London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Sep 03, 2025

George Galloway: I’m happy my friend Julian isn’t being sent to a US gulag. But this shameful episode is a huge stain on Britain

George Galloway: I’m happy my friend Julian isn’t being sent to a US gulag. But this shameful episode is a huge stain on Britain

Julian Assange will go down in history as a great and brave journalist, and I hope he finds the strength to continue his noble work. But his persecution shames this country and those who went along with it.
The global historic figure Julian Assange, the greatest journalist and publisher of our age, will not be extradited to the gulag of the American injustice system. Sing Hallelujah!

But as Wellington said after the Battle of Waterloo: “It was a damn close run thing.”

Hard pounding it has been. Most of all for the frail and gentle Mr. Assange, his partner and children, and his mother and father.

The Calvary of false allegations, house arrest in the Embassy of Ecuador (in truth a ground-floor flat), and the hell of Belmarsh Gaol, a maximum security, freezing cold and Covid-stricken concrete bunker. Abandon hope all ye who enter here, it may as well say above the entrance.

As it happens I have the most excellent relations with Britain’s prison officers through long involvement with their trade union affairs, and I pressed throughout for the officers to treat Julian fairly during his detention. I failed.

Not because the guards wanted to treat him mean, but because the meanness came from on high.

Britain has cavalierly burned much of its reputation in the case of Julian Assange.

The now-opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer, while director of public prosecutions, did everything he could to prolong the agony of the since-discredited sex allegations against Assange. Urging his Swedish counterparts not to get cold feet as the always-threadbare accusations unravelled. Dissuading the Swedes from either giving undertakings not to extradite Assange onwards to the US or sending investigators to interview him in London.

The Guardian newspaper, once a jewel in the crown of liberal Britain, became perhaps the chief persecutor of their former star reporter after feasting for years on his WikiLeaks revelations.

The state broadcaster, the BBC, got through pretending that the world’s most important political prisoner didn’t exist, even though there’s just two miles between the Old Bailey and their headquarters.

But the calculated meanness of the British justice system was both wholly unnecessary and difficult to understand, right down to failing to provide the thermal underwear and other winter clothing to which the unconvicted prisoner was entitled and who lies even now in the prison basement.

The humiliations were endless: constant strip searching in court, placing him in a bullet-proof glass booth from which he couldn’t follow the proceedings of his own case, gratuitous (and baseless) personal insults from the bench. At times these proceedings seemed like a show-trial in a banana republic with prosecutorial screeching even from the supposedly impartial judge!

Even in refusing the extradition, on health grounds, the judge accepted virtually all of the US charges, leaving the sword of Damocles hanging over the head of Assange or any other journalist who dares to publish inconvenient truths about the fading but still powerful US empire.

The Trump administration has seven days in which to lodge an appeal against this refusal. The president would be well advised to tell the Justice Department not to bother. If they couldn’t persuade Judge Vanessa Baraitser, they won’t persuade anyone else. And here’s another reason that might appeal to the man currently occupying the White House: if anyone can find out what REALLY happened in the US elections, that man is Julian Assange!

Having been a part of Julian’s campaign from the start (I could show you my scars), I would have been proud to have been so even if we’d lost.

I can’t find the words to tell you how I feel now that we have won.

As soon as he is able, Mr. Assange and his family must resettle somewhere else and continue with his work. Somewhere safe from the reaches of the criminals who have made it an offence to report on their crimes.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Court of Appeal Allows Asylum Seekers to Remain at Essex Hotel Amid Local Tax Boycott Threats
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
Nvidia Reveals: Two Mystery Customers Account for About 40% of Revenue
Woody Allen: "I Would Be Happy to Direct Trump Again in a Film"
Pickles are the latest craze among Generation Z in the United States.
Deadline Day Delivers Record £125m Isak Move and Donnarumma to City
Nestlé Removes CEO Laurent Freixe Following Undisclosed Relationship with Subordinate
Giuliani Seriously Injured in Accident – Trump to Award Him the Presidential Medal of Freedom
EU is getting aggressive: Four AfD Candidates Die Unexpectedly Ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia Local Elections
Lula and Putin Hold Strategic BRICS Discussions Ahead of Trump–Putin Summit
WhatsApp is rolling out a feature that looks a lot like Telegram.
Investigations Reveal Rise in ‘Sex-for-Rent’ Listings Across Canada Exploiting Vulnerable Tenants
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
×