Daily Management Review

Reporters Without Borders calls to release Julian Assange


12/25/2019


The founder of WikiLeaks must be released from Belmarsh prison in the light of reports of deterioration in his health, human rights activists say. Reporters Without Borders called on the US to drop espionage charges from Assange.



Julian Assange & Martina Haris
Julian Assange & Martina Haris
Reporters Without Borders human rights organization calls for the immediate release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from Belmarsh British maximum security prison. This is necessary in the light of reports of a significant deterioration in the condition of the whistleblower, the statement said on Tuesday, December 24.

In addition, Reporters Without Borders called on US authorities to drop espionage charges from Assange. His extradition to the United States will set a dangerous precedent, human rights activists say.

In late November, more than 60 doctors said that the life of the founder of WikiLeaks was in danger and that he needed urgent medical and psychological help. According to doctors from eight countries, the whistleblower needs to be transferred to a university clinic, because there are "real fears" that Assange could "die" in prison.

In 2012, Julian Assange took refuge in the Embassy of Ecuador in London, fearing arrest on a European warrant issued by Sweden on the basis of a rape case. In particular, the founder of WikiLeaks believed that Sweden could extradite him to the United States, where they want to try the whistleblower for publishing hundreds of thousands of secret military documents about US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Later, the Swedish justice authorities terminated the preliminary investigation against the creator of WikiLeaks.

UK police arrested Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in April 2019. The police presented a warrant issued in June 2012 for the non-appearance of the whistle-blower at the hearing on the agenda. The South American state, in whose diplomatic mission the WikiLeaks founder was hiding, deprived him of his asylum, citing a violation of international conventions. A court in London in May sentenced him to 50 weeks in prison.

source: reuters.com