The Digger

30 May 2019 WikiLeaks issued a statement today confirming that its founder Julian Assange has been transferred to the medical ward of Britain’s Belmarsh Prison. The media organisation said it has “grave concerns about the state of health of our publisher.” It reported: “During the seven weeks in Belmarsh his health has deteriorated and he has dramatically lost weight. The decision of prison authorities to transfer him to the health ward speaks for itself.” Julian Assange The statement must sound the alarm for all defenders of democratic rights. The British authorities’ detention of Assange at Belmarsh Prison, a maximum-security facility dubbed the UK’s Guantanamo, is a continuation of the eight-year campaign by the US government and its allies to physically and psychologically destroy the WikiLeaks founder. It is part of the ongoing denial of Assange’s fundamental legal and human rights, aimed at preventing him from mounting any defence against unprecedented US Espionage Act...

May 29th, 2019 "What is the message to the soldiers and to the world if blatant war criminals are pardoned, while Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange are severely persecuted for exposing war crimes?" --  Gerry Condon, Veterans for Peace  WASHINGTON —  President Donald Trump has already made clear his soft spot for war criminals, having brought one – Elliot Abrams – into his administration. Then, earlier this month, Trump pardoned Army First Lieutenant Michael Behenna. Now, reports indicate Trump is just getting started. And while Trump appears to be making moves to pardon more war criminals, those who have  exposed  war crimes, including whistleblower Chelsea Manning and journalist Julian Assange, are charged with contempt of court and espionage. Lieutenant Behenna was sentenced to 15 years behind bars in 2009 for shooting a man to death who had been stripped naked and interrogated in connection with a roadside bomb. The American Civil Libert...

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/05/29/russia-gates-mythical-heroes/ May 29, 2019 Special Counsel Robert Mueller Wednesday implied that he would have indicted Donald Trump if he could have, resurrecting his saint-like status among Democrats who will now likely go for impeachment. But who is the real Bob Mueller?, asked ex-FBI official Coleen Rowley on June 6, 2017. Special to Consortium News June 6, 2017 M ainstream commentators display amnesia when they describe former FBI Directors Robert Mueller and James Comey as stellar and credible law enforcement figures. Perhaps if they included J. Edgar Hoover, such fulsome praise could be put into proper perspective. Mueller with President George W. Bush on July 5, 2001, as Bush nominated him to be FBI Director.   (White House photo) Although these Hoover successors, now occupying center stage in the investigation of President Trump, have been hailed for their impeccable character by much of Official Washington,...

Julian Assange’s Swedish lawyer Per Samuelson has told the press that “Assange’s health situation on Friday was such that it was not possible to conduct a normal conversation with him.” This jarring revelation has been reported by a small handful of outlets, but only as an aside in relation to Sweden refusing Samuelson’s request for a postponement of a scheduled hearing regarding Assange’s detention en absentia for a preliminary investigation of rape allegations. The fact that the imprisoned WikiLeaks founder is so ill that he can’t converse lucidly is itself far more significant than the postponement refusal, yet headlines mentioning Samuelson’s statement focus on the Swedish case, de-emphasizing the startling news from his lawyer. As of this writing I’ve been able to find very few news outlets reporting on this at all, the most mainstream being a  Reuters  article with the very tame headline “ Swedish court rejects delay of Assange hearing over ill-health: lawyer ...