Where were you when you heard that Julian Assange was "FREE?"

Julian Assange - Out of Belmarsh, but still not home 'free,' until he really is.  Maybe Thursday? This morning, I was trying to finish a cartoon with PM Albanese as the Chief Fireman, reclining with a beer on a lounge-chair, watching himself and Biden on TV, whilst, out the window, Belmarsh Prison is on fire and Assange is calling urgently for help.  As I was improving the fireman's hat, I was interrupted by a video-call from a friend in Sydney, who rang to ask me if it was true, that Julian Assange was free. 

Checking, I saw that the internet was full of "Assange is FREE!" announcements, but, in fact, he is not quite free yet.  He could even only be out of the fire, but still in a frying pan, given that he has been flown to Saipan or maybe Guam (where there is a naval base), among the Northern Mariana Islands, US-possessions in the South Pacific, where he has to plead guilty to a trumped up charge of spying to a court that should have no jurisdiction over any Australian.

But, in the short-term, anything must be better than dying in a US prison or Belmarsh in the miserable kingdom of England. From the point of view of the US and card-carrying ordures, like Mike Pompeo, who want to kill him, and should be in prison themselves, Assange has got the better of them.  Assange has won!

Apparently he is accompanied by "Senior Australian officials, including High Commissioner to the UK Stephen Smith and Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd [who] assisted in securing his release and are accompanying Assange." 

I can't wait to hear how they helped. I want a blow by blow account.  And, if they are accompanying Assange, then Assange may actually make it all the way back to Australia. Anita Brice, James Sinnamon and a few other people have for years now been standing heroically in all kinds of weather outside Melbourne's Flinders Street Station, calling for Assange's release.  All over the world and in many parts of Australia, people have been calling attention to this terrible injustice, but it has taken a very long time to get Assange out.

So far, it is sounding rather like David Hicks's homecoming. Hicks also had to plead guilty, although it was a strange form of pleading guilty, where you say you are guilty but you don't really believe it or some such.  Some time ago I did an article comparing Hicks and Assange.  It was very interesting to research. Hicks, who is only five feet tall, was recreated by press and governments into a highly dangerous gorilla-like figure with superhuman endurance. When he finally got out of the US torture chambers in Guantanamo Bay, he had to spend another year in an Australian prison, and then be under probation for more time.  The Australian Government even tried to stop him from keeping any of the money earned from his book. His book is awesome, but received little publicity. Eventually he received a pardon from the US, who held that his conviction had been unlawful.

Surviving US Government and Australian Government slurs was an heroic act of endurance in its own right for David Hicks, and Assange will have to cope with the same crap, when he deserves the highest honours. 

Instead, Assange has been accused of spying by a government with no right to do so. The irony is that Julian published information showing that the US Government is spying on everyone in the world, but they imprisoned, and tried to kill Assange, for 'spying' on them.  And the US regime will try to hit other journalists with the same bogus charge.  

So, the fight continues ...