A Press Gazette survey released on Thursday found that almost six in ten of the readers of the UK online magazine think the UK government should intervene to halt WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange's current extradition proceedings to the United States
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th September, 2020) A Press Gazette survey released on Thursday found that almost six in ten of the readers of the UK online magazine think the UK government should intervene to halt WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange's current extradition proceedings to the United States.
According to the magazine, some 58% of the 655 people surveyed between September 8-16 answered yes to the question: "Should the UK government intervene to halt extradition proceedings against Julian Assange?"
The hearing to decide whether Assange should be sent to the United States resumed on September 7 at the London Central Criminal Court, after six months of delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The US Department of Justice is seeking to extradite Assange on 18 espionage and computer misuse charges, which carries a sentence as long as 175 years in prison, for publishing classified information on the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and thousands of US diplomatic cables.
Press Gazette said that its readers, mostly made up of journalism and media professionals, may be interested in the whistleblower's case because it could set a precedent on prosecution for journalists breaking secrecy to publish in the public interest.
During the hearings, which entered its eighth day on Thursday, witnesses brought to the stand by the defense team have stressed that Assange always made sure no information that could be damaging to living individuals would be released and that the 49-year-old Wikileaks founder faces an effective life sentence if convicted in the United States.
