20240503 To Radio New Zealand Staff and Listeners on World Press Freedom Day : Julian Assange remains arbitrarily detained.
Kia ora to everyone at Radio New Zealand
Kia ora to everyone at Radio New Zealand
This Friday, the 3rd of May 2024 is World Press Freedom Day.
"Journalism is not a crime. Not here . Not there . Not anywhere in the world."
( President Joe Biden at the Whitehouse Press Dinner ( 28th of April 2024 )
From New Zealand Media Council Principles :
"In dealing with complaints, the Council will give primary consideration to freedom of expression and the public interest."
The outcome of the case of arbitrarily detained multi-award winning journalist Julian Assange, but also the ongoing tolerance and under - or actually non- reporting by our media of his perpetual persecution, is a very serious matter that is - or should or would otherwise be of great interest and concern to the public of New Zealand - if our media were to be doing their own investigations into or reporting and commentary on it.
The lack of interest in this case is a result of our media not having performed its role to inform the public of New Zealand of its implications which has translated into a lack of political support for a diplomatic protest that might otherwise have contributed to effecting a favourable outcome i.e. The release, repatriation and compensation of Julian Assange with investigations and prosecutions of those responsible for the war ( and other ) crimes that he published evidence of. This is your profession and it is OUR democracy that is at stake.
Is Radio New Zealand going to report on the case of Julian Assange on World Press Freedom Day ?
Multi-journalism-award-winning Australian journalist/editor/publisher Julian Assange ( Prisoner # A9379AY ) remains ARBITRARILY DETAINED in conditions deemed by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture to be 'psychological torture'.
Friday will be Julian's 1,849th day in solitary confinement in a 2x3 metre cell in London's Belmarsh Maximum Security Prison where he is awaiting the High Court Judges' decision as to whether to accept the U.S. governments' assurances ( that, actually, only their courts can provide ), before deciding to allow his extradition to the U.S. to face charges under the Espionage Act for having published evidence of the U.S. military's multiple,serious breaches of the Geneva Conventions during their illegal invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has deemed that Julian Assange had the right to publish the evidence he received, that he has the right to be free and that he has the right to be compensated. This is a case of what the United Nations calls 'intimidation and reprisals'.
Both the U.K. and New Zealand are signatories to the February 2021 Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State To State Relations with the U.K. government on the 20th of September 2021 reiterating its intention to comply with this Agreement stating that "
"Arbitrary detention is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes and its use is a tool of political intimidation.
Arbitrary detention not only violates human rights, but also undermines the trust in institutions that keeps societies safe and open.
We know that persons in marginalised and vulnerable situations, as well as human rights defenders, journalists, and civil society activists are more often arbitrarily detained.
We further recognise that persons who are arbitrarily detained are at greater risk of being subjected to other human rights violations.
This year, the United Kingdom has supported the Canadian-led Declaration against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State relations, and we have committed to working with the G7 and other like-minded partners to end the practice."
Since late 2021 New Zealanders For Julian Assange has been bringing this refusal by the U.K. government to comply with this Declaration to the attention of our media organisations, to academics teaching Media and Political studies and to all our elected Members of Parliament, and we have made multiple requests to successive Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Trade to lodge a diplomatic protest with the U.K. Government , as a co-signatory, over their ongoing obstinate non-compliance with the agreement.
None of the individuals or organisations we have contacted have ever responded to our requests - apart from what appears to be a PRO-FORMA letter sent by the office of Hon. Nanai Mahuta which implied they were oblivious to the inconsistencies with 'the rule of law' in the handling of this case: i.e Section 134 of the U.K. Criminal Justice Act prohibiting all forms of torture, the other U.N. rulings on arbitrary detention, freedom of speech etc....
Despite Julian Assange having been in some form of arbitrary detention for the last13 years, New Zealanders remain largely oblivious to or are under-or mis-informed about the case of Julian Assange and are therefore unaware of the serious implications on the willingness of journalists to perform their role to scrutinise and to hold power to account because it will allow overreach by the U.S. into other jurisdictions to extradite any journalist who dares to publish anything that negatively affects their national security interests.
Press Freedom, according to U.S. President Joe Biden's speech (2024-04-28 ) to the White House Correspondents' Dinner is a foundation of democracy and his government will do everything within their powers to ' free all journalists who are wrongfully detained around the world'.
The New Zealand Media Council's principles state that : "An independent press plays a vital role in a democracy. The proper fulfilment of that role requires a fundamental responsibility to maintain high standards of accuracy, fairness and balance and public faith in those standards.
There is no more important principle in a democracy than freedom of expression. Freedom of expression and freedom of the media are inextricably bound. The print media is jealous in guarding freedom of expression, not just for publishers' sake but, more importantly, in the public interest. In dealing with complaints, the Council will give primary consideration to freedom of expression and the public interest."
The outcome of this case , but also the ongoing tolerance and under - or actually non- reporting by our media of this perpetual persecution of Julian Assange, a multi-award winning journalist, is a very serious matter that is - or should or would otherwise be of great interest to the public of New Zealand - if our media were to be doing their own investigations into or reporting and commentary on.
"Journalism is not a crime. Not here . Not there . Not anywhere in the world."
Alan William Preston for New Zealanders For Julian Asssnge
29th of April 2024.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/02/un-special-rapporteur-torture-urges-uk-government-halt-imminent-extradition
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/03/ukus-time-end-prosecution-julian-assange-un-expert-says
The text of this email has been uploaded to our site @ :
https://sites.google.com/view/newzealandersforjulianassange/get-active/new-zealanders-can-do-this/media/to-radio-new-zealand/20240429-world-press-freedom-day
newzealandersforjulianassange@gmail.com
Website : www.newzealandersforjulianassange.org.nz
Facebook Group : New Zealanders For Julian Assange
Contact: Alan William Preston on 02102377242