attacks by british authorities on wiki leaks we spoke to wiki leaks editor in chief christian reference and straight after julian assange journey u.k. jail was considered for extradition to the usa the empire is now striking back and it's not on the basis of of law it's on the basis of the events and politics and i'm afraid that the u.k. government is taking part in that i don't have a lot of belief in the the authorities here or the branches of government but we will fight on and we believe that the general public is starting to see how serious this is and they will pressure their politicians to pressure their government to actually take part and take a stand take a stand for julian assange and we should especially remember that we are heading into tomorrow which is the world press freedom day. take a day joining me now as we get exam bastard joseph harrell and former ecuadorian consul in london fidel nowheres who worked at the london embassy for six of the

seven years the julian assange was under detention there welcome to both of you fidel and joseph void when we get to the sun should we leaks appealing to the former defense secretary disgraced defense secretary gavin williamson for information and i think what the point there is is that we have our address. in a prison for having publish classified information and there seems to be no call or or realisation that why is that not the same for for chris evans the editor of the telegraph if he's been publishing classified documents there's a dis connect your response then to this week's activities julius on chanted more or less the maximum sentence by u.k. judge deborah taylor and and of course there was this extradition request where we can tell me what explain what happened there from the time the training was informed of the extradition which was the day that he was arrested the u.s. has sixty five days to give a full charge she's sorry. that is what has been pencilled in for the twelfth of

june we saw on wednesday when he was sentenced for a for a bail issue he was given a maximum sentence. double what the soap or so-called speedboat killer was given who was only given six months was given fifty weeks it should be noted it's punitive you know jordan has been persecuted throughout his time in the embassy by the government it's a very politically motivated situation but why do you think the average jailer ignored all your. editors clemency pleas all the mitigation a little history deborah taylor felt that none of that mitigation was worth even looking at whereas we said outside the court after her judgement we would actually call on everyone to read the submissions that we we submitted in court they're not long and to make up your own mind she she went so far as to completely discount the united nations saying that the ruling that the united nations had given twice saying that both sweden and the united kingdom had

a duty to let your d.m.'s and free she said was based on misconceptions of fact and role and had no bearing in her court it was an extremely dismissive thing for her to say jews and i know they're not removed journalists here and internationals so when the other international organizations have expressed concern about what's happened to your editor i've got to ask you obviously how he is because we have press freedom advocates sources have told us they fear for his life what is his health how is he facing these new prospects of to being in the embassy for that long and now in the so-called guantanamo britain exactly so you have to remember that he lived in in a building for seven years with no access to the outside we saw when he was forcibly removed from the embassy that he he he had deteriorated compared to when we had seen him go in and so he went from one virtual jail on top of on top of it initially being. a safe place and his refuge turned into something far more hostile

went from one virtual to joe to another now when we saw him in court on wednesday when he was presented i noted that here significantly lost weight. the conditions in belmarsh prison are not good two to a sturdy measures and cut backs. the prison population is forced to be in there in their cells for twenty three hours of of the day which is tantamount to solitary confinement in fact it is a definition of solitary confinement u.n. reporter in terms of visiting yes on torture there is and in fact the u.n. wrapper terror terror trial has requested a visit and is going to visit him in belmarsh next week the conditions of paul a little very strong person and he will he will survive it but that doesn't take away from from the extended campaign for many years to break him down

fidel you must be watching out of the mainstream media in this country is covering the case you knew julie was six of those seven years what have you made of him being portrayed basically as a as a poor house guest is that the story and why are they covering it like that was he basically tortured in europe i think that is contained to smear julian i think is complete and therefore to distract their attention from the main thing which is that journalists claimed to be extradited for police into full information which was the reason for he's political asylum the fact that julian assange is now . fighting extradition proves that ecuador was try to silence and that he was always right asking for the asylum so. and handing him over to his prosecutors has committed is in a sense a crime so in order to distract from the crime and the smear campaign media reports

always told where the luxury vehicle dorian embassy what conditions was during the sanjay in seven years but their embassy is very very small apartment with not. windows that allows sunlight he was very very difficult conditions not at all not privileges for genocide even under these conventions the guarantee is. they cut off his communication in the last year with the new government of learning more and not julian assange jaws basically isolated and communicated that was the start of trying to break him down in order to force him out of his own wheel which failed. didn't have internet he didn't have access to telephone he didn't have access to visitors apart from his lawyers you know us can attest to that because even i wasn't able to do was he says he's last year. at

the embassy so. they tried to breaking down they failed and they need to bring. their side undoes why they are alleging behavior the relationship between julian assange and the diplomatic stuff and they're adding a stuff all the quadrillions was very respectful very respectful from him towards us and from us towards him always and the u.n. was special rapporteur was supposed to visit about the ecuadorian embassy yes the special repertoire. was to go and visit your again and his asylum was ended before that visit was able to take place probably because they knew that. the conditions were so appalling. that there would be a very negative element coming out of that visit now the u.n. recognize that he was basically a political refugee and so on did you did you know he was being spied on well it

was always difficult to have privacy in the embassy less not forget that they could the embassy was the most surveilled place in the planet so it was at the beginning right to still cameras inside the embassy in order to safeguard the political leslie and the embassy staff however with the change of government that same equipment became basically spying tool against julian assange and you suspect lenin merino is under pressure because of the i.m.f. and the cia base in monterrey absolutely absolutely i think there's a combination of two elements for the decision. of revoking the asylum the international pressure coming from the united states the new foreign policy of ecuador is not sovereign anymore it's completely sold out today to the united states. was noted when when he actually allowed foreign countries into the

embassy absolutely absolutely and before that there was. there was not much coverage about that but in january this year. the u.s. prosecutors. in. something like fifteen diplomats. in london in the embassy in london not exactly in the embassy but in the commercial office which is part of the diplomatic mission. regarding julian assange who was supposedly protected by ecuador so that shows you the kind of. cooperation between the court and they call the government with the americans in order to hand over julian i saw your replacement in london on the show the your former media partners the guardian which is arguably more exercised about rape cases as channel

four news just tell me about the reader information request that the italian journalists have on your merits. revealed to. us she had received three or four investigations which according to the freedom of information requests both. the crown prosecution service in the u.k. and the prosecuting authority in sweden was able to put together a correspondence between the two in that we found that paul close was instead of acting as a c.p.s. should have which was british crown prosecution service this is the time that pierce drama the shuttle director secretary instead of them acting media as a conduit in order to progress the swedens case which was almost a non case because they refused to challenge your d.n. . was actually giving strategic and legal advice and and pushing sweden to continue

the case to not question him in the u.k. pushing sweden to to keep the case going for as long as possible so the british authorities would try to persuade sweden to uphold accusations well why do you think judge deborah taylor this week didn't think much of that being relevant to him skipping bail today that she didn't take that into account she didn't comment on it but why do you think that is i mean we have an independent judiciary here in this country presumably it's as i said previously it's an extremely politically motivated situation it's. do we have an independent judiciary when you see that the c.p.s. is suggesting on how to progress or not progress the case of another country quite above them julian just suffering arguably all those developing nations. secrets were exposed. for the benefit of those peoples we mustn't forget as was josie

manning who is in soldiery confinement as well as julian's underwear the josie manning is also facing a long stay in prison yesterday and was aware because that happened before chelsea was put in into prison before during and was arrested before his asylum was forcibly and illegally removed. she's put put into prison for saying that she's refusing to testify against him and let's remember that she's already being tried she's already served a sentence she's had a sentence commuted this displays that the future for journalism and the future for julian and the vehemence with which the u.s. administration is trying to get him is going to be setting a very bad precedent for journalism in the future but also that they would definitely be he would not be facing a fair trial. if he were to end up in the united states will counsel joseph thank

you after the break a caricature to follow one of the world's great just brought to this censorship a lifetime's work on the back and of the russophobia side of phobia the boss of britain's foreign affairs select committee accuses china of nesting dragons. and all of them all coming up a bunch of going underground. exists is a sticker from a water bottle phone in the stomach of a fish the brand is part of the coca-cola company which sells millions of bottles of soda every day the idea was that let's tell consumers there are the bad was there the litter bugs are trying this way industry should be blamed for all this waste the company has long promised to reuse the plastic.

and may look at suitable sets there's less to. stay on your phones at a special project funding me. on i knew that is the end of it for the team tough i know the mountains of waste only grow higher. truths seem wrong. but old quotes just don't hold. any new world yet to shape out these days become educated and engaged equals betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart when she's to look for common ground.

during the great depression which i'm old enough to remember there was most of my family were unemployed working class there wasn't it was bed you know much worse objective listen today but there was an expectation the things were going to get better. there was a real sense of hopefulness there isn't today today's america where shape by the ten principles of concentration of wealth and power. reduced democracy attack solo down to engineer elections manufacture consent and other principles according to no i'm comes to one set of rules for the rich opposite. that's what happens when you put power into the hands of a narrow sector of will switch will is dedicated to increasing power for itself just as you'd expect one of the most influential intellectuals of our time speaks

about the modern civilization of america. welcome back it was may day international workers day this week when u.k. labor leader jeremy cole would have been his didn't mention the impact on workers struggles around the world of judy the son whose pleas for clemency were rejected this week by judge debra taylor in a london court that's despite messages alleging that coleman's choice of brecht's at secretary presided over attempts to prolong the gaza ration of the world famous journalist and publisher colvin did within an hour of assad being sent down that's x. rays that make for austerity where does the prime minister think this government has gone wrong when we've reached the point where people now expect to live shorter lives may said colby. was the problem i say the right honorable gentleman that

first of all that it is not the case that people are now expecting to shorter lives and they have done in the future maybe the only feels that way every stage of life we are ensuring that we as conservatives are improving people's lives and in so many of those areas that right on the right on of agenda has done nothing but those against the policies it's got good governance. elsewhere this being international workers day the boss of the u.k. foreign affairs select committee put the boot into china and chinese telecoms company while weigh the decision that has been discussed in many parts of the world at the moment is the possibility that we will be nesting a dragon that's tom to going to have to cause this channel a hostile agent carrying out information warfare comparing the u.k. business relationships with the superpower of the twenty first century to investing dragons well someone not afraid of using the dragon motif is one of the world's greatest political cartoonists steve bell who draws for the guardian he joins me

now steve welcome to going on to go before we get to how dangerous you're as a human being it has always said you know as a as an office let's go straight to this just take us through the iconography here well it's obviously going to be is from the the screen grab from the it was a radio that you look the rock. with you with your fixed camera. where they were out twenty well there are. so many go to hear this and that's it's such a powerful because the first is the shock of whom this all brooded bloke point his finger like a sort of completely wrong all right so unexpected so it's the photograph which are obviously produced of the screen is quite shocking and then i do the other because of course it's all about. xstrata came to the states so. that more metaphor for the states is of course trump you know that there is a question to you. it's very we're going to be where you exams are but on the other

trump is such a disgusting receptacle i. quite useful that is for you trump is a toilet so because i think believe the defenders are taught it is too kind to. really i think he's beyond the he's you know creeping towards the realms of fascism in the not just creepy dorsey's galloping towards it i think he's he's dangerous as well as he was in the us ambassador in london. that well i was sure they were but it's just the idea of. kowtow to these devolves to for him to be extradited on. whatever charge they have charged him on yet or charge of either party carries a five year penalty until they decide to change it i should imagine i don't think he stands a ghost in a cat hell's chance to get a fair trial in the states and the judge in this country is already disgraced himself by calling him and also it's just think that's fairly unnecessary. and i

think. so we like about assad and that he's done vital and necessary things this in no way does raise the question of television being a visual medium and the two political hay their political good teams of the nineteenth century. even competition with the image i mean there you take you know you know i always thought plunder. photographs all the time but also plunder works of art and old cartoons as well. i'm fascinated by the visual medium we are surrounded by because we were so out of it we were drowning in imagery so how do you do how do you navigate how do you articulate these images and that's what's fascinating about cartooning is that you actually are one of the few professions is actually allowed to tinker and play with and interrogate imagery is one thing you have to. about corbin is easy to democratic policy to be lectured by nine times

as an m.p. and that's that shows at least some kind of commitment that he's depicted in the public prints i think the press and all the rest of them as a kind of terrorist somebody who's out to undermine you hear these. half wits mark francois such remarks or start by how to moderate moderate or talk to boxers which is. the sort of stupid nincompoop thing to say it's because you depicted them is the mona lisa but given she was in the sense that people don't really know what global audience will or he is in some ways spectacularly and mysterious because he's a he's an old bearded with a snaggletooth and he's got a staring right. where is tony blair had a staring left audit of those there's not much significance but have a think about staring eyes oh yeah definitely it was very important. because that's a thought i had the staring left and it was an element there was always an element

of madness about thoughts which i think i caught on to failure the on in the eighty's early eighty's i was doing it every prime minister depicted by you as an heir of madness there we. were definitely definitely the heir to that it was blair but the main here a fact it was that was definitely an element of believing her own kind of propaganda she finally went off the rails when she introduced the poll tax and against all advice pushed and pushed and it drove a party really off the rose until they go over the i was i was grew up where the vietnam war was on and the coverage of the footage the documentary footage on the news every day was horrifying and it was constant it was really graphic stuff about what was going on in vietnam which of course turn people against the wall. by the

time the pope was capable i think the state had learned it's less of the dog you keep keep the details because you control access so the concert is there here is a chance for a cartoonist to sew a mad surreal strip with peregrine's a sort of nuclear ahmed sighting so it's quite an opportunity to make actual serious comments about the whole process i mean you've insulted so many politicians of all different political persuasions and being so i suppose their relatives would say up pulling to them and yet it was israel out of all the different subjects that you were finally spike for one cartoon or have you been censored but there are of been sport before that. so what would the recent thing which is the erosion of the us in the university of magic held by israel says.

i mean i notice that there are so shocked by it for us and there's this image of her as it is of a ruler who would with a headscarf and i wanted to do a tribute it was a desire to make it because. it was being forgotten and i looked on the look did a search of the go there was no there was one story i was one mention of and this is this this is happened several days before i was quite shocked to this so i wanted to. netanyahu is on a visit to bering street so i took the traditional image in front of the fireplace which is where heads of state meet the prime minister and times with a flag out of the fireplace in the middle paper overlaid a meaning they said this is a reference to the gas ovens of the of the second one i i was so shocked that they should've taken that firstly it's easy to read what he here but also it's based on a fundamental truth bit of racism in the sense that identifies. all of them you

know if you voice netanyahu as representing all jews i know history that which is what he wants people to put out in them and the man doesn't even represent the israeli state he represents he's own interests he's corrupt he's a he's a well the guy i'm not my own he's a silly proceeding and yes. you have been indicted here he's unspeakable and so it was a sort of heartfelt and but the paper sort of stopped it and the worst thing was they wouldn't discuss why. it was closed down and just go out and i was very disappointed about it and of course the saudis once the fox of ranch sensitive you know is running and people are you know there's a kind of. groupthink takes over and it's very hard to make points once the idea that it's a reference to gas ovens which of course he's you know oprah. so people are on the side of caution and the the cartoon was lost i've been there for the. coming up to

forty years i think you know you know years this year i've been working for them. and you know they generally i do it send it occasionally there's a not for some reason usually taste and decency or it could be law able that's another thing that's obviously but then you learn how to steer around that sometimes a bit like juggling with high explosives but it's not it's also it's important in the speech so i think cartoonists we have the opportunity to do that because i have to quote this though this chomsky quick censorship is never over those of experienced it's a brand of the imagination that effects the individualists it forever. you don't feel that censorship you're still with all the strictures you just outlined whether it be liable and no i don't i don't feel so you know i don't feel i'm heavily said satori no no i mean on my mug on my most vigorous editor you on the one who takes decisions on your troy these are testing things you know you know you're pushing

things. getting away with things if you like but you're always doing it i was so responsibly ongoing saga like rex's. does it get more and more difficult to come up with you you raising a lot of dollars and dimensions to the story the thing about things like bricks is it becomes it takes over and weirdly people get more interested in politics at that time it was boring it's ridiculous it's endless trying to find a new a new metaphor for treason most useless niceties is difficult it's one of those issues i've always felt sort of fairly neutral about oddly enough yet it's whipped up into a kind of divided the whole of society between louis was a rebellious which i think is absolute it's not it's a do diversion practical politics we've been diverted from politics for years now because of this stupid internal tory carty norms and every day of. the world it

was on the b.b.c. you get ten different brands of tory m.p. talking giving us their views as if politics is just about what happens in the tory party i mean it's such a such an irrelevance it's i lied lose it for that reason but it's very funny it's very this is a very stupid deeply ridiculous. seatbelt thank you that's it for the show will be back on monday with a brazilian philosopher rebuttal under who once told barack obama and joe that he would not try social media she on monday. i need to know more on the. number one. total.

not he didn't. you already go to post did you see this move for you. max geysers financial survival guide. housing bubble. oh you mean there's a downside to artificially low mortgage rates don't get carried away that's guys report. you know world of big partisan lot and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door on the back and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now

for watching closely watching the hawks. donald trump and a lot of important discuss the crisis in venezuela just hours after u.s. congresswoman and slap down by the secretary of state for suggesting washington's actions there have only been making matters worse. being in the use of sanctions to eventually into mean leaving america first this way it's not only ignored it's discussed. the u.s. cool is considering whether to paint over a mural dedicated to founding father george washington after the artwork was deemed at risk of traumatizing native american and african american students. it's part work which is a tribute to this person to the legacy of this person.