Journalists demand Assange's release from UK prison
Following a press conference at the Geneva press club in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 22, 2022, journalists sign a banner calling for the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. (Photo by AFP)
Journalists, editors and publishers from across the globe demanded on Wednesday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange be immediately released from a UK jail and that all charges against him be dropped.
In Geneva, fifteen representatives of journalists' and publishers' unions and organizations gathered to call for Julian Assange to be released in the name of press freedom. Furthermore, the petitioners requested that the Swiss authorities, who have previously indicated their intention to protect Assange, facilitate Assange's release by offering him a safe haven from further prosecution in Switzerland.
Assange's supporters and free press campaigners were outraged when the British government approved last week his extradition to the United States. Assange, 50, has announced that he will appeal the decision.
He is accused of violating the US Espionage Act by publishing sensitive military and diplomatic documents in 2010, and could receive up to 175 years in prison if found guilty. Assange's case has become a cause celebre for media freedom, and his supporters claim that Washington is trying to muzzle reporting about legitimate security concerns.
A panel discussion held on Wednesday condemned the British decision as a "flagrant violation of human rights and a violation of freedom of expression". "Democracy is being taken hostage," warned Pierre Ruetschi, the head of the Swiss Press Club. "This attempt at criminalizing journalism is a serious threat."
Tim Dawson of the National Union of Journalists of Britain and Ireland concurred.
"If Julian Assange can be threatened with prosecution as a spy, what might that mean for other journalists?" he said.
Since 2019, Assange has been held on remand in a high-security prison in southeast London for jumping bail in an earlier case alleging sexual assault in Sweden. Previously, he spent seven years at the embassy of Ecuador in London to avoid deportation to Sweden. He was arrested when the government in Quito changed and his diplomatic protection was removed.