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Julian Assange is being prosecuted in the United States

Written by on February 1, 2023

WikiLeaks: five newspapers call for an end to the prosecution of Julian Assange
The Australian is being prosecuted in the United States for having published from 2010 more than 700,000 confidential documents on American military and diplomatic activities, at the origin of a series of revelations published in particular by these five newspapers.

Five media call on the US government, Monday, November 28, to drop the charges against the founder of WikiLeaks. Julian Assange is being prosecuted in the United States for having published, from 2010, more than 700,000 confidential documents on American military and diplomatic activities, in particular in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Collecting and disseminating sensitive information when necessary in the public interest is an essential part of the daily work of journalists,” write the editors and managing directors of The New York Times, The Guardian, El Country, World and Spiegel.

They believe that “twelve years after the first publications”, “it is time for the United States government to drop its charges against Julian Assange”. “Publishing is not a crime, they insist. If this work is criminalized, not only the quality of public debate, but also our democracies, will be considerably weakened.”

Assange is currently being held in London
The tribune recalls that the editors of the five newspapers had “deemed it necessary to publicly criticize [the] attitude [of Julian Assange] in 2011, when unredacted versions of the diplomatic telegrams were made public”. “Some of us remain concerned about the charge in the U.S. indictment that he aided in the computer intrusion into a classified database, these officials add. But we stand together today to express our great concern at the endless legal proceedings that Julian Assange is facing.”

The 51-year-old Australian was arrested by British police in 2019, after seven years in confinement at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He is currently being held in a high security prison near the British capital, awaiting consideration of his appeal against the British government’s decision to extradite him. He faces 175 years in prison in the United States.

Julian Assange “doesn’t have much time left, we have to free him”, his wife Stella Morris tells franceinfo
For ten years, the whistleblower at the origin of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, is no longer free of his movements. Initially a refugee for seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, he has been detained for three years in Belmarsh prison, in the United Kingdom.
“The conditions of detention are very harsh, his health is only declining”, testifies the wife (and ex-lawyer) of Julian Assange, Stella Morris. She is in France on the occasion of the annual meetings of whistleblowers, the seventh edition of which is held in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis). franceinfo met her.

franceinfo: How is Julian Assange today?

Stella Morris: He has been in Belmarsh High Security Prison since April 11, 2019, when he was arrested outside the Ecuadorian Embassy, and his health has been declining ever since. The conditions of detention are very harsh. He had a mini heart attack in October last year. And it is of course very difficult for him to be in isolation. He is not serving any sentence, he is there because the United States wants his extradition because he did his job.

Where are you in the fight for his extradition?

Julian appealed the decision of the British government, which agreed to his extradition. Since that decision in January 2021, we have discovered that there were plans to assassinate Julian in the embassy, to kidnap him etc., when Mike Pompeo was at the head of the CIA. So we defend the fact that Julian cannot be extradited to the country that tried to plan his assassination.

We don’t even know if he will be able to appeal. It can also try to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, but the United Kingdom is in the process of disengaging itself from its obligations to this Court.

“My biggest fear is that Julian will not survive this procedure. If he is extradited he will be placed in extreme isolation in the United States, but he is in danger even now. We have young children, he should be home, he should be free.”

Stella Morris at franceinfo
Do you think that today the situation has changed, that the revelations of whistleblowers are received differently?

When Wikileaks published the files on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and diplomatic ties, which is why Julian faces a 175-year prison sentence, the press was much more protected. There has been a general deterioration in press freedom because if they can do it to Julian Assange, they can do it to anyone. They criminalize journalistic activity, the public’s right to know the truth… And that has a real chilling effect: the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian have already said that this case was a threat to freedom of the press . When they receive important information, they won’t publish it because of what happened to Julian.

Complorama: portrait of Julian Assange, controversial personality at the center of conspiracy theories
How do you see the coming weeks?

It’s complicated, but I know Julian doesn’t have much time left, we have to free him and that’s what drives everything I do. And awareness is growing. The awareness must be stronger than the forces trying to silence him and keep him in prison.

France has always been incredibly important. In fact, Julian coded Wikileaks from France, he was based here for years. France is one of the countries that most respects human rights.

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Julian Assange is being prosecuted in the United States

Written by on February 1, 2023

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