Paul Bibby
An event in Mullumbimby to raise awareness and funds for the fight to free Julian Assange will be addressed by his father John Shipton, and international human rights campaigner Ciaron O’Reilly.
Justice for Julian, organised by activist think tank the Ngara Institute, will take place on December 8 at 7pm in the Mullumbimby Ex-service Club,
Mr Shipton, who has long been an active anti-war campaigner, is now a tireless ambassador for his
son.
He addresses organisations and gatherings in Australia and across Europe to ramp up support
for Assange, with the goal of securing his release from detention in the UK.
He recently visited his son at Belmarsh Prison in London, where he spends twenty two hours each day in
solitary confinement, while facing rendition to the United States and eighteen pending charges under the US Espionage Act.
‘We are faced here with a great task, all of us together, to ensure that Julian is freed from the persecution that has been going on now for nine years,’ Mr Shipton said.
‘Julian shows all the symptoms of torture, psychologically and physically, from this ceaseless, ongoing isolation.
‘It’s beyond cruel: it’s malice and if we are not careful, it will turn to tragedy.’
Speaking alongside Mr Shipton at the event is Ciaron O’Reilly, who returns from eighteen months in London in constant activism in support of Julian, which included seven months living rough on the Knightsbridge street outside the Ecuadorian Embassy, and latterly on a traffic island opposite Belmarsh Prison.
‘Julian is the person in human history who has pissed off the greatest number of powerful people in the shortest time!’ Mr O’Reilly said.
‘He is also the person who seemed to go from hero to zero in the shortest time.
‘Julian became invisible when the Ecuadorian government switched off his internet access in March 2018 and he was no longer able to give Skype interviews.
‘I was asked to maintain a fulltime presence outside the Embassy to enhance security and provide visibility to his ongoing persecution.’
Co-chairs of the event are journalist and Bay FM presenter Jim Beatson and fellow journalist and writer Dr John Jiggens.
Bookings essential at https://www.ngarainstitute.org.au.
Food and drinks available for purchase at the Club.
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