Markus Andrews

Nils Melzer says a lot of very striking things. The UN special rapporteur on torture says the way that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his most famous source, Chelsea Manning, have been treated by the US and UK authorities amounts to just that – torture. What is more, this mistreatment is not by chance, not a simple, unanticipated byproduct of the authorities’ efforts to stop the leak and publication of their secrets. Rather, this mistreatment is intentional, intended not only to silence them, but to intimidate and threaten others too.This is why he says what has happened to the pair, as Washington seeks to punish and prosecute firstly Manning and now Assange, amounts to “persecution”.“When I say persecution I feel that the instrument of prosecution is being used for ulterior motives, for political motives, and that is what turns a prosecution into a persecution,” Melzer tells The Independent. “It is not used genuinely to prosecute a crime, but it’s used to intimidate journalists worldwide and publishers worldwide.” More

The former Metropolitan Police commissioner has said the UK will be less safe now the country has left the EU and the Brexit process is complete.  Sir Ian Blair’s remarks came after Priti Patel claimed the nation could be made safer after exiting the bloc by police and security agencies being handed “even tougher powers”.Sir Ian rejected the suggestion, and pointed to the loss of the European Arrest Warrant and a major EU database which had been accessed more than 500 million times a year by British police.“We’ve lost powers,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday. “We’ve lost full access to Europe-wide, real-time, interrogatable databases on criminal records, DNA, fingerprints, criminal intelligence.”Sir Ian, the Met chief between 2005 and 2008, added: “The police have been quietly beating the drum, saying, ‘This is going to make us less safe’. And I’m afraid that is what is going to happen.”Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, Ms Patel claimed banning foreign criminals who have served more than a year in jail from entering the UK would be among the “stronger powers” which could soon be given to British authorities.However, the EU has made it clear that under the agreement struck before Christmas, the UK would not enjoy the same level of “facilities” on policing and security issues as before. An EU briefing note said the UK would no longer have “direct, real-time access” to sensitive databases.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayOne of the biggest changes for police and security officials will be the loss of the Schengen Information System II (SIS II) database, which officers had been able to search automatically alongside the Police National Computer. More

Arlene Foster on the Irish sea borderUK residents of Spain seeking to return to their homes were wrongly turned away by British Airways staff at Heathrow as they prepared to fly home. UK nationals attempting to reach the Netherlands have also been turned away since the Brexit transition phase ended.It comes as Conservative MPs in the north of England have urged Rishi Sunak to set aside billions to fuel the region’s economy amid fears the pandemic will widen the gap between London and “left-behind” areas.Jake Berry, chair of the Northern Research Group of more than 50 Tory MPs, said “we expect this government to invest”, and did not rule out his group pushing their influence in the Commons if progress is not made on Boris Johnson’s promise to “level up” the regions.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayShow latest update
1609771852What would new national lockdown look like?Scotland will return to lockdown from midnight with pressure building on Boris Johnson to implement new measures covering all of the UK.Will these measures take us back to March? Tier 5? Or something nearer the November lockdown?Our reporter Chiara Giordano considers what the new lockdown might look like:Liam James4 January 2021 14:501609770325Nicola Sturgeon announces new Scotland lockdownNicola Sturgeon has announced new lockdown rules meaning everyone in mainland Scotland must stay at home except for essential purposes, effective from midnight tonight until the end of January.
Ms Sturgeon said it was essential to act now to prevent infection rates soaring to the levels currently seen in London and the southeast.“Our overriding duty now is to act quickly to save lives and protect the NHS,” she said. “Delay or prevarication in the face of this virus almost always makes things worse, not better, even if it stems from an understandable desire to wait for more data.”Follow updates from the Scottish first minister’s announcement here:Liam James4 January 2021 14:251609769505Sadiq Khan joins urgent calls for national lockdownLondon mayor Sadiq Khan has called for the government to order a national lockdown “as a matter of urgency”, in an appearance on LBC just now. Liam James4 January 2021 14:111609768541Post-Brexit port traffic expected to build over coming week, says freight group Ports have been quieter than usual on the first weekday since post-Brexit rules came into effect but a representative for the freight industry said traffic is expected to build as the week goes on.Rona Hunnisett, from Logistics UK, which represents the freight industry, said traffic levels were lower than usual at the moment due to a number of potential reasons including stockpiling by businesses in anticipation of delays, the closure of non-essential retail due to Covid-19 and a slow return to business after the Christmas break.“We anticipate that traffic levels will build during the week and over next weekend,” Ms Hunnisett said.Liam James4 January 2021 13:551609767365Britain to Ireland freight travel ‘slow but steady’, says Dublin port officialPost-Brexit freight travel between Britain and Ireland is going “slow but steady”, a Dublin port official said. Tom Talbot, head of customs operations for Dublin Port, said they are still seeing very low levels of trade because of the time of year.“This has provided a good opportunity for ourselves, for trade, for business to build familiarity with the system, with new procedures,” Mr Talbot said.”It allow firms to build familiarity with procedures that apply to trade and new trade with Great Britain and the arrangements that are in place across both Rosslare and in Dublin Port.”To date there has been really good engagement with both trade and business and that will continue to ensure that smooth flow, and I am confident that will continue in the days and weeks ahead.” More

Boris Johnson said on Monday morning that there is “no question” that tougher measures will now be needed to tackle rising Covid infections.
The prime minister said the impact of tier 4 measures introduced before Christmas remained “a bit unclear”, and added: “If you look at the numbers there’s no question we will have to take tougher measures and we will be announcing those in due course.”
So how soon might those tougher measures be announced? Mr Johnson is reportedly convening the government’s key “Covid-O” committee on Monday to decide on any changes to the regime.
A Downing Street source told The Daily Mail ministers were considering putting even more areas of England into the toughest tier 4 – which already covers 78 per cent of the population after recent changes which came into effect on New Year’s Eve.Plans for a return of shielding for clinically vulnerable people in England are being drawn up by Mr Johnson’s government, The Daily Telegraph has reported.Possible closures of schools are also under review, with the PM set to make “an assessment” of the situation by Wednesday, according to The Times.Any action taken over the next few days may not be the last of the tightening see in January – with widespread speculation that the PM will have to consider a new “tier 5” category or another full-scale national lockdown if cases and hospital admissions do not come down.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayTory MP Neil O’Brien said: “We need to do something big to slow the explosive growth and stop hospitals being further overwhelmed.”
Speaking during a visit to Chase Farm Hospital in north London on Monday, Mr Johnson said there were “tough, tough” weeks to come without setting out any timetable for action. More

Health secretary Matt Hancock has said that Boris Johnson’s tier system is “no longer strong enough” to deal with the new more virulent variant of coronavirus.As the government came under increasing pressure for tighter restrictions to rein in soaring hospitalisations and deaths, Mr Hancock did not rule out a new national coronavirus lockdown or school closures.But he blamed public behaviour for increasing infections, saying: “What matters is, yes of course, the rules that we put in place, but it is also about how people act.”Mr Hancock hailed the roll-out of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19, which was administered to patients  on Monday for the first time since gaining regulatory approval last week.But he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The new variant of the coronavirus makes life much harder for everybody. It makes it harder to control the spread, because it passes on so much faster. “It means that the old tier system, which was clearly working, is no longer strong enough.” Mr Hancock fuelled expectations that areas currently in tier 3 could face a move up to tier 4, after the government’s Coronavirus Operations (CO) committee meets today, saying ministers were ready to move “incredibly quickly” if necessary.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekday“There are tier 3 areas of the country where the virus is clearly spreading and increasing, and in fact some of those areas are where it is increasing the fastest,” he warned.“We have shown that we are prepared to move incredibly quickly – within 24 hours if we think that is necessary – and we keep these things under review all the time. “We look at the data on a daily basis and we can see at the moment that there are significant rises, especially, as I say, in the areas that are still in tier 3.”Tier 3 measures currently cover 22 per cent of the population of England – some 12.2m people in areas including much of Yorkshire and the southwest. A move to tier 4 for these areas would mean shutting non-essential shops and a “stay home” order for residents.Speaking on Monday morning as teachers go into revolt over plans to reopen classrooms amid rocketing cases, Matt Hancock said the spread was “down to people’s behaviour” rather than government policy.All teachers’ unions have now called for a “pause” in the return to schools, which is happening in some areas of England today, while Labour has meanwhile urged the government to impose a national lockdown similar to the one in November.Asked whether another lockdown was necessary, Mr Hancock told Sky News: “We don’t rule anything out, and we’ve shown repeatedly that we will look at the public health advice and we will take the public health advice in terms of what is needed to control the spread of the disease.”This new variant is much easier to catch, it is much more transmissible, and we’re now seeing the effect of that in lots of different parts of the country, unfortunately.”And it means that whereas the old Tier 3 was able to contain the old variant, that is proving increasingly difficult in all parts of the country.”But asked whether the government’s existing Tier 4 restrictions were working, the health secretary appeared to shift blame onto the public, telling the broadcaster: “It is down to people’s behaviour, frankly. What matters is, yes of course, the rules that we put in place, but it is also about how people act.”And frankly what I would say is this: it is critical that everybody in the country does all that they can to reduce the spread of the virus.”Challenged on his remarks, he said that his comments were not “about blame” but rather “how we collectively as a society keep this under control for the next couple of months until the vaccines make us safe”.Many of England’s primary schools are returning to work this week, including in Tier 4 areas where the spread is the highest.But secondary schools across the country staying closed until at least 18 January except for vulnerable and key worker children.
It is down to people’s behaviour, frankly. What matters is, yes of course, the rules that we put in place, but it is also about how people act.Matt Hancock, health secretaryIn a joint statement, all unions that represent staff at schools – the GMB, NAHT, NASUWT, NEU, UNISON and Unite – this morning signed a statement branding the government’s handling “chaotic”.”Bringing all pupils back into classrooms while the rate of infection is so high is exposing education sector workers to serious risk of ill-health and could fuel the pandemic,” they said.Unions called for reopening to be paused for all but vulnerable children and those of key workers, and for a remove to remote learning and vaccinating school staff.Turning to Boris Johnson’s claims about school safety, they added: “Instead of casually asserting that schools are safe, the Prime Minister should sit down with unions to discuss a joint approach to ensuring safe working arrangements in all schools and prioritising enabling all pupils have the equipment and access they need to receive a high standard of remote learning until the safety of them and the staff in their school can be guaranteed.”But asked about the concerns Mr Hancock appeared to dismiss teachers’ health and safety worries, stating: “It is also clear that the proportion of teachers who catch coronavirus is no higher than the rest of the population.
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The health secretary said the variant was a “very significant problem” since it has been associated with a higher viral load of Covid-19 – possibly contributing to higher levels of transmission.“I’m incredibly worried about the South African variant, and that’s why we took the action that we did to restrict all flights from South Africa,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “This is a very, very significant problem … even more of a problem than the UK new variant.”John Bell, regius professor of medicine at University of Oxford, who sits on the government’s vaccine taskforce, said on Sunday there was a “big question mark” as to whether the vaccines currently being rolled out would work on the South African variant.
The government adviser told Times Radio he believed the South African variant was more concerning than the UK one “by some margin” and said he believed it was already in the UK “at very low levels”.However, Professor Bell also said it was “unlikely” the mutation would make vaccines entirely ineffective, and it should be possible to tweak existing vaccines in around four to six weeks. “Everybody should stay calm – it’s going to be fine,” he said.ITV’s political editor, Robert Peston, claimed on Monday that government scientists were not fully confident that vaccines will work on a new variant of the coronavirus found in South Africa – citing an unidentified adviser.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekday“According to one of the government’s scientific advisers, the reason for Matt Hancock’s ‘incredible worry’ about the South African Covid-19 variant is that they are not as confident the vaccines will be as effective against it as they are for the UK’s variant,” Mr Peston tweeted.Mr Hancock warned the new UK variant first identified in the south of England was “much easier to catch” than the original version of the virus, but would not commit to tougher national measures or school closures. “We don’t rule anything out,” he added.Mr Hancock also insisted the NHS would be able to deliver two million doses of the coronavirus vaccine per week if it receives enough supplies. “If the NHS needs to go faster, then it will go faster. If there were two million doses a week being delivered, then the NHS would deliver at that speed,” he told BBC Breakfast.The health secretary said the “bureaucracy” involved in signing up to be a volunteer vaccinator is being reduced. “I’ve been working with the NHS on that. For instance, there’s one of the training programmes about needing to tackle terrorism. I don’t think that’s necessary – we’re going to stop that.” More

Mr Assange, 49, who enraged and embarrassed Washington when his website published details of the reality of the so-called “war on terror”, faces a total of 17 charges of espionage and computer hacking in the States. He could be sentenced to as many as 175 years in a high security jail.His fate is set to be decided by a British district judge, Vanessa Baraitser, who is due to deliver her verdict on Monday morning at London’s Central Criminal Court, better known as the Old Bailey. If the judge grants Washington’s request, a final decision will be made by Priti Patel, the home secretary, likely in consultation with Boris Johnson.Meanwhile, lawyers for Mr Assange plan to file an appeal if they lose.Mr Assange’s supporters point out the ruling, coming after a string of hearings that started in February of last year, is to be handed down in the Old Bailey’s Court 2, the same court room in which the Guildford Four were wrongly convicted of the Guildford pub bombings.A number of high-profile figures in the media world who fell out with Mr Assange during the course of his work, among them former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger, who published many scoops provided by Chelsea Manning and Mr Assange, have emerged as vocal defenders.John Shipton, father of Julian Assange, says case against his son intended to cover up war crimesOn Sunday, WikiLeaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson told The Independent the hearing was the most important press freedom case in decades.“What is at stake here is a basic principle about being able to report truthful information about our governments and the authorities,” he said. “And the precedent being set here if Julian Assange is extradited, is that nobody will be safe.”Also on Sunday, Stella Morris, Ms Assange’s partner and the mother of two of his children, repeated her call for her husband to be released.“Leading figures, from former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to Nobel Prize winners, such as human-rights campaigner Adolfo Perez Esquivel, have been calling for Julian’s freedom,” she wrote on the Mail on Sunday.“So far, there has been no pardon. But tomorrow, a British magistrate will decide whether to order Julian’s extradition or throw out the US government’s request.”She added: “Extraditing Julian would be so manifestly unjust that it seems impossible. But it is not. It is precisely at times like these when our rights are most easily taken away from us.”Among the events exposed by WikiLeaks was an incident in 2007 in Iraq when two US AH-64 Apache helicopters targeted some buildings and then bore down on a group of people. More than a dozen were killed, including two Reuters journalists. None of them was armed.“Oh, yeah, look at those dead bastards,” one US airman could be heard to say on the video footage.Wikileaks published the video and a transcript in the spring of 2010. A month later, Ms Manning, then a US army intelligence analyst, was arrested, charged and convicted.She was sentenced to 35 years by a military court, serving seven years of detention before her sentence was commuted by the outgoing Barack Obama.Speaking from Australia last week ahead of the case, Mr Assange’s father John Shipton said he feared his son would be taken to the US and “broken in an act of revenge”.“It’s just wretched injustice. I call it plague of malice,” he said.Veteran journalist John Pilger, like Mr Assange an Australian citizen, said if he was extradited, then no reporters who challenged power would be safe.He said Mr Assange was a threat to Washington because he and his organisation had “lifted America’s facade”. “It revealed America’s routine war crimes, the lies of its policy-makers and an Orwellian surveillance,” he said.“What’s more, the WikiLeaks revelations were 100-per-cent authentic. The public service this represents is unprecedented, it is investigative journalism at its finest.”A total of 17 of the 18 charges against Mr Assange have been brought under the 1917 Espionage Act, which does not permit a defendant to argue they were acting in the public interest. More

Veteran reporter John Pilger has issued a stark warning ahead of a landmark court hearing, saying that if WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is extradited to the US “no journalist who challenges power will be safe”.The 81-year-old filmmaker and author of numerous books of investigative journalism, spoke before a hearing at London’s Central Criminal Court, more commonly known as the Old Bailey, that will decide whether his fellow Australian will be sent to America to face 18 espionage and computer hacking charges. The charges carry a potential sentence of up to 175 years in jail.Pilger is among a number of high-profile figures in the media who have said the attempt by the US to punish Assange for exposing the dark side of the so-called “war on terror” represents a threat to anyone interested in defending free speech or protecting journalists who take on powerful targets.In a series of written answers to questions put by The Independent, Pilger, whose documentaries include Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia and Death of a Nation: The Timor Conspiracy, said he preferred to talk about “free journalism” rather than “freedom of the press”.“This means journalism that’s informed, honest and not part of any vested interest or groupthink,” he said.“If Julian Assange is extradited to the US, the very idea of a journalism that’s free is lost. No journalist who dares to challenge rapacious power and reveal the truth will be safe.”Pilger has been among those supporters of the 49-year-old Assange who visited him inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where he sought asylum in 2012 after skipping bail, as a court sought to send him to Sweden to speak to investigators probing two sexual assault allegations.Assange denied the claims and the probe was later dropped. His lawyers told Swedish authorities he was prepared to cooperate, but feared he may be sent from there to the US.John Pilger says Assange extradition ‘shambolic’In April 2019, after Ecuador withdrew its protection of Assange and he was arrested by London police and later charged by the US, Pilger warned of the potential danger to the health of the Wikileaks founder as he was incarcerated in Belmarsh Prison, having been sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaking the terms of his 2012 bail.He tweeted: “Do not forget Julian #Assange. Or you will lose him. I saw him in Belmarsh prison and his health has deteriorated.” He added: “Treated worse than a murderer, he is isolated, medicated and denied the tools to fight the bogus charges of a US extradition. I now fear for him. Do not forget him.”Asked why the US was so desperate to extradite Assange, Pilger said he was a threat to Washington because he and his organisation had “lifted America’s facade”.“It revealed America’s routine war crimes, the lies of its policymakers and an Orwellian surveillance,” he said.“What’s more, the WikiLeaks revelations were 100 per cent authentic. The public service this represents is unprecedented; it is investigative journalism at its finest.”Among the events WikiLeaks helped to expose was an attack in Baghdad in 2007 by two US AH-64 Apache helicopters that targeted buildings and then bore down on a group of people. More than a dozen were killed, including two Reuters journalists. It transpired none of them was armed.“Oh, yeah, look at those dead bastards,” one US airman could be heard to say on the video footage.Wikileaks published the video and a transcript in the spring of 2010. A month later, Chelsea Manning, a US army intelligence analyst who had sent hundreds of thousands of secret files to the whistleblower website, was arrested. More