“I’m dying. Slowly, however absolutely,” writes the Australian journalist and Wikileaks founder from his high-security jail in Belmarsh, UK.
In a textual content posted on social networks, Julian Assange, 53, the Australian journalist and whistleblower prosecuted in the USA for publishing over 700,000 confidential paperwork on US navy and diplomatic actions, says he’s exhausted and feels he’s dying in jail. He’s anxious that press freedom and democracy will disappear with him.
Struggle crimes denounced
“I’m slowly dying. I’m exhausted and I’ve misplaced quite a lot of weight. The isolation in Belmarsh is killing me. Contact with the skin world is uncommon. All as a result of I’ve made conflict crimes public. To open society’s eyes and present what governments preserve silent about. I’m dying, and I’m afraid that press freedom and democracy will die with me.”
The Wikileaks founder has been languishing for 5 years within the UK’s high-security Belmarsh jail, ready to search out out whether or not he will probably be handed over by London to the US, the place he faces as much as 175 years in jail for “espionage”.
Criminalizing investigative journalism
Along with the immense injustice finished to a person and his family members, the persecution of Julian Assange can also be an try and criminalize investigative journalism. It’s the proper to tell and be told that’s beneath assault. The intention is to intimidate each the press – significantly journalists who could be tempted to attract inspiration from the work of WikiLeaks – and potential whistle-blowers.
In June 2022, the British authorities agreed to his extradition, however Julian Assange appealed in opposition to this resolution. He was arrested and imprisoned in 2019 after spending seven years holed up within the Ecuadorian embassy in London to keep away from extradition to Sweden in a rape investigation that was dismissed in 2019.
No political asylum in France
On March 9, 2023, the Robin des Bois affiliation summoned the French authorities to look earlier than the Créteil court docket (94), with the intention of forcing it to do every thing attainable to allow whistleblower Julian Assange to use for asylum in France from the UK, the place he’s being held. However the interim aid decide didn’t grant the request. The rationale: “The circumstance of his deprivation of liberty doesn’t enable an exception to be made to the rule”, says the decide’s order in substance, as French legislation requires “the presence of the requesting particular person on nationwide or European Union territory.” The lawyer for the Robin des Bois association disputes this.
The Paris attraction for Julian Assange
