Stella Moris, the partner of Julian Assange, speaks to the media outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Monday January 24 2022
HENRY BELL is fascinated by the underlying curiosities and contradictions of one of the great poets of the Mediterranean
DAVID RENTON recommends a books that explores the ways in which disabled people are made to feel both of and not part of this world
JONATHAN TAYLOR is fascinated by the philosophical problems that permeate the art of life-writing
GORDON PARSONS steps warily in between the lines of Britain’s most famous diarist
SIMON DUFF recommends a recording of Arvo Part that takes the listener on a pilgrimage through seemingly distant times and events of the Bible
The Trial of Julian Assange. A Story of Persecution London
by Nils Melzer
Verso £20
THIS is a remarkable book by a remarkable man, who has travelled a remarkable personal journey. While the book’s title is The Trial of Julian Assange, a key element tracks how Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, was himself tested: he was not found wanting.
In December 2018 Assange’s legal team asked Melzer to investigate the conditions under which Assange was held in the Ecuadorean embassy. Melzer dismissed the email because he “was overtaken by a host of disparaging thoughts and almost reflexive feelings of rejection. Assange? No, I certainly would not be manipulated by this guy.”
MOLLY QUELL reports on the sanctions placed on International Criminal Court officials by the Trump regime, making it increasingly difficult for the tribunal to conduct even basic tasks
