 Oh, we have one other person whom we have to rename. I'll leave it to Elsa and Ellen to rename, please. Thank you so much. Firstly, welcome everybody. Thank you so much for joining us today for Craig's birthday party. Craig is 63 today and we're so fortunate to have somebody like Craig in our midst because of the humongous contributions he's made to our understanding of public life. Craig is one of those people who's never hesitated to put his head above the parapet to tell us the truth as it really is. And it's because of his ability and his willingness to speak truth to power that he now sits in Socton Prison. Nadira, his wife, is going to join us to say a few words in a second. But before we go to Nadira, I'm just going to share a screen for a second and share a little clip from the day that Craig went to prison. So I'm just going to share in a second, just bear with me one second. Hopefully, you can all now see the clip. Hopefully, now I can stop sharing. As you can see, it's a very cottage industry here. We're just trying to get used to the zoom control. So do forgive us if we get things wrong as we go along. But I'd like to firstly thank you all for your solidarity with Craig. There have been weeks where he has received hundreds of messages, some months where he's received thousands. And Ellen Craig's campaign manager and Nadira, Craig's wife, are going to speak during the course of today to tell you a little bit about what's going on with Craig and any messages from him. We'll also hear from Craig's family, from his daughter, from his sons, and from his sister and brothers. We'll hear from Craig's old friends and people who've worked with him over the years. We'll hear from people who've never met Craig, but who Craig has inspired. So I hope you'll enjoy this party. We're having some wonderful musical interludes and we're trying to get everybody back in the room, the musicians. So you will hear that coming in in a bit as well. So please grab your glass of champagne or whatever is your preferred narcotic and let's get going. Over to you, Nadira. Hello. Thank you very much for organizing this Deepa and thank you very much for everybody who's taking part. Well, I have a champagne here and this is a bit unusual because every year, ever since I've known Craig, we used to celebrate his birthday together. This is the first time we are celebrating his birthday away from each other. I just want to say quickly, even though Craig, even though you are far from here in Socton prison locked in within four walls, you are in my heart and in children's heart and whole family's heart. We are celebrating with paella today, the massive dish you specifically bought for making paella on your birthday. Shame you couldn't be here, but we are doing exactly how you wanted it to be with lots of drinks, friends, laughter and paella. I'm very proud of you and I've always liked your stubbornness on telling the truth, even it cost you, even it had a heavy price on your shoulder and effect on us, but maybe that's why I stayed with you. You are a wonderful person, a terrible husband because you lock yourself in your room and you get writing and finding the truth and sharing it with people and you've always been outspoken and true teller, true sharing person. Maybe that's why your principles and that kind of quality I really liked. Maybe that's why I'm with you. On behalf of everybody, we've got lots of Spanish guests here and Uzbek guests, children and we are celebrating your birthday today specifically and cooking paella. Craig, happy birthday and thank you very much for everybody who's here. Thank you, Nadira. Because we have about 40 different people from all over the world dialing in, I'm going to try and go quite quickly. I just want to say those of you who are listed as attendees, you will get to come in and say something. We will have an open mic so it's going to be quite democratic in that sense, but we do have some of Craig's oldest and dearest friends and we'd like to take them early on if that's okay. I'd like to now invite Tommy Sheridan to come online and speak. Tommy, over to you. I have to say Deepa, I'm very privileged to be asked so early to speak in such a wonderful occasion. I am probably in the category of one of Craig's newer friends because I've only really met Craig since 2013 so we've only really been friends for about eight years or so. I met Craig primarily through Hugh Kerr whom he has been a friend with a lot longer and I've always been enamoured by Craig's forthrightedness, the points in Nadira I made earlier about his ability to speak truth to power regardless of the cost sometimes to him personally, I think are so admirable and in dear that feature endears them to everyone who knows him because you may not always agree with Craig Murray but you know that what Craig Murray says is what he believes, that he's not speaking on behalf of someone else, he's speaking on behalf of his own integrity and his own beliefs and I have a great pleasure walking through the rain with Craig on a number of occasions on various independence demos standing with him waiting to go up and speak at independence demos, some of them had a few hundred and some of them had several thousand but we always gave everything because that's what Craig did, it didn't matter whether it was 20 or 20,000 that he was speaking to, he gave the same passion and the same commitment because he believes fundamentally in independence and the truth is Craig is where he is today primarily because of his belief in independence, because of his belief in independence led him into the reporting of the Alex Salmond trial and all Craig did, I mean let's face it we all know this, I'm sorry that I'm repeating what we all know, all he did was report exactly what a jury heard, that's all he did, he reported the truth and for that he's been put in prison and it's an absolute damned disgrace, I do want to say it was just one final weeping deeper, unlike probably most of the participants in today's birthday party, I have also spent time in the same jail that Craig is currently in, I spent time there in 1992 and I guarantee, I guarantee that when Craig emerges he will emerge stronger, he's got an enormous character anyway, he's got a beautiful family and he's got loving support from that family and from friends so he will emerge stronger but I guarantee he'll emerge with new friends as well because that's what happened to me and some people have a view of prison which is a bit contorted by a lot of the media reporting and some of the dramas that we watch, I can assure you prison is full of ordinary people, some of whom have made mistakes, others who are victims of economic oppression but in their hearts the decent people and I'm absolutely confident Craig will emerge with new friends because he is that type of warm compassionate individual that I'm sure others will have been attracted to him and he will say quite clearly in his release that he'll keep in touch with those individuals and they'll be part of his new group of friends across the world so Craig it's just a pleasure to be a friend of yours, to be considered a friend of yours and it's a pleasure to be invited to your birthday party and I hope that everyone continues to see your case as a case of injustice, you shouldn't be where you are, it's a disgrace that you've been in prison but more and more of us have to realise that if we don't stand up for people like you then it will be you today and it'll be the rest of us tomorrow so let's stand up with Craig and wish him happy birthday, I don't drink alcohol so I've got a wee glass of American soda in my hand here and I'll raise my glass to Craig, happy birthday Bella. Thank you Tommy I'd now like to go to Emily Murray Craig's daughter who'd like to say a few words, thanks Emily. Hello everyone thank you so much for attending, it really means a lot, it's really nice to see how much solidarity we have sort of worldwide for dad, yeah no I miss dad very much, happy birthday dad, I can't wait for you to come back and then for us to eat all the coffee and walnut cake that's possible. Thank you Emily, our next speaker is a Scottish member of parliament, Neil Hanvey, I hope you're here, I saw you a second ago, Neil are you here? Yeah sorry Deepa, there you are perfect, thank you. Thanks very much and thanks so much for the invitation along today, it's really quite a special moment to share with so many of Craig's nearest and nearest and a bit like Tommy I know Craig through the independence movement primarily but more as an attendee at one of the events in the early days of the independence campaign and Craig swiftly became a hot ticket during those days people really listened very carefully to his words and his thoughtful contribution to the independence referendum and it was only through that process that his backstory and his bravery and his tenacity and strength, the character really shone through as he became better known to the independence movement and he's a bit of a treasure really so it just feels profoundly wrong for Craig to have been singled out in a way that he has been singled out for standing up for justice and decency and the truth and I think we would all like to have someone like Craig in our corner and that really shone through for me when in 2019 the SNP decided that they no longer wanted my services as a candidate in the general election and I don't think I need to rehash that story but Craig reached out to me and in a way that not many people did, he reached out to me to first of all to make sure I was okay and to give me any reassurance or support that he could and he didn't need to do that he didn't need to put himself in that position but he did and he did so willingly and he did so with real compassion and great care and it was something really special for me because it was somebody who I saw as a shining light in our campaign for independence expressing humanity in my direction at a difficult time and you know we we got to know each other through those those exchanges those messages and we had great plans for Craig to come to Kirkordian speak after I was successfully elected but then COVID happened then the salmon trial happened and then we now find ourselves in the situation we are so we're he's on a bit of a promise to me to come to my constituency to speak and I think it will be an incredibly well attended event when he eventually does because there is now so much more for Craig to speak about and you know however painful this is for all of us and certainly for Craig's family and it really I can't imagine the isolation that that he must feel in those moments when the noises died down and he's alone with his thoughts but I know that he will or I get a sense that he will use those moments wisely in contemplation about a whole range of things because if there's one thing that's clear about Craig is a deep thinker and when we have disagreed and this has been quite an unusual situation as many will understand but during the GRA debate Craig and I have come come at this from different positions but we've had a constructive conversation about it which is something that's been completely absent and we've tested each other's positions in a respectful way and I think that's just a very small measure of the man but it's a very clear measure of the man that he engages with great thought and care in whichever issue he's examining and I've certainly found his support and assistance invaluable in my time as an MP and I think it's only right that I stand in solidarity with him for the completely unjust imprisonment that he has suffered and whilst there have been efforts on my behalf and with working with Kenny and also with Alex Salmond and his connections in Westminster there's a reasonably strong list of us I don't think any of us believed that the Supreme Court would disallow an appeal in this situation so it was a real shock to put it mildly when when his imprisonment went ahead so you know we'll continue to do everything we can certainly in Alpa Party to support Craig and to chap on any door that will secure his early release because you know there have been the recent concerns about his ongoing health issues and respect to the COVID outbreak in Socken so we will continue to do everything we can and you know and I would make it an open invitation to anyone present whether on the panel or listening in if you have any ideas or if you've got any contribution that you would like to make or for us for actions that we could perhaps support taking forward then please let me know we're absolutely at Craig's service so thanks very much Deepa and thanks everyone for coming and allowing me to speak it's really been very special thank you. Thanks Neil and just so people know you know Craig's not in the room with us today but we're having a little DVD prepared of the contributions which come online today as well as from little messages that people have been sending to the Justice Campaign to Ellen and to others and as well as some longer interviews we've done with people so that will all go to Craig on his release and he'll have a nice surprise gift to look forward to. I'd like to change the order slightly and invite Eva Jolie from across the channel to speak next please Eva over to you. So thank you Deepa for organizing this event I'm very happy to be here and to contribute to celebrate Craig Murray's 63 birthday. I don't know him very well but he has been very important in my life because we are defending Julian Assange together and I think that his blog telling everything about the case in Westminster Court and the Judge Barrister day after day made it possible for everybody to follow the case it was so important for us and only for this thing that he has done for all the people that do worry about the fate of Assange I wanted to bring a toast for his 63 birthday so Craig we are waiting for you to come out looking forward for it and bravo for everything you have done and I think that your sentence is very shocking everything good for you and your family. Thank you Eva that's lovely I'd like next like to invite a friend of Craig's Annie Machon to speak next Annie are you able to unmute yourself please thank you. Yes and thank you very much for inviting me to this event Deepa it's a real pleasure and I just want to say huge happy birthday to Craig in not the happiest circumstances but also courage and solidarity to Nadira as well because having gone through the same sort of thing where you see your partner go to prison on trumped up charges and disproportionate charges it's very difficult to live through but they do come out and you will be stronger and you will be able to fight back after that my knowledge of Craig started after the court case which involved my former partner David Shader way back I think in 2004 or early 2005 when Shader and I were on the stop the war campaign trail and I think our paths crossed with Craig at that point my very first definite memory though is when we went up to support him when he was campaigning to take the parliamentary seat of Jack Straw in the general election in 2005 in Blackburn and I had this weird image in my head I'm sure it's true of him he bought an old army fire truck or something and he was roaming around driving around the whole of Blackburn with a megaphone standing on the top of this fire truck haranguing the citizens saying we've got to get rid of Jack Straw you know it's been ballot stuffing he's corrupt he's taken us into the Iraq war you know let's get rid of him which is an amazing image to have but more laterally of course my paths have crossed with him because we are both members of a group called the Sam Adams Associates which started in America and consists of global intelligence diplomatic government and military whistleblowers and we give an award every year to those who display integrity and intelligence now Craig won that in 2006 I became involved with this event and some of my other colleagues in the event are going to be speaking later where we gave awards to people like Julian Assange of course where we gave awards to people like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden and it's the most weird but amazing club in the world to be part of so our paths have crossed many times over the years both at the award ceremonies that we've organised and also just supporting and fighting for these sort of issues and these sort of campaigns most notably of course that of WikiLeaks and that of Assange which is an egregious abuse of justice and of course part of that comes from the whole sort of Russophobia and Russiagate issues that cropped up around the election of Donald Trump in 2015 when he became president and part of that of course was stoked by the allegations by the Democratic Party that they had been hacked by the Russians and that it was proof the Russians were trying to involve themselves in the American Democratic process Craig of course was the one who stood up and said um no it wasn't a hack it was a leak and I know that because I was the one it was leaked to but of course that's all been lost in the the storm of the media and the official narrative that keeps carrying on what I adore about Craig because of all this is the fact that he keeps on fighting as previously said he was the one who was up at 5 a.m going to the Assange hearings reporting what was actually happening in the court case despite the fact that most of the mainstream media were being banned the fact that he keeps fighting as he did in the Alex Salmond case trying to report what was not mainly being reported in the mainstream media he is fearless and he stands up for what he thinks is the truth and I salute him for that and the fact that even though he was only reporting pretty much what was coming out in a lot of the national Scottish media around the Salmond case he was an independent journalist he was a blogger and therefore he was an easy target to make an exemplary victim of when it came to try and prosecute people for so-called jigsaw identity and so-called contempt of court that is a despicable misuse of the Scottish judicial process and it is a despicable misjudgment and I think as well in terms of this sentencing utterly disproportionate and the Scottish legal system needs to be ashamed and needs to be reformed for what they did to this honorable man so I just want to finish really by saying it has always been a pleasure to know Craig to be involved in events where he's speaking or we had dinner together or something like that he has a wonderfully quick big brain he cuts through the crap he's a wonderfully witty and I've always enjoyed his company so I salute him also for his steadfast courage not only with his own whistleblowing but for the fact that he has protected subsequent whistleblowers I salute him for his integrity for standing up and speaking truth to power and I salute him for his humanity in supporting so many of us as we've gone through very dark days ourselves so I actually have a little drum of whiskey here so I want to say happy birthday Craig and once you come out keep fighting and at some point we will share a drum of whiskey together again cheers. That's wonderful thank you Annie and cheers to Craig and our next speaker is a very special guest and it's one of our youngest guests on this birthday celebration it's Cameron and I think he's sitting with Najira right now so you might have to move the screen a little bit and I believe Cameron you have a little message for your daddy over to you. Hello everyone thank you for coming to support my dad it means a lot to us and it's good that he has lots of supporters and that lots of people are on his side and agree with what he's been doing so I wrote a poem actually I wrote a poem about my dad and do you want to hear it? Yes please yes please Cameron let's hear. My pleasure. The sun shines right on my eyes and so do yours reflecting your twinkling image and across the horizon arises a new dawn an image so amazing an image like never before taking away all woe from my mind and what lies behind the corridor is a message to never lose hope and in the near future which is yet to come is endless fun with everyone. That's wonderful thank you thank you Cameron for sharing that with us and a lovely message. Okay thank you for listening politely. It's lovely thank you Cameron and I don't know how anybody can follow that act but I'm going to move next to Ray McGovern who's just recovering from surgery and has sent a recorded message so please bear with me a second while I play that. Happy birthday friend Craig I'm flooded with memories of our associations going back all more than 15 years when you won the Sam Adams award for integrity and intelligence spoke out against torture and in your acceptance speech made the made the poignant remark that you were darned if you would let anybody be tortured to to provide you with some inch more of feeling of security that spoke and we need to speak up now in your behalf and are but for these purposes we are wishing you a very very happy birthday we hope Nadira as well and your boys and we're just really eager to see you out doing your thing and once again very soon best of luck Ray McGovern. Thank you the next person on my list is is Jamie Murray Jamie are you here are you able to unmute yourself please Jamie is Craig Sam. Yes hello I think just firstly I'd like to thank everyone for coming and showing solidarity with dad and wishing him a happy birthday. It's such a shame that you're not here dad um I guess firstly because uh you're missing your birthday present um you might not all know but I always get dad a really nice bottle of whiskey every every birthday in this today I got him a bottle of Kilcomand lock gorm it's very very delicious cheers. Thank you Jamie um were you going to say something else or have I cut yeah no um please go I I think I should should probably say I can't promise there will be any any of the bottle left by the time he gets out but um I'll get you a very good one for your release day I promise. Thank you Jamie that's lovely um could I now um share a video from the or rather live Barry White Barry are you in the room are you are you here yes I'm here brilliant could you switch on your camera and unmute yourself so people can see you please yes I'm trying to do that but um sorry it doesn't want to come on it keeps flashing the sign more over it well I it might just just bear with me a second I'm going to ask you to start a video if you just say yes and hopefully it'll start now. Okay oh yes I I can suddenly see myself um well first of all may I thank you for the opportunity to wish Craig a happy birthday and express my solidarity to him. I'm Barry White a former organizer for the campaign for press and broadcasting freedom which for nearly 40 years campaigned for a democratic and accountable media sadly it wound up in 2018 for lack of funds however its regional partner campaign for press and broadcasting freedom north is still campaigning and we hold frequent open virtual meetings produce books and pamphlets and publish a quarterly magazine media north. I'm also a member of the national union of journalists. Now our latest edition includes an article about Craig's case by Tim Gobsel former editor of the NUJ magazine The Journalist and it's called the way to two-tier media jail the bloggers protect the press. Before coming to that can I express my appreciation for the important contribution to our right to know Craig made in exposing UK complicity in torture in Uzbekistan. As the Guardian put it at the time Murray has paid a more direct price for his decision to step out of the bubble of isolation and immunity in which most diplomats live and challenge such abuses his distinctly undiplomatic assessment of Uzbekistan's human rights record propelled him to a lengthy battle with the foreign office he was subjected to humiliating disciplinary investigation and his personal life publicly shredded and suffered a string of health problems as a result. This shredding continues with his recent imprisonment and it's his implications of the verdict for journalism and journalists that I now wish to refer to. As we know Craig is the first person to be imprisoned for the offense of jigsaw identification. I agree with the statement made by reporter without frontiers director of international campaigns Rebecca Vincent who said whilst journalists must ensure they adhere to court orders with regard to witness protection Craig Murray's imprisoned sentence on charges related to his blogging is disproportionate and highly concerning. RSF emphasizes that journalist activities should not lead to prison sentences anywhere imprisonment in connection with any journalist activity should only ever be a measure of absolute last resort if at all. It's certainly not what we would have expected in a country committed to protecting media, freedom and the safety of journalists Murray should be released and alternative measures considered in lieu of his prison sentence. Close quotes all journalists should be concerned with this the serious implications of the judgment and the relating statement made by the judge neither of which can be appealed namely that independent journalists like Craig must be judged more harshly with more leeway and legal protection allowed for those in the mainstream commercial media so the doctrine of equality before the law appears it need not apply. A new and dangerous legal precedent has now been set and independent journalists are now in the firing line we must work together to reverse this ruling and the subsequent injustice to Craig so happy birthday Craig and solidarity with you and your family. Thank you Barry thank you very much our next speaker we I'm just if if sorry I hope my videos come on finally I seem to manage to switch it off every time and may I just request if Allison and Graham are in the room if they could make them raise their hand so they can be visible to me and I can promote you to panelist and I believe you'll you have some music ready for us so we'll come to you as soon as you're as soon as I can find you and also Dave if you're in the room if you could let us know. I'd like to now share a little video from Gordon Dangerfield who's written an excellent blog article which is available via the Justice Committee website and Gordon as many of you will know has has defended those who are the defenders so I'm going to try and share Gordon's video now. Craig it's Gordon Dangerfield here I feel very honored to have been asked to send you a birthday greeting in circumstances which we all wish weren't happening but have happened because you're such a brave and courageous defender of human rights and a man of very deeply held principles and you have paid the price for those principles by being where you are now. Your history is one of the most honorable histories of having spoken up against torture when almost no one else would and when it cost you a very great deal to do that and you've spoken up in defense of the truth in the Alex Salmond case when others were afraid to do that and again you've paid a very great price for that and all of us who believe in principle and who believe in free speech and who believe in justice and fairness owe you a very great debt of gratitude and I'm very pleased to send you greetings and hope that you're keeping your spirits up and that you realise how many people love you and appreciate what you have done and the price that you've paid for that. Thank you to Gordon and I'd now like to invite Deb Herbeck if you're here if you'd like to go next Deb is joining us from across the pond over to you Deb. Hello everybody and happy birthday Craig. I met Craig and Nadira at another birthday party. It was Julian Assange's 45th birthday and we were in the Ecuadorian embassy. It also marched his fifth year incarcerated in a way at the embassy. I do media work for WikiLeaks and I connected with Nadira as a filmmaker and stayed in touch with her over the years so when this happened I was just mortified like everyone else I assumed that you'd get the slap on the wrist at most. As a media lawyer I'm most horrified at the distinction that was made between Craig's rights as an independent journalist blogger versus the rights of essentially journalists from the corporate media to report on exactly the same facts in exactly the same way and be treated so differently and this is you know similar to what they did with WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks is in the publication Julian's not a journalist. This is what they do to undermine the credibility of the truth tellers and sadly even the progressive media seem to see that as a way of saying oh it's not about press freedom it's about something else. On a more personal note I was really touched by Tommy Sheridan's comments about how he anticipated that Craig's opportunity to spend time with other prisoners would help him grow and get even stronger through this experience and from my own observations having visited Nadira recently I noted how impassioned she was about the plight of families who were having to endure separation from their loved ones when they're incarcerated and how compassionate she is to other women who in her and families and kids going through what she's going through and she too I think will be stronger through this as difficult as it is. I think all of us can the more empathy we have with regular people going through these sorts of things that you know happen on a daily basis I'm going to have to sign off because my kettle's about to boil I thought I was coming on in an hour so happy birthday Craig and love you Nadira and thank you Deepa for doing this. Thank you good to see you. May I now invite Catherine Gunn if she's here I believe she's on this she's somewhere on the screen but I can't see her so I'm here really and Catherine over to you. Well I feel really honored to be in this group and I just want to say that you know happy birthday to Craig I'm really sorry that you're not spending it here with all your loved ones but I'm sure you'll be happy to be out very soon and I'm back with your family and and comrades so again I fall into what I call the usual suspects of people like some of you already have already spoken like Annie and Ray McGovern we tend to sort of seemingly meet every year or so in various gatherings and conferences of whistleblowers and activists and that's where I met Craig was at one of these gatherings I think probably in Berlin and yeah I really respect Craig and you know the the stand that he has taken for the past wow 20 years or more about all the abuse of power and the corruption in various various ways so I just want to to echo what everybody else has said today about his his strength of character his sense of morality and justice and yeah all the best to you and your family and hope you have a really great Christmas together and enjoy the rest of your 63rd year all the best thank you very much for inviting me deeper and yeah hope to see you soon thank you Catherine and like Annie and others you really have paid the price for standing up in truth so I'm sure Craig's very glad to hear your voice here all the way from overseas and I'm going to try and share a recording now which was made by Mike Barson who's from the band Madness and this is a special recording for Craig and I'm hoping that this will work if please let me know if you can't hear this okay looks like it's not opening just bear with me one second while if we may we'll go to another speaker and then I'll I'll try and share that again huger over to you if you're around thank you hi Deepa and hi to everybody including lots of old friends who seem to appear on the same list of troublemakers that are appearing before us today as a long established troublemaker I was expelled by Tony Blair when I was a member of the European Parliament for pointing out that Tony was not a socialist but a Tory well I was just a bit foresighted before everybody else realized that he was a Tory now everybody realize he's a Tory and what Craig has he's got that perspicacity to know that when things are being pulled in front of you his lies they should be exposed and the truth should be told that is the mark of great journalists he did that of course in Uzbekistan and as my old comrade Barry White the NUJ said I paid the price for it in the Guardian article he did that of course in the battle for Scottish independence which is why the SNP refused to endorse him as a candidate he would have been selected by a dozen constituencies to become their MP or the MSP I know they all wanted them to stand I was in the headquarters when we were both being considered for endorsement we were both turned down as potential troublemakers clearly they were right although Kenny McCaskill I'm glad to see who's on the list later who's then our Minister of Justice took part in an appeal which actually allowed me to stand we did notice this rather obscure little man in the office we will later realize was Peter Murrell who of course is the power behind the throne of Queen Nicola and no doubt is one of Craig's sworn enemies at the front time Craig is a man who is not afraid to speak truth to power and what he does is extraordinary he does it in extremely well informed journalism so when people like Lady Dorian say well he's not a proper journalist I say actually Craig is the best journalist writing in Scotland today and that's what I said to the president the general secretary of the NUJ when she appeared at our branch meeting in Edinburgh last week she was talking about solidarity with journalists in Afghanistan and I praise the NUJ for their work in that but I said solidarity doesn't just stop abroad it begins at home we have two journalists imprisoned in Britain at the present time we have Julian Assange and Belmarsh Craig has been as we've heard heavily involved in defending Julian and we have Craig Murray imprisoned in Scotland Craig has been an NUJ member wants to be an NUJ member but certain people in the NUJ I should say are attempted to block his membership we've resubmitted his application are we going to fight to make sure he is a member and the truth is this distinction between bloggers and journalists is a nonsense Craig is the best journalist in Scotland he should be there campaigning and fighting for us Neil Hanvey at the very good point when Craig comes out I don't want to take him away from Nadira he should make us a weaker tour at home but we should organise the biggest tour of meetings in Scotland for Craig to go around he will sell out all over the place I can assure you of that and when Tommy spoke I was reminded that Scotland is a small country the woman who prosecuted Tommy and put him in prison at Salkton as the same woman who put Craig Murray in Salkton today Lady Dorian was a young prosecutor for the crown way back in 92 when Tommy was put in and there she is and backing her up with one Lord Tunble who put Tommy in prison again on the his charges arising out of the news of the world case in the past Scotland is a small country with a legal system which is in need of major reform the problem is we don't look as if we're going to get it anytime soon but Craig is one who's been fighting for that for truth power and we should all be with them and I've got a final suggestion to make this year two journalists were given the Nobel Peace Prize I was suggested next year let's nominate three journalists for the Nobel Peace Prize Julian Assange, John Boja and Craig Murray now that would be a campaign worth fighting for. Brilliant thank you Hugh and I'm going to invite Nadira to let Oscar say hello if he's willing and then we'll move to the video that I was trying to show earlier. Say hello Oscar do you want to say hello yeah Oscar is we went to see Craig this morning Oscar and Cameron that was a we organized to see his dad early in the morning on his birthday we didn't think we would get in but prison stuff was they were kind enough to let us in and we were the only family to visit him so yeah did you say that did I just hear or did you say I think you might have done okay all right um okay well uh say hi say hello and say bye say thank you yeah okay well his eyes are in cat he had a lovely time with Craig. Good to hear Craig is holding up okay thank you for sharing that and thank you Oscar and I'm now going to try and re-share the video that I was trying to share earlier and hopefully one of the other co-hosts might be able to share if uh if I'm not so here we go thank you pardon sorry that's not allowing me to share it Mike Barson if you're here and if I can promote you to panelist and you're able to share your video that would be great um but thank you for that video anyway we will try and play it sometime through this through this present discussion and Gordon Brown sorry Graham Brown not Gordon Brown Graham Brown are you here yet I don't know I hope Gordon Brown's not here I can't seem to find Graham Brown so I'd like the next request um on my list oh this person's recording is online so I'm going to at least try and share that because I know that one works so it's Kenny McCaskill hello Craig I hope this finds you safe and well I think what has happened to you is appalling it's an indictment upon the Scottish government and sadly upon Scottish society something I never thought would happen you are though being an inspiration to all of us I was thinking before I came on to say these words when I first heard from you and actually it was Hugh Andrew who I knew at Berlin who once came to me saying how he had read this fantastic book that he was about to publish how it was uh revelatory how it was an extremely brave man a British diplomat had written about it so I have to say although we've only met a few times your reputation came long before we first met I've since read that book and everything that Hugh said is bear's witness in it but indeed that's just a reflection of what you've gone on to do because you have challenged authority you've been prepared to stand up for what's right you've had to face difficulties in your own life but what doesn't destroy you makes you stronger and I'm sure the Craig Murray that comes out will be even stronger even better and will commit even more greatness for Scotland we are grateful to what you've contributed you have shone a light where we've had darkness you have been prepared to speak out against authority that has been abusing its power and it's time that others stood with you so thank you okay and I'm going to try for a final time to share the music because this you know between speakers we were supposed to have a bit of music and a bit of fun for Craig's party and I can't get any of the music to work so I do apologise I think the music videos are in a different format to the one on my computer and it's just not playing like it did before um if is Graham Brown here yet we'd like some live music please Graham and Amanda if you're here if not could I request Robin or somebody to please call Dave to make sure that Graham and Amanda are online because we can't find them I'd be very grateful if one of you could do that next like Dave Henry if you're here and uh Laurie Finn are you both here Dave and Laurie nope okay um and I'm going to play this other piece of footage which I showed at the start yet again just because um and I'm going to try and get make one of the music files work on my computer so apologies but I think you've seen this before but some of you but hopefully this still works it's now hopefully the other file will work and this has been created specially for this party no it doesn't and could could one of the other co-hosts try and share it from their screen it's in the folder I'm going to paste the folder again in the chat so that the hosts can see that and I'd like to now invite Mark Hurst please if you're here to speak over to you Mark thank you Deepa firstly happy birthday Craig I realize this is going to be a birthday that you're obviously not going to forget in any in any rush but we can have a proper celebration once you're out in many ways I feel kind of responsible for Craig's predicament at first encountered Craig way back oh when I was when at that time I was working for the mainstream media and Craig did a lot of work on the maritime boundary the British government introduced a week before devolution they they redrew the maritime boundary of the east coast of Scotland to effectively capture or maximize the number of gas and oil pipelines that they that they could in the sea there and obviously Craig's back background was able to quite clearly show this this went against all international precedent but I didn't really become friends with Craig until well really until the the whole issue of salmon came around back in 2018 I met Craig at an independence rally in Edinburgh and I just finished working with Alex salmon for one two special programs that he'd he'd made for his for his television show and although Craig and met Alex many years previously he was looking to reconnect with him and so I put the two in contact and Craig appeared on the show a few few weeks later but obviously as was the case with with myself we both learned of the extent of the campaign against Alex salmon the political campaign against Alex salmon which is very much ongoing as some of you may not be aware I was actually my house was searched and by police during a raid and I was subsequently charged for making a two minute video I am an accredited journalist I'm a former NUJ official and I'm currently a member of the Chartered Institute of Journalists as well and I made a two minute video in the wake of the Alex salmon trial I was actually cited as a defense witness in the Alex salmon trial I was a formerly worked with the SNP parliamentary group for nine years and I was the senior former senior elected representative for SNP parliamentary staff not just at the Scottish parliament but also at Westminster and SNP headquarters so I had some knowledge of some of the issues or many of the critical issues around what had gone on there in the end I wasn't called as a witness but in the wake of the trial in Alex salmon's acquittal I made a short two minute video with my own observations and that resulted in a police raid of my house all of my technology was seized five detectives entered my house and took that material a month later I was formerly arrested and charged and ended up on trial in January this year in which I was fully acquitted they court ruling that it was no case to answer and that no reasonable person could have felt offended by what was said in the video which was my own observations of those the political campaign behind the action against Alex salmon now the police unit that was responsible for that was the same one that had investigated Alex salmon and that same unit even despite the fact that Alex salmon was fully acquitted at the high court that same unit continued after the trial and it was involved in the investigation into myself and also into Craig the day after my search I spoke at length with Craig on the phone and together we formed a campaign to fight against what was clearly and what is clearly an abuse of power by the Scottish authorities both the Crown Office and Police Scotland and at the moment suing both Police Scotland and the Crown Office for malicious prosecution and I'm no doubt that Craig's own lawyers will be looking at that after his release on it or in due course and we became friends during that period now as Barry highlighted earlier much of this effort isn't really about if they can get an imprisonment as they have done in Craig's case that's really a bonus this is about destroying the reputation of those who are seeking to hold a bright light against those who are in power and certainly I've been a thorn in the side of this SNP administration for a long time and I think they must have realised early on that there was no reasonable case against me but it was about destroying my reputation and on the back of that I have lost a lot of work journalistic work and I took a very different approach to that of Craig myself and Craig are very different people I come from a working class housing scheme in Glenrothes and Fife I'm pretty sure that had I gone to school with Craig and let's face it he would have had to come to my school I was never going to go to the same school as he went to that he probably would find it a far more difficult challenge than softened prison I suspect I'm not sure but we are very different people but what he we both have in common I hope is our commitment to integrity and to principles and you know certainly I would seek to emulate the principle stand that he's taken and as you may have noticed I'm sitting in a in a virtual cell this is Kilmainham jail in Dublin this is the cell in which James Connolly the Edinburgh brought born revolutionary was held prior before being taken out into the yard behind and executed by the British state it was actually wounded Connolly and so they had to tie him to a wicker chair to execute him by British Army firing squad and the British authorities at the time believed that by executing or killing the revolutionary they would kill the revolution that didn't quite happen and I'm pretty sure that the efforts by the Scottish authorities here in this instance by seeking to imprison both myself and Craig was an effort to close us down and they're going to get the precise opposite response from that and I'm pretty sure Craig will come out much stronger than when he went in with a renewed vigor to hold the authorities to account I've spoken a bit too long now but what I would say is this is a symptom what's happening to Craig is a symptom of a very serious and fundamental breakdown and clamped down on freedom of speech and civil liberty in Scotland and I hope the international community begins to take note because this has very serious consequences not just for journalists like myself but for many ordinary people in Scotland and nonetheless this is a birthday celebration but I do hope that I see you soon Craig and we'll certainly catch up I'll have a pint of Guinness and you can have your chardonnay and we can hopefully discuss how we take things forward all the best for now happy birthday thank you Mark and I'm glad you explained that that was a virtual background of a prison cell because I thought your bedroom looked really austere and there was a little bit taken in back by the background and I'm going to try for hopefully third time lucky to share that video and if it doesn't beat a robo on your next please you're warned okay it looks like it's showing so here we go hello mr Craig Murray I heard it's your birthday today I thought I'd play you a little tune I'm not actually classically trained but I'll do my best not to make a hash of it I don't always call but it's a rather nice little um remember might be shoe but might not people telling the truth these days it seems so I'd say in times of deceit heads off to the honest ambassador all the best mate have a good birthday that was Mike Barson from the band Madness and Mike poor Mike agreed to play happy birthday on the piano and I I don't know why I was just chatting with him I said no Craig likes classical music and Mike understood me saying that I wanted him to play a classical piece that he's gone well outside madness his comfort zone and his comfort zone to play that so thank you Mike for for your message and your solidarity we're really grateful amazing thank you Emily and Peter Obon if you're here you're next if you wouldn't mute yourself please we can I can now see you but I can't hear you ah there we are I've unmuted myself can you hear me well I'm just this is um let's hope that Craig will be out very soon it's outrageous he's in there and um but we must we are here to wish him a our old friend Craig Murray a very happy birthday we all have we all miss him terribly Craig Murray is is one of the great truth tellers of our time he writes like an angel he's heart is always in the right place two or three years ago Craig might me and Masood Lagar is who is also on I think on joining this party we went up the uh and other friends we went up the Indus valley together we've not only as far as Multan so we want to get off we want to re retake up our journey uh and progress once more Craig you are an inspiration a hero a truth teller a dissident um you were the first to blow the whistle on complicity and torture god bless you sir thank you Peter thank you very much um if Stuart Murray is here um are you able to switch on your camera and unmute yourself please Stuart are you here ah brilliant thank you Stuart is Craig's brother hello and can I also thank everyone for organizing attending this Craig's virtual birthday party it's been an absolute blast especially madness in normal circumstances Craig would be hosting this event with copious amounts of alcohol good food and his unique blend of human hospitality I'm Craig's youngest brother although well that's a good start so although throughout the years it has often been me who has guided and helped Craig through many of his adventures since Craig was young he has always been a keen activist for many a worthy cause he is also always believed in fairness and fighting against injustice this has led him to lose his jobs and suffer much personal hardship this has recently expressed itself with his coverage of Julian Assange and the Alex Salmon case it is therefore quite ironic that Craig is now suffering in prison for reporting someone who proved innocent of the crimes he'd been accused of regardless of your politics or you that believe Craig is guilty of contempt or not the injustice is that he has been locked up for eight months without recourse to appeal this is the message which should be pushed out to everyone that will listen I have known Craig all my life obviously and I can tell you that he did not intend to publish anything which could help identify any victim he actually went to links to prevent this he was motivated to report what he believed was a political conspiracy to Phyllis Salmond please let's put political affiliation aside independence or unionist let's campaign together for this appeal for his appeal so you can present the evidence and be judged fairly now let's raise a toast to Craig happy birthday brother thank you Stuart thank you very much for joining us and for that message and yes we need to make sure that Craig retains his right to appeal which so far he has not been granted I'd like to now move to the other side of the world to Pakistan where we have Masood Lohar Masood I hope you can hear us over to you I believe you and Peter enjoyed many good times with Craig over to you yeah thank you very much and thank you for arranging this virtual birthday party I was very concerned my family was very concerned when we heard about his imprisonment and he sent me a message before he you know went to the jail and he he said he he said he's going to come back to Pakistan and there is something which we were supposed to do in the previous days but couldn't do that because of the corona because he wanted to see the sword of the killer in Quetta so he said he's going to come back and will go again to see places and to to see the sword the interesting thing about Craig was when Peter and his team came the wounded tigers to play cricket in Pakistan in 2019 I was their local guide and something happened and I just bumped into a very good friendship with this very otherwise difficult guy Craig Murray and Peter already gave me a heads up that the gentleman is a little you know unique and you have to be very careful with him and this and that but somehow we became so good friends that we for 21 days we traveled together we drank together sang any song when all the things then he told me some very interesting things is his spirituality his you know Mr. Soot may I request you to turn off your video because we can't quite hear you if you will turn off your video at least the sound will be better hopefully can you hear me now yes we can thank you is it good now yes please thank you so he you know his I realized that this this man is not an ordinary guy and I told Peter at one moment that because I'm a believer I told Peter in Larkana before we went to Mohanjodaro that God loves Craig Murray and he makes things happen so that he remains happy and the other interesting thing was when taking some G tours he wanted to go to some places where there were traces of Alexander Burns so we went up to this desert place where he told me that Alexander Burns actually suggested that he the British government should make the largest market for Asia so when I took him there he suddenly became the friend of the owners of the shrine and the shrine people were so happy to have him there that they finally took him to take him to the shrine and to show some very interesting old manuscripts and also he he went I'm really sorry Masood we can't hear you maybe we could bring you back in late inside the market right in the you know at that time it was go without I'm going to Masood if you don't mind we're going to stop you there and then move on to the next speaker who I have just discovered in the room who was earlier on in the list Colleen Rowley if you're here could you go next please Colleen sure okay there I am switching on camera we can't see you yet perfect hi there I just I put it in the chat but I just wanted to say solidarity with all the truth tellers who who uh go against the group think and these terrible authoritarian times Craig Murray is the unbelievable Sterling example of that as long as we have somebody like that or or few people like everybody on this on this happy birthday party I think we have a chance we have a chance to get through these times if if Craig Murray can get out of prison and and the rest of everyone can keep getting inspired through reading and everything we have a chance so thank you everybody and definitely a happy birthday to Craig Murray thanks Colleen and we have a recorded message from you as well which I'm glad you could actually make it in person and thanks for your solidarity with Craig and I'd like to now check if the person who's just entered the room is the musician I can't I'm afraid I can't see you yet so if you're the the wonderful musician who's here to sing us a song please unmute yourself and speak if you're not then I'm gonna try and go to the next speaker who is Fidel Narvez Fidel has recorded a little message in Spanish for Craig and here it is and You are a defender of many causes of denunciation around the world and we admire you a lot. I regret that you have to spend your birthday in a prison as a price to your courage. But soon, soon, we will be celebrating together in freedom the struggle that we face. Thank you to Fidel and I was asking Fidel when we had the longer interview. Whether it was normal for diplomats like Craig to speak up and if you and hopefully the Craig Murray Justice Committee will share. Sorry, I'm just going to mute somebody who's going back to me. The Craig Murray Justice Committee will share some of those clips because some of the people who couldn't be here have given and those who are here have given longer interviews to us, which we will share through the campaign. I'd now like to call upon Catherine Brown Catherine if you're here, could you say a few words please. Okay, well I've been inspired by Fidel so I'm going to say, because I know that Russian is one of your several languages you're that kind of a diplomat you do the job properly. I'd first like to say thank you, thank you for bringing me into a family I strongly echo any mash on sentiments, which were that essentially I think what she was saying is when bad things happen, good people come together. And that is one of the silver linings of those bad things happening in the first place. I'm privileged and and it's a great pleasure to be part of your Justice Committee, which really does behave like a family all of us try to support Nadira who has need of a wider family at precisely this moment, but I think we've also been supporting bilaterally and multilaterally through all the life things we've been going through during the last few months and I certainly include myself in that so it's been, it is a wonderful thing to be part of. And it's something that gives one hope this phenomenon of of this a kind of a glutination of people of goodwill that I feel in response to these kinds of situations. I'd like to go back to Russia just for a moment I've been recently researching something about Nikolai Shonishevsky. And you may not see a huge number of parallels between yourself and Shonishevsky but I would just like to point to the fact that he was a young radical in operating in St. Petersburg in the early 1860s. And in 1861 this was just after emancipation of the serfs. There was a whole load of movement for reform, and there were some young firebrands who were actually literally setting fire to St. Petersburg there were a number of arson attacks. And Shonishevsky himself, from what we know was not part of any of the more of any of the groups which actually was was committing this violence. So he was wrongly arrested because he was somebody that they wanted to put out of the way, and he was put in the hugely iconic Peter and Paul fortress in St. Petersburg. And gave the assurance that he would only write fiction during his time awaiting trial, which took a couple of years. And during that time he stuck to his promise and he wrote a novel, one of the most important novels of the 19th century in terms of its political influence, and that was called what is to be done. He suffered grievously he was put through a mock execution, he was then had seven years hard labor in Siberia and then spent the rest of his life pretty much in exile in Siberia that was a further 17 years. And he barely wrote anything after that. Nothing that bad is going to happen to you, nor are you currently in the Peter and Paul fortress but I knowing you I strongly expect that you are using your time extremely well. Whether writing politically angled fiction or perhaps more likely nonfiction I'm sure we're going to be seeing the writings that you are making good use of your time to do. And the other the other thing is I'd say is that is the title of this of this novel, what is to be done. As I say, this was a time when lots of things were grievously wrong in Russia, and there was a huge movement for reform, and that was part of that, but he was, I mean he was a progressive, he had radical ideas and that was why he was such a huge influence on Lenin, and that was why this book was one of the, the required novels that was read ad nauseam during the period of the Soviet Union. What I would say about you Craig in my understanding of you is less that you are progressive than that you're a conservative in the very best sense of the term. I vividly remember you once saying that you hadn't changed your political views over time. You had always seen yourself as kind of not particularly left kind of of moderate in the political spectrum that you had stayed where you were and the political spectrum had shifted around you, which made you then meant that you were described as somebody far on the left or as, as outside the Overton window which as we know has greatly shrunk in our lifetime. And with regard to civil liberties with regard to freedom of speech with regard to the to the range of opinions expressed especially in the mainstream media that has gone through this drastic shrinkage a since the 1980s when kind of the left has fallen away. In the 1990s the end of the Cold War, since 2000 the beginning of the war on terror. There's been this actually terrifying narrowing of discourse over that time, and all you've done really is stick to your guns and described with great security and great fearlessness, what it is that's been going on. So if I were to name your collective writings it would be not so much what is to be done but what is not to be done, what it is that's going on around us that we really have to say no to. So thank you for giving us that inspiration, you may or may not like the the Shenushevsky analogy, or indeed any of his politics at all, maybe not as a Russian radical, but in your own way in this time you are a radical. And thank you for all that you do, and I look forward to seeing you when you come out. Thanks very much. Catherine, and I'm just going to warn Robin McAlpine and Ian or that I'm going to bring them on in a little while if they're willing, but I'm going to share a little message from Anne Wright, who was pre recorded her message before I do. And I also want to apologize on behalf of Graham Brown and Amanda who there appears to be some problem with the timing they hopefully we will get them on the recording later on and we'll share it with everybody because they definitely wanted to send Craig all their love and their best. Craig, what I want to say is that we are just impressed as we can be with what you have done your, your resiliency your, your principle stand on your blogs on your journalism on your support for Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning and Ed Snowden. We really, as members of veterans intelligence professionals for sanity, quite a name. We all who have been together on many, many occasions in both the UK and in the United States. We all admire very, very much what what you have written and you're speaking over the years. And what has happened that has landed you in the Plink is just outrageous. I mean, it just is. We all are just shaking our heads at how these things can occur when someone who's committed no, no offense no crime, and through the tortured way that the Scottish government has proceeded with this. It's worthy of another book. For sure. You've got another book, right there best seller. Oh man, we'll all buy it, but it's tragically it's happening, not only to you and Scotland but it's happened here in the United States where people who have done no criminal actions are being slammed by the government. So I want you to be ready to really challenge the system the legal system that has brought you into a prison. It just, it's so stupidly outrageous that you know I just shake my head. I want to wish you very the very best under such difficult circumstances of being away from your family and celebrating these. So these very important occasions that normally our family occasions, your birthday so again happy happy birthday and we look forward next to the time of being with you in person at some stage in October, so that we can all wish you happy birthday in person. So, signing off from, from Washington DC at soul and right and I'm looking forward to meeting you very very soon in person. And again, happy birthday. Thank you. And, and was recording that message from the apartment of media Benjamin from code pink and media Claire, Claire Craig, not even drunk. Craig media sense her love and her solidarity as well. I also I also have a message from your brother Neil and from Milly, and they say they're thinking of you on your birthday and they think you will soon be home, and they're proud of the way you're coping. And over to you next Robin McAlpine. Hi, hi. Okay, I first became aware of Craig through CND was the anti nuclear movement was the first time that I'd heard of Craig. He was an ambassador who not only knew that nuclear weapons were both pointless and obscene, but he was an ambassador that would actually say that nuclear weapons are useless and obscene. I kind of knew him before Indie ref through that. But it was really an indie ref I got to know Craig a bit and after it. I've got to know my bit better. And, I mean, what do you add to what people have already said, when I was a youngster, a young political activist, but to say that perhaps one of the defining moments of my early life was in politics was Nelson Mandela coming out of prison. I know this seems like such a long time ago in such a strange comparison in some ways, but I just remember thinking as a youngster, compared to the youngster, that there are some people who do the right thing irrespective of what it matters, what it impacts on me. And I remembered that at the time. And I remembered thinking, is that not something admirable to hold up as a mirror to yourself, to you personally Robin, and say, can I live up to that? Is that the kind of person I would be in those kind of moments? And I've done that my whole life. I've had people like this who I've looked who did the right thing and paid a price, knowing they were going to pay a price for doing the right thing and did it anyway. And I've always asked myself throughout, am I that good? Am I that good a person? Am I that strong? Am I that brave? And I would obviously never tell you this in person, Craig, because I'm from the west of Scotland and we don't do emotion. Certainly we don't admit it. So I'd never say it to you in person, but Craig, you're one of those people for me. You're a person who I've looked at and I've said, Craig is, Craig is a person who has repeatedly done the right thing knowing what was coming to him. Knowing what would happen and did it anyway. And I've often thought to myself, could I live up to that? Would I be that good? Would I be that strong? And I don't know the answer yet, because I've been comparatively lucky that it's never really had been a choice I've never had to make. But you've made it and you've paid the price. And it's utterly appalling. And I think other than saying that for those that don't know, Craig also runs a wonderful music festival. I had an absolutely cracking year there with the kids the year just before and met them with a storm approaching, because it's a Scottish music festival, with a storm approaching discussing Scottish politics over a drink in a field, a muddy field somewhere in Scotland. And I remember thinking that even at the time I had worries about whether he would see the next one, whether he would be out to see the next one. And he wouldn't have been if it hadn't been the one that would have been this year. He wouldn't have been if it hadn't been for having to be cancelled because of COVID. And it really kind of hit me that that is the threshold which he takes to get you put in prison in Scotland. And that's the last point I just want to make, which is I was also thinking about this a little bit. We did it for those that don't know, the Craig Murray Justice Committee did the call with Craig the night before he went into the prison. I couldn't be there on a Sunday, but we did the call at 7 o'clock at night. And it was strange. I've done meetings before and I've done Zoom meetings before, but I've never sat with a person who's going to jail the next day and looked him in the eye. It was incredibly moving. I was really quite disturbed. And I dreamt about jails that night. And I've thought about it quite a bit since. And one of the things that appalls me, you can't see it from here, but over there I've got a poster from the Red Clyde site. It was a red Clyde side poster. And one of the horrors of Scotland is that we don't even know the history of our own dissidents. People in Red Clyde side, the people who fought for the emergent trade union movement at the turn of the century, a remarkable number of them ended up in prison and a remarkable number of them were broken in prison at the time. And ever since then, I've really started to realise that there's a remarkable incidence of people ending up in a prison in Scotland who just happened to be troublesome for the powerful in this country. And it's starting to bother me quite deeply. So whatever time I've got left, I'm going to try and do my very best to live up to your experience and your tutelage, Craig, and being that kind of brave person who says, this Scotland isn't good enough for me. It's not good enough for you. And it's not good enough for anybody else. We can't continue to turn a blind eye to this and wait for the mainstream media 10 years later or 15 years later to look back and say, actually, that wasn't good enough. Was it? And put that in the filings for we can't let this happen again, while the same thing is happening right now in Scotland. So I mean, bear up. When you get this, I hope it's cheered you up because there's been a few nice things said about you today. I'm taking the kids down to Granny's for the tea. So I'll join you for a drink this now, but I'll maybe have a wee whiskey later on. Wish you all the very best Craig. You are genuinely an inspiration to me. Don't tell anyone I said that. And I'll see you when you get out. Thank you, Robin. Ian or are you here? And are you able to unmute yourself and speak? And after Ian, just to warn the next person along. Alexander, my chorus, you're next. Okay, that seems to be frozen. So I'm just going to go to Alexander if that's okay. Alex, over to you. Well, thank you very much, Deepa. And thank you for bringing us all together. Well, lots of people have said things about Craig. There's been wonderful journalists here, great journalists, great whistleblowers, intelligence people worked in the intelligence world. People who've also been, let's say it, people who've spoken truth to power. Say a few words and greetings to first. Ah, hello. Yes. And can I, hello, am I, am I being... Sorry, I guess somebody else got unmuted by mistake. And Ian, if that's when your phone is stuck, you're next. But Alex, back to you. Okay, so lots of people have said wonderful things, wonderful things and people who are lawyers, people who are whistleblowers, people who are journalists. And I just go to add a few things. Firstly, about journalism. I think Craig Murray is one of the greatest journalists in the world today. And I say that without any hesitation. He has brought courage and clarity to his journalism. And I think one of the things that he has brought to his journalism is the eye of a historian. Craig is a historian as well. He's written brilliant books about people like Alexander Burns. And he gives to his journalism that sense that historians have of explaining why things happen. Well, the inner workings of things are so that we come away, we understand from his journalism the things that are going on around us. And that will make his journalism something that will last in the future when people want to go back and understand what happened today, why things happened as they happened. They will read Craig's writings. They will be a source. They will be a mine of information. They will make people understand what took place today in the world. And the other thing that Craig has, and we're talking a lot about law, the fact that Craig is imprisoned because of course he spoke the truth about court case and how this has caused him great anguish and anguish and pain for his family. He also has that tremendous affinity for law. And I say that because law, it seems to me, has always been based on three things. It's based on a quest for truth, a quest for justice, and a quest, a belief in liberty. All those three things that Craig has committed himself so passionately to. And if you take away from law, truth, justice and liberty, what you are left with is a cold remorseless, terrible thing, a thing that is also extremely malleable by those who control law, something that can be twisted and used against people just as it has been used against Craig today. And not just Craig, because of course this is an extraordinarily cruel thing, but against his family also. And as law, or what is called law, is used against people, dissidents, people in all sorts of countries who are also exposed to its cruelties and its harshness. And Craig would not be the great journalist he is, that person with that affinity for law that I've talked about, that all those things that other people have said, if he was not a person of profound and complete humanity. He has all of those qualities that a true, a wonderful human being needs. He has strength. He has courage. He's utterly fearless. I think it was Annie Machen who said that he's a tremendous fighter. He has that capacity, kindness for enjoyment, fun, a love of life, a fullness and a warmth of personality, which of course is what draws people to him. And contrast that, by the way, with all the sorts of schemes and calculations and plots and whatever you like to call it, of some of the people whose work he so brilliantly exposes. And all I will say, I will finish by saying that Craig, you have been inspiration to us. You have been a light in a time of darkness, a time of gathering dark, but it is your warmth, your generosity, your humanity, which for all the suffering that you have experienced or the suffering your family has experienced, gives us all that strength to carry on and that belief that we will win. Thank you Craig for all you have done. And I look forward to embracing you again, my friend, and to sharing that glass of whiskey with you when you're with us once more. Thank you. And I hope that Ian Orr can now unmute himself. I've sent you a request to unmute Ian and just to warn Ellen, you're next after that. Thank you. Ian, are you there? Right. I can't hear you. Yeah, we can see you. You can okay. Right. Well, just a very few words. First of all, a very happy birthday to Craig and it will be wonderful when he is able to be back home and celebrating it with all his family and friends. But for the moment, this remote one will have to do it. Ah, looks like we've lost the signal with Ian. I'm going to try and see if that can be restarted. Okay. There appears to be Ian just hang on a second. We can't hear you yet. Oh, hello. Yeah, now we can hear you please go again. But what I want to say is that the the values that Craig has shown in his in his life of truthfulness and respect for human dignity are crucial in three areas in which he has been involved. First of all, he's been involved as a diplomat and being being a fellow member of the foreign office with Craig. That's a part of his life that was incredibly important. And one of the things that he did so well was reporting. And that's something that he carried on and was shared in his reporting of the Julian Assange case and then of the Alex Salman case. But also reporting within the legal constraints. And the thing that is quite extraordinary is that Craig is supposedly the reason for him being in prison is his having disclosed the names are being responsible for being possible to disclose the names of those who had accused Alex Salman of various forms of sexual misconduct. And yet that was not what Craig either did or ever intended to do. So the whole concept of of I of jigsaw identification has got no solid basis in in law. And that is something which one must hope will eventually come under the scrutiny that very sadly the Supreme Court was unwilling to do. But the I think what I would most like people to to admire Craig for is the accuracy of his reporting. That was that was very evident from his time in Uzbekistan. And he did, you know, he came on to human rights abuses in Uzbekistan, which, you know, couldn't be ignored. And he spoke up and he used his own reporting lines in the Foreign Office to make people within the Foreign Office aware of that. Sadly, in the the the result was that pressure at a political level from the United States on on Tony Blair and Jack straw meant that Craig was removed from his post unjustly as was recognized. Of the various contributions that I've greatly enjoyed hearing today, Annie's one reminded me, of course, I had known Craig, because I was had a posting in Ghana that and Craig then succeeded me as Deputy High Commissioner there. But after he had some party from the Foreign Office and left, he, of course, used part of the part of the money that he'd been awarded for the way in which he'd been mistreated to campaign against Jack straw in the election in Blackburn. And the, I think those of us who know Craig from them will remember with great fondness the X army vehicle that drove up and down the hills of Blackburn saying, you know, saying to Jack straw on the track Jack don't come back. Sadly, Jack straw did come back. But Craig is soon going to be back with us. And let's hope that he will be able from his suffering in prison to gain greater support. For the truth telling that is the great contribution that he's made to diplomacy and to journalism. And eventually, one would hope to change isn't the law. Happy birthday Craig. Thank you very much. And of course, you've campaigned with Craig in relation to the Chagos Islands. So, Craig, I'm sure will be very grateful that you've made the time to join us today. I'm going to request Ellen Darzel, who is the campaign coordinator for the Craig Murray justice campaign, and who's done a huge amount of work in the background getting Craig's case in front of everybody and making sure that people understand what what this case is really about. Ellen, could you tell us a little bit. Firstly, a birthday message to Craig and also a little bit about the campaign to all those people who are listening. This, this, this event is being shown just to thank again consortium news action for Assange and anonymous bytes back who are all live streaming as are some other groups whom I will mention as we go along. Ellen over to you. Hello everyone and happy birthday Craig. In the last week. I have taken receipt of a lot of birthday cards for you. And apparently there is not a single person who wants to send just a normal birthday card to Craig Murray. That just doesn't happen. The very first cards that I read this week had me in tears within a couple of seconds and that was Cameron's birthday card to his dad. Before I have gotten to know you Craig actually just through the campaign. But before I go into detail on that. I think I would like to say that even if it wasn't for the campaign, I would have been a sadder person and a less enriched person if I hadn't met you and your family and friends and all the people that have gotten involved in this campaign. It's been an incredible, incredible, exhausting, exhilarating and enraging time that we have spent together so far. And I know that we're on the way to achieve something that means as much to us personally and as much to you as the person affected currently in prison. But if we don't fight this campaign, you are not going to be the last person imprisoned for executing your job. And this could be about absolutely anybody who dares to post something in the public sphere that could be misconstrued as part of a jigsaw puzzle. And as we know no jigsaw puzzle has just one piece, it could be identified as part of a jigsaw puzzle that you shouldn't have put out into the public sphere. And really the way that this has gone down is not about Craig Murray, it's not about the salmon case. As far as I can see it's about human rights, it's about the freedom of press. It's about a country that in 70 years hasn't thrown anybody in jail that was a journalist and had a media content charge against him. And now after 70 years Scotland is going back into that, that is not the country that I moved to and that I'm proud to be part of, that I'm proud to be campaigning for, and it's not the people that I hope to represent. And that is why it matters that we think of this campaign and think of the time of Craig in prison as a catalyst, but by by no means the end of the stretch. I'm going to continue to campaign for freedom of press for the release of journalists from prison and for proper laws that represent Scotland and the UK because we can't make a mistake about this. This ruling is a precedent reset for the entirety of the UK. This isn't just about Scotland. This is about the UK as a whole and the UK in an international context. I'm sure is already under enough pressure to maintain any sort of respect from its peers, but violations against human laws and not the kind of thing that gains you that respect. This is a matter that should not have been rejected to be heard at the Supreme Court in London either. We are going to take this campaign all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. And let's see how we get there. I'm really pleased that this campaign is coming together. And I am feeling a little bit better for the fact that we are all able to come together, even while you're not here. And enjoy a little tipple and, you know, let you know what this means to us, but also to the wider world for anybody who has not had the opportunity to speak to Craig or to read letters from him or see him in person in prison. All I can say is that on a personal basis. I am odd that somebody who had so many difficulties thrown at him in life, manages to go to prison for four months and sits in prison and doesn't have a victim mentality but is starting to experience and look and connect to the people and the experiences around him in a way that is so typical for Craig Murray. Somebody with integrity doesn't lose it in hard times. That's when integrity shines and that is what I admire. So happy birthday Craig I can't wait to see you out in a couple of weeks, and then we'll celebrate together. Thank you Ellen. I'd now like to go across the pond again to Randy credit or Randy are you here. And if you are if you could please unmute yourself. I, I'm going to try and promote you to panelist again I think there has been an issue with your connections they might have been moved back to if you can accept that request Randy. And then hopefully you should be able to we should be able to see and hear you. Oh, great. Randy's in the room now. Randy you'll need to unmute yourself and switch on your camera because we can't quite see you yet. The Mike. There's the video. How's that. Can you hear me. We can hear you but we can't see you. Oh, well, that might be a good thing. No, no, no. Now we can see you go for it over to you. Okay, thank you very much. Sorry I was listening the whole time. And it's great. I don't know how I can follow Ellen I got to hear Ellen speak and, and I didn't get to hear anybody else I heard Hugh Kerr who I met back two years four years ago and a wonderful shindig we had at Craig and Nadira's apartment their old flat. One of the greatest nights I've had in my lifetime. But you know Craig is. That's the kind of guy Craig is Craig is he's a rack and tour. He's a guy that is just a great conversation list he's brilliant. I can't add really everything that that that Ellen just said is absolutely what I would have tried to say but I don't have the command of the language like she does. But, you know, last night we had a event here in Washington DC I'm sitting in the car right now keeping the phone charge. And he got a standing ovation I mentioned Craig Murray. We sang happy birthday to Craig. He got like I said a standing ovation a elongated one, because everybody knows the contribution. He has made not to just Julian Assange but you look at the exposure of because he was a Craig of the torture in Uzbekistan. All of the stuff that he fought for when he was a diplomat in Western Africa. You know, the book she kind of burns what that that opened up my eyes to a whole other, you know, part of Scottish history, and that Scottish history and I think about, you know, going to that graveyard nearby that Craig goes and he thinks that he's buried where I think Walter Scott there are some I forgot who was buried there maybe Robert Burns. But Adam Smith, and he showed me around there's a place where he just bought in there and I'm thinking about all those great writers Carlisle maybe, and Craig is part of that heritage. And what they've done, but Lord Dorian has done is really put a blight on my thoughts about the history of this great country, Scotland, with this great education system before they merge. What was it Union of Parliaments and all of that. They already had a great education system. Craig, Craig is part of that heritage, and it's like representative of it. And Lord Lady Dorian, what a great lady has kind of undermined my feelings about Scotland that this could happen right now at this juncture in history. But as far as Craig goes, when a person I love the guy absolutely love and adore him. I think he's brilliant. I was there at Balmorish when he would sit through for eight hours and take these little like little notes maybe. And then that night he go out and have dinner maybe a glass of ale, get like two hours sleep, and then he'd write the 6000 word like Nicholas, Nick will be sized dispatches and edit edit the them himself and put them out and then show up in the queue at 6am. It was the most incredible thing I'd ever seen. And he was like Craig has been for for Assange what Zola was for Dreyfus and he's been taken out of that kind of passion that kind of of eloquence and commitment. It's on par or even surpasses it. And so right now in the 27th and 28th, Craig right now would like to be there and the whole world would like Craig because nobody give you the feel of the atmosphere of what goes on inside these these hearings. The first two that he wrote so brilliantly on and the one that's coming up. They don't want them there either. They found a reason to stuff him away. And he's being persecuted, this bogus charge being jigsaw being stuffed away. We don't have them on the 27th and 28th. You know what, that is an irreplaceable element to the exposure of what's happening to Julian Assange. All right, and what's happening. So we got two cases going on at the same time to persecutions. I know he was on my radio show five years ago, and he had just gotten out of the hospital. He talked about his illness he had a blood transfusion. He was sick and he had heart problems to put him in this prison is really a scandal. Like I said, I don't know what else to say except for I miss him dearly. I, you know, he was bedrock of my radio show for the last five years I had him on like 20 times you could and he got me Hugh Kerr like I said, another great thing. I had a hue on for an hour talking about opera it was so educational to have you talk about opera we had the various versions of Bob Pincero from the book who and of course I couldn't stop him on anything. And it was Craig that said you should do the radio show and then the next day he said you know what that one better than I thought it would. And then they dare the plov he talked about plov and and and all and it was almost the point where it was hilarious in the book murder at summer can him talking plov all the way through and then when I was there she made and I licked the bowl. That's how good it was made here. I know I'm just ranting on here because I don't know what else to say except for you're going to have a birthday. You're going to love this. Got a standing ovation. Everybody loves Craig and we hope to see you real soon Craig. So stay healthy and, you know, and other cliches but we'll see you soon. Thank you very much, Randy. And I know you've been ill and I know you've been traveling so I'm really grateful that actually made it. I'm inside of a car. I'm charging the phone. All right. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. Thank you. Thank you. You want to come out of here now. Yeah, I'm going to do. I just like to quickly invite to say that it was both David human Adam Smith. Marcus has posted that and so is Ian Monroe, who are in that cemetery. And I think we have next. A message from John Shipton, Julian Assange's father. And we have only three or four messages and then we'll go on to seeing happy birthday for Craig. So Elsa, Ian Monroe, Donnie Blair, you're on notice as Elizabeth Murray, who if she's here, could speak live. But over now to Donnie online. Hi Craig, Donnie Blair here. Sorry, we can't be with you today. We're actually down in London visiting Charlie's elder sisters. But we are thinking of you on your birthday. I've got fond memories of the time you were working in the British Embassy in Warsaw. And I was busy setting up Johnny Walker as a company over there and the good evenings we had in all these Irish pub and the many drums that we took of single malts, which I know is a vice of yours and also a vice of mine. I'm particularly interested in the situation that you're in, not only because there's always a natural tendency to do a kind of David and Goliath thing. And unfortunately you happen to be David and Goliath happens to be the Scottish judicial system. For many years now. I've had worries that the things were not right is regards to judicial system in Scotland. It seems to be run by a relatively small cabal of Edinburgh based people who have got very little knowledge of the outside world, and even the world south of Adrian as well. So I do consider your case is perhaps something that is an indicator, a quite clear indicator of what is wrong with the legal system in Scotland. But that's a subject for another day when we can sit down together and have a few drums. That's all I can really think of saying other than formally wishing you a happy birthday. I try to stay in touch with Nadira and Cameron and Oscar, and I think everything's going okay in that direction. And I look forward to having a wonderful evening with you on the day that you're released from the bookie best wishes Craig and have a happy birthday. Thank you and now over to Elsa and I also neglected to say there's a small contribution again from Emily just to warn you towards the end and also I believe Celia. Celia's message has not yet been played. It was a very lovely message from Celia, so I'm really looking forward to playing it over to Elsa. Thank you. Craig, we've never met the story as to why I joined the Craig Murray Justice Committee as a deeply personal one. I first came across you when I was a corporate lawyer dusting down the company's whistleblowing policy. You at the time were whistleblowing, giving evidence in the UK Parliament about US and UK state sponsored torture in Uzbekistan. You're also responsible, bizarrely enough for me discovering the identity of my biological father Ron, a Native American US Navy Marine who came to Scotland with nuclear submarines. His life in 2005. And from your journalism, WikiLeaks and former intelligence and military whistleblowers, some of whom are here today. I piece together Ron's story, the real story of the Iraq war of missing weapons, corruption, and many unusual and unexplained deaths, all covered in the book of Blood Money, which described the state sanctioned theft of billions of dollars from Iraq's sovereign wealth fund and rerouted it to the military industrial complex. A sovereign wealth fund denied Scotland. I know that as my real dad, my adoptive dad Bill was a lawyer, a politician and a former Lord, provost of Glasgow. And he pushed for one in the 1970s. And for his trouble, he was sacked by Margaret Satcher, Anna's chair of the Scottish Development Agency, and he was also sacked from the Scottish Oil Club, de-platformed and silenced. It was always thus Craig. As you have pointed out, Scotland's oil money was instead poured into the UK financial services industry to maintain London's position as the money laundering capital of the world. When I followed my father into law, he bought me books and miscarriages of justice. His message was clear. The law can be unass. And this lesson you beautifully underlined in your journalism of the Julian Assange trial, and again in your journalism of the trial of former First Minister Alex Salmond, and again in the trial of journalist Mark Hearst, and yet again in your own trial in Scotland as in other countries around the world. Lawfare is being used to silence people, tie up the resources, financially cripple them and ruin their public reputations. Your honest journalism on the global assault on freedom of speech is why you're in prison. It's why politicians like Neil Hanvey and Kenny McCaskill having eight occasions in the past two years used their parliamentary privilege to shine a light on Scotland's legal system, highlighting your incarceration for a crime that if it is a crime at all was committed by other people. But thanks to you, ordinary people like me know the truth. It's why when you were banned from the press gallery at the Julian Assange trial, people queued through the night, and they did so that they could be given their place to you in the public gallery in the morning. It's why people are celebrating outside Softon prison today. So today I represent the people you've never met, but whose lives you've nonetheless deeply affected. And on behalf of those people, Happy Birthday Craig and Slangeval. That was really touching. Thank you, Elsa. Thank you so much, Elsa. Beautiful. And our next speaker is Professor Ian Monroe. Ian is a professor at the University of Newcastle and has hosted Craig at Newcastle at a whistleblower's event. Ian, over to you. Well, Craig is a fantastic human being as we all know, and a phenomenally intelligent and highly cultivated man as well as being a man of great integrity. But I just want to say something very quickly about his generosity of spirit. The day before he went to prison, he gave a speech outside the Scottish Parliament and that speech he didn't talk about his own case. He talked about, he talked in support of other whistleblowers. He talked in support of Daniel Hale. And that's just characteristic of his approach to life is exactly this, giving voice to other people who don't have a voice. People initially of Uzbekistan being, you know, a mass torture that was being undertaken by the regime there, which we were supporting at the time. But obviously, his work WikiLeaks and so much other journalism for Julian Assange and so on, and many other people have been mentioned, but it was this generous and remarkable generosity of spirit, even as he was about to go to prison, to jail, to prison. And other than that, of course, is one of the terrible problems of speaking truth to power. It's not only the retaliation. His whistleblower prompted two parliamentary inquiries, one published in 2009 and one published in 2018. Theresa May basically stamped on, you know, put a foot down for the 2018 inquiry, they couldn't get access to people to give evidence. And so you have people speaking truth to power, but very little happening as a result, unfortunately. And then of course, even being marginalized and then being subsequently jailed for whatever reason, you know, conduct charges as we all know it's terrible situation. But yeah, he's he's an absolutely remarkable man. Everything he puts his mind to he does exceptionally well. I love the fact that when you know he publishes a book, his first book, who the Nobel Prize winner, Harold Pinter says, this is a good book. You know, the people who say who talk about his work. It's just, even today, the members of the former members of the intelligence community, lawyers, journalists, exceptionally brave and talented people saying this is a great man. And I'm afraid I don't have a whiskey and I do feel sort of slightly guilty for that but she is happy birthday Craig. I now have four Murray's one after the other. The first is not related to Craig. And that's Elizabeth Murray, and who's the American whistleblower, and then just to warn you, Emily you're next and then we're going to have Celia and Nadira. This is okay Craig. Many congratulations on your birthday. I hope you're you're able to celebrate. But if not, I hope you can have a good party when you get out. I hope there's lots of good whiskey and another great libations. And I know all your friends and family will be so happy to see you. So from here on the West Coast in sunny California. Happy birthday and all the best. Thanks. Emily, I believe you wanted to add something to what you said earlier, please. You're next. You might need to unmute yourself again. Thank you. Can you hear me now. Yes, thank you. Okay, I'm so sorry. But thank you everyone who's come along to say something really nice like obviously I felt very heartened by what people have had to say. And I guess I want to reiterate what a lot of people have said, which is that I don't think this whole situation is about left or right, or what you believe I think that it's incredibly important that we all have the right to say what we feel. And I believe in freedom of speech. Absolutely. And I would like to speak as a millennial in, you know, I'm in my late 20s. And I know the backlash of people looking at click bait and things like you know when Lady Dorian says Craig Murray relished in revealing the identities of people in this case. And actually, it infuriates me because if you do the slightest amount of research on my dad, you know that he is a human right activist. He does care about women. He cares about all this stuff. But, you know, like, I mean, I'm, I didn't am a and media and communication I didn't am a and film and TV, you know, I, if it wasn't for my dad actually I know that I recognize that I'm a very privileged person in this economy because my dad actually gave me a short period of time working with RT Russia today UK and like it really did. Like what he's given me is like a really broad perspective of all of this stuff. And actually you know what like there is so much polarization and social media, and so much Craig Murray relished in this and that. And actually what it could actually take is, if people weren't so lazy, they could look and see who this person is, rather than what they think this person is just from one click or from one quote. And I think it's absolutely fucked up how Facebook markets us how Twitter markets us all of this. And like, it really has made me actually question. If I have actually ever done enough research into what I'm looking, looking for what I'm complaining about. Thank you for sharing that Emily thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. And our next speaker is Celia Murray Celia is here but she's prerecorded her interviews I'm hoping that Celia and Howard was one of Craig's friends from university who are going to speak. Next, will be visible now to you. Very warm welcome to sorry to spare with me one second. Happy birthday Craig, I find this very strange I've known you in all sorts of circumstances at your birthday. But this one is the strangest. Anybody that asked me to guess that we will be saying happy birthday to you in this way. Even last year, I would think that they were completely mad. I really, really, really hope that you're bearing up on your special day and that you're managing to keep your chin up. Because I know things can't be that easy to have a birthday on in this way. I was thinking about birthdays from the past the other day and I was thinking about how good mom and Nan used to be at doing our birthdays and about how we always used to have little parties and jelly and party games. And I think that when you get home, you should organise yourself something like that. So the nice and light hearted it will be lovely. I'm really looking forward to seeing you and to be able to wish you a happy birthday in person. And in the meantime, I really am thinking about you a lot and send you a lot of love. Morning, old beans. As you can see, I'm in traditional student dress full slot mode this morning. Actually, I've been up and doing some work and looking at some pictures of Dune from 2018 in which you were making guest appearances, carrying beer around and watching music. So I'm able to turn up now and say good morning and happy birthday. But we will, we're hoping to get up there at the beginning of November and come and visit you in person. So that's the plan, everything else being equal and we still think that's a possibility. So we'll try and get you, get you then. And of course, once they release you, we'll come and see you as soon as possible after that. Again, everything else being equal. But again, happy birthday. I hope you're looking forward to actually getting out and getting a decent whiskey, which I might try and bring up when we come up in December. So thank you to Celia and Howard for that. Howard also told me an excellent story about Craig falling asleep, or rather pretending to fall asleep while they were at university by laying across four benches and closing his eyes and saying wake me up when he's when the lecturer says something funny. So Craig's always been a bit of a troublemaker and I'd like to invite Nadira to, I don't know if the birthday cake which was supposed to have arrived at your end has arrived. If we can sing happy birthday together I'm going to try and allow everybody who's in the order to join in as well. So I'm going to put it to talk for everybody. So if you, if you would like to, you can. Is that 36? Huh? Is it 36? Good, although he would. I'm sure Craig would really be loving this occasion. That is exactly what he wanted us to celebrate his 36th birthday. I think I must be dyslexical. I can't see from here. Is it now okay? Oh yes, it's okay now. You know what? It probably got wrong in the reflection of the camera. It's okay. Let me see. It's three, it's like this, no? No. Okay. We're sleeping so I'm going to be on my own. And so we're going to sing a song. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! And for those of you who are in Ghana, they sing, how old are you now? How old are you now? And Dan hated that when we lived in Ghana. He would always be like, 25. Well, that's good, 36. How old are you now? How old are you now, 36? Yeah. Good old Craig. Well, thank you so much. That was really good, sweet, deeper. You did a fantastic job. And everyone else. Thank you for organizing all. Ellen, Elsa, everybody. You know, we are so lucky. Having a committee like you guys. So caring and friendly. And that made, you know, children, especially Cameron, is because, you know, he's strong because of you guys and how, how you talk and what is going on. And me too, you know, with the baby. And it was easy for me to just, you know, I've been going through this postpartum and. With hormones and things. And so I, I'm really lucky. Having all of you and having. Your support. And it's just, you guys are so wonderful. Thank you so much. So many people. So many supporters behind Craig. And I don't feel lonely. I feel. We are all together in this. Yeah, I mean, I'm sorry. Thank you very much. It's very hard for me to say, because what I want is, I want to say more than thank you. But I'm limited with just words. Thank you. We need, we need more words in the English language. I don't know. Maybe I thought it's my, my English language that I'm not very good. My vocabulary is not very good. I know exactly what you mean. Don't worry. The heart bigger than language. Thank you. Thank you everyone. And I've tried to promote everybody who was in the. In the, in the. Attendee room back to the main room. So you might have requested, received a request from me to be a panelist. I'm going to stop the recording now so that people can, who don't wish to be seen publicly can come into the main room. And if you would like to speak and say anything about Craig, please feel free to. I beg your pardon. Yeah, we're going to stop recording just now. Stop recording. Recording stopped. Oh no. Well, I'd love to say to Ellen. I think that she's absolutely amazing. And I think that the love and support she's got our family is absolutely amazing. It goes well beyond her job description, you know, like she has on the day that we had to say goodbye to dad. She cared for Cameron so much. She gave him poetry. She gave him a book. She like really sort of like made everything a really smooth transition for him. And I really, I really appreciate that. And I think that when I was a child and things all a bit topsy-turvy with Uzbekistan, I really could have done with maybe an anchor like Ellen. When I was, I was so glad that she has done that for Cameron, just as someone. She gave him poetry. I just think that's lovely. And I just, I really think that she's doing a fantastic job outside her job description. Obviously we all love each other as a family, but there are some responsibilities we all forget to do because this all affects us all. This affects all of us, you know, and we all love dad. We all love each other. But I think sometimes a little extra help. Where it's needed is really, really good. I'm so glad she's there for Cameron. I'm so glad she's there for Cameron. Well, I guess Ellen's there. Ellen. I want you to do my radio show Wednesday. Okay. In New York city. No problem. I'd love to. All right. Is there anybody else who hasn't spoken yet? Who wants to say a few words? I'm hoping that anybody else, if you're in the attendee room and you, I'm assuming that everybody who's there doesn't want to speak, because I've tried to promote you, but I've not been able to get through. But if you know, Margie here, a deep, Margie. You're muted. You are muted again. Please. Could you unmute? Yeah. Time. Everyone mutes me. Look, Margie's like five feet away from me. She's sitting down. Should I take the phone to her so she can say something? Sure. Please. Here. Just say hi to Craig Murray. Just go say a few words there. Hello. Hello. Hi. Recording in progress. Hi. So nice to see you. Yeah, you too. What a sunny day in New York. Yes. It's a beautiful day here. And we had a, a very good. Event for Julian last night. And I'm glad we're having another event today for Chris. It's very important. And it's his birthday. Well, even if it weren't his birthday, I would, I would think having an event for him at this time is an important thing. Awesome. Thank you. You're looking great. Thanks. Thanks, Margaret. I'm going to stop recording. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Margaret. I'm going to stop recording because I was hoping to catch Margaret on the screen for Craig. Recording stopped. So, um, and Margaret, you can let me know if you want me to keep that recording or not. So we can talk about it later. And is there anybody else who, any of Craig's old friends and colleagues who'd like to say something, if you wouldn't mind using the virtual hand, then I can see you and bring you in so that multiple people aren't unmuted at the same time. Is that Craig, another Craig who wants to say something? I don't mind. Yeah. I mean, what can I say that hasn't been said already? Um, the speeches made by people here today have really reinforced what everyone already knew about Craig Murray. He's a, a hero that we should all look up to. And the injustice that's been done to really wants to be brought out and, you know, we can't forget this even after it's over. Once Craig comes out, we can't forget this. It's wrong. It's wrong. Thank you, Craig. And if, if other speakers who, who are going to speak next could just, um, let me know if they're happy for me to record them, then I'll make sure we do that, but I won't do it without your permission as I did with Margaret. Very, because I didn't realize it was her coming online. I thought it was somebody else. Um, I think it's full next. In the queue. Are you happy for me to record? I don't. Yes, surely. Thank you. No, I just want recording in progress. I just want to say that I had followed Craig from Dublin for a long, long time. And I've been back from the, the foreign Commonwealth office times and through, through that struggle. And I've read two of his books. I met him in Belfast at the failure at one stage and shook his hand. And that's as far as I got. But I just want to say that to, to, to, to echo what has been said here, that a huge injustice has been done to him. It is a conspiracy. And I don't like to hear sometimes saying people saying that it's disproportionate. The sentence was an, an abomination because Craig was innocent and he has made the point in one of his blog posts that he has never refused a legitimate court request. He got spurious requests from the crown office to take down stuff, which he ignored because it had no authority in law and anything that came from a court he observed. And I do know and have, have, that he has gone to great lengths as one of the speakers said, I think it was his brother to, to avoid doing precisely the thing that he has been accused of doing and that he could have done it long before any, any, any court stuff was, it was in, was in place to stop him doing it. And I think Lady Dorian, unfortunately it is totally unworthy of, of a judicial position or any position anywhere. But I just like to wish him a happy birthday and send him a message of solidarity from Dublin and Ireland. Thank you. That's wonderful. Thank you. And from Australia, we have Kathy Wogan. Kathy, you're next. Thank you so much for streaming this event to, to viewers in America and Australia and also for joining us today. Over to you, Kathy. Well, I think the best thing that I've heard tonight, Craig is that you're going to be out in a couple of weeks. That's really, really good news. Six weeks. Six weeks. Oh, that's not so good. But I tried to send you my tweets from the courtroom so you could keep up. I'll try and do it again. I don't know if that kind of thing gets through, but I gave it a go. But we've been happy to stream this tonight on consortium news and I just wanted to say goodbye to everybody. We're going to sign out now because there are some aspects of this conversation that are private. So can't wait to see you again, Craig. Bye bye. Thank you, Kathy. Is there anybody else who, who wishes to say anything? If not, I just thank everybody very much for sharing, especially those who've done the longer interviews, which we will share in due course, of course, with their permission. Thank you.