Ban on demonstrations in support of Julian Assange on the 5th anniversary of the journalist’s arrest

2024-04-11 17:00:00

REPORT – This Thursday, April 11, 2024, five years ago to the day, journalist and founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, was arrested by the British authorities at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, after having been stripped of his Ecuadorian nationality . To commemorate this sad anniversary, the French committee to support the Australian journalist organized an event where all members could take a photo in front of the English embassy in Paris (rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré), a sign in support of the one who revealed, among other things, war crimes committed by the United States.

On site, disappointed, the demonstrators were prohibited from taking a simple selfie in front of the embassy, ​​at the risk, according to the police, of a few hours of police custody just for expressing their support. The Australian journalist risks 175 years of detention, in very high security “supermax” prisons, if he were to be extradited to the United States. We met some of these demonstrators who came to the site in front of the embassy.

Yesterday, Wednesday April 10, 2024, American President Joe Biden said that the United States was “considering” Australia’s request to drop the espionage charges against the whistleblower journalist. Indeed, since 2022, and the broadcast of the documentary Ithakaproduced by Julian Assange’s half-brother, Gabriel Shipton, in his native country, Australian elected officials are putting pressure on the United States to withdraw their extradition request.

Julian Assange is currently awaiting the decision of two British judges on whether he will be able to appeal his legal proceedings again to avoid being extradited.