Craig Murray Sentenced to 8 Months for Contempt of Court

I’ll stretch Fair Use a bit from Elmaazi’s coverage above, as I have no idea why it’s copyrighted, and as many people as possible need to know:

“A three-judge panel determined on March 25, 2021—following a two-hour trial in January—that information published by Murray in a number of his blog posts was likely to lead indirectly to people being able to identify witnesses in Salmond’s sexual assault trial.

This process, known as “jigsaw identification,” refers to the possibility that a person may piece together information from various sources to arrive at the identification of a protected witness.”

Murray, who along with Salmond, is a proponent of Scottish independence, denied the charges, saying he’d gone to great lengths to cover the trial without identifying the witnesses.

A Politically Motivated Stitch-Up

“Murray was critical of the prosecution of Salmond which he described as a politically motivated stitch-up, a fact which appears to have irked the judges in his case.

For his part, Murray contends the charges against him are politically motivated as a result of his support for Salmond.

Salmond was acquitted by a jury on all 14 counts of sexual harassment and assault brought against him. However, that fact was considered irrelevant by the court when deciding the contempt of court case against Murray.

Before Salmond was tried in March 2020, evidence had already emerged of a potential conspiracy against the former leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP).” [...]

“According to Kerr, Dorrian, who presided over both Salmond’s trial and Murray’s contempt of court proceedings, “has led the campaign to get rid of juries in the cases of sex offenses in Scotland.”

The Scottish government has been looking into specialized legal proceedings in sex offense cases, whereby complainants might be able to give evidence via video link as a matter of course and where judges would give the final verdict as to guilt or innocence.”

@CraigMurrayOrg Jun 8
‘Really interesting refusal of appeal today by Lady Dorrian. Justifies the selective prosecution of a blogger, when mainstream journalists committed far more "jigsaw ID". Says different standards should apply to bloggers and mainstream media.’

@CraigMurrayOrg Jun 8
‘A huge constraint on freedom of speech, media and right to fair trial. Explains why to this day most people do not understand the compelling third party evidence that led to acquittal. Verdict in my case makes it impossible to clear public name of accused even if acquitted.’

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wendy davis's picture

is boundless, including his tireless work on behalf of julian assange and wikleaks.

i wanted you to be aware of all this if you haven't been, even though it's doubtful i'll be able to be back to answer any comments. (RL here is pretty raggedy-ass again, and my home website is still broken.)

may the UK supreme court do the right thing!

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his support for, friendship with and advocacy for Assange is also involved at some subterranean level.

Eight months for a man with chronic health issues amounts to a slow motion execution. Thank the lord is remains free for now and I hope that in addition to preparing for the appeal, he will receive a thorough physical examination from a private physician.

I gather that registration in the Alba party continues to climb.

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Mary Bennett

@Nastarana political legal matter. The prosecuting judge was stung by the jury in the Salmond case. As imperfect as the jury system is, it is a check on judges, prosecutors, and witnesses for the prosecution. One, and possibly all three, fell far short for the jurors. From Murray's reporting, sure looked to me as if all three did their best to convict a man that wasn't guilty. So, the Crown stitched together another flimsy case -- flimsier than a garden variety perjury case that prosecutors love when they can't get any other conviction -- with an automatic conviction since no jury would be involved.

The prosecutors and judges (magistrates, whatever) in the Assange, Salmond, and Murray cases should hang their heads in shame of the travesty they've made of their judicial system.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

... (If we can agree what totalitarianism actually is. I see it as forced conformity devoid of self expression — and completely unrelated to any particular economic system. It can spring from any government system that runs by consensus. Thus, it is not a dictatorship.)

I wish we didn't have to watch the crushing of intelligent awareness in real time. While the majority of American People have lost trust in the US government in recent years, most have learned to cope with totalitarian pressures by denying the built-in predatory forces that systematically degrade their wellbeing and pull the unlucky ones beneath the murky waters each year. The Media cohort works with the invisible totalitarian system to control the minds of the People. It delivers a propaganda narrative about evil enemies about to attack and the potential wars that must occur. It also delivers divisive scandals, news-fiction, dubious accusations, and other distractions to steer the official narrative. There is a permanent cloud of confusion caused by the daily geopolitical gaslighting and government lies, and People are increasingly suspicious and making noise about it, so the inevitable crackdown on truth-telling can't be held back any longer.

In this community, witnessing the violent assault on truth and the meanings of words (and watching the slow murder of journalists and the quick murder of activists) is demoralizing. This is especially the case for those who understand what these isolated actions foretell.

Members of younger generations, at a time like this, should develop a mild, apolitical, social profile for themselves. Younger working folks will benefit later by appearing to conform now. Let older people protest and keep the gestapo busy.

Anonymity on the Internet is everything, going forward from here. I would advise younger generations on any career path to stay up-to-date with the EFF — Electronic Frontier Foundation — and follow along as their protocols continue to evolve. Offline, politics should be low key and middle of the road in one's life. Our lives are tracked in myriad ways. There will come a time when those well placed in the economy may be in a position to expose criminal corruption, predatory practices, and economic or legal abuses. In a nation-wide clean up the missing regulations and necessary reforms will be crystal clear.

Who knows, however, if reform can take hold on the way down — before the US hits rock bottom. Moreover, reaching a consensus among the People of what a "better lives" means is an even greater challenge. I read recently that Americans know almost nothing about Human Rights. Ninety two percent have never heard of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was unanimously approved in 1948 at the UN — even though Eleanor Roosevelt chaired this landmark project. Human Rights as a subject appears in no curriculum in US Public education, and Americans do not know how to speak the language of Human Rights. They don't know how to speak from the perspective of someone who has experienced Human Rights. Of the 30 Human Rights defined in the UN Declaration, Americans have only ten of those Human Rights available to them, legally. The remainder have either been denied to them or their minds have never conceived of such dignities as their due. So how could they discuss or judge the dignity and value of a human life in this world?

Economic reform has not been terribly effective in the US, where the People continue to be brazenly exploited. Those who are activists in the less provincial arena of globalism say the important thing is to Fight for the sake of an enlightened social Vision where everyone's lives improve when the Nation is successful. People are the creators of Nations, and the People will win only if the Vision wins. (Keep the focus.)All Corporations must pay a fee to operate inside the civilization we built. They must pay that fee to interact with a population of healthy, educated, economically secure consumers. Taxes come later. We are not providing a free ride for a billionaire safari.

PS: Monopolies are public utilities, they are not markets.

[typos and garbled text completely rewritten]

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

Not expecting a positive outcome, but hoping for one.
This is the Big Signal to journalist truth tellers.
Who in hell wants to risk this?
I hope his doctor(s) can take care of him.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

dystopian's picture

Good to see this get airplay. It is heartbreaking to watch the profound judicial ignorance on display. Besides all of Craig Murray's great work regarding the Salmond case - for which this is largely revenge it seems, and his tireless efforts on behalf of Assange, there is also the incredible work he did with the Salisbury Novichok case. They don't like him a bit.
Because he is a man of great courage instead of a bunch of cowards with silly wigs.

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

wendy davis's picture

for your considered comments and additions.

wd

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