As the petition to the UK Government demanding Julian Assange as a political prisoner be moved out of the torturous conditions of Belmarsh prison passed 14,500 signatures, Assange’s lawyers presented more evidence in court of how Belmarsh is being weaponized to deny Julian a fair trial. 

In the UK, a prisoner on remand must be brought before a court every 28 days for an administrative hearing to review/renew their detention. The latest administration for Assange occurred on December 13th at the Westminster Magistrates Court. 

Gareth Pierce, Assange’s lawyer, explained to the court how Governor Rob Davis and Belmarsh were sabotaging Julian’s legal defense by:

1) Prioritizing family visits over legal visits as a way of restricting his access to his lawyers

2)  Had only allocated the date of December 18th for Assange and his lawyers for his next visit. This however is only one day before for his next court hearing on December 19th, a Case Management hearing,  where the submission of evidence documents will be presented to court.

3) These tactics of Belmarsh had created a  “blockage in visits” which has prevented Julian Assange from learning about defence evidence gathered “Without Mr Assange’s knowledge, some of it is recently acquired evidence, some of it is subject to months of investigation not always in this country”. She stated “Mr Assange has not had the chance to review the summary let alone other evidence” Peirce told the court, noting that “to do it we would need proper time.”

The judge in response was prepared to pay lipservice to Assange’s legal rights by stating: 

““Can I make it clear that I have no desire to stand in the way of any lawyer having proper access to their client and it’s in the interest of justice that they do,” the judge said. “What I can do and say is to state in open court that it would be helpful to this extradition process that Mr Assange’s lawyers have the access to their client.”

The judge however continued to maintain she had no power of Julian’s conditions at Belmarsh and would not accede to the defense request for her to intervene and pressure Belmarsh to give him more access to his lawyers and asked for a separate visitors room be made available for this purpose at Belmarsh in the prison’s healthcare wing. This was despite Pierce citing another judge who intervened to get Belmarsh to provide such an arrangement for a prisoner. 

The judge did offer for Julian to be brought in person to court on the 19th to allow for a meeting with his lawyer  but Pierce did not take her up on this offer stating that's "It's a difficult claustrophobic journey from Belmarsh". Nor did Pierce take this opportunity to seek bail for Julian Assange. 

The statements by Julian Assange’s lawyer to the court on the 13th December, demonstrates how keeping a non-violent political prisoner on remand at Belmarsh, gives cover for the UK state to effectively deny him his rights to participate in his own defense in the fight to save his life.

Governor Rob Davis has once again been exposed as a major culprit working on behalf of the US and UK ruling classes in the persecution of Assange. Davis has overseen not just the blockages in visits to Julian’s lawyers but also ensured his mail to be withheld for months at a time. This has also prevented Julian from receiving legal documents as well as mail from family and supporters. A petition was launched in late October, signed by 11,000 people demanding Davis release Julian’s mail. Although this resulted in a flurry of mail emerging from Julian in early November, it appears no-one has received a reply from Julian in over a month. 

Davis also was accused by Pamela Anderson of storming into her visit with Julian Asange and threatening her. She stated “The warden stormed in and made it very clear to me, that if I were going to be a problem - he’d make problems for Julian. It was a direct threat' 

We must keep building on the 14,000 people who have demanded the UK Government immediately transfer Julian Assange out of the punitive conditions of Belmarsh which are effectively torturing him, endangering his life and preventing him from fighting a legal fight against a superpower intent on burying him alive in their prisons. 

However, we must also keep working in other ways to build a mass international movement of ordinary people in our workplaces, communities and associations fighting to free Julian Assange. We cannot rely on the election of one politician or another but must unleash the political power of a mass campaign which will force the release of Julian. This is the only way to free Julian and the only way to win the fight to defend our democratic rights more broadly. 

Julian himself has made numerous proposals in his letters from Belmarsh on how to fight to free him. These include starting or joining a Free Assange Committee in your town or city and organising amongst your union.  Open letters have now also been organised by doctors and journalists demanding justice for Julian. Other professions must follow. So share the petition and continue to organise!

Julian's next court dates in London are a case Management hearing at Westminster Court on December 19th. On December 20th Julian will be called as a witness in the Spanish investigation into the spying that occurred on Julian and his visitors (including the lawyers and the medical staff) at the Ecuadorian Embassy at the behest of the CIA. If you are London protests will be held at the court from 9AM onwards on both days.