Assange's Defense Team Legally Challenges Trump Administration To 'Unseal Charges'

Sumaira FH Published January 23, 2019 | 11:40 PM

The legal team of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Wednesday that it had filed an urgent application to the Washington-based Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) in order to compel the US authorities to disclose charges against the whistleblower

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2019) The legal team of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Wednesday that it had filed an urgent application to the Washington-based Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) in order to compel the US authorities to disclose charges against the whistleblower.

In November, WikiLeaks suggested that the US authorities might have brought sealed charges against Assange, citing a filing in an unrelated case that used Assange's name in an "apparent cut-and-paste error."

"Lawyers for Julian Assange have filed an urgent application to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR), based in Washington D.C., to direct the Trump Administration to unseal the charges it has secretly filed against Mr. Assange. They are also asking the Commission to compel Ecuador to cease its espionage activities against Mr. Assange, to stop the isolation imposed on him and to protect him from U.

S. extradition," the defense team's media release read.

The legal team went on to call on the international community to support the case as everyone has the right to freely access information.

"The revelation that the U.S. has initiated a prosecution against Mr. Assange has shocked the international community ... [the US administration] is required to provide information as to the criminal charges that are imputed to Mr. Assange in full," the court filing read.

The whistleblower has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy since 2012. The UK authorities have maintained a warrant for Assange's arrest, issued after he breached bail conditions linked to an investigation in Sweden. The Swedish authorities have since dropped their investigation. Assange is fearing potential extradition to the United States, as WikiLeaks has published a number of classified documents, allegedly leaked from US government agencies.