London:
The continued imprisonment of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has broken Britain’s record on press freedom, the website’s editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson stated on Friday.
In January, a London judge refused to grant a US request for Assange’s extradition, but also refused him bail till a US appeal against that verdict is heard.
“The fact that Julian is still in prison seriously undermines the United Kingdom’s ability to proclaim that they are defenders of the freedom of the press all over the world,” Hrafnsson told reporters.
Assange, a 49-year-old Australian, is wanted in Washington to face 18 charges relating to the 2010 release by WikiLeaks of 500,000 secret files detailing elements of military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The US claims he helped intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal the documents ahead of exposing confidential sources about the world.
He faces a attainable 175-year sentence if convicted, but Assange and his lawyers have extended argued the case against him was politically motivated below former president Donald Trump.
Assange’s supporters program to highlight his continued incarceration with vigils on Sunday, to mark two years because he was taken to London’s Belmarsh prison, and on Monday for World Press Freedom Day.
Jennifer Robinson, a member of Assange’s legal group, stated circumstances in Belmarsh have been “very difficult” and he remains “very isolated” right after years of restrictions on his liberty.
“We are very concerned about his continued detention and consider it to be disproportionate,” she added.
Both Robinson and Hrafnsson named on President Joe Biden’s US administration to drop the charges, and for the Australian government to do more on Assange’s behalf.
The Australian has been held at the higher-safety prison because he was convicted in 2019 for skipping bail, following his forcible removal from Ecuador’s embassy in London exactly where he had sheltered for seven years.
()