UN rapporteur says Sky News & BBC World dropped his interview on Assange torture
UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer said that interviews he recorded with Sky News and the BBC on Julian Assange were never broadcast, as he responded to criticism on Twitter for appearing on RT.
Update: On Sunday, Nils Melzer wrote on Twitter that a viewer told him that his interview with Sky News “was in fact aired, but it seems it has not been made available online.”
Melzer was replying to trolling he received for appearing on “premier propaganda network” RT by Idrees Ahmad when he made the disclosure about the media outlets’ alleged dropping of his interviews.
UK's @BBCNews and @SkyNews censored exclusive interviews with UN Torture expert @NilsMelzer showing overwhelming evidence that Assange has been deliberately exposed to progressively severe forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. https://t.co/O1vTYnnnI2
— Defend Assange Campaign (@DefendAssange) June 2, 2019
So the BBC and Sky kept the UN's expert on torture off air, and viewers were denied the chance to hear that, in his expert opinion, the UK state has subjected Julian Assange to torture. I'm struggling to understand how that decision could be justified by any normal news values https://t.co/Fkx3hbtlyf
— Jonathan Cook (@Jonathan_K_Cook) June 2, 2019
“For the record: On 31 May, I have also given similar exclusive TV interviews to both @SkyNews and @BBCWorld,” he said, adding, “but it seems they decided not to broadcast them.”
Melzer spoke to a number of media outlets, including RT and Democracy Now, this week about his assessment that the jailed WikiLeaks founder is suffering from the effects of psychological torture as a result of his ongoing detention and threats of being extradited to the US, where he faces 17 charges under the Espionage Act.
Thank you @NilsMelzer for being so active on social media making certain ur report on #JulianAssange's sustained abuse by democratic States is spread far & wide!And having the courage to pushback on those trying to silence us @Jeremy_Hunt and the likes.#ProtectJulian#Unity4J
— ⏳Plucille⏳ (@Plucille54) June 2, 2019
News suppression is the order of the day
— Celia D 🇪🇺London voted to #Remain #REVOKE💚 (@Celia3D) June 2, 2019
@ofcom I guess this is clear evidence of suppression of factual information by @BBCWorld and @SkyNews . Not reporting this is painting a false picture about what is happening with #Assange
— Manoj (@ManojMistryUK) June 2, 2019
That's interesting. Could it be because they then would have to admit to being complicit in manufacturing consent for the maltreatment and torture towards Julian?
— Julius (@j_b_t) June 2, 2019
The UN expert also accused “a group of democratic States” of “ganging up” on Assange to “isolate, demonize and abuse” him.
BBC Radio did air an interview with the UN rapporteur and he was quoted in an article on the BBC website, but no video interviews appeared on BBC or Sky News.
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