Julian Assange’s father demands immediate bail for imprisoned son

By our reporters

28 February 2020

John Shipton

Speaking after yesterday’s extradition hearing outside Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court, Assange’s father, John Shipton, told the press, “My own country declares constantly that they will expect from the United Kingdom due process. Due process requires that each side be equally armed. In the hearing that we have seen today, Julian is in a glass box. He cannot communicate with his lawyers. The other side, the prosecutor, was sitting behind him three lawyers from the United States Justice Department who can easily—and do constantly—communicate with the Crown Prosecutor.

“After these three days this has the appearance to me of a fraud upon the courts. The prosecutor advances nothing of substance and just attempts to reduce Julian’s magnificent efforts to a banal criminality. This is wrong.”

Shipton concluded by outlining his son’s decade-long history of arbitrary detention in the UK: “Ten days solitary confinement in Wandsworth Prison, 18 months house arrest in Norwich, seven-and-a-half years in the embassy, ten months in Belmarsh maximum security, one year for an appeal in future, another appeal to the Supreme Court, [another] two years. Thirteen years of arbitrary detention for a man who hasn’t committed any crime. So, I’d like you all to advance the case that Julian get bail immediately.”

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.