Time for NZ Government to stand up against US over-reach on Assange

18:00, Dec 15 2021
A view of a banner Julian Assange supporters fixed to a railing outside the High Court in London this month ahead of a ruling on whether the WikiLeaks founder should be sent to the United States to face espionage charges.
Frank Augstein/AP
A view of a banner Julian Assange supporters fixed to a railing outside the High Court in London this month ahead of a ruling on whether the WikiLeaks founder should be sent to the United States to face espionage charges.

OPINION: WikiLeaks​ founder and publisher Julian Assange is languishing in London’s Belmarsh Prison as the United States Government continues its relentless quest to have him extradited to face charges over the publication of materials in 2010 and 2011, which revealed US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

While Assange is an Australian citizen, his case matters for New Zealand because this country is a key ally of the US, and prides itself on subscribing to the rule of law. New Zealand is also seen as more humane and independent than Canberra when it comes to dealing with Washington.

There are a number of deeply troubling aspects to the Assange case.

What the US is saying to journalists across the world, including in New Zealand, is that even if you are not an American citizen and do not live in that country, it is illegal to reveal whom the US industrial military complex is murdering.

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Remember the infamous '’Collateral Murder’' footage which WikiLeaks published? It showed US troops deliberately gunning down innocent citizens, including two Reuters journalists, in Iraq.

A New Zealand journalist who published similar material could find themselves on the end of an extradition warrant from an irate US security state.

Assange is the latest example of the notion that, if you speak truth to power, they will try to annihilate you.

The Nixon Administration tried desperately to destroy Daniel Ellsberg’s life, after he released the Pentagon Papers, say Craig Tuck and Greg Barns.
Getty Images
The Nixon Administration tried desperately to destroy Daniel Ellsberg’s life, after he released the Pentagon Papers, say Craig Tuck and Greg Barns.

Remember Daniel Ellsberg​, who in 1971 released the Pentagon Papers, which revealed the duplicity and horror of US actions in Vietnam? The Nixon Administration tried desperately to destroy Ellsberg’s life.

What the US is doing in its pursuit of Assange through the UK courts, and what it intends to do if he is extradited, is an example of rule by law, not the rule of law.

The court in eastern Virginia where Assange would be tried has an unblemished record of convicting every national security defendant, and, despite the paucity of evidence, those who are said to have breached espionage laws.

While the US has given assurances to the UK courts that Assange would not be subjected to torture, and would receive proper medical treatment in its prison system, subjective and discretionary promises are meaningless once you have ‘’possession’’ of the prisoner.

Stella Moris, partner of Julian Assange, says her fiance is ailing mentally and physically, and has had a minor stroke.
David Cliff/AP
Stella Moris, partner of Julian Assange, says her fiance is ailing mentally and physically, and has had a minor stroke.

But even if one is to cavil with the propositions set out here, there is the sheer inhumanity of the ordeal Assange and his family are being put through by his UK jailers and the US.

As we know from the medical reports tendered to the courts, Assange’s mental and physical health is declining fast. His partner, Stella Moris,​ revealed last week that Assange, who is only 50, has suffered a minor stroke.

Yet still he is detained, mostly in solitary confinement, in one of the UK’s harshest prison environments. The duty of care the UK government owes to prisoners, to ensure it cares for those it detains, appears to be irrelevant when it comes to Assange.

It is no exaggeration to say that, unless he is freed from detention and the case against him ended, he may very well die.

Is this the stuff of rule of law? Of course not.

So why should New Zealand intervene? Because the US is a key ally, and New Zealand has an interest in ensuring that its friend practises – as well as preaches – the rule of law.

New Zealand also has a strong tradition of standing up to Washington when it thinks the latter’s values are antithetical to liberal democracy.

And, finally, because New Zealand has signalled to Australia that, if it is not prepared to act humanely towards desperate people (asylum seekers), then this country will welcome those who require protection.

Assange’s case is a profound test of whether Washington’s partners such as Australia and New Zealand are prepared to stand against the dangerous over-reach of the military-industrial complex which crushes truth.

Craig Tuck is a legal adviser to Julian Assange and a barrister at the New Zealand Bar. Greg Barns, SC, is an adviser to the Assange campaign and member of the NZ Bar.