Julian Assange's Kiwi PR man is organising a haka outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to protest against the "modern day crucifixion" of the WikiLeaks founder.
Assange has become one of the world's most polarising figures after his WikiLeaks group's storing and publishing of previously secret documents.
The 47-year-old jumped bail in 2012 and sought shelter in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London's Kensington to avoid extradition to Sweden, where prosecutors were investigating allegations of sexual assault and rape made by two women. Assange denied the claims, saying they formed part of a political conspiracy.
The Swedish investigation has since been dropped but Assange fears extradition to the US for publishing hacked military emails..
The Australian activist went into solitary confinement on March 28 last year – the same day he hired New Zealand publicist Richard Hillgrove, whose previous employers include Charles Saatchi, Dame Vivienne Westwood and Steven Seagal.
Now, Hillgrove is organising a #Haka4Assange outside the Ecuadorian Embassy on June 19 - the seventh anniversary of him being holed up inside the London building.
He's being advised by Karl Burrows of HakaWorks, which has worked with large UK corporations including BT and Vodafone, and which put on a dawn haka in London's Piccadilly Circus in 2014 to help launch Global Entrepreneurship Week.
"I can't just sit back and watch a fellow ANZAC put through the living hell that Julian Assange has been put through," says the Christchurch-born and Massey University-educated Hillgrove, 47, who has been living in London since 1999. Hillgrove claims Māori lineage on his mother's side with Ngāti Awa tribe roots in the Bay of Plenty.
"The United Nations has twice told the UK to set him free, but they are still refusing to budge and are in breach of International Law.
"What we are essentially witnessing is a modern-day crucifixion in the heart of London. It's inhumane. Something has got to give. The haka has a way of energising, transforming and shifting variables."
He added: "Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison really does need to pull his finger out now and bring Julian Assange home."
The Kiwi expatriate and founder of 6 Hillgrove Public Relations, who was convicted in 2014 on a £93,000 ($177,500) tax fraud, has previously said he's trying to make Assange's PR "less personal".
source:  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12218110