PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2020) The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) non-governmental organization urges the United Kingdom to reject the United States' request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the organization's secretary-general Christophe Deloire said in a statement on Thursday.
Assange is currently in Belmarsh prison in London, awaiting his extradition trial which is scheduled to begin on Monday. The final pretrial hearing concluded on Wednesday, with the WikiLeaks founder appearing via video-link.
"We ask the British courts not to acquiesce, we ask them to reject the request for Assange's extradition," Deloire stated.
The RSF secretary-general also called on US President Donald Trump to drop all charges against Assange, adding that the legal case against him goes against the United States' constitutional commitment to free speech.
"We ask the US judicial authorities and the Trump administration to terminate these Grand Jury proceedings, which look to the rest of the world like a game played with loaded dice. We ask them to drop these charges, which have brought shame on the country of the First Amendment," Deloire's statement read.
Assange's exposure of torture and abduction cases made major contributions to world journalism and does not amount to spying, the secretary-general added.
"Accusing Assange of spying because of what he did is to expose the media and journalists to the terrible threat of future accusations of spying," Deloire remarked.
RSF has launched a petition against the WikiLeaks founder's potential extradition to the United States, which the organization claims already has tens of thousands of signatures.
On Wednesday, Assange's father John Shipton told Sputnik that his son would die in jail if he was extradited to the United Sates. Assange faces a total of 18 charges, including violations of the Espionage Act, which could see him sentenced to a maximum of 175 years incarceration if convicted.
The WikiLeaks founder spent seven years in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London after he sought political asylum in the South American country in 2012 to evade possible extradition to the United States.
