FREE CRAIG MURRAY.

CAMPAIGNING JOURNALIST JOHN PILGER JOINS APPEAL FOR THE “COMPASSIONATE RELEASE” OF CRAIG MURRAY

AS ALBA MPS CALL FOR LAW CHANGE IN COMMONS MOTION

The award winning campaigning journalist and documentary maker John Pilger has today (Thursday) called for the release of Craig Murray on compassionate grounds.  This coincides with the tabling of an Early Day Motion by ALBA MPs, Neale Hanvey MP and Kenny MacAskill MP which calls on the Scottish Government to consider the request by the Craig Murray Justice Group and the international whistleblowing community for the release of Craig Murray on compassionate grounds.  In addition the motion calls on the Scottish Government to introduce emergency legislation to allow civil prisoners to be treated in the same way as criminal prisoners which would allow the option of early release on tag to be considered.

In a statement ALBA Westminster Leader Neale Hanvey MP said:

“ There has been a double standard applied to Craig Murray which has seen him imprisoned as a blogger while others in the mainstream media have not been sanctioned.  Not only that he has been treated more harshly as a civil prisoner than if he had been convicted of a criminal offence. 

“ This inhumane and punitive treatment of Craig Murray must end.  That is why along with Kenny MacAskill I have tabled a Commons motion calling on the Scottish Government to heed the request by the Craig Murray Justice Group, the international whistleblowing community and now the human rights campaigner John Pilger to consider the release of Craig Murray on compassionate grounds as a matter of urgency.

“ I am delighted that John Pilger has added his considerable stature to this call.  His support will be warmly welcomed by Craig, his family, friends and supporters.

“The  Scottish Government must also act to address the inequality in Scots Law which sees Craig treated more harshly as a civil prisoner by bringing forward emergency legislation to allow civil prisoners to be treated in the same way as criminal prisoners”.

In a statement John Pilger said:

“ Craig Murray is not a criminal.  He is in prison because a judge uniquely claimed his journalism was in contempt of a criminal case under an arcane provision of Scottish law.

“ This was never tested before a jury.  Craig is a ‘civil prisoner’ – a gentle, intellectual man who has serious underlying health heart and lung issues.  There has recently been an outbreak of Covid-19 in the immediate vicinity of Craig’s prison cell.  Craig Murray should be released immediately on tagged home release, if necessary.  Otherwise, his life is at risk.”

ENDS

EARLY DAY MOTION

The Imprisonment of Craig Murray

That this House notes with deep concern that Craig Murray is the first journalist in 70 years to have been imprisoned in Scotland for media contempt of court and the first and only person to be imprisoned for ‘jigsaw identification’; further notes the inequality in Scots law which sees him treated more punitively as a civil prisoner than if he were to have been convicted of a criminal offence; calls on the Scottish Government to bring forward secondary legislation to address this inequality and further calls on the Scottish Government to consider the request by the Craig Murray Justice Group and the international whistleblowing community for the release of Craig Murray on compassionate grounds.