LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th July, 2020) WikiLeaks ambassador Joseph Farrell welcomed a motion proposed by several lawmakers of the UK House of Commons opposing the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States.
The motion was proposed earlier in the week by Richard Burgon, the former shadow justice secretary, and was supported including by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn; former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott' Caroline Lucas from the Green Party' Liz Saville from Plaid Cymru (the Party of Wales); Kenny MacAskill from the Scottish National Party, and Gavin Robertson from the Irish Democratic Unionist Party. In the motion, the lawmakers confirmed their commitment to "press freedom and public-interest journalism."
"This is a welcome sign of cross-party parliamentary support. We urge every MP who cares about press freedom to add their name to this EDM. It's an important way for MPs to register their concerns about this landmark civil liberties case," Farrell said, as quoted by the Don't Extradite Assange campaign's press release.
Earlier in July, over 40 international press freedom, human rights and privacy rights organizations called for the immediate release of Assange in an open letter to the UK government. The call came following the participation of the whistleblower's legal team in an administrative hearing in London after the US Department of Justice issued a new indictment over his suspected conspiracy with Anonymous-affiliated hackers. Assange himself missed the hearing due to health reasons.
Assange was arrested in London in April and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for jumping his bail back in 2012 when he took refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced sexual assault charges, and possible extradition to the United States.
In May, the US Department of Justice indicted Assange on 18 charges, mostly regarding violations under the Espionage Act, and demanded his extradition from the United Kingdom. If convicted of these charges, the WikiLeaks founder faces up to 175 years in prison.
