Assange Visited by UN Special Rapporteur on Privacy, Saying "I will act on the videos of Assange’s meetings in the embassy"
Professor Joe Cannataci is the first person, apart from lawyers, to visit Julian Assange inside the Belmarsh prison. Cannataci is the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy.
Source
This is the same UN Special Rapporteur which made scathing remarks about Ecuador's treatment of Assange back in early April, days before Assange had his asylum status terminated by President Moreno. An April 5 announcement by the UN Special Rapporteur said there was an agreement made with Ecuador to visit Assange on April 25 in order "help determine if there exists a prima facie case of violation of privacy that warrants further investigation".
But that never happened, obviously. Instead, he has kept the date and visited Assange in prison after he was arrested by UK police on April 11. The day before, WikiLeaks announced proof the government of Ecuador was spying on Assange and violated his right to privacy with both is lawyer and doctor. Ecuador didn't waste time throwing him out the very next day.
Stefania Maurizi of repubblica.it just interviewed the UN Rapporteur Cannataci. Here is the short interview:
Professor Cannataci, how did Assange seem to be doing?
"My visit went well, Mr Assange was ready to answer my questions. We have already started gathering facts and asked questions of Assange’s legal team and of the Ecuadorian ambassador in London."
How is Julian Assange? We were all shocked by his appearance the day of his arrest…
"I am not a physician, and so I am unable to make a medical assessment of him and of course I met him in prison, which is never a pleasant place to meet, however, it seemed to me he was in fairly good condition."
Were you able to talk to him with some privacy, or were you under surveillance?
"No, my impression was that the UK authorities assured us a level of privacy intended for meetings with legal counsel. Usually in the UK prisons you have the following rules: for social meetings, like meetings with relatives, you don't expect privacy, whereas meetings with legal counsels are usually not subjected to monitoring. These kinds of meetings are held in special places, usually 10-15 small rooms where detainees can meet their lawyers confidentially. I had asked for a confidential meeting and I am happy that the UK government agreed to provide us such a private meeting."
What are you investigating exactly, in relation to this meeting with Julian Assange?
"At the end of March Mr Assange submitted an official complaint, which said that his right to privacy had been infringed during his time in the embassy of Ecuador. Together with my team, I made a preliminary assessment to see if his privacy has been infringed , therefore I am gathering the facts, these facts lead to a number of questions about behaviour which took place in the embassy. Today we are still in the preliminary stage. After my meeting with Mr Assange, I had a meeting with his legal team and then a meeting with the ambassador of Ecuador."
Will you be acting in the upcoming weeks on the images, videos of Assange’s meetings and activities in the embassy which have been circulating?
"I will certainly act. We shall be sending an official request to the government of Spain to facilitate my access to the inquiring judge in Spain. As we understand it, the images have been the subject of an investigation by the Spanish police, according to the Spanish penal code, headed by an inquiring magistrate. If and when my access is granted, that evidence might consist of thousands of surveillance footage, which will take some time to watch. I started the action within hours of my knowledge, I knew the press conference called [by WikiLeaks] the 10th of April, and by the evening of that day I had already formulated a number of questions for Mr Assange's legal team which were sent."
It has been really disturbing because whenever we journalists met Julian Assange in the embassy, our meetings were exposed to such pervasive surveillance...
"As you can see, this is not just a matter of privacy, but it is also a matter of confidentiality. There is a distinction between privacy and confidentiality, there is a matter of attorney-client confidentiality, a matter of journalistic freedom and protection of sources. There is a number of human rights that come together, there are many dimensions to the case, including freedom of expression, including whistleblowing, protection of journalistic sources."
Will you ask Ecuador questions about their role in the creation and dissemination of these files?
"I can comment on that only once I have the results on that from the Spanish investigation, we have to see who did this: whether it was an official action or rogue action."
Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.
If you appreciate and value the content, please consider: Upvoting, Sharing or Reblogging below.
me for more content to come!
Like what I do? Then consider giving me a vote on the Witness page :) Thanks!
My goal is to share knowledge, truth and moral understanding in order to help change the world for the better. If you appreciate and value what I do, please consider supporting me as a Steem Witness by voting for me at the bottom of the Witness page.
Posted from KURE
I am happy to see that some action is being undertaken to push back against the panopticon inspecting all our minutiae incessantly.
I don't see that it will end, but I am confident that the hackers of the world will contrive to end the proprietary possession of the data, and that will be a good thing, because at least we'll know what is known about us, and perhaps inspire us to ourselves utilize similar means of surveilling our oppressors. I reckon little else will better enable us to gain some bit of sovereignty in a world so hostile to freedom.
I don't believe this is true. While such information forthcoming from illegal surveillance is unlikely to be specifically used in legal actions, it is well known to be used to preface surveillance that can be legally justified - were it not instigated by illegal surveillance to begin with. Insider trading is far more common than is suspected, and many means of using illegally obtained information cryptically are potential.
Thanks!
Yeah, I had thought of decentralized surveillance in a society. Everyone has cameras and you own yours, and then any misbehavior by authorities can be captured. As a community, you want the best from it, so you help to keep an eye, removing the power form centralized authorities to do the watching. Also, public ledgers for all governmental operations, then when anything needs to be known, it can be. Anyone can be checking up on government to make sure they are being straight.
It is difficult to grasp the potential of OS surveillance and DLTs making it publicly auditable to restrain corruption and abuse, but that potential is paradigm changing. There are relatively few people that might be willing to continue dedicated support for agents and agencies that profit from criminal predation on the public, so enabling the proof of that activity has enormous potential to improve our situation.
Thanks!
I think the people who sacrifice for the interest of common people are not saved by those for whom they sacrifice. Isn't it everyone's duty to do something for this man? Ni, we won't because we are sheep who can't defend their rescuer. This is the misfortune of humanity.
You are correct. That is why I have posted on the matter, and keep it on my radar, enabling me to comment saliently from time to time as I reckon may be useful. While we may lament the lack of others doing so, all we really control is what we ourselves post, or otherwise do.
Yup, powerless to the powerful unless we unite like a first to fight against it :/
Curated for #informationwar (by @wakeupnd)
Ways you can help the @informationwar!
Highly rEsteemed!
Thanks!
interesting. thanks.
Welcome ;)
I have opened a new IW writing contest, please share!
https://steemit.com/informationwar/@stevescoins/informationwar-writing-contest-the-intelligence-process-and-informationwar
(and let me know if you think this comment is spam, I'll edit it ;> )
Hi @krnel!
Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 7.051 which ranks you at #65 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has improved 5 places in the last three days (old rank 70).
In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 173 contributions, your post is ranked at #22.
Evaluation of your UA score:
Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server