Statement from the International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity: Free Julian Assange. No extradition to the U.S.
To the cry of "There is only one decision, no extradition', hundreds of people demonstrated from the Australian Embassy to London's Parliament Square to demand Julian Assange's freedom".
Roger Waters, famed leader of the rock group Pink Floyd, accompanied Assange's father, John Shipton, also an Australian journalist, singer Brian Eno, fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, Lindsey German, founder of the Stop the War Coalition, the current director of Wikileaks, Kristinn Hrafnsson, along with intellectuals and hundreds of activists waving banners with Assange's face and a gag with the US flag in his mouth.
Journalists, writers and intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky, Edgar Morin, Slavoj Zizek, Ken Loach, Yanis Varoufakis, Emir Sader, Evgeny Morozov, Ignacio Ramonet, Fernando Morais, Atilio Borón, Tariq Ali, the Network in Defense of Humanity, social movements and jurists from around the world are also demanding the freedom of Julian Assange.
We can only ask why is it that the war criminals who were exposed thanks to the information disclosed by Wikileaks are not being prosecuted? Why not even one of the war criminals has been tried while Assange has been subjected to different types of torture, isolation, physical and psychological abuse?
Assange faces 18 unfounded charges, ranging from "conspiracy to commit espionage" to "computer hacking," and could get a life sentence in prison or 175 years in the US without the slightest guarantee for his defense.
We denounce the deplorable conditions in which he is being held in the Belmarsh maximum security prison, adjacent to Woolwich Court, in south-east London, where the trial is taking place.
Since his arrest at the Ecuadorian embassy last April, when Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno made a deal with the Trump government to violate Assange's right to asylum and handing him over to British authorities w. The clear aim was always to have him extradited to the United States. The pact between the despicable governments of Ecuador and the U.S. is now evident in the face of the servile attitude of the conservative British government.
Gareth Peirce, Assange's lawyer, has denounced the violation of the right to prepare his defence: "Julian Assange has not received the time he needs with his legal team to discuss how to deal with the request for extradition from the United States, as he was denied the prosecution documents, this delay in the timetable is extremely worrying".
"He was handcuffed eleven times yesterday and held in five different cells, stripped twice and had his case files confiscated," said Edward Fitzgerald, Assange's lead defense attorney.
The lawyers argue that the Trump Administration is targeting the founder of WikiLeaks for political reasons, which is contrary to the UK-US treaty, and that he would not get a fair trial if extradition is approved.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled that Julian Assange was "arbitrarily detained". They drew the attention of the United Kingdom and also of Sweden whose false accusation expired to "end his detention" and "respect his right to receive fair compensation".
The enormous injustice being carried out against Julian Assange, a 48-year-old journalist who committed no crime and altruistically marked a turning point in communication by publishing half a million secret reports on the abuses committed by the US military in the wars of occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq, marks a dangerous precedence for freedom of expression and journalism in the world.
Freedom for Julian Assange! No to Extradition!!
February 25, 2020
International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity
510-219-0092 | info@TheInternationalCommittee.org
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510-219-0092 | info@TheInternationalCommittee.org
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