MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd July, 2023) International human rights organization Amnesty International released a statement on Monday marking the 52nd birthday of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, calling on the Australian government to take all necessary steps to ensure the journalist's safety.
"Monday 3rd of July will mark Julian Assange's 52nd birthday. This will be his 13th birthday without his freedom ... (Australian) Prime Minister (Anthony) Albanese and the Australian government must do everything in their power to protect Assange, an Australian citizen, from ongoing and threatened human rights violations, and take all necessary measures to ensure his safety. The Prime Minister must ensure that this is the last birthday Julian Assange must spend in fear, locked away from his loved ones," the organization said in a statement.
In addition, the rights watchdog called on Australian authorities to demand that the United States drop the charges against Assange and stop attempts to extradite him.
Since April 2019, Assange has been held in London's high-security Belmarsh prison while he faces prosecution in the US under the Espionage Act. If convicted, the WikiLeaks founder could face 175 years in prison. In December 2022, he appealed to the European Court of Human Rights to fight his extradition.
WikiLeaks was founded by Assange on October 4, 2006, but rose to prominence in 2010 when it began publishing large-scale leaks of classified government information, including from the US.
