With Julian Assange, freedom of the press and freedom of expression will also be extradited

[This summary published in Dec 2021 is translated from the German on the Internet, Hinweise des Tages II (nachdenkseiten.de).]

Julian Assange is to be extradited to the USA following today's ruling by the British High Court. This is a fatal signal to whistleblowers and journalists. It affects all citizens.

Annegret Falter, Chair of Whistleblower Network:

"The world remembers the war crimes of the helicopter crew in the video 'Collateral Murder' published by Wikileaks. Such things should never again be allowed to become public. It's about the state's right to secrecy. Secrecy even of crimes."

Without the publications of Wikileaks and its editor Julian Assange, we would not know, for example, what atrocities were committed against civilians in the "war on terror". The US action against Assange does not only affect him, it is an attack on freedom of the press and freedom of expression and thus on fundamental values of democracy and the rule of law.

Kosmas Zittel, executive director of Whistleblower Network:

"The US is only superficially concerned with discrediting and destroying Julian Assange as a person and Wikileaks as a journalistic medium. It is about intimidation and deterrence."

Julian Assange has already paid far too high a price for his courageous resistance. In the U.S., he faces a questionable trial and up to 175 years in prison under inhumane conditions after this shameful verdict. The verdict must not stand

Source: Whistleblower Network

Add to this: U.S. government wins appeal against Assange extradition

An appeals court in London has overturned the rejection of the U.S. extradition request for Julian Assange. That was announced by a judge at London's High Court on Friday. The Wikileaks founder must now expect to be extradited to the United States after all.

Source: RT EN

Wikileaks

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UN special envoy on Assange verdict: "This is shocking!"

[This article published on 12/10/2021 is translated from the German on the Internet, UN-Sonderbeauftragter zu Assange-Urteil: „Das ist schockierend!“ (berliner-zeitung.de).]

UN-Special commissioner zu Assange-Urteil: „This is shocking!"

Michael Maier

Nils Melzer calls on all democratic politicians to finally stand up for Julian Assange now. It is about the credibility of the rule of law, he said.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, calls the "shocking" and calls on all Western parliamentarians to protest against Assange's possible extradition to the US. Melzer told the Berliner Zeitung, "Assange's health is not in a condition for extradition. Moreover, it is still incomprehensible that the one who exposes crimes should be punished, while not a single trial is underway against the accused war criminals. Then such a decision is still announced on Human Rights Day 2021 of all days. This is shocking."

Melzer said, " If the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is still to be worth anything, all politicians in Western liberal democracies must stand up and speak out. Those who - quite rightly - stand behind Alexei Nawalny must also stand up for Julian Assange. The credibility of our rule of law is at stake here. "



A British high court judge had lifted the ban on Assange's extradition to the United States this morning. The high court judge said the U.S. government's assurances that Assange would not be taken to the supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, were insufficient: "There are dozens of such prisons in the U.S." The promise not to give him dreaded "special treatment" is also a cop-out, he said: currently, there are only about 50 criminals who are treated that way. In addition, there are 80,000 people in solitary confinement, which is also an inhumane method.

Melzer: "The verdict basically says that the Americans can now do whatever they want. Things are getting tight for Assange." Melzer says the Wikileaks founder's defense must now move as quickly as possible to "cross-appeal," so that in the end they can still take the option of going to the European Court of Human Rights.