what happened to katharine gun husband

Some journalist needs to go and have a hardcore interview with Lord Goldsmith. She continues to reside in Turkey and occasionally visits Britain. No need for weapons of mass destruction arguments. KATHARINE GUN: Well, OK, I know I was guilty in the facts of the matter. [10] Her case became a cause clbre among activists, and many people stepped forward to urge the government to drop the case. So, lots of leads there. Some of the information that would have been revealed at her trial, in particular Lord Goldsmiths conflicting arguments as to the legality of the invasion, did not fully emerge until the publication of the report of the Chilcot inquiry in 2016. How many times has she seen the film now? AMY GOODMAN: And the U.S. is still in Iraq. You hardly told anybody what you had done. In the film, Official Secrets, she is played by Keira Knightley. Maybe there will be sympathy.. This was a huge story, crushed by a bigger story. We still dont know who Frank Koza is, or hes still not given a public interview about about what went on. But that is unbelievably difficult now especially in the digital world.. My childhood friend, for example, I remember hearing her father was on a blacklist because he had been agitating for the opposition. Get Democracy Now! Katharine Gun leaked that memo to the Observer, in the belief that the revelation of the proposed bugging and blackmail tactics might be enough to stop the war. They called for your documents. GAVIN HOOD: What she discovers saysis a request from the NSA to GCHQ to hack, bug the private communications and the office communications of U.N. Security Council members, in particular the nonpermanent members, the more junior members. Her story, which reveals what a country will do when it wants war and claims it does not, is told in an updated book and a major motion picture soon to be released Official . A translator for UK intelligence agency GCHQ, Gun read a brief from the US National Security Agency urging its British sister organisation to spy on members of the UN Security Council, to gain influence i n a vote on whether to sanction an invasion of Iraq. And they said they would try their best. AMY GOODMAN: The horror of what you did not succeed in preventing, though, which was the deaths of so many in Iraq, and that continues today, but you certainly touched the conscience of not just the nation, but the world, in what you did, talking about what womanwhat one woman could do. Katharine Gun (ne Harwood), 47, is married to Yasar Gn, a Turkish Kurd, with whom she has a 13-year old daughter. I think its important for people to find that truth and follow through on it, Gun opined, and its certainly worth remembering. I mean, obviously, at that point, then felt very sorry that someone had been arrested, but it was a huge relief at the time. I would love to know. Truth has a habit of . He succumbed to his wounds and Knight dragged his body downstairs, skinned him, and hung his body from a meat hook in the living room. delivered to your inbox every day! AMY GOODMAN: Well, explain that. These were, as I said before, bitter times. But my closest friends stuck by me.. AMY GOODMAN: And then what happened? And yeah, it was absolutely terrifying. I think a lot of our current issues go back to that time. In fact, Iyou know, I couldnt bear to watch the scenes. I felt awful after I denied it. So I really didnt want any of that to be scrutinized because it just felt too vulnerable, stated Gun, on why she chose to retreat from the limelight once the dust had settled. I do not gather intelligence so the government can lie to the British people., Sixteen years have passed since Katharine Gun said those words, but they still ring in the air. Many wonder whether Guns young daughter has seen the film or been told of the importance of her mothers extraordinary actions. So I was . There are almost no defenses to this act. So, no, I mean, I didnt want to say I was guilty when I didnt feel guilty. Gun, a translator with the British intelligence service known as Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), received a document just before the war from an NSA manager, seeking British intelligence support in spying on . Gun told Bright in 2013, "There seems to be this blas attitude - the spying goes on . And nor did the story end. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Who is her husband? Within half an hour, the case was dropped because the prosecution declined to offer evidence. [2] In 2003, she leaked top-secret information to The Observer, concerning a request by the United States for compromising intelligence on diplomats from member states of the 2003 Security Council. delivered to your inbox every day! AMY GOODMAN: No, you thought it was routine when he walked in. In 2003, she leaked top-secret information to The Observer, concerning a request by the United States for compromising intelligence on diplomats from member states of the 2003 Security Council.The diplomats were due to vote on a second United . She then went on to get a Masters degree in Global Ethics. So I tried to look for work. This is a rush transcript. You dont do you? I was teaching Mandarin in the local college in Cheltenham. [5] In February, she travelled to London to take part in the demonstration against the impending invasion of Iraq. Katharine Gun - who's played by Keira Knightley in a forthcoming film - blew the whistle on a dodgy scheme by the American government. So give us the nutthe nutshell description of this story. KATHARINE GUN: Well, hes Turkish, from a Kurdish background, yeah. During the season 5 finale of American Idol, Katharine McPhee was named the runner-up against winner Taylor Hicks. We're looking at the real-life political thriller of a British intelligence specialist, Katharine Gun, who risked everything to blow the whistle on U.S. dirty tricks at the United Nations in the lead-up to the Iraq invasion in 2003. GAVIN HOOD: And then, for five days, I interviewed Katharine and just made notes. The side of that history that Gun didnt really know in its fullest detail until she worked on the film was the drama of how the story made it into the pages of the Observer. I mean, this has been going on for a number of years, and it always sort of ended up kind of petering out, so, GAVIN HOOD: Other people had approached you before. is a 501(c)3 non-profit news organization. My GCHQ career obviously came to an end. KATHARINE GUN: Yeah, and he had no money in his pocket. So, you know, it doesnt end, as Martin said. He gets more and more pressure from Blair. Her life story is depicted in the new film Official Secrets. In Part 2 of our discussion, we speak with Katharine Gun; the British journalists who reported on Guns revelations in The Observer newspaper, Martin Bright and Ed Vulliamy; and Gavin Hood, director of Official Secrets.. [19] This is her story. AMY GOODMAN: Now, he goes in for a regular check-in. But this is not the issue. Then we see her become this woman who's starting to really know herself and starting to try and identify her own feminine being and trying to find her own place in the boardroom as a woman, as an entity, as a sister and . I was teaching Mandarin in the local college in Cheltenham. [5] Gun heard no more of the email, and had all but forgotten about it until Sunday 2 March, when she saw it reproduced on the front page of The Observer newspaper. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. AMY GOODMAN: Whatever you tried to do didnt succeed. So, of course, I was a little bit sort of reserved. [4], After spending her childhood in Taiwan, where she attended Morrison Academy until the age of 16, Katharine returned to Britain to study for her A-levels at Moira House School, a girls' boarding school in Eastbourne. Of course he does. And I was tasked to set up a website to look into this. How am I possibly going to do that? When he didnt come out, I was panicking, you know, and I ran inside. I wanted to stop bombs dropping on Iraq., The consequences have been damaging not just for Guns career. And then I went on to interview Martin and Ed and then Ben Emmerson, the lawyer. "We still do not know all that happened - what GCHQ did, and why things happened," he said. ED VULLIAMY: Yes. (In fact, those -our and -ise endings had been introduced by an Observer editorial assistant, innocently following house style guidelines as she copied out the memo into the system.) We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work. She urged "those in a position to do so to disclose information which relates to this planned aggression; legal advice, meetings between the White House and other intelligence agencies, assessments of Iran's threat level (or better yet, evidence that assessments have been altered), troop deployments and army notifications. The last few hectic days have left her relieved and happy, she says, but completely uncertain as to her future. MARTIN BRIGHT: We didI tell you what, though, we did feel that we had failed. The original content of this program is licensed under a. In a BBC interview with Jeremy Paxman, she said that she had not raised the matter with staff counsellors as she "honestly didn't think that would have had any practical effect". MARTIN BRIGHT: I mean, there are a series of questions of accountability here. Youre terrified. I watched you last night at one of the premieres of the film, a kind of secret showing of Official Secrets. AMY GOODMAN: And then what happened? When asked by Salon how it felt to see a famous actress act out her life for an audience . I mean, couldnt have been happier with the casting choice, because Ben Emmerson is a force of nature, absolute force of nature, and a great international lawyer. Following the incident, Gun struggled to find work that she loved, and her husband had grown disillusioned with Britain. KATHARINE GUN: Devastation. Whats the defense? And all of a sudden the news media is not interested in how we got into the war. Shes not wearing tons of makeup. The love between Katharine and her husband, Yasar Gun, is undeniable, and the punishment they must to endure together is heart stopping. In Turkey, close to her husbands family, Gun and her partner, Yasar, could raise their child in peace. It just means that the job is even more difficult than it was before. How often does she go through that fateful weekend, where she wrestled with her conscience after seeing the memo? AMY GOODMAN: I mean, youre the guy who broke the story that showed that Britain was collaborating with the U.S. in trying to get dirt on U.S. ambassadors, AMY GOODMAN: to get them to vote for the war in Iraq, which ended up killingwhat do you say at the end of the film? AMY GOODMAN: And, Ed, you see whats going on in this country, in the United States, not to mention where youre from, in Britain. And, of course, I was sitting in the restaurant waiting for her to come in, and I had no idea what to expect. Ben Emmerson decides the way to defend Katharine Gun is to ask for Lord Goldsmiths documents. Dont just swallow what politicians tell you. You know, I felt totally at ease in her company. They knew the difference between truth, lies and propaganda. We pay respect by giving voice to social justice, acknowledging our shared history and valuing the cultures of First Nations. Youre breaking the speed limit. But she sails in with Gavin and comes straight up to me and goes, Oh, Katharine! and gives me a big hug. Katharine Gun at Bow Street magistrates court in 2003 after being charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act. Guns story is not only an inspiration to her own daughter, but also to people around the world trying to be honest and brave citizens. Much of the news desk was opposed. Gavin Hoods 2019 film Official Secrets is the thrilling political drama that explores the events that followed British linguist Guns 2003 media leak. Almost a million Iraqis. What I did is a very unusual thing to do, because the results are not generally good. [14] On the day of the court hearing, Gun said, "I'm just baffled in the 21st century we as human beings are still dropping bombs on each other as a means to resolve issues. If we found other information, it may have been different, but this information seemed to show us that wed been lied to. There is a small group of us, she says. ED VULLIAMY: said on the program, I filed that story seven times. Don't worry, we won't share or sell your information. Which agency was it? Timpf, 32, and Friscia, 34, tied the knot . Your defense becomes: It was necessary to break the law in order to achieve a higher purpose, which is the saving of human life. Keira Knightley as Katharine Gun in the film Official Secrets. AMY GOODMAN: How rarely a woman actress, an actor, gets to play, you know, the protagonist, the solid, strong hero, Gavin. A film, Official Secrets, has been made of her story. Whatever you think of Kamala Harris, you can say, Which America do you want? At the time, Katharine Gun was working for Britains Government Communications Headquarters, known as GCHQ. And my husband was desperately worried about what was going on. Brights story was news to Gun herself, to a large degree. AMY GOODMAN: They said you could have pled. This is viewer supported news. She was arrested and charged with breach of the Official Secrets Act. Plead out. And they attempt to deport your husband, who is a? Read More: Is Official Secrets a True Story? Before I was charged, before my name came out, my biggest worry was that I would become a known person. Something like. The woman in her 20s attempted to stop the war and firmly stood to her truthful morals. Strange concept, but you do. Its all so resonant. The day before the trial, Gun's defence team had asked the government for any records of legal advice about the lawfulness of the war that it had received during the run-up to the war. [24] In July 2019, in a lengthy interview on the US program Democracy Now!, Gun, Gavin Hood (the film's director), and Martin Bright and Ed Vulliamy (the journalists who broke the story of the leaked memo) discussed the events that the film describes. White bread, white Trump, white, or this America, the one of every color, creed? You know, we dont have that. That whole period undermined the judicial process, it undermined the parliamentary process, and it undermined the media and press and the intelligence service. We are all of us living, she believes, with the consequences of that. 4 4.Katharine Gun: Ten years on what happened to the woman who 5 5.Iraq War Whistle Blower Katharine Gun Shares Her Story | Video - PBS; 6 6.GCHQ whistleblower Katharine Gun speaks out | Daily Mail Online; 7 7.15 Years Later: How U.K. Whistleblower Katharine Gun - YouTube; 8 8.Katharine Gun & Martin Bright Interview - Official . And that was it. All rights reserved. But this gets out, and suddenly you see it on the front page of The Observer when you go to buy, what, milk in the morning for you and your husband. KATHARINE GUN: Actually, time-wise, I was bailed for eight months. But to discover that it was such a young and such a junior employee was extraordinary to us, yeah. And he was the barrister who ultimately put the case before the court, as short as that trial was, on behalf of Katharine, and came up with a truly original defense to the Official Secrets Act, which is the defense of necessity. AMY GOODMAN: And so, you had to sell this. Mary Katherine Higdon of Griffin, Georgia, was arrested for the murder of her live-in boyfriend, Steven Freeman. And at the end of the Q&A, I went to try and find him, and hed gone. And I went back, and I felt worse that day at home. So, from a dramatic point of view, you have someone whos just going to their job every day, as most of us do, happens to be a spy working for GCHQ, but could have been a person working for an accounting firm or Enron or Boeing or any other organization, who sees something that is simply wrong, sees, you know, and says, GAVIN HOOD: and says, Im going to speak up.. You know, my initial instinct was Ive got to remain anonymous. [20] After the charges against her were dropped in 2004, she found it difficult to find a new job. Gun had, of course, been forced to abandon her career in the civil service and finally, struggling for work, left Britain altogether. Katharine Gun and Martin Bright could be forgiven for fielding Hollywood's overtures with a degree of skepticism. GAVIN HOOD: So, we meet the first day, and after a few hours I think we warmed to each other. We speak with a British whistleblower whose attempts to expose lies about the Iraq invasion was called the most important and courageous leak in history by acclaimed Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. I hope when shes ready for this story, she will [see the film]. Her father had studied Chinese at Durham University and now teaches at Tunghai University in the city of Taichung, central Taiwan. Please do your part today. Authorities had attempted to deport Yasar back to the Middle East. AMY GOODMAN: The people Martin was fighting to get this story out. The cop says, you know, Heres your ticket. Youre guilty of breaking the speed, but youre guilty of a crime. Gun is a singular presence, and she answers with characteristic care, speaking slightly haltingly, weighing her words. These folksbecause there are two legal ways you can go to war in international law. After they charged me, thats when they tried to deport my husband. And after about three weeks of this meeting these extraordinary people, I said to Jed, I think I think I would like to do this. And thats where the story came from. It was weird. And so, we went down together to internal security, and they called Scotland Yard. diamond a ranch new mexico hunting using the weber burger press what does it mean when a willie wagtail follows you. These were the six "swing nations" on the UN Security Council that could determine whether the UN approved the invasion of Iraq. But it is tempting to believe that is the case with Katharine Gun. Our Daily Digest brings Democracy Now! It is not often that a persons character is revealed in two sentences. And she said, I have to go, mostlyto find strong female characters, I have to go back 100 and 200 years and wear a corset to play a strong female character. And she said, This isI want to do this, because its a strong female character not in a corset. AMY GOODMAN: You only lasted what? The relationships that form as a result of Gun's acting are quite inspiring. I think youll find hes hiding in plain sight. And there was a dramatic hush in the audience. Katharine 'Kay' Griggs knows what it's like to have a gun pointed in her face. And as Martin has just said, and as Katharine put it so well in the film, you know, wars, unlike football and basketball games, do not end when the whistle blows. [8] The plan might have contravened Articles 22 and 27 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which regulates global diplomacy. As of 2020[update] Gun lives in Turkey and Britain. And we can say that, you know, thatso, he comes back, under all this pressure. I wonder what she made of the scattershot download methods of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange? In April 2020, Gun was set to appear as a speaker at the 14th edition of the International Journalism Festival, but the event was canceled in February of the same year due to COVID-19. And that mattered, because, for all their faults, it seems to me that Tony Blair and George Bush understood that if they were caught out in a lie, that was a problem for them. The Observer team in a scene from the film, with Matt Smith, front, as home affairs editor Martin Bright. [21], Gun received the Sam Adams Award for 2003 and was supported in her case by the UK human rights pressure group Liberty and in the US by the Institute for Public Accuracy. Indeed, your point about Bush is right. The film captures well the inspired and stubborn efforts of Bright (Matt Smith in the movie), and colleagues Ed Vulliamy (played with brio by Rhys Ifans) and Peter Beaumont (played by Matthew Goode), to stand the story up, based on the few details it betrayed, and to get it into the paper, despite the strong misgivings of the political desk. And I went back to Martin. Gun was charged for exposing around the time of Colin Powell's infamous testimony to the UN about Iraq's alleged WMDs a top-secret U.S. government memo showing it was mounting an . AMY GOODMAN: So, theyre processing him. There are 15 members of that council, and there are these nonpermanent members who could swing the vote in favor of an invasion of Iraq in U.N. resolution. Just trying to figure out what to do next. But yeah, I mean, I was hugely impressed. Does she tell her story when she meets new people? I could not get it in. The implosion continues. That is a tricky question, she says. What was he telling Blair until the 11th hour, where he changed his mind, it seems, at the 11th hour, and said, 'Oh, well, you can justify on the basis of Resolution 678 from 1991,' this fringe idea that no decent international lawyerand Im an ex-lawyerbelieves to be even remotely sensible?.

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