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
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“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.
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