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IRISH ANTI WAR MOVEMENT PRESS RELEASE 07 SEPTEMBER 2020 • STOP THE EXTRADITION OF JULIAN ASSANGE TO THE USA • STOP THE PSYCHOLOGICAL TORTURE OF JULIAN ASSANGE • DEFEND THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AND WHISTLE-BLOWERS • IRISH GOVERNMENT MUST SUPPORT THE ‘FREE ASSANGE CAMPAIGN’ • RELEASE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW! Today, 7th September 2020 is a grim day for press freedom, the rights of whistle-blowers and human rights generally. Award winning journalist and founder of Wikileaks Julian Assange is facing a 175-year prison sentence simply for publishing US government documents revealing evidence of war crimes and human rights abuses. If extradited to the USA he will be tried on a century old Espionage Act that has never previously been applied to journalists. The documents released by Wikileaks were published widely by such media outlets as the Guardian, The New York Times, Der Spiegel, Le Monde and many others. Many prominent US politicians have sought to excoriate Julian Assange’s good character. Current Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden called him a terrorist. Other US politicians, including former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin, called for his assassination. These comments alone should question how he can possibly receive a free and fair trial in the USA? Numerous Human Rights organizations including Amnesty international, Reporters Without Borders, the International Federation of Journalists (British National Union of Journalists & Australian Union of Journalists, MEAA) have called for the extradition to be halted. In February 2020, 118 Doctors and Psychologists, from 18 different countries – Doctors for Assange – penned an open letter in the Lancet Magazine noting his dire state of health and calling for an end to the psychological torture he has suffered while being incarcerated at the Ecuadorian Embassy and at Belmarsh Prison.
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IRELAND'S UN SECURITY COUNCIL SEAT LETTER SENT TO IRISH BROADSHEET NEWSPAPERS Sir, Ireland’s previous stint on the UN Security Council in 2001 is nothing to be proud of in terms of promoting world peace. In 2001, under the then Fianna Fail Government with Brian Cowan as Foreign Minister, Ireland voted for several resolutions that ultimately approved the US led invasion of Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, in what then Labour TD Michael D. Higgins termed “an illegal war”. Nineteen years later with no end in sight America’s longest war has caused the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands, many of them women and children, and has created deep bitterness, division and sectarianism. Since then successive Irish Governments have displayed a shocking partisanship that ultimately favours war and militarism that simultaneously destroy both human life and our fragile planet. Over the last almost two decades Fianna Fail and Fine Gael led governments have aided and abetted the US military war machine as it intervened, either directly or through its proxies, in multiple countries such as Iraq, Libya, Syria, Palestine and Yemen, by allowing armed troops, armaments and rendition flights pass through Shannon Airport. They have equally, despite the optimistic rhetoric, been woefully lacking in their response to the refugee crisis, much of it the result of these wars.
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 GENERAL ELECTION 2020 DEBATE The Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM) is hosting a debate in the ballroom at Wynn's Hotel from 8.30-10.00pm next Wednesday night 5th February. Facilitated by veteran broadcaster Vincent Browne IRISH NEUTRALITY, FOREIGN POLICY AND THE GENERAL ELECTION 2020 Participants so far include: Richard Boyd Barrett, People before Profit (President IAWM) all main political parties have been invited. Come along and hear the arguments. The IAWM is calling for people to vote for candidates and parties that will reclaim Irish neutrality and close the Shannon War Port.
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