Britain is not a safe place for Reporters and Publishers

Reposted from: September 22, 2019

Given the horrific and ongoing torture of award-winning journalist Julian Assange and abuse of law in the UK, by UK authorities (CPS, Information Commissioner, Supreme Court, West Magistrates Court, Metropolitan Police etc.), if a journalist residing in Britain wants to report on human rights abuses in Indonesia, Kashmir, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, China, Pakistan or the US, they could be held in detention as they await extradition to the country that wants to punish them.

That is the precedent. That is what is happening to Julian Assange right now.

If China wants a BBC reporter, it can send an extradition request… (of course it would be based on extradition treaties between the countries, but it motivates countries to enter into treaties with the UK to achieve vengeance for journalistic/ activist activities).

If Pakistan or India wants a Guardian reporter, it can send an extradition request….

If Saudi Arabia wanted Jameel Khashoggi, and Khashoggi happened to be in Britain temporarily or longer term, it could have sent an extradition request to have him sent to Saudi Arabia for a “fair trial”. The likelihood of Khashoggi getting a fair trial in Saudi Arabia was zero. The likelihood of Assange getting a fair trial in the United States is zero.

If the UK does not like the journalist who is the target of a disgruntled requesting-nation, the UK can manipulate its courts, right up to the level of the Supreme Court, to by-pass justice and eventually imprison the targeted journalist in a maximum security prison, in isolation, cut off from lawyers, visitors, the Internet, a laptop and legal documents in Britain’s Guantanamo Bay, “Her Majesty’s Belmarsh”.

Incremental shifts in the treatment of a not-popular journalist/reporter (eg. Julian Assange) will eventuate into permanent case-law precedents for journalists all over the world.

Therefore, Britain is not a safe country for any serious reporter, activist or human rights defender.

Please read @NilsMelzer’s comments on the Assange case in his most recent interview for the Morning Star here.