Embattled WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has the help of Amnesty International, which condemned this weekend Britain’s deliberate extradition of Mr. Assange to the United States.
“Allowing Julian Assange to be extradited to the US would put him at great risk and sends a chilling message to journalists the world over,” Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard mentioned in a assertion.
“Diplomatic assurances provided by the US that Assange will not be kept in solitary confinement cannot be taken on face value given previous history,” she added.
Mr. Assange’s WikiLeaks media group has printed labeled paperwork and different delicate materials shared anonymously, resulting in years of hiding from authorized repercussions.
After spending seven years in Ecuador’s embassy within the U.Ok., Mr. Assange was incarcerated to attend for extradition at a London jail beginning in 2019.
The administration of former President Trump charged Mr. Assange beneath the Espionage Act of 1917, and Britain’s Conservative authorities has been cooperating with the U.S. extradition request.
SEE ALSO: New York Times, different newspapers pen open letter calling on feds to cease prosecution of Assange
American prosecutors contend that Mr. Assange assisted former U.S. army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning within the theft and publication of labeled data that was posted on WikiLeaks by September 2011.
Manning was convicted in 2013, launched from a army jail in 2017 after getting a commutation from former President Obama, then convicted in a separate case referring to WikiLeaks earlier than being launched once more in March 2020.
Amnesty International has condemned the Assange extradition quest on the grounds of press freedom and requires the costs to be dropped towards Mr. Assange.
“We call on the UK to refrain from extraditing Julian Assange, for the US to drop the charges, and for Assange to be freed,” Ms. Callamard mentioned.
Mr. Assange has influential backers elsewhere as effectively.
In November 2022, the editors of the New York Times, Britain’s The Guardian, Germany’s Der Spiegel, France’s Le Monde and Spain’s El Pais newspapers penned an open letter calling for an finish to the prosecution of Mr. Assange.
Brazilian President Ignacio Lula da Silva in May denounced the lack of help being given to Mr. Assange.
“It is an embarrassment that a journalist who denounced trickery by one state against another is arrested, condemned to die in jail and we do nothing to free him. It’s a crazy thing,” Mr. Lula mentioned.
Mr. Assange is an Australian nationwide and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese mentioned later in May that “nothing is served from the ongoing incarceration of Julian Assange.”
Australian opposition chief Peter Dutton additionally has referred to as for Mr. Assange’s launch.
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