I just received the following information:
On Monday 13th December at 4.30 pm, concerned Australian academics, artists, activists and expats will deliver a letter of demands to the Australian High Commissioner calling for the Embassy to be proactive in securing the immediate release from custody of fellow Australian citizen and founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange. The letter has been signed by celebrated journalist John Pilger, Australian born human rights activist Peter Tatchell and a growing number of Bristish based Australians outraged with the persecution of the WikiLeaks founder. Assange is presently held in London’s Wandsworth Prison having been denied bail at an intial hearing at Westminister Court last week. The group, called “Australians for the Immediate Release of Julian Assange”, will hold a vigil outside the Australia House on the Strand on the eve of Mr. Assange’s next bail appearance, which will take place on Tuesday 14th December.
The group believes that the refusal refusal to grant bail to Mr. Assange is unjust and unwarranted’. ‘They argue that this denial of bail and present imprisonment of the WikiLeaks founder are politically driven by forces with which the Australian government are in connivance. They believe the actions of the Australian government and embassy in relation to Mr Assange, an Australian citizen, amount to a dereliction of duty. They are also demanding that the Australian government immediately cease co-operation in the persecution of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.
A spokesperson for the group, veteran Australian anti-war activist Ciaron O’Reilly, stated:
“Many of us share Julian’s background of being raised in the authoritarian state of Queensland where civil liberties were denied as matter of course. This formative experience shaped Julian in terms of his passion for free speech as it shaped us before him. Others of us are dismayed that, like Vietnam and Iraq, the present Australian government has followed the United States into another immoral, illegal and unwinnable war in Afghanistan.… Julian’s work with WikiLeaks has been courageous and revelatory. He’s in that jail for us and we’re out on the streets for him! We need to free him and bring this war and invasion of Afghanistan to an end!”
* Present signatories of the attached Letter to the High Commisioner
John Pilger (from Sydney, Australia)… http://www.johnpilger.com/
Peter Tatchell, (from Melbourne, Australia) London based, Human Rights Activist http://www.petertatchell.net/
Michael Dutton, (from Brisbane, Australia) Professor of Politics, Goldsmiths University of London.
Deborah Kessler, (from Brisbane, Australia) concerned citizen.
Ciaron O’Reilly, (from Brisbane, Australian), London Catholic Worker/ Ploughshares. http://www.londoncatholicworker.org/
Eden Boucher, (from Adelaide, Australia) musician “Lovers Electric”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovers_Electric
David Turley, (from Adelaide, Australia), musician “Lovers Electric”.
Sharon Turley, (from Adelaide, Australia) classical musician.
David Warburton (from Adelaid, Australia), Coffee Brewster
Saul Newman, teaches Political Theory at Goldsmiths, University of London.
John Hutnyk, (from Melbourne, Australia) Professor of Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths University of London.
Peter Thomas (from Rockhampton, Queensland) teaches History of Political Thought at Brunel University, London.
Maria Albrecht, (from Melbourne, Australia) Catholic Worker Farmhouse http://www.thecatholicworkerfarm.org/
Olivia Ball (from Melbourne, Australia) author
Eric Snowball (from Sydney, Australia) social worker.
Errol O’Neill (from Brisbane, Australia) actor.
Mary Kelly (from Brisbane,Australia) trade unionist.
Dan O’Neill (from Brisbane, Australia) scholar.
Rik Lydon (from Sydney, Australia), sound engineer.For more info contact:
Ciaron O’Reilly
Mobile 079 392 905 76
(outside the UK) +44 79 392 905 76
Landline 0208 348 8212
(outside the UK) +44 208 348 8212‘Photographs will be available after the event
from Marcin Ph. 0797 191 0257