Professor Joe Cannataci is the first person, apart from lawyers, to visit Julian Assange inside the Belmarsh prison. Cannataci is the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy.
This is the same UN Special Rapporteur which made scathing remarks about Ecuador's treatment of Assange back in early April, days before Assange had his asylum status terminated by President Moreno. An April 5 announcement by the UN Special Rapporteur said there was an agreement made with Ecuador to visit Assange on April 25 in order "help determine if there exists a prima facie case of violation of privacy that warrants further investigation".
But that never happened, obviously. Instead, he has kept the date and visited Assange in prison after he was arrested by UK police on April 11. The day before, WikiLeaks announced proof the government of Ecuador was spying on Assange and violated his right to privacy with both is lawyer and doctor. Ecuador didn't waste time throwing him out the very next day.
Stefania Maurizi of repubblica.it just interviewed the UN Rapporteur Cannataci. Here is the short interview:
Professor Cannataci, how did Assange seem to be doing?
"My visit went well, Mr Assange was ready to answer my questions. We have already started gathering facts and asked questions of Assange’s legal team and of the Ecuadorian ambassador in London."
How is Julian Assange? We were all shocked by his appearance the day of his arrest…
"I am not a physician, and so I am unable to make a medical assessment of him and of course I met him in prison, which is never a pleasant place to meet, however, it seemed to me he was in fairly good condition."
Were you able to talk to him with some privacy, or were you under surveillance?
"No, my impression was that the UK authorities assured us a level of privacy intended for meetings with legal counsel. Usually in the UK prisons you have the following rules: for social meetings, like meetings with relatives, you don't expect privacy, whereas meetings with legal counsels are usually not subjected to monitoring. These kinds of meetings are held in special places, usually 10-15 small rooms where detainees can meet their lawyers confidentially. I had asked for a confidential meeting and I am happy that the UK government agreed to provide us such a private meeting."
What are you investigating exactly, in relation to this meeting with Julian Assange?
"At the end of March Mr Assange submitted an official complaint, which said that his right to privacy had been infringed during his time in the embassy of Ecuador. Together with my team, I made a preliminary assessment to see if his privacy has been infringed , therefore I am gathering the facts, these facts lead to a number of questions about behaviour which took place in the embassy. Today we are still in the preliminary stage. After my meeting with Mr Assange, I had a meeting with his legal team and then a meeting with the ambassador of Ecuador."
Will you be acting in the upcoming weeks on the images, videos of Assange’s meetings and activities in the embassy which have been circulating?
"I will certainly act. We shall be sending an official request to the government of Spain to facilitate my access to the inquiring judge in Spain. As we understand it, the images have been the subject of an investigation by the Spanish police, according to the Spanish penal code, headed by an inquiring magistrate. If and when my access is granted, that evidence might consist of thousands of surveillance footage, which will take some time to watch. I started the action within hours of my knowledge, I knew the press conference called [by WikiLeaks] the 10th of April, and by the evening of that day I had already formulated a number of questions for Mr Assange's legal team which were sent."
It has been really disturbing because whenever we journalists met Julian Assange in the embassy, our meetings were exposed to such pervasive surveillance...
"As you can see, this is not just a matter of privacy, but it is also a matter of confidentiality. There is a distinction between privacy and confidentiality, there is a matter of attorney-client confidentiality, a matter of journalistic freedom and protection of sources. There is a number of human rights that come together, there are many dimensions to the case, including freedom of expression, including whistleblowing, protection of journalistic sources."
Will you ask Ecuador questions about their role in the creation and dissemination of these files?
"I can comment on that only once I have the results on that from the Spanish investigation, we have to see who did this: whether it was an official action or rogue action."
Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.
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Posted from KURE