On Saturday afternoon, several hundred people attended a meeting of Julian Assange at Muntplein in Brussels. Activists are calling on the United Kingdom to reverse its decision to extradite Assange to the United States. “What is happening to Julian Assange is an assault on the freedom of the press,” says Marie France of Comité Free Assange, Belgium.
Julian Assange is the Australian founder of the whistle-blower platform WikiLeaks and is suspected in the United States of leaking classified documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As a result, he could have been responsible for the deaths of informants from the US armed forces, among other things. He could face 175 years in prison in the United States.
“We want to get the European Union and European countries to act in support of Julian Assange,” said Marie-France Depres. “The UK cannot extradite him, and if US President Joe Biden means what he says about his support for press freedom, he will stop the prosecution.”
“Democratic countries like the United States need to be able to handle criticism. When journalists like Julian Assange expose abuses, abuses must be addressed, not journalists.”
“We don’t give up”
Activists in Muntplein will hear speeches from, among others, Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of the British Labor Party, Icelandic Minister of Justice and Human Rights Ojmundur Jonasson, former RTBF journalist Mark Molitor, and De Wereld’s Lod Vanost. tomorrow.
Later in the afternoon, Stella Assange, wife of Julian Assange, will participate in a symbolic protest.
“In the meantime, we are not losing hope,” says Marie-France Depres. The UK Home Secretary has yet to sign the extradition order and Julian Assange’s lawyers are still attending the appeal.”
