

...

After saying hello, we tried to go to another room with less surveillance so we could speak more openly.

'Within minutes, a member of the staff at the embassy came knocking on the door and demanded that we go back.