Difference between revisions of "Craig Murray"
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|wikipedia=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Murray | |wikipedia=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Murray | ||
|website=http://craigmurray.org.uk/ | |website=http://craigmurray.org.uk/ | ||
− | |constitutes= | + | |constitutes=whistleblower, diplomat, author, dissident, politician |
+ | |political_parties=SNP, ALBA, WPGB | ||
|birth_place=Norfolk, UK | |birth_place=Norfolk, UK | ||
|interests= | |interests= | ||
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}} | }} | ||
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− | '''Craig Murray''' is a UK senior [[diplomat]] turned [[whistleblower]], [[author]], [[blogger]] and [[human right]]s [[activist]]. | + | '''Craig Murray''' is a UK senior [[diplomat]] turned [[whistleblower]], [[author]], [[blogger]] and [[human right]]s [[activist]]. |
+ | |||
+ | In 2004, he resigned as [[UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan|Britain's Ambassador]] to [[Uzbekistan]] after revealing that the [[UK government]] knowingly used intelligence obtained by [[torture]].<ref>''[http://www.unwelcomeguests.net/309 "Vicious Cycles (US Wars and War Crimes From Vietnam to Iraq)"] - A radio show featuring Craig Murray on why he resigned as UK ambassador to Uzbekistan</ref><ref>''[http://www.theguardian.com/profile/craig-murray "Profile Craig Murray"]''</ref> For the next decade he lived {{SMWQ | ||
+ | |text=as a [[dissident]] where I have devoted my life to exposing, and trying to counter, the evil of the [[neo-conservative]] policy pursued by our political class at the behest of the corporations who fund them. I have suffered a huge loss in money, status and most of the other normal aspirations. But what I have gained is invaluable. I have respect and love, while [[Tony Blair|Blair]] and [[Jack Straw|Straw]] will forever be despised. | ||
+ | |source_URL=http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/10/decade-of-dissent/ | ||
+ | |date=October 2014 | ||
+ | |authors=Craig Murray | ||
+ | }} | ||
+ | |||
+ | On 18 March 2024, the [[Workers Party of Britain]] announced that Craig Murray would be its candidate in [[Blackburn]] at the [[UK/General election/2024|next General Election]].<ref>''[https://skwawkbox.org/2024/03/18/craig-murray-selected-to-stand-for-workers-party-in-blackburn/ "Craig Murray selected to stand for Workers Party in Blackburn"]''</ref> In the event, however, Independent candidate [[Adnan Hussain]] won the [[Blackburn]] seat.<ref>''[[Document:What Really Happens in Blackburn]]''</ref> | ||
==Background== | ==Background== | ||
− | + | Murray was born on 17 October 1958 in West Runton, near Cromer, Norfolk. He attended at Sheringham Primary and Paston Grammar schools. He graduated from the [[University of Dundee]] in 1982 with an MA (Hons) 1st Class in Modern History. From 1982 to 1984 he was President of Dundee University Students Association and was Rector of Dundee University (2007-2010). | |
==Diplomatic career== | ==Diplomatic career== | ||
Line 82: | Line 92: | ||
==Parliamentary candidate== | ==Parliamentary candidate== | ||
− | At the 2005 UK General Election, Craig Murray took on Foreign Secretary [[Jack Straw]] in Blackburn as an independent candidate | + | At the 2005 UK General Election, Craig Murray took on Foreign Secretary [[Jack Straw]] in Blackburn as an independent candidate. Murray said: "I've been approached by several people in the Asian community who are under huge pressure from Labour activists (talking up the BNP's chances) to apply for a [[postal vote]] rather than a ballot vote and then hand their [[postal vote]] over to the [[Labour Party]]." Over 50% more people used [[postal vote]]s in the 2005 General Election in Blackburn than in 2001. With 2,082 votes, Murray was beaten into fifth place and [[Jack Straw|Straw]] was re-elected. |
On 10 December 2014, ''The Scotsman'' newspaper reported that Craig Murray had been nominated by SNP members in the party’s branch in Airdrie and Shotts, whose seat is held by Labour’s Pamela Nash, to fight for the nationalists at the 2015 General Election. The report continued: | On 10 December 2014, ''The Scotsman'' newspaper reported that Craig Murray had been nominated by SNP members in the party’s branch in Airdrie and Shotts, whose seat is held by Labour’s Pamela Nash, to fight for the nationalists at the 2015 General Election. The report continued: | ||
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Hoping that [[Hugh Kerr]] is not similarly Kerrsed!<ref>[https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/12/the-aldi-snp/#comment-499044 "Craig Murray: Kerrsed by Morag"]</ref><ref>[https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/12/the-aldi-snp/#comment-499088 "Morag should be expelled from SNP"]</ref><ref>[https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/12/the-aldi-snp/#comment-499153 "Morag is a plant not a genuine SNP member"]</ref> | Hoping that [[Hugh Kerr]] is not similarly Kerrsed!<ref>[https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/12/the-aldi-snp/#comment-499044 "Craig Murray: Kerrsed by Morag"]</ref><ref>[https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/12/the-aldi-snp/#comment-499088 "Morag should be expelled from SNP"]</ref><ref>[https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/12/the-aldi-snp/#comment-499153 "Morag is a plant not a genuine SNP member"]</ref> | ||
− | ==2017 Libel | + | ==2017 Libel lawsuit== |
In November 2017, Craig Murray reported that the High Court case in which he had been sued for libel was settled in an agreed joint statement: | In November 2017, Craig Murray reported that the High Court case in which he had been sued for libel was settled in an agreed joint statement: | ||
:"On 29 April 2016, [[Jake Wallis Simons]] and Craig Murray appeared together on ''Sky News'' to debate [[anti-Semitism]] in the [[United Kingdom]]. Following that debate, Dr Wallis Simons issued libel proceedings against Mr Murray. Dr Wallis Simons and Mr Murray have now settled these proceedings. | :"On 29 April 2016, [[Jake Wallis Simons]] and Craig Murray appeared together on ''Sky News'' to debate [[anti-Semitism]] in the [[United Kingdom]]. Following that debate, Dr Wallis Simons issued libel proceedings against Mr Murray. Dr Wallis Simons and Mr Murray have now settled these proceedings. | ||
:"By this statement, Mr Murray accepts that Dr Wallis Simons is not a liar, and Dr Wallis Simons accepts that Mr Murray is not an anti-Semite. They are both pleased to have resolved this dispute amicably."<ref>''[https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2017/11/the-end-of-the-affair/ "The End of the Affair"]''</ref> | :"By this statement, Mr Murray accepts that Dr Wallis Simons is not a liar, and Dr Wallis Simons accepts that Mr Murray is not an anti-Semite. They are both pleased to have resolved this dispute amicably."<ref>''[https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2017/11/the-end-of-the-affair/ "The End of the Affair"]''</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==2020 Contempt charges== | ||
+ | A brief procedural hearing on 7 July 2020, conducted online due to the ongoing impact of [[Covid-19]] on the court system, and presided over by Lord Justice Clerk [[Lady Dorrian]] alongside [[Lord Glennie]] and [[Lord Turnbull]], concluded that Craig Murray will face contempt of court charges on 22 and 23 October 2020.<ref>''[https://www.thenational.scot/news/18566311.court-sets-date-craig-murray-trial-alex-salmond-case/ "Court sets date for Craig Murray trial over Alex Salmond case"]''</ref> Murray had written before the hearing:{{QB|I tried to do a public service in making available to everybody key facts from the [[Julian Assange]] extradition hearing and the [[Alex Salmond]] trial, which revealed a picture very different from that portrayed in the [[mainstream media]]. I find myself wishing now I had somebody to perform the same service for me. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I am particularly constrained about what I can say in my own case.<ref>''[https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/07/i-need-a-craig-murray/ "I Need A Craig Murray"]''</ref>}} | ||
+ | [https://twitter.com/YonSolitary The Solitary Reaper] duly obliged on ''[[Twitter]]'' with a thread of sixteen tweets: | ||
+ | :[https://twitter.com/YonSolitary/status/1280443798640680960 Thread] | ||
+ | :Notes of Procedural Hearing of @CraigMurrayOrg's case: | ||
+ | :HM Advocate said he thinks what some of the witnesses (for the Defendant Mr. Murray) may say are not relevant to the case. | ||
+ | :Judge said she was "surprised" to see the length of list of witnesses for the defendant.<ref>''[https://twitter.com/YonSolitary/status/1280443798640680960 "Notes of Procedural Hearing of @CraigMurrayOrg's case"]''</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | On 25 August 2020, Craig Murray wrote about "The Great Cover-Up":{{QB|The greatest cover-up in modern Scottish history is underway. I am not permitted to say more at present. I will however venture to say that this is massively bigger than just the attempt to imprison me, that most of these documents are also being withheld from the Holyrood Inquiry. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In stating they are banning [[Alex Salmond]]’s solicitors also from releasing any of the documents, the Crown is admitting their existence. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I have made a redaction to avoid any further accusation of jigsaw identification. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I am EXTREMELY keen for you to follow tomorrow’s procedural hearing where the question of what evidence is permitted will be addressed. That’s tomorrow, 9.45am British Summer Time. The dial in instructions are here. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Dial (+44)-207 660 8149 | ||
+ | Access code 137 161 9904 | ||
+ | |||
+ | I really do not know why it is a telephone system and not internet, obviously it is the court and not me. Please do listen in. I realise nothing much happened at the last two procedural hearings, but this should be very different. I am very anxious indeed that the powers that be should not get the impression that public interest is waning.<ref>''[https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/08/the-great-cover-up/ "The Great Cover-Up"]''</ref>}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | After another procedural hearing on 26 August 2020, [https://twitter.com/Cybernat61/ Alison McIntyre tweeted:] | ||
+ | :[https://twitter.com/Cybernat61/status/1298754935509655555 "Does anyone know what happened to Craig Murray in court?"] | ||
+ | On 27 August 2020, Craig Murray responded: | ||
+ | :"Not even me. I listened to it. | ||
+ | :"It goes on and on and on, with endless procedural hearings, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crown#In_the_courts the Crown] objecting to absolutely everything then making tiny last minute changes needing further hearing, and gobbling up massive legal fees. | ||
+ | :"Wear us down strategy?"<ref>''[https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1298892578906157056 "It goes on and on and on, with endless procedural hearings"]''</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Guilty as charged=== | ||
+ | On 25 March 2021, during a virtual hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh, Judges [[Lady Dorrian]], Lord Menzies and Lord Pentland found Craig Murray in contempt of court for writing blogs that risked prejudicing [[Alex Salmond]]'s trial and breaching the court-protected anonymity of complainants in the trial. A sentencing date was set for May 2021.<ref>''[https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/alex-salmond-inquiry-former-diplomat-craig-murray-guilty-of-breaching-court-order-jv7tblj7g "Alex Salmond inquiry: Former diplomat Craig Murray guilty of breaching court order"]''</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | On 11 May 2021, five days after the [[2021 Scottish Parliament election]], the High Court in Edinburgh ruled that Murray's coverage of the former First Minister’s trial led to “[[jigsaw identification]]” of complainers who made allegations against him, and sentenced Murray to eight months in prison for contempt of court. At the virtual sentencing, Lord Justice Clerk [[Lady Dorrian]] explained that Murray deliberately risked [[jigsaw identification]] and that revealing complainers’ identities was “abhorrent”. She said it was “particularly so, given the enormous publicity which the case in question attracted and continues to attract” and said his actions "strike at the heart of the fair administration of justice" and created a risk that future complainers would be reluctant to come forward in high-profile cases.<ref>''[https://www.scotsman.com/news/uk-news/craig-murray-blogger-and-former-diplomat-sentenced-to-eight-months-in-jail-for-contempt-of-court-relating-to-alex-salmond-trial-3232009 "Craig Murray: Blogger and former diplomat sentenced to eight months in jail for contempt of court relating to Alex Salmond trial"]''</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Craig Murray was initially given 48 hours to hand himself in to a police station in Edinburgh, but after a challenge by his lawyer [https://twitter.com/roddyqc Roddy Dunlop QC,] this was extended to three weeks so Murray can appeal the sentence to the [[UK Supreme Court]]. Murray was also ordered to surrender his passport by 19 May 2021, after Dunlop told the court he was due to appear as a witness in a hacking trial in [[Spain]] involving [[Julian Assange]], the [[WikiLeaks]] founder.<ref>''[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/11/former-ambassador-craig-murray-jailed-for-alex-salmond-case-blogposts "Former ambassador jailed for Alex Salmond case blogposts"]''</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==="Sad day for Scottish justice"=== | ||
+ | Writer, journalist and documentary filmmaker [[John Pilger]] said: “In these dark times, Craig Murray’s truth-telling is a beacon. | ||
+ | |||
+ | “He is owed our debt of gratitude, not the travesty of a prison sentence which, like the prosecution of [[Julian Assange]], is a universal warning.” | ||
+ | |||
+ | Professor [[Noam Chomsky]] said: “Craig Murray has compiled a remarkable record of courage and integrity in exposing crimes of state and working to bring them to an end. | ||
+ | |||
+ | “He fully merits our deep respect and support for his achievements.” | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[ALBA]] MP [[Kenny MacAskill]], [[Scotland]]’s former Justice Secretary, who is also a lawyer said: “This is a sad day for Scottish Justice. The idea that all problems emanate from Westminster is absurd. | ||
+ | |||
+ | “There are deep rooted structures and historic inequalities that scar Scotland. They require change and that cannot await independence, especially when those legal structures are already devolved.” | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[Gordon Dangerfield]], a Solicitor Advocate who does not represent Murray, added: “The way in which Craig Murray has been singled out by the prosecuting authorities in this case is a national scandal which should concern anyone who cares about the rule of law in Scotland. | ||
+ | |||
+ | “The whole concept of ‘jigsaw identification’ also needs to be rethought and I fully support Craig’s appeal.”<ref>''[https://www.thenational.scot/news/19293484.craig-murray-jailed-eight-months-reporting-alex-salmond-trial/ "Craig Murray jailed for eight months over reporting of Alex Salmond trial"]''</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Appeal to UK Supreme Court=== | ||
+ | On 8 June 2021, Craig Murray tweeted:{{QB|"Judgement is here. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Leave to appeal to the Supreme Court is refused by [[Lady Dorrian]]. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Imprisonment is suspended until 6 July 2021 while we apply direct to the [[UK/Supreme Court]] to hear the appeal."<ref>''[https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1402235958129483785 "Imprisonment is suspended until 6 July while we apply direct to the Supreme Court to hear the appeal"]''</ref>}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | On 29 July 2021, the [[UKSC]] refused Craig Murray permission to appeal which means he has to serve 8 months in jail.<ref>''[https://www.scottishlegal.com/article/craig-murray-to-be-jailed-after-supreme-court-refuses-permission-to-appeal "Craig Murray to be jailed after Supreme Court refuses permission to appeal"]''</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | On 30 July 2021, Craig Murray posted on his blog:{{QB|This blog will be going dark for a few months. The Queen kindly paid for my dinners for over twenty years while I was a British diplomat and Ambassador, and now she is going to be paying for my dinners again. That is very kind, I thought she had forgotten me.<ref>''[https://www.craigmurrray.org.uk/archives/2021/07/going-dark/ "Going Dark"]''</ref>}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Summarised in a tweet=== | ||
+ | On 30 July 2021, @mhaoilein tweeted replying to @BerntCarlsson @UKSupremeCourt and @CraigMurrayOrg:{{QB| | ||
+ | '''[[Lady Leeona Dorrian|D]]''' presides over '''[[Alex Salmond|S]]''' case | ||
+ | |||
+ | '''[[Lady Leeona Dorrian|D]]''' expels [[Craig Murray|M]] for reporting '''[[Alex Salmond|S]]''' defence evidence | ||
+ | |||
+ | '''[[Lady Leeona Dorrian|D]]''' wants less juries | ||
+ | |||
+ | '''[[Lady Leeona Dorrian|D]]''' allows [[perjury]] collusion against '''[[Alex Salmond|S]]''' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Jury acquits '''[[Alex Salmond|S]]''' | ||
+ | |||
+ | '''[[Lady Leeona Dorrian|D]]''' presides over [[Craig Murray|M]] contempt case for reporting '''[[Lady Leeona Dorrian|D’s]]''' failures in '''[[Alex Salmond|S]]''' case | ||
+ | |||
+ | '''[[Lady Leeona Dorrian|D]]''' convicts [[Craig Murray|M]] without jury | ||
+ | |||
+ | '''[[Lady Leeona Dorrian|D]]''' refuses appeal against '''[[Lady Leeona Dorrian|D]]''' | ||
+ | |||
+ | '''[[UK/Supreme Court|UKSC]]''' backs '''[[Lady Leeona Dorrian|D]]'''<ref>''[https://twitter.com/mhaoilein/status/1420882022558535681 "Summarised in a tweet"]''</ref>}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Release from jail=== | ||
+ | On 30 November 2021, Craig Murray was released from Saughton Jail in [[Edinburgh]]:{{QB|Craig Murray has been released from jail. It’s completely unfair that his imprisonment was based on a precedent set by the judge at his trial who decided that independent journalists and bloggers should be held to a higher standard than the [[mainstream media]].<ref>''[https://twitter.com/RaggedTP/status/1465652835782209538 "Craig Murray has been released from jail"]''</ref>}} | ||
+ | On 4 December 2021, Craig Murray tweeted:{{QB|While in jail I submitted a new application for [[National Union of Journalists]] membership, with accompanying letter to say veteran members [[Laurie Flynn]] and [[Hugh Kerr]] would handle any process while I was in jail. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Application rejected "on legal advice" over unclear power of attorney.<ref>''[https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1467118242007289860 "Application for NUJ membership rejected"]''</ref>}} | ||
+ | Replying to a ''Twitter'' follower who suggested he should resubmit the [[NUJ]] application in person, Craig Murray tweeted:{{QB|I certainly will.<ref>''[https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1467119025243230212 "I certainly will resubmit the NUJ application in person"]''</ref>}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===ECtHR application inadmissible=== | ||
+ | On 19 July 2022, a lengthy and detailed application number 36703/22 was lodged by Craig Murray's lawyers with the [[European Court of Human Rights]].<ref>''[https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2022/11/strasbourg-cul-de-sac/ "Strasbourg Cul de Sac"]''</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | On 3 November 2022, the the case was peremptorily dismissed by Armen Harutyunyan, the [[Armenian]] judge at the [[ECtHR]], sitting alone, essentially in a single sentence:{{QB|The Court ''declares'' the application inadmissible.<ref>''[https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2211101700-JUDGMENT-from-ECHR-Registry-2-1.pdf "Application no. 36703/22: Murray v. the United Kingdom"]''</ref>}} | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==='Terrorism' in 2023=== | ||
+ | On 4 November 2023, Craig Murray posted on '''[[X]]''':{{QB| | ||
+ | :"1984 I joined the [[HM Diplomatic Service|UK Diplomatic Service]]; my first job was the [[South Africa]] desk. | ||
+ | :"Our policy was that the [[ANC]] was a [[terrorist]] organisation and [[Nelson Mandela]] a [[terrorist]] properly in jail. | ||
+ | :"So now the [[UK]] state is investigating me for '[[terrorism]]', I consider that a badge of honour."<ref>''[https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1720713528246407329 "I am being investigated for 'terrorism'"]''</ref>}} | ||
==Opinions== | ==Opinions== | ||
+ | {{SMWQ | ||
+ | |text=The naive view of the world as “goodies” and “[[enemy image|baddies]]”, with our own ruling class as the good guys, is for the birds. I witnessed personally in Uzbekistan the willingness of the UK and US security services to accept and validate intelligence they knew to be false in order to pursue their policy objectives. | ||
+ | |source_URL=https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/03/russian-to-judgement/ | ||
+ | |source_name=Craig Murray's blog | ||
+ | |subjects=enemy images, authorities, ruling class, MI5, MI6, CIA | ||
+ | |date=13 March 2018 | ||
+ | |authors=Craig Murray | ||
+ | }} | ||
+ | |||
{{SMWQ | {{SMWQ | ||
|text=For me, the death of millions of people in the [[Middle East]], and [[Alastair Campbell]]’s role in the deliberate manufacture of a [[dossier of lies]] to cause an aggressive war that led to those deaths, were life-changing events. It led me to pursue the end of the [[UK/Empire|imperialist British state]]. | |text=For me, the death of millions of people in the [[Middle East]], and [[Alastair Campbell]]’s role in the deliberate manufacture of a [[dossier of lies]] to cause an aggressive war that led to those deaths, were life-changing events. It led me to pursue the end of the [[UK/Empire|imperialist British state]]. | ||
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{{SMWQ | {{SMWQ | ||
− | | | + | |source_name=Craig Murray's Blog |
− | |source_URL=https://www.craigmurray.org.uk | + | |source_URL=https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/ |
− | + | |subjects=democracy, UK, UK/Deep state, 2020 | |
− | |subjects= | + | |date=14 February 2020 |
− | |date= | + | |source_title=Time Warp UK |
− | | | + | |text=It is to me quite incredible that the UK is still at the mercy of the whims and foibles of degenerates from not only the same class, but from within the same tiny social institutions which still confer a hereditary ability to govern a state of 60 million people now, in [[2020]]. It makes a mockery of the UK’s claim to be a functional social polity and it makes a mockery of the very notion that “democracy” has any real existence in British society.}} |
− | }} | ||
===Torture and Kidnapping=== | ===Torture and Kidnapping=== | ||
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Craig Murray has publicly supported the Al Jazeera documentary, "[[Lockerbie: What Really Happened?]]" which concluded that the [[Pan Am Flight 103|Lockerbie bombing]] was ordered by Iran and carried out by the PFLP-GC, with help from [[Hezbollah]], and if Libya had a role, it was secondary. Murray blogged that "The information on [[Lockerbie bombing|Lockerbie]] published in today’s ''[[Daily Mail]]'' from an [[Iranian]] [[defector]], matches precisely what I was shown in a secret intelligence report in the [[FCO]] just around the time of the [[first Iraq war]].<ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2577930/Iran-blew-Lockerbie-jet-Ayatollah-used-Syrian-based-terror-group-bomb-Pan-Am-108-revenge-attack-airliner.html "IRAN blew up Lockerbie jet - not Libya, says defector: Ayatollah 'used Syrian-based terror group to bomb Pan Am 103 in revenge attack'"]</ref> It was decided that this would be kept under wraps because the West needed Iran and Syria’s quiescence in the attack on Iraq." | Craig Murray has publicly supported the Al Jazeera documentary, "[[Lockerbie: What Really Happened?]]" which concluded that the [[Pan Am Flight 103|Lockerbie bombing]] was ordered by Iran and carried out by the PFLP-GC, with help from [[Hezbollah]], and if Libya had a role, it was secondary. Murray blogged that "The information on [[Lockerbie bombing|Lockerbie]] published in today’s ''[[Daily Mail]]'' from an [[Iranian]] [[defector]], matches precisely what I was shown in a secret intelligence report in the [[FCO]] just around the time of the [[first Iraq war]].<ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2577930/Iran-blew-Lockerbie-jet-Ayatollah-used-Syrian-based-terror-group-bomb-Pan-Am-108-revenge-attack-airliner.html "IRAN blew up Lockerbie jet - not Libya, says defector: Ayatollah 'used Syrian-based terror group to bomb Pan Am 103 in revenge attack'"]</ref> It was decided that this would be kept under wraps because the West needed Iran and Syria’s quiescence in the attack on Iraq." | ||
− | === | + | ===Julian Assange=== |
+ | {{YouTubeVideo | ||
+ | |code=xpimjJhKDMw | ||
+ | |align=right | ||
+ | |width=300px | ||
+ | |caption=Craig Murray's speech outside the RCJ | ||
+ | }} | ||
Having spoken in support of [[Wikileaks]] founder [[Julian Assange]] in August 2012 who, to avoid extradition to [[Sweden]], had taken up residence in the [[Ecuador]]ean embassy in London,<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlt_IiQvjNo "Craig Murray speaking @ the Ecuador Embassy"] 19/08/2012</ref> Craig Murray condemned the [[Foreign Secretary]]'s "astonishing lie" about the [[UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention]] which had ruled in favour of Assange on 5 February 2016.<ref>[https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/02/philip-hammonds-astonishing-lie/ "Philip Hammond’s Astonishing Lie"]</ref> Murray wrote: | Having spoken in support of [[Wikileaks]] founder [[Julian Assange]] in August 2012 who, to avoid extradition to [[Sweden]], had taken up residence in the [[Ecuador]]ean embassy in London,<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlt_IiQvjNo "Craig Murray speaking @ the Ecuador Embassy"] 19/08/2012</ref> Craig Murray condemned the [[Foreign Secretary]]'s "astonishing lie" about the [[UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention]] which had ruled in favour of Assange on 5 February 2016.<ref>[https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/02/philip-hammonds-astonishing-lie/ "Philip Hammond’s Astonishing Lie"]</ref> Murray wrote: | ||
:"To my astonishment, the FCO Official Spokesman has just confirmed to me that the FCO stands by [[Philip Hammond]]’s statement that the members of the [[UNWGAD]] are lay persons, and not lawyers. Even though every single one of them is an extremely distinguished lawyer."<ref>[https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/02/kafka-2016/ "Kafka 2016"]</ref> | :"To my astonishment, the FCO Official Spokesman has just confirmed to me that the FCO stands by [[Philip Hammond]]’s statement that the members of the [[UNWGAD]] are lay persons, and not lawyers. Even though every single one of them is an extremely distinguished lawyer."<ref>[https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/02/kafka-2016/ "Kafka 2016"]</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | On 10 December 2021, at the Royal Courts of Justice, the [[US]] appeal against the January 2021 ruling not to extradite [[Julian Assange]] was decided in America's favour. Craig Murray wrote:{{QB|On leaving the High Court, [[Stella Moris]] and I both gave impromptu speeches to the waiting crowd and media. The [[BBC]] carried this live until I mentioned [[US]] [[war crimes]], when they hurriedly cut it off. These below are the full speeches, and the video should start at the right point. We had come straight from consulting with [[Gareth Peirce|Gareth]] after hearing the Judgment, so remember what I have told you and consider how extraordinarily well [[Stella Moris|Stella]] coped and spoke here. How can we not continue to fight?<ref>''[https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2021/12/your-man-back-in-the-public-gallery-assange-extradition-us-appeal-result/ "Your Man Back in the Public Gallery: Assange Extradition, US Appeal Result"]''</ref>}} | ||
===Skripal Affair and the Integrity Initiative=== | ===Skripal Affair and the Integrity Initiative=== | ||
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His tweets are specifically mentioned in the [[Integrity Initiative]] as having influenced people to be more sceptical of the {{on}}. | His tweets are specifically mentioned in the [[Integrity Initiative]] as having influenced people to be more sceptical of the {{on}}. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===Israeli-Palestinian conflict=== | ||
+ | In January 2024, Craig Murray went to [[The Hague]] and reported on the [[ICJ]] case brought by [[South Africa]] against [[Israel]] for committing [[genocide]] in [[Gaza]].<ref>''"[[Document:Your Man in the Hague (In a Good Way) Part 1]]"''</ref><ref>''"[[Document:Your Man in the Hague (In a Good Way) Part 2]]"''</ref> On 15 January 2024, "[[Our Man in The Hague]]" was interviewed by [[George Galloway]] on [[YouTube]].<ref>''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXkBOb8hXdY "INTERVIEW: Our man in the Hague"]''</ref> | ||
+ | |||
+ | On 20 August 2024, Craig Murray posted on '''[[X]]''' | ||
+ | {{SMWQ | ||
+ | |text=The [[International Court of Justice]] has stated definitively that the [[Israeli]] occupation is illegal and it is the duty of states not to support it. Yet in UK law it is perfectly legal to state that you support the [[IDF]] and hope that they kill all the [[Palestinians]] in [[Gaza]] But it is illegal in the [[UK]] - and carries 14 years in jail - to express support for named [[Palestinian]] organisations engaged, legally in international law, in armed resistance to illegal occupation. | ||
+ | |authors=Craig Murray | ||
+ | |subjects=ICJ, Israel, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, 2023-2024 Israel-Hamas War, Gaza | ||
+ | |source_URL=https://x.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1825886875061469586 | ||
+ | |date=20 August 2024 | ||
+ | }} | ||
==Author== | ==Author== | ||
Line 234: | Line 375: | ||
"[[Philip Cross]]" made hundreds of "hostile" edits to Craig Murray's [[Wikipedia]] page, before suddenly stopping on 8 May 2018.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Craig_Murray&offset=20180530012822&limit=500&action=history</ref> | "[[Philip Cross]]" made hundreds of "hostile" edits to Craig Murray's [[Wikipedia]] page, before suddenly stopping on 8 May 2018.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Craig_Murray&offset=20180530012822&limit=500&action=history</ref> | ||
− | |||
{{SMWDocs}} | {{SMWDocs}} | ||
− | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
<references/> | <references/> |
Latest revision as of 13:08, 21 August 2024
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() (whistleblower, diplomat, author, dissident, politician) | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | Craig John Murray 17 October 1958 Norfolk, UK | ||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | English | ||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | University of Dundee | ||||||||||||||||||||
Children | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Exposed | UK complicity in torture | ||||||||||||||||||||
Founder/Owner of | Craig Murray's blog | ||||||||||||||||||||
Member of | American Herald Tribune, Workers Party of Britain | ||||||||||||||||||||
Interest of | "Philip Cross" | ||||||||||||||||||||
Party | SNP, ALBA, WPGB | ||||||||||||||||||||
A UK ambassador to Uzbekistan who stood up and did the right thing when confronted with evidence of torture. Smeared and dismissed by the UK deep state, he continues his activism exposing Establishment lies and hypocrisy.
|
Craig Murray is a UK senior diplomat turned whistleblower, author, blogger and human rights activist.
In 2004, he resigned as Britain's Ambassador to Uzbekistan after revealing that the UK government knowingly used intelligence obtained by torture.[1][2] For the next decade he lived
“as a dissident where I have devoted my life to exposing, and trying to counter, the evil of the neo-conservative policy pursued by our political class at the behest of the corporations who fund them. I have suffered a huge loss in money, status and most of the other normal aspirations. But what I have gained is invaluable. I have respect and love, while Blair and Straw will forever be despised.”
Craig Murray (October 2014) [3]
On 18 March 2024, the Workers Party of Britain announced that Craig Murray would be its candidate in Blackburn at the next General Election.[4] In the event, however, Independent candidate Adnan Hussain won the Blackburn seat.[5]
Contents
Background
Murray was born on 17 October 1958 in West Runton, near Cromer, Norfolk. He attended at Sheringham Primary and Paston Grammar schools. He graduated from the University of Dundee in 1982 with an MA (Hons) 1st Class in Modern History. From 1982 to 1984 he was President of Dundee University Students Association and was Rector of Dundee University (2007-2010).
Diplomatic career
Craig Murray joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1984 and was assigned to Southern African Department (SAfD) to uphold the sporting boycott and the UN's mandatory arms embargo against apartheid South Africa. Craig Murray thus replaced Patrick Haseldine in September 1984 when the latter was seconded to the Office of Fair Trading following the Coventry Four affair and adverse staff appraisal reports from the South Africa desk officer David Carter and SAfD's assistant head Nigel Thorpe.
First two years
Craig Murray wrote that "My first FCO job was in the South Africa Section as the South Africa (political) officer, at a time when Apartheid was in full sway in South Africa. It was the official policy of Her Majesty’s Government to oppose international sanctions efforts, and the Thatcher government’s official line was that Mandela was a terrorist properly in jail after a fair trial. There was a huge tension between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and 10 Downing Street..."[6]
Postings
Craig Murray's postings as a member of HM Diplomatic Service included:
- 1986-9: Second Secretary (Commercial), British High Commission, Lagos. Responsible for promoting British exports to, and business interests in, Nigeria.
- 1989-92 Head of Maritime Section, Aviation and Maritime Department (AMD), FCO, London. Responsible for negotiation of the UK and Dependent Territory continental shelf and fisheries boundaries, for implementation of the Channel Tunnel treaty and for negotiations on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
- From August 1990 to August 1991 he was also head of AMD's Embargo Surveillance Centre, responsible for intelligence analysis on Iraqi attempts at evading sanctions, particularly in the field of weapons procurement, and with providing information to UK military forces and to other governments to effect physical enforcement of the embargo.
- 1992-4 Cyprus desk officer in Southern European Department (SED), FCO, London. Responsible for UN negotiations on the Cyprus dispute, relations with the government of Cyprus and for the mandate and requirements of the British contingent of the UN force in Cyprus.
- 1994-7 First Secretary (Political and Economic), British Embassy, Warsaw. Head of the Political and Economic sections of our Embassy in Poland. Responsible for relations with Poland, and assisting Poland’s post-communist transition process with reference to preparation for EU membership.
- 1997-8 Deputy Head, Africa Department (Equatorial), FCO, London. Responsible for British political and commercial relationships with West Africa, including development issues.
- 1998-2002 Deputy High Commissioner, British High Commission, West Africa Branch. Responsible for British economic, political, commercial and aid relationships with Ghana and Togo. In Autumn 1998, Craig Murray was the UK Representative at the Sierra Leone Peace talks held in Togo, Liberia and Sierra Leone, including direct negotiation with the RUF terrorist leadership.
- 2002-2004 British Ambassador, Uzbekistan. Responsible for the UK relationship with Uzbekistan, where he found Western support for the dictatorial Karimov regime unconscionable, as detailed on his website [7]
Questioning Use of Torture
Craig Murray's allegations of UK/US connection to torture |
Murray was summoned back to London in August 2003 and presented with 18, mostly baseless, allegations about his behaviour and given a week to resign, he said. He suffered a breakdown[clarification needed] and the charges were dropped, but he said he planned to take legal action against the Foreign Office as his health had been permanently affected.[citation needed]
Suspension
In October 2004, Murray was recalled from his post in Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent amid conflicting statements about whether he was to face disciplinary action. He told the BBC that the reason for his removal was his criticism of the use of intelligence allegedly obtained under torture by the Uzbekistan Government. The Foreign Office refused to be comment on these claims, but in a statement said he had been withdrawn, not on disciplinary, but on "operational grounds". It added that the charge it was suppressing open discussion was completely without foundation.
Murray's removal has prompted an open letter to the British government from Uzbek political activists who describe him as a "force for democratic change". But Mr Murray said FCO officials had been trying to force him out for a year because of his despatches back to London. In one he claimed MI6 had used information passed on to it by the CIA but originally obtained in Uzbek torture cells - something strongly denied by the Foreign Office. In the leaked telegram, printed in the Financial Times, he wrote that the use of information gained by torture was "morally, practically and legally wrong".
- "I have been a victim of conscience," Mr Murray told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "I expressed my view strongly, but only internally. It wasn't me that leaked my views to the Financial Times but plainly that has led to my removal from my post." He added: "This sends a very strong signal that since the start of the war on "terrorism", anyone who even internally questions what's happening from a liberal standpoint is going to seriously damage their employment prospects."
Amnesty International UK described Mr Murray's championing of human rights as "extremely important" and said it would be alarmed if it had led to his removal. "The government should now make it clear that it wishes to have a strong British voice for human rights in Tashkent," a spokesman added.
Tory international affairs spokesman Gary Streeter told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme it was "perfectly legitimate" for Mr Murray to criticise "the way things are working within his sphere of influence".[8]
On 14 March 2014, Craig Murray described "The Torture Cover-Up" as follows:
- "The entire programme was on a scale and of an order of brutality much greater than anything that has been yet understood by the public. All of those foreign nationals rendered to Uzbekistan, for example, were killed during or following torture and buried in the desert."[9]
Parliamentary candidate
At the 2005 UK General Election, Craig Murray took on Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in Blackburn as an independent candidate. Murray said: "I've been approached by several people in the Asian community who are under huge pressure from Labour activists (talking up the BNP's chances) to apply for a postal vote rather than a ballot vote and then hand their postal vote over to the Labour Party." Over 50% more people used postal votes in the 2005 General Election in Blackburn than in 2001. With 2,082 votes, Murray was beaten into fifth place and Straw was re-elected.
On 10 December 2014, The Scotsman newspaper reported that Craig Murray had been nominated by SNP members in the party’s branch in Airdrie and Shotts, whose seat is held by Labour’s Pamela Nash, to fight for the nationalists at the 2015 General Election. The report continued:
- "Mr Murray, who campaigned for a Yes vote in the independence referendum, also controversially described No supporters as 'either evil, or quite extraordinarily thick.' Mr Murray said: 'I’m in the vetting process at the moment, but it’s correct to say I’ve been nominated in Airdrie and Shotts.'
- "The SNP is expected to begin a formal selection process in the coming weeks, when other members will have the chance to seek selection as an SNP candidate in the seat, which Ms Nash took for Labour with a majority of 12,408 in 2010. Mr Murray is likely to face a challenge from SNP activist Tom Montgomery for the Airdrie and Shotts nomination.
- "An SNP spokeswoman said: 'There are a number of nominations for the Airdrie and Shotts seat, and once nominations close, members in the area will be balloted to decide on their choice of candidate.'
- "Labour has called on SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon to prevent Mr Murray being selected as a candidate because of his remarks about No voters.
- "However, he said he had also been approached about standing in other constituencies such as Falkirk – a key nationalist target where sitting MP Eric Joyce is standing down after being forced out of Labour following a conviction for assaulting Tory politicians in the Commons.[10]
Candidate's 350-word statement
Craig Murray explained: every candidate for selection is allowed a 350-word statement including a CV to be given to members with their ballot paper. This is the 350-word statement which I had submitted to HQ for distribution to SNP members in Falkirk, prior to my disqualification. It has never been distributed, but I would like every SNP member to read it. If you know one, send it to them:
- My aim is to achieve Independence. The Smith Commission shows we will never be given the control of our own economic resources required to achieve our aims of social justice, or to stimulate the economy, within the Union.
- I think we have to avoid the trap of managerialism – of being just another political party but a little more competent and fair. We should maintain a firm thrust towards the goal of national freedom.
- I will vote with the SNP group, but my voice within the party will be against any coalition agreement with Labour or Tories.
- I want to defeat Labour, not sustain them. I want to end the Union, not to run it.
- Within the SNP we must guard against success leading us to develop our own careerists. Professional politicians in Westminster have become a parasitic class with interchangeable beliefs, out for themselves. There are too many of them – Special Advisers, research assistants etc. The number of politicians paid for by the taxpayer has quadrupled in 30 years.
- The best MPs contribute from a wide variety of life experience.
- I want the dynamic citizen activism we saw in the Yes campaign to lead to a new kind of politics in Scotland. Bubbling up from ordinary folk. And I want that energy from the people to defeat the forces of the mainstream media and the unionists here in the coming election.
- Together, we can do it.
- If selected as our candidate I will immediately move my family home to Falkirk and begin campaigning. Once elected MP, my home will become my constituency office and open to all, and no MP will work harder for his constituents. No Scottish MP will have lower expenses. I shall regularly attend the Commons and speak in debate.
- Craig Murray
- Writer, Human Rights Activist.
- Chairman, Atholl Energy Ltd
- Rector, Dundee University 2007-10
- Honorary Research Fellow, University of Lancaster School of Law 2006-10
- British Ambassador Uzbekistan 2002-4
- HM Diplomatic Service 1984-2005
- MA 1st Class Hons Modern History
- Declined LVO, OBE and CVO as a Scottish nationalist and republican
Maybe that statement is what really got me disqualified?[11]
Barred by the SNP
On 27 December 2014, Craig Murray announced on Facebook:
- "Terribly upset and depressed after being barred from the approved candidates register by the SNP hierarchy for 'lack of commitment to group discipline.'
- "I was asked at assessment whether, as part of a Westminster deal with another party, I would agree to vote for the bedroom tax if instructed by the Party. I replied 'No': end of SNP political career. Problem is, I really believed we were building a different kind of politics in Scotland.
- "I had very, very strong support from ordinary members to be the candidate in Falkirk or in Airdrie, and had 17 requests to stand from other constituencies, several from branch meetings. Wonder what SNP new membership will think of this?
- "My analysis is that those in the SNP who make a fat living out of it are terrified the energy of the Yes campaign may come to threaten their comfy position.
- "I think there is an important debate here on how the 80% of the SNP who are new members can affect its existing gatekeeping structures. No new members were involved in deciding if I was a fit candidate, and the 1500 new members in each of Falkirk and Airdrie were denied any chance to vote for me. Please share this post."[12]
John Goss commented:
- "Amazing. Electoral colleges are the bane of political parties today. It is the reason there is no difference between Labour and Tories. I never trusted the SNP. Alex Salmond has, like so many other Scots of power, said there will be no proper Lockerbie Inquiry. Speaks for itself."[13]
Kerrsed by Morag
On Craig Murray's blog Patrick Haseldine commented:
- Having been disbarred as an SNP candidate, Craig Murray was prescient to have tweeted on 12 December 2014
- “For Morag, Wherever I May Find Her”.
In no particular order, the multi-talented Morag “Rolfe” Kerr is a:
- Peeblesshire vet;
- MI5 operative;
- former Membership Secretary of the SNP (London Branch);
- Admin on Wikipedia;
- 9/11 debunker on the James Randi Educational Forum;
- Secretary Depute of the ‘Justice for Megrahi’ campaign group;
- author of “Adequately Explained By Stupidity? Lockerbie, Luggage and Lies”;
- unsuccessful SNP candidate at Tweeddale West;
- opinionated commentator on 'Wings Over Scotland'; and,
- self-appointed vetter of SNP candidates.
Hoping that Hugh Kerr is not similarly Kerrsed![14][15][16]
2017 Libel lawsuit
In November 2017, Craig Murray reported that the High Court case in which he had been sued for libel was settled in an agreed joint statement:
- "On 29 April 2016, Jake Wallis Simons and Craig Murray appeared together on Sky News to debate anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom. Following that debate, Dr Wallis Simons issued libel proceedings against Mr Murray. Dr Wallis Simons and Mr Murray have now settled these proceedings.
- "By this statement, Mr Murray accepts that Dr Wallis Simons is not a liar, and Dr Wallis Simons accepts that Mr Murray is not an anti-Semite. They are both pleased to have resolved this dispute amicably."[17]
2020 Contempt charges
A brief procedural hearing on 7 July 2020, conducted online due to the ongoing impact of Covid-19 on the court system, and presided over by Lord Justice Clerk Lady Dorrian alongside Lord Glennie and Lord Turnbull, concluded that Craig Murray will face contempt of court charges on 22 and 23 October 2020.[18] Murray had written before the hearing:
I tried to do a public service in making available to everybody key facts from the Julian Assange extradition hearing and the Alex Salmond trial, which revealed a picture very different from that portrayed in the mainstream media. I find myself wishing now I had somebody to perform the same service for me. I am particularly constrained about what I can say in my own case.[19]
The Solitary Reaper duly obliged on Twitter with a thread of sixteen tweets:
- Thread
- Notes of Procedural Hearing of @CraigMurrayOrg's case:
- HM Advocate said he thinks what some of the witnesses (for the Defendant Mr. Murray) may say are not relevant to the case.
- Judge said she was "surprised" to see the length of list of witnesses for the defendant.[20]
On 25 August 2020, Craig Murray wrote about "The Great Cover-Up":
The greatest cover-up in modern Scottish history is underway. I am not permitted to say more at present. I will however venture to say that this is massively bigger than just the attempt to imprison me, that most of these documents are also being withheld from the Holyrood Inquiry.
In stating they are banning Alex Salmond’s solicitors also from releasing any of the documents, the Crown is admitting their existence.
I have made a redaction to avoid any further accusation of jigsaw identification.
I am EXTREMELY keen for you to follow tomorrow’s procedural hearing where the question of what evidence is permitted will be addressed. That’s tomorrow, 9.45am British Summer Time. The dial in instructions are here.
Dial (+44)-207 660 8149 Access code 137 161 9904
I really do not know why it is a telephone system and not internet, obviously it is the court and not me. Please do listen in. I realise nothing much happened at the last two procedural hearings, but this should be very different. I am very anxious indeed that the powers that be should not get the impression that public interest is waning.[21]
After another procedural hearing on 26 August 2020, Alison McIntyre tweeted:
On 27 August 2020, Craig Murray responded:
- "Not even me. I listened to it.
- "It goes on and on and on, with endless procedural hearings, the Crown objecting to absolutely everything then making tiny last minute changes needing further hearing, and gobbling up massive legal fees.
- "Wear us down strategy?"[22]
Guilty as charged
On 25 March 2021, during a virtual hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh, Judges Lady Dorrian, Lord Menzies and Lord Pentland found Craig Murray in contempt of court for writing blogs that risked prejudicing Alex Salmond's trial and breaching the court-protected anonymity of complainants in the trial. A sentencing date was set for May 2021.[23]
On 11 May 2021, five days after the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, the High Court in Edinburgh ruled that Murray's coverage of the former First Minister’s trial led to “jigsaw identification” of complainers who made allegations against him, and sentenced Murray to eight months in prison for contempt of court. At the virtual sentencing, Lord Justice Clerk Lady Dorrian explained that Murray deliberately risked jigsaw identification and that revealing complainers’ identities was “abhorrent”. She said it was “particularly so, given the enormous publicity which the case in question attracted and continues to attract” and said his actions "strike at the heart of the fair administration of justice" and created a risk that future complainers would be reluctant to come forward in high-profile cases.[24]
Craig Murray was initially given 48 hours to hand himself in to a police station in Edinburgh, but after a challenge by his lawyer Roddy Dunlop QC, this was extended to three weeks so Murray can appeal the sentence to the UK Supreme Court. Murray was also ordered to surrender his passport by 19 May 2021, after Dunlop told the court he was due to appear as a witness in a hacking trial in Spain involving Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder.[25]
"Sad day for Scottish justice"
Writer, journalist and documentary filmmaker John Pilger said: “In these dark times, Craig Murray’s truth-telling is a beacon.
“He is owed our debt of gratitude, not the travesty of a prison sentence which, like the prosecution of Julian Assange, is a universal warning.”
Professor Noam Chomsky said: “Craig Murray has compiled a remarkable record of courage and integrity in exposing crimes of state and working to bring them to an end.
“He fully merits our deep respect and support for his achievements.”
ALBA MP Kenny MacAskill, Scotland’s former Justice Secretary, who is also a lawyer said: “This is a sad day for Scottish Justice. The idea that all problems emanate from Westminster is absurd.
“There are deep rooted structures and historic inequalities that scar Scotland. They require change and that cannot await independence, especially when those legal structures are already devolved.”
Gordon Dangerfield, a Solicitor Advocate who does not represent Murray, added: “The way in which Craig Murray has been singled out by the prosecuting authorities in this case is a national scandal which should concern anyone who cares about the rule of law in Scotland.
“The whole concept of ‘jigsaw identification’ also needs to be rethought and I fully support Craig’s appeal.”[26]
Appeal to UK Supreme Court
On 8 June 2021, Craig Murray tweeted:
"Judgement is here.
"Leave to appeal to the Supreme Court is refused by Lady Dorrian.
"Imprisonment is suspended until 6 July 2021 while we apply direct to the UK/Supreme Court to hear the appeal."[27]
On 29 July 2021, the UKSC refused Craig Murray permission to appeal which means he has to serve 8 months in jail.[28]
On 30 July 2021, Craig Murray posted on his blog:
This blog will be going dark for a few months. The Queen kindly paid for my dinners for over twenty years while I was a British diplomat and Ambassador, and now she is going to be paying for my dinners again. That is very kind, I thought she had forgotten me.[29]
Summarised in a tweet
On 30 July 2021, @mhaoilein tweeted replying to @BerntCarlsson @UKSupremeCourt and @CraigMurrayOrg:
D expels M for reporting S defence evidence
D wants less juries
D allows perjury collusion against S
Jury acquits S
D presides over M contempt case for reporting D’s failures in S case
Release from jail
On 30 November 2021, Craig Murray was released from Saughton Jail in Edinburgh:
Craig Murray has been released from jail. It’s completely unfair that his imprisonment was based on a precedent set by the judge at his trial who decided that independent journalists and bloggers should be held to a higher standard than the mainstream media.[31]
On 4 December 2021, Craig Murray tweeted:
While in jail I submitted a new application for National Union of Journalists membership, with accompanying letter to say veteran members Laurie Flynn and Hugh Kerr would handle any process while I was in jail. Application rejected "on legal advice" over unclear power of attorney.[32]
Replying to a Twitter follower who suggested he should resubmit the NUJ application in person, Craig Murray tweeted:
I certainly will.[33]
ECtHR application inadmissible
On 19 July 2022, a lengthy and detailed application number 36703/22 was lodged by Craig Murray's lawyers with the European Court of Human Rights.[34]
On 3 November 2022, the the case was peremptorily dismissed by Armen Harutyunyan, the Armenian judge at the ECtHR, sitting alone, essentially in a single sentence:
The Court declares the application inadmissible.[35]
'Terrorism' in 2023
On 4 November 2023, Craig Murray posted on X:
- "1984 I joined the UK Diplomatic Service; my first job was the South Africa desk.
- "Our policy was that the ANC was a terrorist organisation and Nelson Mandela a terrorist properly in jail.
- "So now the UK state is investigating me for 'terrorism', I consider that a badge of honour."[36]
Opinions
“The naive view of the world as “goodies” and “baddies”, with our own ruling class as the good guys, is for the birds. I witnessed personally in Uzbekistan the willingness of the UK and US security services to accept and validate intelligence they knew to be false in order to pursue their policy objectives.”
Craig Murray (13 March 2018) [37]
“For me, the death of millions of people in the Middle East, and Alastair Campbell’s role in the deliberate manufacture of a dossier of lies to cause an aggressive war that led to those deaths, were life-changing events. It led me to pursue the end of the imperialist British state.”
Craig Murray (23 March 2019) [38]
“It is to me quite incredible that the UK is still at the mercy of the whims and foibles of degenerates from not only the same class, but from within the same tiny social institutions which still confer a hereditary ability to govern a state of 60 million people now, in 2020. It makes a mockery of the UK’s claim to be a functional social polity and it makes a mockery of the very notion that “democracy” has any real existence in British society.”
Craig Murray (14 February 2020) Time Warp UK [39]
Torture and Kidnapping
Following publication of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Report on the CIA’s Use of Torture in December 2014,[40] Craig Murray said “Can I just say how pleasant it is to be vindicated ten years after being sacked by Jack Straw for opposing the torture and extraordinary rendition programme – which Blair and Straw claimed I was inventing.” [41] In an audio interview on 12 December 2014, Craig Murray recounted his experience to Scottish journalist and broadcaster Derek Bateman examining the legacy of Labour in a week when revelations about state-sanctioned torture by the CIA under Bush/Cheney further threaten the reputation of the Blair government.[42]
False flag attacks
Craig Murray announced in 2010 that he would summarily remove any comments about 9/11 from his website, stating his own position that "I do not believe that the US government, or any of its agencies, were responsible for 9/11. It would just need too many people to be involved. Someone would have objected."[43] Peter Presland wrote in 2010 that "Craig's problem is that, for some reason, he refuses to connect the dots".[44].
Murray's blind spot for false flag operations has not stopped his noticing that these event are exploited (but not organised) by Western governments. After the 2015 mass murder in Paris, he observed that "Cameron’s announcement of 15% budget and staff increases for the security services was made immediately after the Paris attacks, but was plainly not something thought up in a few hours. The plans for mass surveillance had already been announced, and would have to be staffed. This kind of sickening political opportunism is the true disrespect to the innocent dead."[45]
Dr Rola
- Full article: Dr Rola
- Full article: Dr Rola
“This video of Robert Stuart is a must see. Let me pin my colours to the mast and say that I am absolutely convinced that the BBC did deliberately and knowingly fake evidence of chemical attacks.”
Craig Murray (9 March 2016) [46]
Lockerbie Bombing
- Full article: Lockerbie: What Really Happened#Craig Murray
- Full article: Lockerbie: What Really Happened#Craig Murray
Craig Murray has publicly supported the Al Jazeera documentary, "Lockerbie: What Really Happened?" which concluded that the Lockerbie bombing was ordered by Iran and carried out by the PFLP-GC, with help from Hezbollah, and if Libya had a role, it was secondary. Murray blogged that "The information on Lockerbie published in today’s Daily Mail from an Iranian defector, matches precisely what I was shown in a secret intelligence report in the FCO just around the time of the first Iraq war.[47] It was decided that this would be kept under wraps because the West needed Iran and Syria’s quiescence in the attack on Iraq."
Julian Assange
Craig Murray's speech outside the RCJ |
Having spoken in support of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in August 2012 who, to avoid extradition to Sweden, had taken up residence in the Ecuadorean embassy in London,[48] Craig Murray condemned the Foreign Secretary's "astonishing lie" about the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention which had ruled in favour of Assange on 5 February 2016.[49] Murray wrote:
- "To my astonishment, the FCO Official Spokesman has just confirmed to me that the FCO stands by Philip Hammond’s statement that the members of the UNWGAD are lay persons, and not lawyers. Even though every single one of them is an extremely distinguished lawyer."[50]
On 10 December 2021, at the Royal Courts of Justice, the US appeal against the January 2021 ruling not to extradite Julian Assange was decided in America's favour. Craig Murray wrote:
On leaving the High Court, Stella Moris and I both gave impromptu speeches to the waiting crowd and media. The BBC carried this live until I mentioned US war crimes, when they hurriedly cut it off. These below are the full speeches, and the video should start at the right point. We had come straight from consulting with Gareth after hearing the Judgment, so remember what I have told you and consider how extraordinarily well Stella coped and spoke here. How can we not continue to fight?[51]
Skripal Affair and the Integrity Initiative
Murray was active in reporting about the Skripal Affair and the popularity of Craig Murray's Blog rose sharply during that time.
“We have a programme, the Integrity Initiative, whose entire purpose is to pump out covert disinformation against Russia, through social media and news stories secretly paid for by the British government. And we have the Skripals’ MI6 handler, the BBC, Porton Down, the FCO, the MOD and the US Embassy, working together in a group under the auspices of the Integrity Initiative. The Skripal Case happened to occur shortly after a massive increase in the Integrity Initiative’s budget and activity, which itself was a small part of a British Government decision to ramp up a major information war against Russia. I find that very interesting indeed.”
Craig Murray (21 December 2018) [52]
His tweets are specifically mentioned in the Integrity Initiative as having influenced people to be more sceptical of the official narrative.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
In January 2024, Craig Murray went to The Hague and reported on the ICJ case brought by South Africa against Israel for committing genocide in Gaza.[53][54] On 15 January 2024, "Our Man in The Hague" was interviewed by George Galloway on YouTube.[55]
On 20 August 2024, Craig Murray posted on X
“The International Court of Justice has stated definitively that the Israeli occupation is illegal and it is the duty of states not to support it. Yet in UK law it is perfectly legal to state that you support the IDF and hope that they kill all the Palestinians in Gaza But it is illegal in the UK - and carries 14 years in jail - to express support for named Palestinian organisations engaged, legally in international law, in armed resistance to illegal occupation.”
Craig Murray (20 August 2024) [56]
Author
Craig Murray is the author of two books:[57]
Murder in Samarkand
Craig Murray was the United Kingdom’s Ambassador to Uzbekistan until he was removed from his post in October 2004 after exposing appalling human rights abuses by the US-funded regime of President Islam Karimov. This is a candid and at times shocking memoir, in which he exposes what is being done in the name of the "War on Terror".[58]
The Catholic Orangemen of Togo (and Other Conflicts I Have Known)
This is an autobiographical prequel to "Murder in Samarkand" that covers the period 1998 to 2002. It exposes the links between blood diamonds, crime & British mercenary involvement in Africa, and argues that the disregard Tony Blair showed for both British and international law in dealing with Sierra Leone prefigured the disaster of Iraq.[59]
Censorship by Tim Spicer
![](/w/images/8/8c/Spicer2.jpg)
In July 2008, law firm Schillings, representing Tim Spicer, wrote to Craig Murray's publishers, Mainstream Publishing Company (Edinburgh) Ltd., threatening legal action over his forthcoming book, at the time provisionally titled The Road to Samarkand.[60] Chapters two "Arms to Africa" and four "The Sandline Affair" deal with the Sierra Leone "Arms to Africa" affair in depth. At the time of these events, Craig Murray was Deputy High Commissioner, British High Commission, West Africa Branch. In Autumn 1998 he was the UK Representative at the Sierra Leone Peace talks held in Togo, Liberia and Sierra Leone which included direct negotiation with the RUF terrorist leadership. He therefore had first-hand experience of these matters from a senior Foreign Office position.
Some negotiation between Murray and Mainstream followed, during which it was ascertained precisely which parts of the proposed book had to be removed for Mainstream to proceed with publication. Murray refused to be censored. He published the 'offending' parts on his blog [61] (also available at this Wikispooks page[62]) and decided to self-publish the book. It was first posted as a pdf on a number of web sites [63][64] before being released in printed form as "The Catholic Orangemen of Togo" [65].
Shadow banning
In 2016 Craig Murray reported that he was shadow banned by Twitter and Facebook, resulting in a loss of 90% of the referrals to his website.[66]
"Philip Cross" made hundreds of "hostile" edits to Craig Murray's Wikipedia page, before suddenly stopping on 8 May 2018.[67]
Documents by Craig Murray
Title | Document type | Publication date | Subject(s) | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Document:Bigger than 911 | article | 23 October 2010 | HMS Astute grounding | Some light relief at the expense of the MOD and its Trident nuclear missile carrying submarine fleet. |
Document:A Moment in History | blog post | 26 June 2019 | Labour Friends of Israel Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn Parliamentary Labour Party | It is ESSENTIAL that every Labour Party member reading this blog acts NOW to try to get rid of those dreadful Blairite MPs. If you do not act, the historic moment will be missed and the chance to move England and Wales away from neoliberalism may be permanently surrendered. |
Document:A warring nation, united against us | Letter | 19 August 2021 | NATO NGO Afghanistan Taliban The Herald Afghanistan/2001 Invasion Afghanistan/2021 withdrawal | Craig Murray's letter to The Herald from prison in Edinburgh: "As with the previous three times when UK invasions were defeated in Afghanistan, we have united a warring nation in hatred of us." |
Document:All Pretence is Over in Persecution of Assange | blog post | 14 February 2018 | Wikileaks James Arbuthnot Emma Arbuthnot Julian Assange/Imprisonment | “Lady” Arbuthnot has perhaps performed an unwitting public service by the brazen nature of her partiality, which exposes beyond refutation the charade of legal process behind the effort to arrest Assange, in reality over the publication of USA secrets. |
Document:American Presidents | blog post | 4 November 2020 | Joe Biden Donald Trump US/2020 Presidential election Kamala Harris | On the US election I showed my limitations with a tweet yesterday evening predicting Joe Biden would win fairly comfortably, and Trump would concede with good grace. I was wrong. |
Document:An Unpopular Article | blog post | 1 October 2019 | Boris Johnson Charlotte Edwardes Jennifer Arcuri | Throwing the kitchen sink of accusations against Boris Johnson obscures with chaff the allegations of real wrongdoing, like directing public funds and assistance to the company of a woman with whom he was in a sexual relationship. That should be investigated. |
Document:Assange Bail Application Today | blog post | 25 March 2020 | Nils Melzer Vanessa Baraitser Westminster Magistrates' Court COVID-19 International Bar Association Julian Assange/Imprisonment | If the authorities now refuse to allow him out on bail during the COVID-19 outbreak, I do not see how anybody can possibly argue there is any intention other than to cause his death. |
Document:Assange Final Appeal Day 2 – Your Man in the Public Gallery | blog post | 29 February 2024 | Wikileaks Julian Assange Chelsea Manning Michael Snow Vanessa Baraitser James Lewis Clair Dobbin Graham Phillips Jonathan Mark Swift Victoria Sharp Jeremy Johnson | Initially US authorities were keen to downplay the possible sentence, but have radically changed tack and now emphasise 30 to 40 years as the norm, which is in effect a rest of life sentence. That shift, together with the refusal so far to rule out the death penalty, gives a measure of the ruthlessness with which the CIA is pursuing the extradition of Julian Assange. |
Document:Assange Final Appeal – Your Man in the Public Gallery | blog post | 21 February 2024 | Wikileaks Julian Assange Chelsea Manning Michael Snow Vanessa Baraitser Graham Phillips Jonathan Mark Swift Victoria Sharp Jeremy Johnson | The indictment describes Wikileaks as a “non-state hostile intelligence agency”. That was plainly an accusation of espionage. This is self-evidently a politically motivated prosecution for a political offence. |
Document:Assange Must Not Also Die in Jail | blog post | 13 August 2019 | John Pilger Jeffrey Epstein Gina Haspel Julian Assange/Imprisonment | Many of the same people who are relieved by Jeffrey Epstein’s death would like to see Julian Assange dead too. |
Document:Backing the Wrong Horseman | blog post | Israel Middle East Saudi Arabia US UK COVID-19 | The neo-con drive to dominate the Middle East, in alliance with Saudi Arabia and Israel, has caused an apocalyptic level of death and destruction, which I put (an extremely conservative figure) at 5 million dead. Now compare that to the worldwide death toll from coronavirus: 220,000. Let me say that again. Western aggressive wars to coronavirus: 5,000,000 versus 220,000. | |
Document:Beware the Cult of Cadwalladr | blog post | 22 January 2022 | Christopher Steele Cambridge Analytica Carole Cadwalladr Integrity Initiative Arron Banks | The present libel trial between Arron Banks and Carole Cadwalladr is therefore a struggle between two deeply unpleasant people. Cadwalladr’s lies, in my view, are political and still come within the realm of free speech. I support her right to say it, just as I support my right to denounce and expose her as an utterly unprincipled and fraudulent tool of the security services. |
Document:Beyond Words | blog post | 8 April 2020 | Julian Assange Alex Salmond Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Vanessa Baraitser COVID-19 | Nobody cultivates her own anonymity more than Magistrate Vanessa Baraitser who has her existence carefully removed from the Internet almost entirely. Yet she seeks to destroy the peace and young lives of Julian Assange’s family. |
Document:Biden Works to Prolong Ukraine War | blog post | 7 June 2022 | Vladimir Putin Joe Biden Odessa Boris Johnson Henry Kissinger Recep Tayyip Erdogan Emmanuel Macron Lloyd Austin Volodymyr Zelensky 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine | "Ukraine is objecting to this plan (for Turkey to clear sea lanes of mines and to police the ships carrying grain) because it objects to the removal of the mines, which I should be clear were put down in the sea lanes by Ukraine to prevent amphibious attack on Odessa." |
Document:Censorship and Freedom of Speech | blog post | 1 October 2008 | Censorship Tony Blair Corruption | |
Document:Chelsea and Julian are in Jail. History Trembles. | blog post | 12 April 2019 | Julian Assange Chelsea Manning Michael Snow | Julian Assange said nothing during the whole brief proceedings, other than to say “Not guilty” twice, and to ask a one sentence question about why the charges were changed midway through this sham “trial”. Yet Judge Michael Snow condemned Assange as “narcissistic”. |
Document:Civil Liberty Vanishes | blog post | 6 May 2020 | Julian Assange Liam Fox Matthew Gould Adam Werritty Palantir Technologies Priti Patel NHSX | "Serious questions have to be asked about why the UK government has developed its own unique app, universally criticised for its permanent central data collection and ability to identify individuals from their unique codes. That this is overseen by NHSX CEO Matthew Gould who held all those secret meetings with Liam Fox and Adam Werritty, including with Mossad, frankly stinks." |
Document:Craig Murray - Political Prisoner of the British State | Speech | 30 July 2021 | Craig Murray Wikileaks Clive Ponting European Court of Human Rights Daniel Everette Hale Jigsaw Identification | "This is selective prosecution. This is political persecution. And I have no doubt whatsoever that I go to jail as a political prisoner" (extract from Craig Murray's speech two days before going to Edinburgh's Saughton Jail). |
Document:Death Wish 2023 | blog post | Chatham House Military-industrial-congressional complex Ukraine James Sherr 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Hegemony | "The practical problem with James Sherr’s call for total war is that Ukraine really does not have the population numbers to sustain to victory a total war against Russia. It is just going to run out of people, as indeed the much trumpeted counteroffensive appears to have done." | |
Document:Epstein's Death Must Be the Start, not the End, of the Investigation | blog post | 11 August 2019 | Alan Dershowitz Bill Clinton Jeffrey Epstein Andrew Windsor Ghislaine Maxwell Virginia Roberts Carl Beech | It is a great shame that in the UK, the Establishment has been able to characterise the falsifications of Carl Beech as discrediting the entire notion of historical child sexual abuse. |
Document:Ex-Intelligence Officers, Others See Plusses in WikiLeaks Disclosures | statement | 7 December 2010 | Wikileaks | A statement of support for Wikileaks. "The big question is not whether Americans can 'handle the truth.' We believe they can..." |
Document:Exclusive: I Can Reveal the Legal Advice on Drone Strikes, and How the Establishment Works | article | 9 September 2015 | Benjamin Netanyahu Iraq Inquiry Drone Peter Goldsmith Daniel Bethlehem Jeremy Wright UK/FCO | Craig Murray reveals how Sir Daniel Bethlehem continues to bring a Zionist perspective to any legal advice emanating from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office |
Document:Existence vs Expansion | blog post | 21 July 2024 | Israel Israeli–Palestinian conflict Palestine International Court of Justice Keir Starmer UN/SC David Lammy Two-state solution Oslo Accords Occupied Palestinian Territory UNGA | The International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion is extremely lucid and decisive. The ball is now back in the court of the UN General Assembly, which requested the Opinion. The General Assembly now should move to suspend Israel’s membership of the United Nations. That is the next project on which I shall be working. |
Document:FBI Fabrication Against Assange Falls Apart | blog post | 29 June 2021 | Julian Assange Gareth Peirce Vanessa Baraitser Sigi Thordarson Mark Summers | The revelation that Sigi Thordarson’s allegations are fabricated – which everyone knew already, Vanessa Baraitser just pretended she didn’t – is just one more illegality that the Establishment will shimmy over in its continued persecution of Julian Assange. |
Document:First Recorded Successful Novichok Synthesis was in 2016 – By Iran, in Cooperation with the OPCW | blog post | 17 March 2018 | Iran Theresa May Russia Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Novichok Chemical Weapons Convention | Beginning in late 2016, Iranian scientists succeeded in synthesising a number of Novichoks in full cooperation with the OPCW. This makes a complete nonsense of Theresa May’s “of a type developed by Russia” line, used to Parliament and the UN Security Council. |
Document:Has International Law Survived, or Has the Western Political Class Killed It? | blog post | 28 January 2024 | Israel South Africa International Court of Justice Algeria UNRWA Ursula von der Leyen Isaac Herzog UN/SC Roberta Metsola Genocide Convention Philippe Lazzarini | Now think of this: the very next day after President Herzog made a genocidal statement, as determined by the International Court of Justice, he was met and offered “full support” by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission and Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament |
Document:Has Western Democracy Now Failed? | blog post | 19 July 2023 | Keir Starmer Trickle-down economics Post-democratic society | We live in a post-democratic society. That is difficult to accept, but it is true. |
Document:Has the Elite’s Slavish pro-Israel Agenda Finally Gone Too Far | Blog post | 25 February 2019 | "Antisemitism" Israel/Defense Forces Jeremy Corbyn Hezbollah 2006 Lebanon War Sajid Javid Two-state solution | Israeli destruction of Palestinian olive trees in the occupied territories is almost as heinous as the continuing killing and imprisonment of Palestinian children. Every morning ask yourself this question: "How many children has the Israeli “Defence” Force killed since the MSM last reported one?" |
Document:How To Spot A Twitter Troll | Wikispooks Page | 2 July 2019 | MI6 GCHQ MI5 Integrity Initiative Troll 77th Brigade | Exposure is the simple way to nullify the vast state propaganda programmes on social media |
Document:How to spot a Twitter troll | blog post | 2 July 2019 | MI6 GCHQ MI5 Integrity Initiative Troll The 77th Brigade | Exposure is the simple way to nullify the vast state propaganda programmes on social media |
Document:Huawei Hypocrisy | blog post | 7 May 2019 | GCHQ National Security Agency Nick Clegg Theresa May Gavin Williamson Huawei | Former Deputy PM Nick Clegg said GCHQ's ability "to hack anything from handsets to whole networks … needs to be much better understood". |
Document:I Am Obliged to Reconsider My Support for the European Union | Article | 3 October 2017 | Spain European Union Mariano Rajoy Catalonia Carles Puigdemont | Today, and with a greater sadness than you can imagine, I withdraw my support for membership of the European Union |
Document:I Go to Stand My Trial | Blog post | 2 November 2017 | Mark Lewis Jake Wallis Simons | The Trial starts on Tuesday 7 November at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand, High Court Queen’s Bench Division, and lasts for two or three days. By the time I come back online the Tories will have appointed their next Disgraced Former Defence Secretary in Waiting. |
Document:I Stand in Blackburn | blog post | 16 April 2024 | Craig Murray Alex Salmond George Galloway Jeremy Corbyn Blackburn Keir Starmer Andrew Feinstein Wes Streeting Alba Party Workers Party of Britain | I am going to need help – leafleting, canvassing, manning offices and the many myriad tasks of an election campaign. I am buoyed by the solid start we have in support across all communities in Blackburn. We are going to give Starmer a roasting, we are going to take on the zionist monopoly of power, and it is going to be great fun! |
Document:Importing Jihadi Terror to the UK – Cui Bono | blog post | 25 September 2018 | White Helmets 2017 Manchester bombing Salman Abedi | Importing the White Helmets into the UK is obviously nuts if your purpose is to minimise jihadi activity in the UK |
Document:Index on Disgrace | Article | 22 April 2018 | BBC The Guardian Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Times University of Dundee Save the Children Index on Censorship | "We thus have the extraordinary spectacle of a coordinated government and media onslaught on anybody who doubts their entirely fact free narratives. Public trust in the state and corporate media hits new lows, which is the happy part of this story." |
Document:Interfering with Laura Kuenssberg | blog post | 25 November 2019 | Boris Johnson Laura Kuenssberg Brexit Dominic Cummings Vox pop Echo chamber UK/General election/2019 | It's no coincidence that it is precisely the old and the poorly educated that are the targets of Dominic Cummings’ "Brexit election” strategy. If it comes off, Laura Kuenssberg and her fellow hacks will have proven that the power of the mainstream media is as yet unbroken. |
Document:Internalised Danger | blog post | 6 November 2020 | "Climate change" Joe Biden Donald Trump Bernie Sanders US/2020 Presidential election Kamala Harris Green New Deal | America urgently needs a radical dose of social and economic reform as championed by Bernie Sanders. It needs the Green New Deal, and the world needs a real commitment in Washington to environmentalism. |
Document:It’s Not Socialism. It’s Another Mega Wealth Transfer. | blog post | 23 March 2020 | Boris Johnson Richard Branson COVID-19 Carphone Warehouse Cosalt David Ross Asset stripping | Amid the COVID-19 panic, it has hardly been noticed that Carphone Warehouse went bust, with 2,900 people losing their jobs. Its co-founder, David Ross, is of course the billionaire that Boris Johnson claimed paid for his luxury holiday to Mustique, whereas Ross claimed he only organised it. |
Document:Lawyers For Israel Oppose Conscience | blog post | 20 May 2023 | Lawfare UK Lawyers for Israel Palestine Action Elbit Systems UK Public Order Act | Convictions based on “intent” to do something you have not actually done, are generally dubious. The Shenstone defendants have been told by Judge Chambers they will get prison sentences. Expect these to be vicious. |
Document:Let’s Move On From Boris | blog post | 28 May 2020 | Tony Blair Richard Nixon Bill Clinton Boris Johnson Dominic Cummings | "Boris Johnson on the Dominic Cummings debacle: 'It is now time to move on… the country wants to move on.' If a politician tells you to 'move on' from a subject, it is a gigantic red flag that you should do precisely the opposite." |
Document:Matthew Gould and the Plot to Attack Iran | webpage | 14 November 2011 | Matthew Gould | |
Document:Media Freedom? Show me the MSM Journalist Opposing the Torture of Assange | blog post | 7 September 2020 | Julian Assange Corporate media Rupert Murdoch David Aaronovitch Belmarsh Prison Extinction Rebellion Old Bailey | At a time when the government is mooting designating Extinction Rebellion as Serious Organised Crime, right wing bequiffed muppet Keir Starmer was piously condemning the group, stating: “The free press is the cornerstone of democracy and we must do all we can to protect it.” |
Document:Metropolitan Police on 'Chepiga' and 'Mishkin' | blog post | 12 October 2018 | Bellingcat Skripal Affair 2018 Amesbury poisonings Alexander Petrov Ruslan Boshirov | I remain of the view that the best way forward would be for Putin to negotiate conditions under which Boshirov and Petrov might voluntarily come to the UK for trial |
Document:Mohammed Bin Salman: The Truth Behind The Reformist Facade | blog post | 8 March 2018 | Donald Trump Mohammed bin Salman | Then something remarkable happened which the world mainstream media has almost entirely ignored. Despite Saudi sponsored adverts all over US media portraying named senior Qataris as terrorist sponsors, and despite strong Israeli pro-Saudi lobbying, Donald Trump suddenly called Mohammed bin Salman to heel. |
Document:Momento Mori – Unpopular Thoughts on Corona Virus | blog post | 7 March 2020 | COVID-19 Spanish flu Hong Kong flu COVID-19/Panic | Consider this: 100% of those who contract COVID-19 are going to die. 100% of those who do not contract COVID-19 are also going to die. The difference in average life expectancy between the two groups will prove to be only very marginal. That is because the large majority of those who die of COVID-19 will already be nearing the end of life or have other health problems. |
Document:Muellergate and the Discreet Lies of the Bourgeoisie | Blog post | 1 April 2019 | Wikileaks Julian Assange Robert Mueller William Binney Katharine Viner Cambridge Analytica Carole Cadwalladr Paul Manafort Sergei Skripal Luke Harding Integrity Initiative Russiagate Muellergate Ed Loomis Steele dossier | The capacity of the mainstream media repeatedly to promote the myth that Russia caused Clinton’s defeat, while never mentioning what the information was that had been so damaging to Hillary, should be alarming to anybody under the illusion that we have a working “free media”. |
Document:Nato Expansion and Turkey | blog post | 17 May 2022 | NATO Sweden Russia Greece Turkey Ukraine Finland Recep Tayyip Erdogan 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine | There is another, specifically Turkish interest in play here, which is very much a factor in Erdogan’s willingness to stand up to Biden over Swedish and Finnish NATO entry. This of course relates to the permanent tension between NATO members Turkey and Greece. |
Document:Nicola Sturgeon – Used and Discarded | blog post | 15 February 2023 | Alex Salmond Nicola Sturgeon Peter Murrell Scottish independence | "Numerous sources have reported in the last few days that Police Scotland have now been given the go ahead by the Crown Office to pursue a criminal case over the £600,000 missing money. That seems the most likely explanation for the timing of Nicola Sturgeon's resignation today." |
Document:No Ceasefire in the Propaganda War | blog post | 24 November 2023 | BBC Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2023 Gaza−Israel conflict | Since October 8 over 200 Palestinian children have been taken prisoner, none of whom had anything to do with the October 7 attacks. That rather puts the possible release of 33 children and six women today into perspective. But it is not a perspective the BBC would ever give you. |
... further results |
Quotes by Craig Murray
Page | Quote | Date | Source |
---|---|---|---|
2020 | “As the Establishment feels its grip slipping, as people wake up to the appalling economic exploitation by the few that underlies the very foundations of modern western society, expect the methods used by the security services to become even dirtier. You can bank on continued ramping up of Russophobia to supply “the enemy”. As both Scottish Independence and Jeremy Corbyn are viewed as real threats by the British Establishment, you can anticipate every possible kind of dirty trick in the next couple of years, with increasing frequency and audacity.” | December 2018 | Craig Murray's blog |
Julian Assange | “[...] the most lucid man I know is now not capable of having a rational conversation is extremely alarming.” | 31 May 2019 | |
Tony Blair | “Thatcher deliberately and cruelly wrecked the social democratic society in which I grew up, with the aim of destroying any ability for working people to be protected against the whims of the wealthy. But Thatcher never introduced privatisation into the NHS or state schools – that was her acolyte Blair. She maintained free university education in England and Wales. That was destroyed by Blair too.” | 25 July 2019 | Craig Murray's blog |
"Philip Cross" | “My view is that Philip Cross probably is a real person, but that he fronts for a group acting under his name. It is undeniably true, in fact the government has boasted, that both the MOD and GCHQ have “cyber-war” ops aiming to defend the “official narrative" against alternative news media, and that is precisely the purpose of the “Philip Cross” operation on Wikipedia. The extreme regularity of output argues against “Philip Cross” being either a one man or volunteer operation. I do not rule out however the possibility he genuinely is just a single extremely obsessed right wing fanatic.” | 21 May 2018 | Craig Murray's blog |
Drug smuggling | “I stood at the Friendship Bridge at Termez [Uzbekistan] in 2003 and watched the Jeeps with blacked-out windows bringing the heroin through from Afghanistan, en route to Europe. I watched the tankers of chemicals roaring into Afghanistan. Yet I could not persuade my country to do anything about it.” | ||
Immigrant | “I remain incensed at the success of the elite in conning the deprived that their poverty is caused by immigrants, whereas it is caused by massive inequality of wealth.” | 16 December 2018 | Craig Murray's blog |
Inequality | “We are moving into an era of politics where the foundations of consent which underpin western states are becoming less stable. The massive growth in wealth inequality has led to an alienation of large sections of the population from the political system.” | 3 December 2019 | Craig Murray's blog |
Integrity Initiative | “offers us a glimpse into the very dirty world of surveillance and official disinformation. If we actually had a free media, it would be the biggest story of the day.” | December 2018 | Craig Murray's blog |
Intelligence agency | “There is something very wrong indeed with the UK security services, which are most certainly not a force for freedom or justice. That MI6 can be headed by as extreme a figure as Dearlove, underlines the threat that the security services pose to any progressive movement in politics.” | 11 January 2019 | Craig Murray's blog |
Islam | “The British had been deliberately exploiting and exacerbating the Shia/Sunni divide as early as 1836 to the Imperial purpose.” | 20 December 2018 | Craig Murray's blog |
Ben Nimmo | “Ben Nimmo works for the Atlantic Council, funded inter alia by NATO. He is also on a retainer of £2,500 per month from the Integrity Initiative, in addition to payments for individual pieces of work. For his attack on Scottish Nationalists Nimmo was therefore paid by the Atlantic Council (your taxes through NATO), by the Integrity Initiative (your taxes) and by the Herald (thankfully shortly going bankrupt)... Nimmo’s role as witchfinder-general for Russian Bots appears very remunerative. His August 2016 invoice to The Institute for Statecraft, apparently the 71st invoice he had issued to various neo-con bodies that year, was for £5,000.” | 22 December 2018 | Craig Murray's blog |
Ben Nimmo | “Nimmo’s track record is simply appalling. In this report for the Atlantic Council website, he falsely identified British pensioner @Ian56789 as a “Russian troll farm”, which led to Ian being named as such by the British government, and to perhaps the most surreal Sky News interview of all time. Perhaps still more remarkably, Nimmo searches for use of the phrase “cui bono?” in reference to the Skripal and fake Douma chemical weapons attacks. Nimmo characterises use of the phrase cui bono as evidence of pro-Assad and pro-Kremlin bots and trolls – he really does. Most people would think to consider cui bono indicates a smattering more commonsense than Nimmo himself displays.” | 28 August 2018 | Craig Murray's blog |
Russophobia | “The complete and unmitigated irrationality of the current epidemic of Russophobia does nothing to reduce its incredible virulence, as it continues to infect the entire political and media class. There is a zero chance that Russia will launch an attack on the UK, yet the entire corporate and state media is leading today with the “need” to spend billions against that most unlikely threat.” | 22 January 2018 | Craig Murray's blog |
Robert Stuart | “Let me pin my colours to the mast and say that I am absolutely convinced that the BBC did deliberately and knowingly fake evidence of chemical attacks.” | Craig Murray's blog | |
US/Foreign policy | “Anybody who believes that a country's internal democracy is the determining factor in whether the West decides to move for violent regime change in that country, is a complete idiot. Any journalist or politician who makes that claim is more likely to be a complete charlatan than a complete idiot. In recent years, possession of hydrocarbon reserves is very obviously a major factor in western regime change actions.” | January 2019 | Craig Murray's blog |
US/Foreign policy | “The US/Saudi/Israeli alliance against Iran is the most important geo-political factor in the region today. It is high time this alliance stopped both funding ISIS and pretending to fight it; schizophrenia is not a foreign policy stance.” | 20 December 2018 | |
University of Dundee | “My love of the universities was severely tested during my period as Rector of Dundee University, when I saw how far the corporate model had turned them from academic communities developing people and pursuing knowledge, to relentless churners out of unconsidered graduates and financially profitable research, with nearly all sense of community gone.” | 22 April 2018 | |
Mark Urban | “Mark Urban’s piece for Newsnight tonight was simply disgusting; it did not even pretend to be more than a propaganda piece on behalf of the security services, who had told Urban (as he said) that Yulia Skripal's phone “could have been” tapped by the Russians and they “might even” have listened to her conversations through the microphone in her telephone. That was the “new evidence” that the Russians were behind everything. As a former British Ambassador I can tell you with certainty that indeed the Russians might have tapped Yulia, but GCHQ most definitely would have. It is, after all, their job, and billions of our taxes go into it. If tapping of phones is seriously presented as evidence of intent to murder, the British government must be very murderous indeed.” | 5 July 2018 |
Event Participated in
Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
International Festival of Whistleblowing Dissent and Accountability | 8 May 2021 | 8 May 2021 | Internet | Whistleblowing event held in 2021. |
Related Documents
Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Document:Bloggers Under Siege - Craig Murray Charged with Contempt of Court | blog post | 27 April 2020 | Ludwig De Braeckeleer | From Lockerbie to the Russia Hoax, Craig Murray has of course upset people in high-places, including some who work for Intelligence Agencies. |
Document:Craig Murray - Political Prisoner of the British State | Speech | 30 July 2021 | Craig Murray | "This is selective prosecution. This is political persecution. And I have no doubt whatsoever that I go to jail as a political prisoner" (extract from Craig Murray's speech two days before going to Edinburgh's Saughton Jail). |
Document:Craig Murray and 9-11 | article | 30 January 2010 | Peter | A reply to Craig Murray's article explaining his embargo on any further discussion of 9-11 in the comments section of his blog |
Document:Craig Murray’s jailing is the latest move in a battle to snuff out independent journalism | blog post | 30 July 2021 | Jonathan Cook | Assange and Murray are not only telling us troubling truths we are not supposed to hear. The fact that they are being denied solidarity by those who are their colleagues, those who may be next in the firing line, tells us everything we need to know about the so-called mainstream media: that the role of corporate journalists is to serve establishment interests, not challenge them. |
Document:Defend Freedom of Expression – Support Mark Hirst | Article | 15 May 2020 | Tommy Sheridan | If we don’t speak up now in defence of those guilty of no crime other than expressing their opinions and speaking truth to power then we will all one day be caught in the tangled web of thought control and authoritarian rule which will render us powerless to oppose injustice and resist draconian restrictions on our freedoms. |
Document:Dissident British ex-diplomat Craig Murray indicted for blog posts in Kafkaesque case | Article | 27 April 2020 | Ben Norton | “The state believes it has finally discovered a way to put me in prison without the inconvenient hurdle of a jury of my peers. This really is the epitome of bad law. To use it against freedom of speech is disgusting.” |
Document:Eye Witness to the Agony of Julian Assange | Article | 2 October 2020 | John Pilger | In the Assange trial, the defendant was caged behind thick glass, and had to crawl on his knees to a slit in the glass, overseen by his guard, to make contact with his lawyers. His message, whispered barely audibly through face masks, was then passed by post-it the length of the court to where his barristers were arguing the case against his extradition to an American hellhole. |
Document:Former ambassador and Assange advocate Craig Murray detained under UK terror laws | Article | 17 October 2023 | Kit Klarenberg | When probed by counter-terror cops about the contents of his laptop, Craig Murray says he openly disclosed that the device contained copies of leaked private emails of Stewart McDonald, a hawkish, deep state-connected Scottish National Party MP: “I told the officers I pitied whichever poor bastard has to wade through McDonald’s emails,” he joked. |
Document:I Stand in Blackburn | blog post | 16 April 2024 | Craig Murray | I am going to need help – leafleting, canvassing, manning offices and the many myriad tasks of an election campaign. I am buoyed by the solid start we have in support across all communities in Blackburn. We are going to give Starmer a roasting, we are going to take on the zionist monopoly of power, and it is going to be great fun! |
Document:Kenny MacAskill: Scotland, but not as I know it | blog post | 15 September 2021 | Kenny MacAskill | Craig Murray’s imprisonment is wrong and his prosecution undermines the liberties we claim to cherish. It’s Scotland but not as I know it or as it should be. As a former Justice Secretary, I find this shameful, and that it should happen under the watch of those who claim to cherish our Nations’ liberty is disgraceful. |
Document:Lady Dorrian's Law | blog post | 30 July 2021 | Stuart Campbell | The ruinous determination of the Scottish Government and the Scottish judicial system to put someone, anyone connected to Alex Salmond in jail out of the First Minister’s demented paranoia and sheer malice has had many disastrous outcomes, for individuals, taxpayers and the country as a whole. |
Document:Murray Scottish Appeal Denied; Allowed to Try UK Court | Article | 8 June 2021 | Joe Lauria | Craig Murray may have been a Crown target for the contempt conviction because he was among few writers defending Alex Salmond and was vindicated by Salmond’s acquittal. Murray has been a fierce advocate for his friend Julian Assange, the imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher, whom the United States is trying to extradite from Britain. |
Document:Scottish High Court Denies Whistleblower Craig Murray's Request To Appeal Conviction Over Blog Posts | Article | 9 June 2021 | Mohamed Elmaazi | Craig Murray's fate turns on whether the judges in London, where the Supreme Court is based, consider the application on an expedited basis. |
Document:The Crown came for Craig Murray | blog post | 29 July 2021 | Gordon Dangerfield | “I go to jail with a clean conscience after a Kafkaesque trial. I believe this is actually the state’s long sought revenge for my whistleblowing on security service collusion with torture and my long term collaboration with Wikileaks and other whistleblowers." |
Document:The great con that ruined Britain | Article | 3 April 2016 | Peter Hitchens | Peter Hitchens, the repentant Thatcherite, has second thoughts about privatisation: if it’s all been so beneficial, why do so many of the containers that arrive in British ports, full of expensive imports, leave this country empty? |
Document:Whistleblower Craig Murray Sentenced To 8 Months In Prison Over His Reporting On Former Scottish First Minister’s Trial | Article | 11 May 2021 | Mohamed Elmaazi | Craig Murray tweets: "I cannot commend this article highly enough to anybody who wants to understand why and how I have been sentenced to prison." |
Document:Wikipedia & the Spooks – The Remake | blog post | 22 May 2018 | Ludwig De Braeckeleer | In a video interview with George Galloway, journalist Neil Clark explains that "SlimVirgin" is back and teaming up with "Philip Cross". That is subtle or what? |
File:Smith.pdf | May 2006 | Craig Murray |
References
- ↑ "Vicious Cycles (US Wars and War Crimes From Vietnam to Iraq)" - A radio show featuring Craig Murray on why he resigned as UK ambassador to Uzbekistan
- ↑ "Profile Craig Murray"
- ↑ http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/10/decade-of-dissent/
- ↑ "Craig Murray selected to stand for Workers Party in Blackburn"
- ↑ Document:What Really Happens in Blackburn
- ↑ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/12/opposing-apartheid-clever/
- ↑ Craig Murray's Web site
- ↑ "Former British envoy is suspended"
- ↑ "The Torture Cover-Up"
- ↑ "Ex-ambassador Craig Murray to be SNP candidate"
- ↑ "Disbarred"
- ↑ "Terribly upset and depressed after being barred from the approved candidates register by the SNP hierarchy"
- ↑ "Falkirk SNP members vote on 2015 General Election candidate"
- ↑ "Craig Murray: Kerrsed by Morag"
- ↑ "Morag should be expelled from SNP"
- ↑ "Morag is a plant not a genuine SNP member"
- ↑ "The End of the Affair"
- ↑ "Court sets date for Craig Murray trial over Alex Salmond case"
- ↑ "I Need A Craig Murray"
- ↑ "Notes of Procedural Hearing of @CraigMurrayOrg's case"
- ↑ "The Great Cover-Up"
- ↑ "It goes on and on and on, with endless procedural hearings"
- ↑ "Alex Salmond inquiry: Former diplomat Craig Murray guilty of breaching court order"
- ↑ "Craig Murray: Blogger and former diplomat sentenced to eight months in jail for contempt of court relating to Alex Salmond trial"
- ↑ "Former ambassador jailed for Alex Salmond case blogposts"
- ↑ "Craig Murray jailed for eight months over reporting of Alex Salmond trial"
- ↑ "Imprisonment is suspended until 6 July while we apply direct to the Supreme Court to hear the appeal"
- ↑ "Craig Murray to be jailed after Supreme Court refuses permission to appeal"
- ↑ "Going Dark"
- ↑ "Summarised in a tweet"
- ↑ "Craig Murray has been released from jail"
- ↑ "Application for NUJ membership rejected"
- ↑ "I certainly will resubmit the NUJ application in person"
- ↑ "Strasbourg Cul de Sac"
- ↑ "Application no. 36703/22: Murray v. the United Kingdom"
- ↑ "I am being investigated for 'terrorism'"
- ↑ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/03/russian-to-judgement/ Craig Murray's blog
- ↑ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/03/please-cancel-your-subscriptions/ Craig Murray's blog
- ↑ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/ Craig Murray's Blog
- ↑ "The Senate Committee’s Report on the C.I.A.’s Use of Torture"
- ↑ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/12/senate-report-on-torture Craig Murray's blog Senate Report on Torture, December 2014
- ↑ "A shocking tale of torture and indifference"
- ↑ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2010/01/the_911_post/
- ↑ Document:Craig Murray and 9-11
- ↑ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/11/a-change-of-political-climate/
- ↑ https://bbcpanoramasavingsyriaschildren.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/1570611.pdf
- ↑ "IRAN blew up Lockerbie jet - not Libya, says defector: Ayatollah 'used Syrian-based terror group to bomb Pan Am 103 in revenge attack'"
- ↑ "Craig Murray speaking @ the Ecuador Embassy" 19/08/2012
- ↑ "Philip Hammond’s Astonishing Lie"
- ↑ "Kafka 2016"
- ↑ "Your Man Back in the Public Gallery: Assange Extradition, US Appeal Result"
- ↑ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/12/british-government-covert-anti-russian-propaganda-and-the-skripal-case/ Craig Murray's Blog
- ↑ "Document:Your Man in the Hague (In a Good Way) Part 1"
- ↑ "Document:Your Man in the Hague (In a Good Way) Part 2"
- ↑ "INTERVIEW: Our man in the Hague"
- ↑ https://x.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1825886875061469586
- ↑ "Books by Craig Murray"
- ↑ "Murder in Samarkand"
- ↑ "The Catholic Orangemen of Togo"
- ↑ File:Schillings.pdf - "Messrs Schillings legal threat to Murray's prospective publishers."
- ↑ Key parts of the text of "The Road to Samarkand" which Craig Murray refused to have censored
- ↑ Craig Murray's blog post "Censorship and Freedom of Speech"
- ↑ File:The Catholic Orangemen of Togo.pdf- The Catholic Orangemen of Togo - full text in pdf format
- ↑ File:Catholic Orangement of Togo - frontpages.pdf - The Catholic Orangemen of Togo - Front pages
- ↑ The Catholic Orangemen of Togo - ISBN 978-0-9561299-0-1
- ↑ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/12/twitter-facebook-censorship-mainstream-media-denial/
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Craig_Murray&offset=20180530012822&limit=500&action=history