Chris Blackhurst is a former editor of The Independent, based in London
June 25, 2024
So, in the end it came down to a tawdry deal. After years of posturing and grandstanding from both sides, in what was billed as a battle of principles, the US Justice Department has finally settled its case with Julian Assange.
Where once the WikiLeaks founder faced 17 counts of espionage, prosecutors reduced them to just one. Assange pleaded guilty to just one charge of violating the Espionage Act by obtaining and publishing classified military and diplomatic documents from 2009 to 2011.
With that, he is gone. He was taken from the Belmarsh high-security prison in London, where he’d been held for five years pending extradition to the US, and flown to the Northern Mariana Islands, just about the remotest US territory anywhere (they’re in the Pacific, but not so far from Australia).
There, he will be sentenced to 62 months, which happens to be the exact period of his incarceration in the UK. Funny, that. Because he has already served that time, he will be released automatically and return to his native country of Australia.
Finally, the Assange saga is over. Those five years, don’t forget, do not include the period he spent holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy on the run from the Swedish authorities who were pursuing him for sexual assault. That case was subsequently dropped, but the US government came for him, indicting Assange for computer hacking. No mention is made of the cost to the UK taxpayer of the policing and security operations that he sparked and lasting more than a decade.
His residing in the embassy was a public spectacle, becoming an attraction for tourists visiting nearby Harrods. Eventually, Ecuador lost what patience it still had and in 2019, expelled Assange from its premises. Whereupon he was immediately arrested by the British police on the US charge. Ever since, he’s been fighting being sent to the US.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrives at Canberra Airport in Australia after being released from Belmarsh Prison in the UK, where he had been held for five years. Getty Images
Mr Assange hugs his wife Stella Assange after arriving in Canberra. AFP
Mr Assange waves at supporters in the Australian capital. EPA
Mr Assange looks out of a plane window as he approaches Bangkok for a stopover. Reuters
Mr Assange makes his way to board his flight out of the UK at London's Stansted Airport. AFP
Mr Assange boards the flight to Saipan, capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, in the Western Pacific. Reuters
Mr Assange in London after his release from Belmarsh Prison. AFP
The aircraft carrying Mr Assange on a fuel stopover at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok. EPA
Mr Assange's image from Stansted Airport, seen in a video call with his wife Stella Assange in Sydney. Reuters
Assange will be sentenced to 62 months, which happens to be the exact period of his incarceration in the UK. Funny, that
There is not a halfway with Assange. He’s black or he’s white. To some, like the US authorities, Assange was a danger, a major menace, someone who was happy to distribute state secrets without any thought as to the damage, human and political, they might cause. But if he was that bad, why did the US reach an agreement?
To others, he is a seeker of truth, same as any other brave, investigative journalist. But then, why did he not seek his day in a US court, when he could have hogged the limelight and presented his case?
His lawyers maintained that was because he would not get a fair trial and his mental state was too fragile to withstand transfer to a US jail.
He was also in the fortunate position of being able to resist. Chelsea Manning, his co-conspirator, did not have that luxury. Manning, a US army intelligence analyst, was court-martialled for supplying material to Assange and got 35 years, serving seven before then US president Barack Obama commuted her sentence in 2017.
Assange, it seems, was only prepared to take martyrdom so far. He’d already been promised that he would not face charges that carried the death penalty, that he would not be automatically put in solitary confinement, and that he would receive mental health care. Still, it was not enough – his lawyers claimed that there was nothing to prevent him from harming himself once he was consigned to US custody.
Meanwhile, the relentless publicity campaign to free him never let up. It did appear odd, the iconic figure to many on the left, heroic scourge of the state, on the one hand and nit-picking exploiter of every legal loophole, on the other.
To be fair, none of us know what we would have done in such circumstances. But once it became obvious that the Joe Biden administration was not going to follow Mr Obama and let up, Assange dug in.
Wife of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Stella Assange, gives a statement awaiting the outcome of her husband's appeal against extradition to the US in London last month. Getty Images
There is fury in many quarters, especially among US military veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, that the leaks may have put thousands of soldiers and informants’ lives at risk. Assange, they argue, did not merit leniency.
Equally, there are those defenders of press freedom who say that it would be a very depressing day indeed if he was jailed in the US for publishing government secrets. They welcome his release.
He was, they say, only doing the job that countless journalists do every day. But was he? The role of the journalist is to aggregate and to filter. Assange did only half of that, collecting vast amounts of information, yes, but then dumping it upon the world. WikiLeaks’ Afghan War Logs were published with little attempt to vet and disguise names of Afghan civilians who informed for the US military. They could well have been exposed and in danger.
The Justice Department went further, alleging that Assange stepped outside the normal remit of a reporter, by trying to break a Defence Department code and exhorting associates to hack computers and obtain phone records. To them, he was a solicitor of crime.
Such is the polarising effect of Assange that press campaigners will hear none of this. To them he was a journalist.
In which case, the Justice Department extracting a guilty plea must set a worrying precedent. The stage is set for prosecutions of US media companies for employing journalists to conduct investigations into any matter covered by national security. This, against the possible backdrop of an incoming Donald Trump presidency that, one imagines, would love to commit journalists to jail.
Likewise, Assange admits he broke the law, without the law ever being tested. The Justice Department maintained that the sole act of publishing government secrets violated the Espionage Act. Assange admitted as much, setting a new, low standard.
Whether he could be counted as a journalist or not, Assange has done journalism no favours.
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
An arms embargo
A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
Emirates Cricket Board Women’s T10
ECB Hawks v ECB Falcons
Monday, April 6, 7.30pm, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
The match will be broadcast live on the My Sports Eye Facebook page
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side 8 There are eight players per team 9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one. 5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls 4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Bert van Marwijk factfile
Born: May 19 1952 Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands Playing position: Midfielder
Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia
Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands
Without Remorse
Directed by: Stefano Sollima
Starring: Michael B Jordan
4/5
Western Region Asia Cup T20 Qualifier
Sun Feb 23 – Thu Feb 27, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the Asia qualifier in Malaysia in August
Group A
Bahrain, Maldives, Oman, Qatar
Group B
UAE, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
UAE group fixtures
Sunday Feb 23, 9.30am, v Iran
Monday Feb 25, 1pm, v Kuwait
Tuesday Feb 26, 9.30am, v Saudi
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza, Rohan Mustafa, Alishan Sharafu, Ansh Tandon, Vriitya Aravind, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmed, Karthik Meiyappan, Basil Hameed, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Ayaz, Zahoor Khan, Chirag Suri, Sultan Ahmed
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened. He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia. Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”. Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
The Bio
Name: Lynn Davison
Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi
Children: She has one son, Casey, 28
Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK
Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Favourite Author: CJ Sansom
Favourite holiday destination: Bali
Favourite food: A Sunday roast
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah 5.10pm: Continous 5.45pm: Raging Torrent 6.20pm: West Acre 7pm: Flood Zone 7.40pm: Straight No Chaser 8.15pm: Romantic Warrior 8.50pm: Calandogan 9.30pm: Forever Young
Need to know
The flights: Flydubai flies from Dubai to Kilimanjaro airport via Dar es Salaam from Dh1,619 return including taxes. The trip takes 8 hours.
The trek: Make sure that whatever tour company you select to climb Kilimanjaro, that it is a reputable one. The way to climb successfully would be with experienced guides and porters, from a company committed to quality, safety and an ethical approach to the mountain and its staff. Sonia Nazareth booked a VIP package through Safari Africa. The tour works out to $4,775 (Dh17,538) per person, based on a 4-person booking scheme, for 9 nights on the mountain (including one night before and after the trek at Arusha). The price includes all meals, a head guide, an assistant guide for every 2 trekkers, porters to carry the luggage, a cook and kitchen staff, a dining and mess tent, a sleeping tent set up for 2 persons, a chemical toilet and park entrance fees. The tiny ration of heated water provided for our bath in our makeshift private bathroom stall was the greatest luxury. A standard package, also based on a 4-person booking, works out to $3,050 (Dh11,202) per person.
When to go: You can climb Kili at any time of year, but the best months to ascend are January-February and September-October. Also good are July and August, if you’re tolerant of the colder weather that winter brings.
Do not underestimate the importance of kit. Even if you’re travelling at a relatively pleasant time, be geared up for the cold and the rain.
Ultra processed foods
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
Abu Dhabi
Umm Al Emarat Park
Yas Gateway Park
Delma Park
Al Bateen beach
Saadiyaat beach
The Corniche
Zayed Sports City
Dubai
Kite Beach
Zabeel Park
Al Nahda Pond Park
Mushrif Park
Safa Park
Al Mamzar Beach Park
Al Qudrah Lakes
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
2018: Formal work begins
November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
not be younger than 25 years old
not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
