Patten’s rank hypocrisy about HK shows the lie of British ‘justice’

Acouple of days ago, the last British governor of Hong Kong opened his mouth and spat out what can only be called garbage. His cavalier claim was that Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor would be crazy to activate the anti-mask law (which is now in effect).

I have written elsewhere, as have others, that the anti-mask law was originally an invention of the British — introduced in Hong Kong in 1922. As recently as 2011, a similar law was even in use in the United Kingdom itself, in response to protests and riots that were happening there.

But despite this, Patten seems to think that what’s good enough for Britain certainly is not something that Hong Kong should even think about using when dealing with a crisis that is almost unprecedented.

I assume Patten wants us to believe that he is supporting free speech and the rule of law. Oh, that this were true! Sadly, it is but another example of the rank hypocrisy emanating from the mouths of the UK political class, Patten being but one example.

Patten clearly only cares about free speech and rule of law when it doesn’t require him to take personal risks himself. While he points the finger at Hong Kong, we will never see him stand up and defend freedom of speech in the land of the Magna Carta, habeas corpus and so-called judicial independence.

This is not an assumption. This is a fact that we can observe happening right under our noses.

In the UK today, one of the world’s most famous and highly awarded journalists is being held as a political prisoner in a high security gulag in the heart of London. For what? For doing journalism! For proving US war crimes to the world. He has been denied legal due process by the UK for a decade, and is facing extradition to the US under draconian espionage laws that cannot possibly be applied to a non-American doing journalism from geographical locations that are not in America!

I am, of course, talking about the Australian journalist Julian Assange. The relationship between Chris Patten, Assange, and the Hong Kong riots will become clear in a moment. And, because of the global smear campaign that has been waged against Assange for the last 10 years, I must first correct the record relating to his situation.

My dear reader, if you have heard of Assange, you quite possibly think he is being held in Belmarsh prison because of rape charges emanating out of Sweden. In which case, your understanding is a direct result of fake news and propaganda.

There have never been any rape charges from Sweden. There were two preliminary investigations, both of which ended because there was no evidence. Despite this, Assange was held illegally by the British authorities on a European arrest warrant that subsequent changes to the law in Britain confirm was issued improperly. This is but one instance of many in which it is very clear that Assange has been denied the right of due process.

Perhaps you have heard that Assange is being held for jumping bail. As of Sept 22, his sentence for “bail jumping” was served in full. However, he remains in solitary confinement in Belmarsh prison because the judge said he would “abscond again”. This completely ignores the fact that, under international law, seeking and gaining asylum takes precedence over minor offenses such as bail jumping — which clearly shows the bias of the British judge who called asylum “absconding”.

It also means that Assange is now being held, in solitary confinement, in a British jail without charge. As a political prisoner. For doing journalism that brought to light war crimes committed by the US.

The United Nations has ruled twice that Assange has been arbitrarily detained in the UK for nine years, a judgment that the UK has happily thumbed its nose at. And the UN special rapporteur on torture, Professor Nils Melzer, has reported that Assange has been the victim of psychological torture for the past nine years.

Assange for years said that he took up asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London because the US intended to extradite him for publishing the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs. The extradition documents that have now been served, and already signed off by the British government, show that he was correct.

And, a case that just this week has started going through the Spanish courts shows that a “security firm” in cahoots with the CIA was spying on Assange and every single visitor who came to see him in the Ecuadorian Embassy — for years. Illegally. In the heart of London.

The issue of Assange’s incarceration is so serious that, if he is extradited from the UK to the US to face these bogus charges of “espionage” in the Eastern District of Virginia, freedom of speech and freedom of the press will be ended, globally. This outcome will create what is already being called “the Assange precedent”, wherein any country that dislikes what a journalist in another country is publishing will most likely use an extradition process to “capture” that journalist and punish him/her for telling their “dirty secrets”.

Which brings us back to the Right Dishonorable Chris Patten, champion of democracy and oh-so-concerned about freedom of speech and the rule of law.

Do a Google search on “Chris Patten talks about Julian Assange” and you will come up with — zip, nada, zilch. Complete, obscene silence. This great champion for free speech and democracy is missing in action.

This is rank hypocrisy and a total betrayal of the idea of rule of law that is supposedly so dear to the British.

And, while we’re at it, we may as well do a search to see which free speech “revolutionaries” in Hong Kong are supporting efforts to free Assange. They, too, are missing in action. Ignorant of the fact that the case of Julian Assange is the most important free speech issue in the world today. The nowdead Hong Kong extradition bill was nothing in comparison to what will happen if Assange is extradited to the US.

As with Patten, if the Hong Kong free speech brigade actually cared about free speech, rather than smashing the transport infrastructure in Hong Kong, and beating up old men and mainland people, they’d be marching on Belmarsh prison in London to free one of the world’s greatest journalists and truth-tellers.

Should they choose to do that, they would show that they really do care about freedom rather than something else which, day by day, looks more and more twisted.

As with Patten, if the Hong Kong free speech brigade actually cared about free speech ... they’d be marching on Belmarsh prison in London to free one of the world’s greatest journalists and truth-tellers.