I am not a great fan of Julian Assange but like Peter Hitchens, who is also not a fan, I firmly believe that he should not under any circumstances be extradited to the United States. I also believe he should be freed from Belmarsh Prison. I have no idea why Peter Hitchens does not like Assange, but my reasons are—when last he was seen speaking on television—his manner of speaking which I found patronising and hectoring. But I am also not very keen on what he has done which is to use material from hacked computers to reveal state secrets. While I no longer trust the state and our establishment I still believe, having a daughter who has worked in the intelligence services and a son-in-law still involved in some very sensitive work, that some state secrets should remain secret. However, Assange has been living in terrible conditions for years and is now imprisoned with his health severely compromised and my thoughts are “surely he has suffered enough”. After all, he has not killed anyone, threatened anyone and is no danger to the public.
But that useless lump of a Home Secretary Priti (and she knows it) Patel, while being completely ineffective at keeping dangerous people out of the country or extraditing dangerous people back to whence they came, has approved the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States. If he is suffering in Belmarsh it will seem like Butlins compared with anything he will experience in the United States where he will languish for years before his case is heard and thereafter, undoubtedly die in jail. Where is the European Court of Human Rights when you need it?
In addition to the facts and feelings pertaining to the case of Julian Assange, there is also the lopsided nature of the US-UK Extradition Treaty of 2003 which has always been better at sending criminals from the UK to the US than having any sent here from the US. Take the IRA terrorists who fled to the US and claimed that their case was political and not criminal having left their debris of body parts on the streets of Belfast, Londonderry, London and Manchester. And the NORAID activists who raised money in the USA for the IRA and sent it to Ireland to help them perpetuate mayhem on our streets. There is sufficient concern about the nature of the US-UK Extradition Treaty for it to be debated in the UK parliament. But all to no effect as it takes two to tango in a treaty and when it comes to negotiating with the USA we are the inferior partners, by a country mile. But here are the facts, according to the Law Gazette: “Since 2007, the UK has surrendered 135 citizens to the US, 99 for non-violent crimes. Meanwhile the US extradited 11 people to the UK. Americans facing UK extradition can challenge this in US courts; our citizens cannot challenge ‘reasonable grounds’ in a UK court. The US secretary of state has broad powers to deny extradition to Britain; the home secretary has limited corresponding powers.” The question arises as to which Prime Minister was in power when the US-UK Extradition Treaty of 2003 was signed. You may have heard of him: ‘Sir’ Tony Blair.
Opinions from the Unity News Network (UNN) editorial team & various contributors. | UNN always clearly distinguishes between news and opinion pieces and as an open minded outlet we publish views from a variety of people and organisation that do not necessarily reflect the views of UNN or its writers. Articles published under UNN Opinions are always opinion pieces and if published on behalf of a contributor will contain that authors name at the start of the piece.
