the facts may not just be the absence of benefit but actually because. you can judge stuns supporters of julia the by refusing to extradite him to the us joy the decision was tempered by washington's impending appeal by his remaining in british custody we get reaction from assizes many high profile supports its. read his supporters have to be saying you have to bail him out judgement went very very far cry me the rationale that underlie you were a human and you could potentially criminalize of him but because of drug. screening groups are also concerned by the ruling because the judge largely supported america's espionage charges against the sons refusing to extradite him

over because of concerns over his mental health. vision does not inspire confidence that the u.s. government or the another state might not have time to pursue somebody else in the same way. and it's back into lockdown for england as prime minister boris johnson warns of the hardest weeks yet of the country's pandemic. hi there and a very good morning to thanks for joining us this is r.t. international. supporters of julian assange elated after the shock decision by a british judge to refuse a u.s. extradition request their relation is tempered though by the fact that he remains in custody while the americans launch an appeal wednesday the wiki leaks co-founder will find out if his bail application has been successful.

now while the extradition denial is good news for a science of course press freedom groups are still dismayed because the church maintained that the u.s. had a solid case against him rather she was concerned that extradition would adversely affect his already deteriorated mental health we spoke to neil's melzer the united nations special rapporteur on torture he's also concerned by the extent to which the british judge back to america's case. this is certainly a victory in a sense that a it's a battle won but i think you also have to be aware that the judgment went very very far in come for me the basic rationale that underlie u.s. indictment and i think that you can surely criminalize investigative journalism because dia refusal of extradition was given only based on medical grounds which are purely strictly based on his individual medical condition which is certainly

correct but it leaves the and tanner approach the intimidating persecution of investigative journalism intact and without actually having a judicial decision on this judgment it confirms this rationale and this whole narrative of criminalizing investigative journalism and before blowing it avoids even just the tiny risks that it would still have that its own supreme court in the u.s. might overcome her. a judgment against to in essence based on on the 1st amendment of the constitution as was done in the pentagon papers we have to recognize that the other investigative journalist just who may not have a most important health issue could still be extradited to the u.s. based on the exactly same charges it may not yet be the jury but it is a win

a sanjeev win now has been spent being said into the muscle metallica room out of the u.s. justice 6 . verdict was a damning indictment the sergeant. mental health how it must have deteriorated for a judge in such a politically charged case to have made it the chief consideration she just didn't believe he'd survive in a u.s. jail for years we've heard about the psychological torture of julian a songe the better part of a decade spent in hiding in fear of political persecution this taken a terrible toll and send an even more terrible message in offense to the

system has succeeded in intimidating the world and in crafting the 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. the ruling may have been a small win for a son but it's spelled to do for whistleblowers and the judge's opinion journalists shouldn't be allowed to solicit damn namely to publish and redacted scandals essential e the judge accepted almost every one of washington's arguments against the suns and by implication whistleblowers what this means is that if he is a professional citizen journalist soo much is asked for information about a potential state khon and you get it why any means but that press office you had to have a nice it a liable to be prosecuted and if you publish that information and someone feels

that someone might be threatened by it while you charge is just doubled the only reason why a journalist was not extradited and submitted to the espionage legislation the united states was his health condition otherwise he would be extradited so it's very very worrying dot's. dead jaci basically creamy now lies journalistic t.v. it is. only in the last moment $350.00 sorry the american prison system is so pretty so fresh that victory would be at risk of suicide if i sent it to the america america going to she said there's no public interest there's no we there's no defense for journalists to compete like proper journalists or you'd like to see what most journalists do recall very seriously there's no public interest

for these are these were very very tired of all of this you know this is not just about him personally it's about journalism it's about freedom it's about freedom of speech it's about freedom of the press and all those things are being undermined folks in this country are by the auction of the people of the united states. trying to get him to be extradited to the pushing this action and the socially the judge agreed with the u.s. government. on everything. which leaves a horrible precedent for future journalists activists whistleblowers even happy. the president this is said sees catastrophic that essentially outlaws not only whistle blowing but encouraging whistleblowers to do what they think is right what we're left with these as you have new ways to target and punish those with a functioning moral compass. i'm joined on the number julian burnside

he's an australian barrister who previously advocated on julian assange his behalf good to have you on 1st of all will will will deal with the issue of press freedom and son separately is this a victory for julian assange. well it's it's a win in the sense that he will not be excellent his straightaway. i'm aware that everyone is concerned that the americans are. appealing but there's nothing to stop a sound from cross appealing in relation to the issues which have been mentioned by your previous commentators and i think. on a couple of the grounds he's probably got some good arguments. in particular. there was a case which he relied on which he said was not very good but which the court was down by in the case of shiela. that a case which i suspect he might cross appeal i'm. and people are worried they are

not going to sorry i'm going to really you know the ultimate point about this is. a songes fundamental position is that he was acting as every journalist act and. if you know ever since the daniel ellsberg case in russia the pentagon papers it has been fundamental in american role that a person who merely acts as a journalist has the protection of the 1st amendment and that even if the person who leaked information to them. commits an offense it is not a criminal offense to publish that material the most notorious of the disclosures by wiki leaks was the video collateral murder which i think upset the americans a great deal it showed american didn't volved what we're on mistake to believe war

crimes. machine gunning from a helicopter a group of civilians no. that that video was released. along with a lot of other material later and. we most of us would not have heard about it except that it was republic by the major news networks across the across the world now the leaders of the major news networks are not being prosecuted they're not being attacked vindictively who are being attacked look at rupert murdoch he's welcome warmly by the president of the united states there's no suggestion that he's in trouble and yet and yet our sandra lee did nothing more then rupert murdoch has done what message do you think this sends then because the judge explained sensually that she agreed with the u.s. case does this does this send the message that if you are the 1st person to reveal

these ugly truths they will come after you. it certainly reveals that fact and that is our great a very ugly fact but. ultimately the message that matters is the is what is said by the court of appeal and. as i say my instinct is that assad will cross appeal on the various grounds which he's relied on in the extradition case and argument which seemed to me on reading the judgment were fairly good arguments . a lot of people were celebrating and i just want to try and i'm simplifying but let's let's boil it down just a people can understand let's assume the u.s. appeal and they fail does this mean julian assange is now a free money he walks away after all these years of almost self-imposed defacto imprisonment does he walk away a free man. that does depend on his by

a leper cation. but i suspect the answer is yes is that not quite incredible again not trying to detract from the a son's case but that somebody is not sent for trial not based on whether they're perceived to be guilty or not but because of their mental health not quite a strange scenario. that that would be at least drange not terribly strange because a lot of people are not cried because their mental health is against the idea and the mental his mental health would not against the idea of him facing trial but against but because his mental health was at risk if he was treated in the way the court was persuaded he would be treated if sent to america. there's no doubt he wouldn't be treated that way in britain. is there any part of you feels that this

is a little bit of a cop out by the british judge because this was such a big decision and this way the judges managed to give what the song supporters want with out actually upsetting the americans to an extent by saying actually i agree with you. that when you think about it that would be a fairly astute way of dealing with the problem if that's what the judge did and i have no idea what the judge did i don't know whether that was his thinking but if you can resolve it in a way that achieves justice without offending the americans then that's probably not a bad idea. what do you think we're looking at now going forward with that is there was some talk of maybe the u.s. president whether that be the outgoing one or the incoming one could actually. just get rid of this prosecution and say julian assange walks free is that a possibility or is that. i guess the possibility i don't know about the politics

of it. but there's certainly the possibility that biden who would give a pardon in relation to those offenses it on the other side of it would set a precedent wouldn't it again not a great perhaps decision for a u.s. president to say if you're going to reveal the unpleasant illegal things we did we may just let you go. i understand your point on the other hand what message does it send if a person can be handed to death because they disclosed popular facts about what the american government has done on the collateral murder video is an interesting example of that that showed american people involved in war crimes why would disclosure of that apart from embarrassing america why should anyone be

happy that the person who disclose that material should be prosecuted and treated the way chelsea manning was treated don't forget chelsea manning was treated look poorly for years on end while awaiting trial. and while the americans were backing the swedes in their attempts to get a songe from england to sweden because of course sweden had a witness lending program which would have meant that if a songe got to sweden he was a real at real risk of the swedes handing him over to the americans and at that time back in 2012 when he went into the ecuadorian embassy manning was being prosecuted by the americans and being treated appallingly being kept in solitary confinement. for a very long time and that is exactly the fate which a songe feared. jill it's been fascinating to speak want to say thanks so much for

your time for coming on to r.t. international to discuss this story julian burnside i guess the strain barrister previously advocated on behalf of julian assange is thank you thank you. now it is not the 1st time that the united kingdom has blocked extradition to the us jus to concerns over the accused person's mental health gary mckinnon a british hacker in 2002 was accused of breaching sensitive u.s. military computer systems if found guilty he could have faced up to 17 years behind bars in america after 10 years of legal battle to raise them a then home secretary ruled not to send him overseas citing the risk of him committing suicide r.t. spoke exclusively to mckinnon we should leave him be in this position you know 7 years during embassy the best part of 2 years in belmarsh prison for telling the truth you know he's not a criminal. jury and the killings did their best to always ensure that they live for intelligent assets in danger and it really has been journalism on trial mainly

in what do you mainly to the heavy handed us authorities but also exacerbated by this from to curiously unbalanced tradition treaty we have between britain and america can only imagine julie this is exactly the same as when i was under house arrest it was that my own house not a little door going to say. it really is. incredibly difficult it's awful i got to the point of suicide i'm short periods and suicidal thoughts and you're trying to maintain normality you're trying to fight your case you're trying to live as normal a life as you can but you've got this unbearable pressure inside and when it goes on for 7 years 10 years it gets worse and worse and worse it is really really difficult to handle stateside the committee to protect journalists has welcomed the british court's decision to deny a songes extradition its head is urging the u.s. department of justice to drop all charges against the wiki leaks co-founder. we heartened that a british court has denied the united states' request to extradite julian assange

launch the us government's decision to charge the wiki leaks founder said a harmful legal precedent for the prosecution of journalists around the world simply for interacting with their sources we as the u.s. department of justice to refrain from further pursuing extradition through appeals and to drop all charges against a stone age but u.s. prosecutors have already indicated they will appeal the extradition denial they have 2 weeks in which to do that. a closer look at washington's war against the whistleblower. so a huge win for julian a son but the usa is still not ready to back down while we are extremely disappointed in the colts ultimate decision we are gratified that the united states prevailed on every points of law raised in particular the culture jets and all of mr saunders arguments regarding political motivation political offense fair trial and freedom of speech we will continue to seek mr saunders extradition to the united states washington quickly announced it intends to appeal and continue

pursuing the extradition of julian aside this makes sense as politicians from both sides of the united states political spectrum have placed a target on his back or to argue that it's closer than in the high tech terrorists it is an attack on the international community will not for the death penalty so if i'm not for the death penalty i want to do it illegally shoot the son of a son should be assassinated actually they're tough and say if we catch you we're going to hang you whatever when the world's top military power is out for your blood you don't really stand much of a chance of julian assad were to be extradited to the united states it's pretty likely he would never be heard from again they're ready to throw the book at him he's facing 18 different charges 17 for as to be a notch and one for attempted hacking of a u.s. government computer if convicted he could face up to 175 years in u.s. prisons the law being invoked is an obscure piece of legislation known as the espionage act from 1917 it was originally used against peace activists during the

1st world war now the parts of the law that suppressed free speech had been cut down by the courts but now it's being used against whistleblowers human rights activists call it a tool of intimidation julian assange is not a government official releasing classified information without permission julian a son just simply a publisher and the case has huge implications for any journalist covering sensitive issues related to the u.s. government the espionage act. must be reformed it lacks a public interest offense if any publisher of any journalist any source finds himself subject to similar proceedings they cannot adequately defend themselves today's decision does not inspire confidence that the u.s. government or that another state might not have time to pursue somebody else in the same way so that seriously needs to be addressed and we will continue to advocate for broader reforms to strengthen protections for journalists for sources for whistleblowers because at present they were anybody trying to publish similar information to what we can at least they could find themselves in very hot water

that the case is far from over u.s. officials are very unlikely to forget all the damaging information that found its way into the public eye thanks to julian assange and wiki leaks. but. we do believe.

the earlier we spoke to roger waters founding member of the rock band pink floyd's long time supporter of julian assange she thinks that this is about will for human rights we his supporters have to be sure you have asked him now he has. way beyond any suffering that should have been meted out see him for his one small bio infringement which he sees only a crime under u.k. law a case of by him now that the man begin to live this is a battle not just for the life of a one great truly great journalist julian assange it's a battle for the survival of this human race if we give up the 4th estate if we allow. the united states government to crucify a journalist on the grounds that he revealed war crimes by them.

then we give up our access to the real world and we say ok we believe you are less and if somebody comes along and says actually you know what that's not true this government murdered journalists by machine gunning them from a helicopter in baghdad in 2007 and we know they did and here is the proof and we're going to publish it and then and and then we will say you can't do that because if you do we're going to kill you is that the world we want to live in none of the decision on the signs is bally's still on wednesday we'll be bringing you that untold of the developments related to his case as they happen.

ok let's turn again to corona virus boris johnson has imposed another national lockdown in england the country's 3rd since the spring the british prime minister said that he hopes the move will be enough to contain a highly contagious variant of covert currently spreading around the country and says the u.k. is pushing towards nearly $60000.00 new cases a day we now have a new variant of the virus and it's been both frustrating and a longing 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 we 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 meds 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 bowman says says that now more than ever we must pull together many people here are going to be extremely frustrated that the government has given them almost no notice

again for yet another major life up evil 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. well germany meanwhile is expected to extend its current lockdown the final decision will be announced after chancellor angela merkel's meeting with regional heads some german states have seen protests against the current anti pandemic regime let's get more on this now from r.t. correspondent peter oliver he joins us live from berlin peter just in from the u.k. people are upset because of a new or painful it is constant upheaval it seems in germany more lock down work but why are they it seems heading in that direction well i'm glad merkel will be meeting with the heads of germany 16 states later on tuesday almost certain that there will be an extension of the current lockdown

measures that are in place. what we are expecting to see is an extension until the end of this month however one senior social democratic party politicians social democrats part of the ruling coalition here in germany carl lauterbach who is a respected professor of epidemiology in his own right has said that there should be an indefinite lockdown put in place across germany when likely that that will be the option taken by the chancellor and the the leaders of the 16 states later on tuesday the mood music suggests it could be a 3 week extension. in view of the still too high numbers it is necessary to extend the measures and the restrictions the lock down must be extended until the end of january premature easing would satisfy our back again the numbers are still simply much too high as much is it annoys people we must remain consistent and not give up too soon again unfortunately we do not yet had the numbers we need and above are 2

little clarity due to the holidays at the end of the year. but there are still a number of questions about what will happen when it comes to schools they are supposed to go back here in germany next week at the moment we don't know whether that will happen what year groups will go back and how this will affect things like daycare and kindergartens as well now we've also seen protests across germany against covert restrictions that have been put in place they continue this weekend just gone in nuremberg him bavaria the state of bavaria put in place stricter rules in december last year where they put in place a curfew from 9 pm until 5 am in the morning well over the weekend riot police had to keep a separation between protesters against the covert restrictions and anti far counter-demonstrators suit come out as well days were some pretty oakley scenes at times.

well vaccination is the words on a lot of people's lips here in germany at the moment and yen spahn the health minister was speaking on monday saying that anyone who wants a vaccination in germany should be able to get one by the 2nd quarter of this year now that is an ambitious target germany's vaccination program has been criticized for moving at a glacial pace so far will be looking to see if there's anything more from yen spawn all the health ministry angle of merkel herself following these meetings that are taking place on tuesday as we expect to hear that germany will be extending its

lockdown that is the situation as it stands in germany with the update there live from berlin peter all of us thank you thanks to you guys at home for joining me here on our to international this choose the morning 830 here in the russian capital back with the very latest news in that it wins. the war in syria has lasted longer than world war 2. has been suffering the most almost and back in long conflict regular syrian people . smarter than them when you arrived here. i could see everything with my own eyes.