Political prisoners Updates: Assange – Manning – Pussy
WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange has been offered an Aboriginal Nations passport in an inner-city Sydney ceremony after he was “abandoned” by Australian authorities.
His father, John Shipton, accepted the document at a celebration at Darlington.
He said his son had been jilted by the Australian government, and the passport ceremony – which follows Ecuador’s decision to grant Mr Assange diplomatic asylum – was a show of solidarity.
“Australian governments of every colour are happy to abandon their citizens when they’re in difficult situations overseas,” he said.
Mr Assange has been staying at Ecuador’s embassy in London since June to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over sexual assault allegations.
His lawyers fear extradition to Sweden could pave the way for him to be sent to the US, where he could face trial over his website’s release of classified documents. More…
Rule of Law Abandoned in Bradley Manning Prosecution
by Nathan Fuller,antiwar.com -Bradley Manning’s critics need to be more careful if they want to accuse him of breaking the law. The real outrage is the way prosecutors and the military more 
broadly have handled his case: the Marines and Army have violated their own code of justice in several ways, for several months, precluding a fair trial and making a mockery of the rule of law.
The complaints of critics reveal the fundamental hypocrisy in Manning’s case — the rule of law is not applied evenly. While war criminals, torturers, and known murderers walk freely, the military is aggressively punishing the messenger who exposed heinous crimes and rampant abuse. Prosecutors go beyond disciplining a soldier for stepping out of line, attempting to associate whistleblowing with terrorism by charging Manning with “aiding the enemy.”
The most prominent injustice is what drew many to Manning’s plight in 2011: his abusive, brutal, and illegal treatment at the Quantico Marine brig. Against nine months of recommendations of brig psychiatrists, Bradley was allowed only 20 minutes of sunshine each day, was kept in solitary confinement, was put on prevention of injury watch, and was forced to stand nude nightly. The military says these conditions were in Manning’s best interest, that he was a suicide risk and without this treatment he would’ve harmed himself.
Newly surfaced emails reveal the truth: that three-star Lt. Gen. George Flynn, removed from Quantico and likely taking orders from the Pentagon, ordered Manning’s abusive treatment and ignored psychiatrists to keep Manning in solitary confinement. Such treatment is clearly punitive and therefore a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Manning’s lawyer, David Coombs, is motioning to dismiss charges based on this punitive treatment on Nov. 27. We’ll see if Judge Lind will hold the Marines accountable. Read more…
Jailed Pussy Riot Women Nominated For Sakharov Prize
(RTTNews) – Three members of the Russian female punk band Pussy Riot are among the eight candidates nominated for the 2012 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
The trio, who were imprisoned for staging a musical protest derogatory to President Vladimir Putin at Moscow’s main cathedral early this year, were nominated on Thursday by Werner Schulz, German member of the European Parliament.
Moscow’s Khamovniki District Court on August 17 sentenced Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich to two years in prison for storming the altar of Christ the Savior Cathedral on February 21 along with several unidentified persons in masks, and singing a punk prayer imploring Virgin Mary to “throw Putin out.”
They were convicted on charge of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred and hostility.
They said their actions were to protest against the open backing of Putin’s election campaign by Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The incident took place amid mass protests against Putin’s plans to run for the Presidency for a third time. Putin, who was the Prime Minister then, subsequently emerged victorious in the March Presidential elections. More…
Free political prisoners.