When the former UK Home Secretary Priti Patel approved the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States, in 2022, the country that plotted his assassination, his supporters called it “a dark day for Press freedom and for British democracy”
Assange is being held at Belmarsh prison in London after a lengthy battle to avoid extradition. At a press conference his wife, Stella Assange, said: “We are not at the end of the road here. We are going to fight this. We are going to use every available avenue. I’m going to use every waking hour fighting for Julian until he is free, until justice is served.”
The saga was triggered in 2010 when WikiLeaks published a series of leaks provided by the then US army soldier Chelsea Manning, as well as a dump of more than 250,000 US diplomatic cables, some of which were published in the Guardian and elsewhere, containing classified diplomatic analysis from world leaders. The US government launched a criminal investigation into the leaks.
His supporters say that he did nothing wrong. He has committed no crime and is not a criminal. He is a journalist and a publisher, and he is being punished for doing his job.
” We will fight louder and shout harder on the streets, we will organise and we will make Julian’s story known to all. Make no mistake, this has always been a political case. Julian published evidence that the country trying to extradite him, committed war crimes and covered them up; tortured and rendered; bribed foreign officials; and corrupted judicial inquiries into US wrongdoing……Julian was just doing his job, which was to publish the truth about wrongdoing. His loyalty is the same as that which all journalists should have: to the public. Not to the spy agencies of a foreign power. He published evidence that the country committed war crimes and covered them up, and that it also corrupted allied nations’ judicial inquiries into US wrongdoing. For this, that country wants him in prison for 175 years”.
Any appeal is likely to focus on grounds such as the right to freedom of expression and whether the extradition request is politically motivated.
What his friends say:
Vivienne Westwood, a pioneering fashion designer and activist who played a key role in the punk movement, was a prominent supporter of the WikiLeaks founder. When he was denied permission to leave Belmarsh prison in London to attend her funeral , Westwood’s family said they were “deeply disappointed that we were unable to fulfil Vivienne’s wishes but are unsurprised by the decision, which is unjust and in keeping with the inhumane treatment [Assange] has received from the UK authorities up to this point”. They added: “Julian has not been convicted of any crime, yet he is treated as if he is a terrorist, the only thing he is guilty of is publishing the truth.”
Filmaker Ken Loach said he did not know Assange other than by reputation, but added: “I think the work he has done has been a public service. I think we are entitled to know the dealings of those that govern us.”
Pamela Anderson, TV star most famous for her appearance in Baywatch, wrote about Julian Assange in her memoir, says that “Julian is a mild-mannered person, not a physical threat to anyone, and he is being broken down, psychologically tortured” and said that he he was “the most intelligent, interesting and informed man in existence”.
“You may be an enemy of the state but you are not an enemy of humanity,” Lady Gaga famously told Assange, during one of the many interviews she did with him while he was staying at the Ecuadorian embassy in London
