the british prime minister plunges england into a 3rd lockdown it will see businesses and schools closed their doors until mid february while people are ordered to stay home also ahead. that's true. operatives judge rules against extraditing the wiki leaks founder julian assange is to the u.s. for mental health concerns but as the current editor in chief of wiki leaks points out questions over press freedom remain. a day of with when for julian assange.

we have for you cautious it is not necessarily a win for journalists and. broadcasting live from moscow to the world this isn't international quarter taking you through your world news stories welcome to the program worst johnson has imposed another national lockdown in england the country's 3rd since the spring the british prime minister said he hopes the move will be enough to contain a highly contagious variant of covert currently spreading around the country that's as the u.k. is pushing towards nearly $60000.00 new cases a day we know have a new variant of the bars and it's been both frustrating and looming to see the speed with which the new variant is spreading. scientists have confirmed this new variant is between 50 and 70 percent more transmissible in england was therefore

going to a national lockdown which is tough enough to contain this variant if come back full circle to to last march when we were told to stay home protect the n.h.s. and to save lives and that mantra was repeated by boris johnson again today and it's in force once again what it means simply enough is that people in england are being told to stay home except for a number of reasons essential shopping work if that work can't be done from home exercise urgent medical needs or in cases where someone is threatened with domestic violence and has to get out there's also significant pressure coming for parents and students as primary and secondary schools will move to remote learning from tomorrow and the closure of schools is a major government u. turn as the pm had said that he was determined the primary schools at least in england would stay open he did say that there is

a rather downbeat message of course that the oxford astra zeneca vaccine means that the biggest max nation program in the u.k. history can now be effectively rolled out and that he hopes that the most vulnerable will all have been vaccinated by mid february for goes well but berman says says that now more than ever we must pull together many people who are going to be extremely frustrated that the government has given them almost no notice again for yet another major life upheaval and is once again being reactive rather than proactive with covert 19 by the way we're back in lockdown in england and the new rules are going to become law from wednesday microbiologist at reading university simon clarke believes the situation has not been heading in the right direction. if the numbers of the factions aren't going off by definition restrictions on a working because of the very minimum they should cause them to level up ideally you want to drive them down so if the numbers are going up then then they're not

working so really there are only a few leaders left to pool and they are. closing schools and universities and restricting the amount of people that go to work on a daily basis that those who really really have. a british court has rejected washington's extradition request for julian assange and student concerns about his mental health the u.s. says it will appeal the decision and still wants to try the wiki leaks founder on espionage charges let's take a look at the reaction of the songes supporters outside the courthouse where the verdict filtered through. i think yes. that's true was you are you. are are you. the. 6

as long as julian has to endure suffering in isolation as an unconvicted prisoner in belmarsh prison and as long as our children continue to beat the wrath of their father's love and affection. we cannot celebrate. we will celebrate the day he comes home a glimpse of hope. the new year and hopefully a new era. it is a day. when. we have. a window for journalists and writers to read was absent and that was was she having read eunice on does not fit in the story a moment outside the for her was charged i was 4 'd ready to actually date

you in the sun to see the united states it has been a decision based on was meant to house friends and did was 6 to be exercised to the united states it is a very unexpected result because backed up until the last moment the judge had said the case was not as politically motivated he said she said he would not he would face it in the united states under the u.s. constitution for that 11th hour the judge actually said no to do so it would not be action i said to the united states but it is incredible scenes. just heard from star morris the partner of judy in the sun she says actually right now we cannot fully celebrate we can only fully celebrate when judas sarge is court but this is the 1st step to justice we've also heard from the wiki leaks editor and cheap christian who roughed her up to and he said i can yet it's not a win for jude in just yet nor

a win for jonas and just yet but there should be more pressure applied on to the united states for the u.s. government to finally say enough is enough because of course judas soldier has been wanted by the united states for his alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the united states and if he were to be found guilty he would have been sentenced up to 175 years behind prison that's under the u.s. is indictments of 18 counts under the espionage act for spying and publishing types of 5 documents all related to the war in iraq and afghanistan plus one of conspiracy to hack a government computer to publish these documents as well though according to judy in a sign just defense the united states was trying to prosecute you know sort of political ground it was a politically motivated case it said of course if it is politically motivated that would therefore mean that you know a soldier was exempt from actually titian under the u.k. you ask extradition treaty how as the prosecutor said the absolute opposite that it

was not politically motivated and in fact curious songe endangered the lives of hundreds of thousands of people for publishing these classified documents so although today is a victory in essence for june a songe as the judge did of course say that it was not politically motivated enough a serious concern for journalism going forward on the future of journalism as well al you know i spoke to rebecca vincent from reporters without borders and she says that journalists need to be protected so we read the very much and share the court's assessment of his serious mental health risk but we're concerned that the rest of the decision leaves the door open for possible other prosecutions on similar grounds because in. held up point until she came to that point of the decision it seemed very much that the case would have been in favor of the prosecution so without the mental health issues at play somebody else in that same situation could have indeed been extradited to the u.s. to face charges there so this pointed out broader systemic issues that need to be addressed the not the astronaut act must be reformed it locks the public interest

of fans if any publisher any journalist any source finds himself subject to similar proceedings they cannot adequately defend themselves so the 3rd it hit today was one thing stored in medical grounds of course students are just defense team said that he was totally unfit to travel to the united states both in terms of his physical health auntie's mental health of course juna son has been holed up in london's ecuadorian embassy for a whopping 7 and a half it is then he was put into a belmarsh prison for almost 2 years so his mental and physical health has been seriously deteriorating but it wasn't just his mental and physical health here in the united kingdom but what could happen to him if he were to be sent to the united states he would have had to serve that sentence if found guilty and convicted in any text colorado jail that's one of america's most notorious jails in fact home to some of the world's worst criminal lost a large truck killed terrorist you name it there in that most notorious prison and that's exactly what you did a soldier was going to be headed so that huge sentence that prospect of the future

like that was something that really meant the judeans meant to house was really at breaking point i his lawyer says that he was having suicidal tendencies and those hundreds of times a day so that is pretty much the key reason why the judge today said that that is a future that's a fate that he was not going to be facing having said that as i do mention it's not in terms of journalistic freedoms we're still out a point where the buck is not over just yet we understand that a decision on whether or not you're in a search will be granted bail or not will come on wednesday and of course the united states is appealing this verdict today. they still are on the hunt for judas signs in essence they still want to see judas sold extradited to the united states to go back to really isn't over yet but in time to support his own campaign is it outside the criminal court here today it wasn't just you know so much that was in the talk but actually the fundamental tenants and for example of the rights and

freedoms of expression i'm not depressed but also for the public to access information as well so it is a big day for tourists but there's still a long way to go when it comes to journalistic freedom. donald has been taking a look at the events that led to a song just long fight for freedom. jr and his son has come a long way from an obscure activist to freedom fighter or traitor depending on who you are one thing you can deny him though is that he led the charge that we kill leaks to dig up the secrets that america's intelligence colossus spent billions of dollars burying and he succeeded.

field reports from iraq military logs from afghanistan sensitive documents from guantanamo bay none of which made the u.s. look particularly good i would argue that it's closer to being the high tech terrorist it isn't it i mean international community i'm not for the death penalty so if i'm not for the death i don't want to do it illegally shoot the son of a. great discredit to this nation should be assassinated he should be treated as an

enemy combatant it didn't take long for a son to experience firsthand what it means to be uncle sam's public enemy the us went after the whistleblower launching a probe into his actions at the same time a seemingly unrelated sexual assault investigation was opened. in sweden a son himself though claimed it was all part of americas to extradite him by all means possible the pressure mounted so when 2012 sons requested asylum from ecuador and holed up in the country's embassy in london this kicked off what would become a long 7 years of confinement with even the u.n. calling for an end to this suffering various forms of deprivation of liberty to which julian assad has been subjected constitute a form of arbitrary detention the working group maintains that the arbitrary detention of mr signage should be brought to an end instead the old things short

from bad to even worse for a son ecuador's new president who is looking for warmer relations with the u.s. seem to take personal offense when we can leaks wrote about corruption allegations against him sanj was shown the door artie's video agency ruptly turned out to be the only outlet to catch the moment his son was literally carried out of the building some 7 years after he stepped in it. was. once u.k. law enforcement got their hands on a son they threw him in prison a proper one but the u.s. government is looking to try him under american law where the whistleblower faces more than a 100 years behind bars now every cording that emerged in line has sparked another

wave of calls to pardon the whistleblower in the tape ironically julian assange it was trying to help u.s. authorities minimize the fallout of the 2011 leaks. which will have an. hour here is that it's more your. but we have been calling. me. every day trying to explain. the holdback don trump since your given pardons to people please consider putting those who at great personal sacrifice expose the deception and criminality of those in the deep state mr president if you grants only one x. of clemency jury no time in office please free julian a'sssos you alone can save his life on hoping that he will pardon julian a songe it's the right thing to do so far trump has remained deaf to the pleas the junior and his son just saw go has been going for so long it feels like it could be

over any minute but flashing back to how it's been going so far it seems like we've just turned the page on another chapter due to the sounds of for what i have known of him is a very resilient person but he has been brought to the breaking point to 10 years of persecution. joint persecution for political reasons by sweden by the united kingdom by the us by ecuador and none of this is being addressed she's not being compensated and not receiving justice for the ill treatment you have suffered he should not have been brought to a point where you are suicidal he has been persecuted to a point where he has been broken and now they basically the system is getting him out and you know obviously that is a legal obligation but in the fence the system has succeeded in intimidating the world and happen to message that this is what's going to happen to you if ever you

have to publishing our dirty. secrets and making that known to the world. now to further discuss the assad saga we go live to our expert panel we have former cia analyst ray mcgovern. editor at gray zone dot com max blumenthal and eric surat can author and human rights lawyer everyone thank you very much for joining us now this this ruling on a son just fate i mean he's been evading arrest for years in the ecuadorian embassy and it's been over a year since he was actually arrested i want to ask all of you maybe we could start with max blumenthal was this a surprising decision to you. it was a truly despair surprising decision because you know i expected a judge to who we knew so little about who had. ruled so often in support of the british security state to simply be

a rubber stamp and what was interesting about it to me was the way that the judge's decision essentially endorsed the entire narrative of the u.s. national security state. and the 2010 cables and wiki leaks as a whole including the right of the cia to spy on assad. and at the same time they seem to find a way of saving face by deciding that a songe was indeed a suicide risk and the judge issued this studying indictment of the u.s. federal prison system a site where a son could be potentially tortured and found that mills melzer testimony in his findings or his interviews with a songe were in fact correct that's what really stunned me but it was seemingly a face saving gesture for a british security state that refused to invalidate the u.s.

department of justice's whole narrative against us. all right what do you think about the decision do you agree with max there or do you maybe have a different take is it surprising to you. and of course you would praise him for explanation is a breach. you know what happened since last year well we're going to have a new president so i don't think it's an analytical leap to suggest that biden well i put myself in biden's place do i want this mess coming into the united states 6 this despicable act where people can't defend themselves where the cia will be shown to have interfered with lawyers and others where that terrible tape on collateral murder will be shown endlessly about what our troops did in iraq and i don't need a temperature a little more off i think that's what happened i think you're going to to wash his

hands of it and of course the premise of this i think infallible and that is that the british are pretty much a fashion state of the states where it seems that going to do what she runs should not going to do what the british authorities wants she's going to do with the british authorities tell her that the m.u.'s wants and i think that explains why she changed her mind i'm delighted and this is not a new chapter this is a new book a sign you're going to be free on wednesday my only concern now is not the appeal only concern now is that he not be assassinated like so many people in the united states doesn't like you and. and eric what's your $0.02 on this. you know we're at such a pivotal time where news and truth and and getting out information is so necessary and we just it gone through a tsunami. coverups and false statements and direct lies within the united states

administration over the past 4 years and so what one hopes that can come from this is a delay a slight delay in the process to as ray says to allow a new president to come in who may take a different view of this because in the new administration despite some of the comments by biden that you rolled in a story before and all of that. this is going to become a huge distraction because what isn't being shown is to talk about the war crimes and the horrific things that were disclosed in those documents that are shameful and that put the united states at risk all around the world because of its conduct not because of the disclosures and so consequently we're going to be reliving these disclosures in the months and years ahead and if the united states

is going to go after journalists which have been going the trump administration's been doing for the last few years you know viciously in public sometimes we are going to need to. support freedom of the press and i think this case represents what do we do when people exposed long doing and where does national security and secrecy override basic human dignity human rights and morality and that balance that we're up against right now is our pivotal issues where. the years ahead and perhaps this delay as judges would like to put things off if they can is pretty common they at that point putting this off it may allow a new administration to say this is not

a battle we need at this point. what ray i want to ask you a question actually specifically about the judge's ruling and her ruling it the judge ruled out arguments that the case is politically motivated right while the song just supporters say that this is clearly. that this clearly has political grounds where do you see the truth lying. well i think the support of the complex here. the trial so to speak or the hearing was assuring age it was a disgrace british law says that there believed no extradition to the united states if if in simple logical problem and everything about that trial showed that it was a political problem so it's a to say well that doesn't matter you know the whole thing was such a travesty that i could see if i were joe biden whom with that coming over this side of the atlantic and showing all these nice miscarriages of justice in our

courts so in my view biden is is well rid of them and that you know biden was around when this came up before the 1st amendment may be of some importance to him . let's concede the fact that he and obama and the attorney general eric holder at the time did not prosecute as signs 1st i see because of what they call the new york times problem namely if you're going to prosecute a sign and you're going to have to prosecute the new york times that was a you know i was a bridge too far and thank goodness it looks like the 1st amendment may have been given a new life given the fact that the british are sparing us i am having to do this mostly because i'm convinced the u.s. told them to do this and assigned profits from this julian is

a friend of mine so i have a personal stake in this and i can't wait until wednesday when it is fully expected to be free. yeah well moving on to you know a songes saga his own you know what he's been through what max what do you with what do you make of what assad has been through over the last decade or so what do you make of how he was treated how is he held up. i think stella morris 'd made a remarkable statement today in her press conference this is julian a songes longtime partner and also a member of his legal team when she said that us agents proposed assassinating julian assange on british soil and that relates to an investigation i carried out at the gray zone based on information documents protected witness testimonies i gathered through as trial that's taking place in madrid in the national court of a cia contractor daveed more alice who through his firm you see global spied on

julian a songe by infiltrating the ecuadorian embassy not only did he spy on a subject quoting to protected witness testimony he proposed to his employees poisoning a songe there were also proposals of kidnapping a songe his partner stella morris was specifically targeted followed his legal team was followed it appears his lead legal counsel had his office broken into this all took place under the watch of mike pompei as cia so ray is absolutely correct that biden would not want this to come back home and these investigations to go from the gray zone to the media that's ignored it and beyond that the cia contractor you see global was also spying on reporters from the washington post and other mainstream publications who had come to meet with julian assange so just imagine if russia's f.s.b. or china's security services had done this to us reporters or had plotted to poison a dissident in their countries that would have been front page news and now it

seems like the security state wants to burry all of this and that is one reason i think for the ruling that it is just so much misconduct spying on his lawyers violation of attorney client privilege and again the assassination plot and i think we should know more about this and our media has displayed enormous dereliction of duty by burying these stories so far. cleric this next question is for you i want to hear your opinion on a bit of the nature of the judge's decision here i mean the decision was based soley on the wiki leaks founder is mental health right the judge rejected the defense's freedom of speech argument so number one what implications do you think this has for press freedom and if a songes mental health improves do you think that that could lead to a future extradition. well 1st of all i think it was very interesting the judge as was pointed out liberated questions about the federal prison system in the united

states and the impact on mental health which is a dialogue we're having here of people within prisons and i'll side of the mental health in hacked on those who live in such institutions and i believe the international community looks at the prison rate and other things of the united states with quite a bit of astonishment and so i believe that the judge's ruling on a more narrow ground by some time i think is it raises certain questions from a humanitarian standpoint which i think is good but really we have to look at do our courts the places that these kinds of issues around freedom of expression in such should be dealing with the courts should be dealing with these issues in reality i worked in south africa with the truth and reconciliation commission as international project there and there we learned that there are other processes to

deal with truth and these issues of attacks poisoning killing assassinations the kind of things that come out when secrets are divulged really impact us as a world and we need more truth and we need to reconcile what happened in iraq what happened in afghanistan and what is still happening and we need to to deal with these things in a constructive fashion and merely because disclosure took place of truth even though it was truth that no one wanted no one in the government wanted disclosed doesn't mean that this is espionage warranting 175 years in prison there are both sides who need to be held accountable here and how will that happen in this process. and you can bet a trial going forward is going to bring

a lot of that out and i think that that could be a reason to look forward not back but i don't think we should sweep under the rug what was disclosed by weekend groups and just focus on the disclosure and not the allegations that shocked the world. well gentlemen thank you very much for your time unfortunately don't have very much time on. our live news but we'll finish this discussion later definitely so that was former cia analyst ray mcgovern author and senior editor at their real newsmax blumenthal and eric's wrote in author and human rights lawyer thank you very much for joining us everyone that's it for this hour for more on your world news stories make sure to check out our website r.t. dot com and follow us on twitter i'll be back with more in just about half an hour hope to see you then. join me at.