Lee Heidhues 8.26.2022
Julian Assange has been been persecuted by the Brits and the Americans long enough.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indictment_and_arrest_of_Julian_Assange
The Wikileaks Whistleblower who exposed American human rights abuses in Afghanistan and Iraq performed a heroic public service.
Assange has been under house arrest, first in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, and for three years in a British prison while his fight against extradition continues.
This is a human rights violation of the first order. The American government needs to stand down and let Julian Assange, now 51, get on with his life.
Excerpted from The Guardian 8.26.2022
The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has previously stated “enough is enough” regarding Assange’s ongoing detention.
Lawyers for WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange have filed an appeal against his extradition to the US, as the United Nations human rights chief lends support to the Australian’s cause.
Assange, 51, has been indicted on 17 espionage charges in the US and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks’ publication of thousands of military and diplomatic documents leaked by whistleblower Chelsea Manning. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
WikiLeaks says Assange’s legal team filed “perfected grounds of appeal” in the UK’s high court against the US and the UK home secretary, Priti Patel, who approved his extradition in June.
Assange’s lawyers argue he is “being prosecuted and punished for his political opinions”.
His wife said the prosecution was unlawful. “Overwhelming evidence has emerged proving that the US prosecution against my husband is a criminal abuse,” Stella Assange said on Twitter on Saturday.
“The high court judges will now decide whether Julian is given the opportunity to put the case against the US before open court, and in full, at the appeal.”
Assange remains in London’s Belmarsh prison, where he has been in detention since April 2019.
A UK judge blocked his extradition last year but the US government successfully appealed in the high court.
The appeal comes after the UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, met with Assange’s lawyers and his wife in Geneva.
Advocacy group the Assange Defence Committee told AAP they detailed to her his deteriorating health, with the Australian publisher suffering a mini-stroke recently.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/aug/27/julian-assange-files-appeal-against-us-extradition
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