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Julian Assange and Tolpuddle: two great miscarriages of justice
HELEN MERCER explains the parallels between the two cases, and why the Committee to Defend Julian Assange will be at the festival this year
A sculpture called Anything To Say, which features life-sized bronze figures of whistleblowers (left-right) Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning, each standing on their own individual chair, is unveiled at Parliament Square, London, June 24, 2023

“Give me the freedom to think, to speak and to argue freely, according to conscience above all other liberties” — George Loveless, leader of the Tolpuddle Martyrs,1834.

“One of the best ways to achieve justice is to expose injustice” Julian Assange, imprisoned on remand in Belmarsh for over four years.

THE Tolpuddle Martyrs were trade unionists transported to Australia in 1834 for seeking higher wages. Julian Assange is an Australian journalist who faces imminent extradition from Britain to the US for publishing the truth about US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. At first sight, the two cases seem completely different.

Lawfare

Tainted testimony

Excessive and extrajudicial punishment

Judges, jury, family and class

Organs of mass persuasion

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