Amnesty International calls for the charges to be dropped and for his release
A new American attempt before the British court to extradite Julian Assange
A banner reading "Don't extradite Assange" was raised by protesters demanding that he not be extradited to Washington.
AFP
A banner held by protesters calling for Assange's release read, "10 years is not enough," during a demonstration they organized in London last August.
AFP
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A British court is considering, as of today, an appeal by the US government against a British judge's decision to reject the extradition request of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, to be tried on charges of publishing military secrets.
This is one of the last US papers for Assange's extradition.
In January, British judge Vanessa Paraitser rejected the extradition request due to the suicide risk of the 50-year-old Australian, who faces 175 years in prison in the US, in a case his defenders have described as political and an infringement of freedom of expression.
But Washington won the right to appeal that decision, questioning the credibility of an expert who gave testimony in the interest of Assange and his fragile mental health.
The psychiatrist, Michael Kopelman, admitted that he deceived the judiciary by “hiding” that his client had become a father, while he was a refugee at the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
This appeal, which will take place over two days, constitutes the last of the appeals in the hands of Washington, which, in the event of its defeat again, will have no choice but to resort to the British Supreme Court, without this being guaranteed.
A matter of life or death
Assange was arrested, in April 2019, after seven years in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he took refuge, after violating the terms of his bail, for fear of being extradited to the United States or Sweden, where he faced a case for a rape charge that was appealed and later dropped.
The Australian, who enjoys the support of a number of organizations supporting freedom of the press, faces a sentence of up to 175 years in prison in the United States, for publishing, since 2010, more than 700,000 confidential documents on US military and diplomatic activities, in Iraq and Afghanistan in particular.
His girlfriend, Stella Morris, who visited him in prison on Saturday, said Julian Assange was "in a very bad situation", adding during a press conference: "Julian will not tolerate an extradition, it is the judge's conclusion."
His French lawyer, Antoine Faye, said in response to questions by Agence France-Presse that the US appeal was not based on "any new element that would lead to the reversal of the decision of the First Instance Court."
He also added that Julian Assange was "very emotionally and physically affected" during their last meeting, two weeks ago, in Belmarsh prison, and demanded that the judges of the Appeals Court work "consistently" and "provide the non-delivery", stressing that "this is a matter of life and death."
However, the expert in American law, Karl Tobias, sees chances of success for the American appeal, recalling that the British judiciary considered, last August, that the American arguments are “at least defensible.”
"The United States may be able to convince the Supreme Court that Paraitser gave too much weight to the (expert Kopelman) decision in its decision," he told AFP, but considered that this "may not be enough to justify the annulment of all of its decision."
constant threat
Last Saturday, hundreds of protesters took to the streets, carrying placards reading "Don't extradite Assange", "press is not a crime" and "10 years is enough, release Assange now" and gathered in front of the High Court in London alongside his girlfriend, Stella Morris, to demand his release. about him.
One of the protesters, Beau Oldfield, said: "Julian Assange should not be in prison, because he got information from a whistleblower, or because he showed the world what was actually happening, or exposed the truth about our corrupt politicians."
Several organizations defending human rights and freedom of the press, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders, called in an open letter to the US Attorney General, to drop the prosecutions, expressing their "grave concern".
Julian Assange is subject to a procedure launched under the presidency of Donald Trump, and now that he has been succeeded by Democratic President Joe Biden, "the attorney general can decide to overturn the decision to bring charges against Assange and request his extradition," added Tobias, but this is not the case, which according to the expert indicates They "may consider it a permanent threat to the security of the United States."
And Rebecca Vincent, director of international campaigns for Reporters Without Borders, considered that Joe Biden missed the opportunity to "disassociate himself from his predecessors", calling, like all supporters of the founder of "WikiLeaks", to abandon the lawsuits against Julian Assange.
For its part, Amnesty International called on the US authorities to drop the charges against Julian Assange, and urged the British authorities to release him immediately.
And the call of the Secretary-General of the organization, Agnes Callamard, came yesterday, before the appeal hearing in London, against a British court’s decision not to extradite Assange to the United States, where he faces charges related to the publication of “WikiLeaks” secret military files.
The organization referred to an investigation conducted by "Yahoo News", which revealed that the US security services had considered kidnapping or killing Assange, while he was living in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
Callamard said that these reports "cast doubt on the reliability of American promises, and revealed more political motives behind this case."
• The appeal, which will take place over two days, constitutes the last appeal in the hands of Washington, which, in the event of its defeat again, will have no choice but to resort to the British Supreme Court without this being guaranteed.
• Amnesty International referred to an investigation conducted by «Yahoo News», which revealed that the US security services had considered kidnapping or killing Assange, when he was living in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
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