A recently formed ‘Free Julian Assange’ group converged on Labor MP Justine Elliot’s office in Tweed Heads this morning calling for the Australian government to ‘bring Julian home to Australia’.
Organiser of the protest Dean Jefferys, who ran against Larry Anthony in the 2004 Elections and participated in two peace camps in Iraq during both invasions in 1991 and 2002 said ‘Julian Assange only crime is to expose some of the war crimes performed by the mainly American troops during the Iraq war. I was on the ground during both invasions and I saw and heard about these atrocities. Yet the mainstream media where not reporting on them because they where embedded (in bed) with the military and if they did a bad story they were removed.’
The group had sought a meeting with Ms Elliot but she declined to meet with them.
‘Labor have stated that they will not intervene while the case is in the court yet they were prepared to make a big noise about the soccer player (Hakeem Al-Araibi),’ said Mr Jefferys.
Greens candidate for Richmond, Michael Lyon, supported the protest saying, ‘Julian Assange’s actions in exposing the corruption at the heart of the world’s governments were nothing short of heroic and we should be protecting him as a statement of our commitment to transparent and accountable government. We are calling on our foreign minister to make the most of our so called special relationship with the US to ensure that Assange is not extradited.’
The Free Julian Assange group are recommending that voters preference groups other than Labor like the Greens and the Independents for Climate Change (ICAN) in the senate.
Leader and founder of ICAN, Jim Tait, who attended the rally on his own behalf as an independent identified clear the links between Iraq, oil, climate change and geo-political interference by big companies to achieve access to oil and deny climate change.
‘The Iraq war was prosecuted on a lie. There were mass protests at the time yet Australia still went to war with the US,’ said Mr Tait.
‘There were no weapons of mass destruction and it has become clear that the cynics who said it was about accessing the worlds second largest oil reserves were right. Julian exposed this.
‘Other mistruths have come out recently including the fact that in 1982 Exxon scientists had predicted that in the year 2019 that the global CO2 emission would pass 415ppm (parts per million). We passed that point two weeks ago yet those companies who had that information in the 1980’s did they act responsible way? In the so-called “free west” we see major industries in the form of companies corrupting the daily politics of our country.
‘Australia has outlawed the death penalty intros country. We should not let Julian Assange be extradited to a country where he could face the death penalty. Bring him home and let him be tried by the Australian judiciary.’
‘If anyone needs a reminder of the atrocities Julian Assange exposed then I suggest looking at this video clip called Collateral Murder and see Wikileaks.
See footage from a documentary Dean Jefferys made in Iraq.
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