To the Minister of Foreign Affairs
20211212 To Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Hon Aupito William Sio:
Julian Assange has had a stroke: Request to issue a diplomatic protest to British High Commission re ongoing arbitrary detention.
Julian Assange has had a stroke: Request to issue a diplomatic protest to British High Commission re ongoing arbitrary detention.
To Hon. Nanaia Mahuta , Minister of Foreign Affairs of Aotearoa/New Zealand.
and Hon. Aupito William Sio , Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Kia ora Nanaia and Aupito.
Award-winning Australian publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Wikileaks, Julian Assange (50) is being held in arbitrary detention in Britain's Belmarsh Maximum Security Prison in conditions deemed by the Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer to amount to torture.
On the 8th of December 2020, the UN Rapporteur on Torture renewed the call to release Julian Assange from arbitrary detention - which his incarceration was deemed by them to be - in an opinion rendered in December 2015, five years after Julian Assange was first detained in London on the 7th of December 2010.
On the 15th of February 2021, New Zealand signed the Canadian-led Declaration Against Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State-Relations - as did the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia - along with 53 other nations.
On the 20th of September 2021 the United Kingdom Government affirmed their support of efforts against arbitrary detention 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."
Despite all the concerned governments' expressions of commitment against Arbitrary Detention is State to State Relations, Julian Assange, an Australian citizen, remains arbitrarily detained in solitary confinement in Belmarsh Maximum Security Prison in London awaiting the judges' decision following an appeal held on the 28th of October 2021 by the United States Government to extradite him to face charges of espionage,-for having published evidence of multiple, serious breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other Human Rights laws by the United States military during their invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan - in which a still yet be be determined number of thousands of civilians lost their lives, their loved ones, their homes and their livelihoods.
Julian Assange's harsh treatment by the British is already having a chilling effect on the willingness of journalists to investigate and report on excesses and abuses of power, and if the British Courts allow him to be extradited to the U.S., a precedent will be set that will effectively put an end to national security journalism which is a foundation of any functioning , transparent, accountable and responsive democracy.
We hereby request that, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, that you lodge a diplomatic protest to the British Government through the British High Commission in Wellington about the ongoing arbitrary detention of Julian Assange, reminding them of the commitment they - and we New Zealanders - have recently made, to end Arbitrary Detention in State-to-State relations.
If anything, house arrest under guard would be preferable to the current situation.
Nga mihi nui.
Naku noa na Alan William Preston
for New Zealanders For Julian Assange
e-mail: newzealandersforjulianassange@gmail.com