Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.
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Tuesday, 16 April 2019
Assange Held at “Britain’s Guantanamo Bay” as UN Urges Fair Trial
(ZH)— WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces a likely extended extradition battle after this week’s dramatic end to his seven-year asylum stay holed up in Ecuador’s London embassy.
He’s now in a British jail, and though UK authorities have yet to confirm the precise place of his detention, multiplereportssuggest that he’s being held in what’s dubbed“Britain’s Guantanamo Bay”—or Belmarsh Prison, given its reputation as a holding facility for terrorists and high-profile criminals.
Julian Assange is believed held at the Belmarsh Prison in London.
Crucially, the United Nations human rights office has now weighed in, on Fridayurging that the UK government holds a fair trial as a US extradition request hangs over the proceedings.
U.N.human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a Geneva news briefing: “We expect all the relevant authorities to ensure Mr. Assange’s right to a fair trial is upheld by authorities, including in any extradition proceedings that may take place,” according toReuters.
Assange was holding a copy of the book ‘Gore Vidal: History of the National Security State’. It’s about historical events that led to the establishment of the massive military-industrial-security complex & the political culture that gave us the “Imperial Presidency.” #FreeAssange
Meanwhile, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnssonhas stateddays after Assange being dragged from the embassy on Thursday that he now is confined to a cell at Belmarsh.
The WikiLeaks editor noted that there are some advantages to the location, however, including access to medical care and outdoor time.Hrafnsson also noted it will now be easier for Assange to meet with his legal team, compared to the more restricted environs of the embassy.
“There are medical facilities there, access to dental care I would assume and a garden to go out into,”he said.
An RT camera crew has maintained a presence outside Belmarsh Prison since it came to light Assange is being held there, where protests by WikiLeaks supporters are also gaining momentum.
Belmarsh is located on the eastern outskirts of London, about 5 miles (8 km) east of Greenwich on the southern bank of the Thames River.The prison opened in 1991, and has been used to imprison high-profile inmates such as Jordanian cleric Abu Qatada and Salafist preacher Anjem Choudary – but also former Labour MP Denis MacShane, convicted of fraud, and former Conservative politician Baron Jeffrey Archer, convicted of perjury.
Belmarsh was also used as the holding facility for around 17 individuals detained under anti-terrorism laws since 2001.Some of them were held in solitary for 22 hours a day,“entombed in concrete”without charges for months, their attorneystold BBCin 2004.
The high-security prison is known to have a capacity of around 900 and contains a mix of inmates on remand serving short sentences alongside those convicted of the most serious offenses.But some recent reports say it’s been subject to overcrowding in recent years.
The AFP noted on Friday that Belmarsh has housed“some of Britain’s most notorious inmates,”according to a UK legal source.
@SomersetBean
Assange was holding a copy of the book ‘Gore Vidal: History of the National Security State’. It’s about historical events that led to the establishment of the massive military-industrial-security complex & the political culture that gave us the “Imperial Presidency.” #FreeAssange
Uprooted Palestinian 
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