Designer Vivienne sticks her beak in for Assange
DAME Vivienne Westwood dressed in canary yellow and posed in a giant bird cage yesterday to show her support for Julian Assange.
The fashion designer, 79, was leading a band of protesters outside the Old Bailey in central London, where WikiLeaks founder Assange is due to appear at a full extradition hearing on September 7.
He is wanted in the US for alleged espionage and conspiracy to commit computer intrusion after thousands of classified documents were published in 2010 and 2011.
As other campaigners chanted “free Julian Assange” Dame Vivienne told reporters she had worn yellow because canaries were used by miners to detect poisonous gas. She said: “If the canary died they all got out.
“Julian Assange is in a cage and he needs to get out. Don’t extradite to America.” She added: “I’m wearing yellow because he still hasn’t had any sun. A canary is a beautiful thing and wants to fly.”
Corrupt
Assange, 49, is being held in the high-security Belmarsh Prison, in south-east London.
Dame Vivienne, speaking in front of the statue of Lady Justice, said the charges were “worded to tick the box ‘guilty’ every time”. She added: “America think they are God’s country, the only democratic force in the world and everyone is corrupt, but they are the most corrupt of all.
“This is a full-frontal attack on the central pillar of our democracy concerning the ability for journalists to hold the powerful to account through the media. We’re lost without it!”
The protest was organised by her son Joe Corre, co-founder of the lingerie company Agent Provocateur. He said: “Julian Assange is being persecuted for speaking the truth. We must mobilise to shield him from the 175-year living death sentence awaiting him in the US.”