A group of more than two dozen rights groups have sent a letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland calling on Washington to end the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, as it threatens press freedom around the globe
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th October, 2021) A group of more than two dozen rights groups have sent a letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland calling on Washington to end the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, as it threatens press freedom around the globe.
The appeal came following revelations that top US officials, together with the Central Intelligence Agency leadership, allegedly plotted to kidnap and assassinate the whistleblower in 2017 while he was hiding in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
"We are united ... in our view that the criminal case against him poses a grave threat to press freedom both in the United States and abroad," the letter was cited by one of its signatories, the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
The rights groups also expressed disappointment that Washington chose to appeal the January ruling of a British district judge against Assange's extradition to the US for health reasons.
"In light of the shocking new reporting on the government's conduct in this case, we respectfully urge you to drop the ongoing appeal of Judge Baraitser's ruling and to dismiss the indictment of Mr. Assange," the letter said.
Commenting on the letter, former intelligence contractor and American whistleblower Edward Snowden praised the press protection groups' effort to end the "reckless case against Julian Assange a case that criminalizes the sort of journalism you read every week in the newspaper."
Assange, arrested in London in April 2019 for jumping bail in 2012, faces up to 175 years in solitary confinement on espionage charges for leaking classified military documents on US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq if he is extradited.
