Experts Urge International Community To Unite In Global Campaign For Assange Release

The persecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a blatant attack on freedom of information, and the international community must launch a global pressure campaign to push for the whistleblower's release, experts said at a roundtable at the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th June, 2019) The persecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a blatant attack on freedom of information, and the international community must launch a global pressure campaign to push for the whistleblower's release, experts said at a roundtable at the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency on Tuesday.

Assange gained fame after WikiLeaks published a large number of classified documents, including some that exposed abuses of power and war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, and at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. The whistleblower, currently kept in London's high-security Belmarsh prison, is facing extradition to the United States, where he is wanted on espionage charges and may be sentenced to 175 years in prison.

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According to the head of the Russian Public Council for International Cooperation and Public Diplomacy at the Russian Civic Chamber, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, there is no hope for a fair trial for Assange in the United States.

He recalled that a London court hearing on Assange's extradition case had been postponed until February, stressing that "this does not mean that there will be no extradition even though there is a principle according to which a convicted person cannot be extradited to countries where he faces a harsher punishment."

"It turns out that the principle of freedom of information works and must work in all countries except for the United States. The hypocrisy and ambiguity of the current US administration's policy is evident, and I believe that the journalistic community should not let it go," Ordzhonikidze said.

The expert suggested that Assange's defense in the London court would have every right to refer to international agreements such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and many other conventions.

In addition, Ordzhonikidze noted, the very decision by Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno to revoke Assange's asylum had been made in disregard for national legislation that stipulates that it is up to court to rule on such matters.

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Echoing Ordzhonikidze's remarks, former Ecuadorian Consul in London Fidel Narvaez noted that political asylum could be only revoked if threat to life seized to exist. He therefore expressed regret that "last year, with the new government, Ecuador [turned from] from protector into persecutor.

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"This is not just about Julian's life, which is very important. This is not just about Julian's rights, which are very important. This is about freedom ... of any journalist, anyone in the world and that is why we should be all very concerned and join the efforts to free Julian Assange," Narvaez added.

Sevim Dagdelen, a deputy Leader of Die Linke party in the German parliament, agreed that "we have to use the time [before the London court decision] to make pressure on our governments ... to take the side of freedom and democracy" and prevent Assange's extradition to the United States.

According to Dagdelen, US extraterritorial persecution of Assange, who is not an American national, is a "threat against the sovereignty of the European Union as well."

Alexander Kramarenko, the director of Development of the Russian International Affairs Council, in turn, expressed belief that Assange, by exposing apparent US war crimes, "has done too much for the humanity and entire world community so that one must not leave him to the judicial arbitrariness of the United States." He also argued that Assange was worthy of a Nobel Peace prize.

Journalist and former CIA agent John Kiriakou agreed that it was impossible for Julian Assange to get a fair trial in the Eastern District Court of Virginia. He will be found guilty and put in prison, he concluded.

Pedro Miguel of Mexico's La Jornada newspaper, in turn, noted that the US mainstream media would have to ultimately recognize Assange as a symbol of press freedom.

According to Miguel, "if news media in the United States want to survive," they will have to decide whether they are on the side of real journalism and Assange as its greatest symbol.

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 the UK capital to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced sexual assault charges, and possible subsequent extradition to the United States. Washington initially charged Assange with conspiring to carry out a computer offense. However, the US Justice Department subsequently extended the charges so the whistleblower may now face up to 175 years in prison.

Last week, UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid said that he had signed an extradition order for Assange to face charges in the United States. The whistleblower has feared the extradition, suggesting he might be put on death row in the United States.