© Jim Dyson/Getty ImagesRoger Waters on stage during the 'This is not a drill' tour in London, England • June 6, 2023
The decision by Britain's High Court to postpone judgment on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's last extradition appeal proves that the ruling class is "full of s**t," Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters told Going Underground host Afshin Rattansi.
After two days of oral arguments, the court adjourned on Wednesday without granting or refusing Assange a fresh appeal against his extradition to the US. The UK Home Office approved his transfer to American custody in 2022, but the former WikiLeaks boss - now in poor health after nearly five years of solitary confinement in London's Belmarsh Prison - has filed repeated appeals, none of which have been successful.
Referring to senior judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson, who ultimately decide whether to grant Assange another appeal, Waters told Rattansi on Saturday:
"None of these hearings should last more than five minutes. They should go in and say 'obviously he's not guilty of any crime, let the prisoner go' and that will be the end of it. These people don't believe in the rule of law. They believe in the ruling class, and they believe they are servants of the ruling class. And they will do whatever they are told. It's becoming more and more transparent to we, the people...that they are full of s**t."In the US, Assange is facing 17 charges under the Espionage Act and a potential prison sentence of 175 years. The charges stem from his publication of classified material obtained by whistleblowers, including Pentagon documents detailing alleged US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Espionage Act has never before been used to prosecute someone like Assange, who published - but did not steal - classified material. Former US President Barack Obama refused to press charges against the Australian journalist for this very reason, arguing that Assange's activity was protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
Assange's lawyers said that he was "too ill" to attend Wednesday's hearing. Waters, who met with Assange in September, told Rattansi:
"Assange was too unwell psychologically to even watch the proceedings on closed-circuit television. It was emotionally very crippling. Imagine being locked up in solitary confinement for five years, particularly if you've never committed a crime. It's beyond all imagination."If the appeal fails, Assange will apply to the European Court of Human Rights and seek an emergency order to stop the extradition while it considers the case, Assange's wife Stella said earlier this week.
Reader Comments
It is good that the company chose to be so kind....
"All Praise to the Company"..... from an old Dr. Who episode involving a race called the "Usurians" and money is called "Talmars".
If you work 18 hour shifts you can afford one of our better deaths....
Take yourself out of this present system. It's all rigged.
Keeping Assange in a dungeon for five years shows that Blighty is still run on feudal law. There is your law. The unlawful treatment of Assange is in store for us all should any of us draw the line on our feudal overlords.
Democracy and the rule of law never really existed, and still doesn't. One only has to challenge the official warmongering rhetoric to find that out.
There are two sets of entities beyond the People, that we see as being involved: one, the King himself and King's Agents, both which may be multiple Families including perhaps non- (shall we say super- ?) humans. The King does not regard the People as being the same sort of entities as the King. The King's Agents do see a certain degree of kinship with People in general, but each and every one of them, from the surly Clerk at the City Offices to the President himself, think - know - they are above Us.
Diuide et Impera has worked for a long time, and it still does.
It will continue to work as long as People can be taught - convinced, forced - to think that consideration of two alternatives must result in one of them being chosen - binary logic. In fact there are at least four results of choosing between A and B: A, or B, or Both, or Neither. Yes, the Game can be changed, but not necessarily quickly, and not necessarily for Better.