The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, received this Thursday in Geneva the wife and lawyers of the founder of WikileaksJulian Assange, who expressed their misgivings about the possible extradition of the journalist to the United States.
The meeting took place at the Palais Wilson, headquarters of the High Commissioner, where Bachelet was informed about the human rights violations committed against the founder of WiliLeaks and the implications for freedom of the press and the right of citizens to the truth, according to a statement.
Assange’s environment, who is still detained in the United Kingdom, fears that even his life is in danger if he is finally transferred to the United States, by virtue of an order signed in June by the British Government and pending two appeals. The US Attorney’s Office accuses Assange of espionage for the leaking and publication of hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables from the State Department and the US Armed Forces referring to the wars with Iraq and Afghanistan, and to the Guantanamo prison.
According to the note, the meeting lasted just over an hour and Assange’s lawyers informed Bachelet about the activist’s current situation, as well as the two appeals pending before the British High Court. “The first, against the decision of the Ministry of the Interior to accept the delivery of Julian Assange to the United States; and the second, the cassation filed by the founder of WikiLeaks against the arguments that the district judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected in the first instance sentence”, states the Don’t Extradite Assange press release. In addition, the lawyers indicated how this case also supposes an attack against the freedom of the press at a global level and the right to access information.
America’s Persecution
The lawyers, Baltasar Garzón and Aitor Martínez, emphasized that the United States invokes a 1917 law to persecute the journalist and that this type of regulation would have no place within European criminal standards. In addition to this, they warned that the cause incurs an abusive extraterritoriality.
Washington claims him to prosecute him for 18 crimes of espionage and computer intrusion can carry up to 175 years in prison by the revelations of its Wikileaks portal. The lawyers indicated how this case also supposes an attack against the freedom of the press at a global level and on the right to access to information.
The lawyers also stressed that the case violates the principle of proportionality, since Assange faces a potential prison sentence in that country of 175 years, a de facto life sentence. “They want to impose such a sentence on him simply for publishing information related to international crimes, which are crimes for which the international community has an obligation to prosecute.”denounces the statement.
In addition, Garzón and Martínez informed Bachelet of the open cases in Spain to investigate the company that provided security services at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where Assange was held five years ago, and which allegedly collaborated with US intelligence.
In June, the Spanish National Court, asked to take a statement from the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Mike Pompeo and the former head of US counterintelligence William Evanina, the statement highlights.
Last month a group of lawyers and journalists filed a lawsuit against the CIA and against Pompeo for spying on their conversations with Assangewhile he was in asylum at the Embassy of Ecuador in London.
The plaintiffs alleged that their information was stolen between 2017 and 2018.when they handed over their computers and phones to a Spanish security company, Undercover Global, during visits to Assange when he was in the Ecuadorian embassy in London under political asylum.
The lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of New York on Monday morning and alleges that Pompeo, who headed the CIA from 2017-2018, oversaw and directed an extraordinary campaign of illegal espionage on Assange’s lawyers and others inside the embassy.
Assange’s physical integrity is in danger
Assange’s lawyers told Bachelet on Friday that the United States planned the kidnapping of the Wikileaks founder. “It was recently revealed in the United States, by CIA agents, that the kidnapping of Julian Assange was even planned, even projecting his assassination at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London” highlighted the post.
The wife of the founder of Wikileaks, meanwhile, focused her conversation with the former Chilean president on Assange’s delicate state of health and recalled that a report by the UN Special Rapporteur Against Torture, Nils Melzer, had already warned that he was subjected to a situation comparable to torture.
In addition, she recalled that her husband recently suffered a transient ischemic attack (TIA), and expressed deep and serious concern for his life. Bachelet, for her part, received the information provided by Assange’s legal team and his wife, and described the exchange meeting as very productive.según Dont’t Extradite Assange.
Bachelet’s reaction
After the meeting, Bachelet said that a possible extradition and prosecution in the United States of Assange is a cause for concern because of the impact it would have on press freedom, investigative journalism and whistleblower activity.
In comments to the Efe agency, the high commissioner emphasized the importance of that Assange’s human rights be respected, “in particular the right to a fair trial and due process”and assured that his body will be attentive to what happens.
She also indicated that she is informed about Assange’s health problems. Bachelet maintained that there is concern for the physical and mental health of the journalist, who awaits the final decision of a British court on his extradition, which was approved in mid-June by the British Ministry of the Interior.
new appeal
At the same time The journalist’s lawyers presented this Friday before the London High Court new arguments to support their appeal against the decision of the British justice and government to extradite him to the United States.
According to the Campaign Against Assange’s Extradition, the “improved reasons for the appeal” are related to the verdict of a trial judge who in January 2021 blocked extradition, and to the order to hand him over to US prosecutors issued in June. passed by the Minister of the Interior, Come on Patel.
The text points out that in the case of the US government, it is argued that the Australian journalist, who has been locked up in a British maximum security prison since 2019, is being tried and punished for his political views.
It is also alleged that the request submitted by the United States violates the bilateral treaty signed by London and Washington and international law that prohibits extradition for political reasons.
“Since the last verdict was issued, new evidence has emerged that the US persecution of my husband is criminal abuse,” Stella Assange was quoted as saying in the statement.