Thursday, March 28

A human chain in London against the extradition of Julian Assange to the US


Updated

A crowd surrounds the British Parliament demanding the freedom of the founder of WikiLeaks

Citizens protest in London today against the extradition of Assange.AFP

Thousands of citizens have joined hands physically and symbolically this Saturday in an action of solidarity with Julian Assange, who has been fighting for three and a half years from the maximum security prison in London to prevent his extradition to the United States. A human chain was surrounding the Parliament of Westminster from early in the afternoon with a clear message demanding the release of the WikiLeaks founder. “Julian is fighting for his life. This is a political case. He can and should be aborted right here,” his wife cried, Stella Assange.

The concentration on the cradle of British democracy – under the labels #SurroundParliament, #HumanChain4Assange on social networks – is just one of many protests planned today around the world, from Sydney to San Francisco and various cities in Latin America.

jamie andrewa British man based in Malaga, traveled expressly to London to join the protest, clad in orange overalls with obvious references to the prison of Guantanamo. “It is important to be here today and claim Assange’s freedom. Her persecution is horrible, cruel and with instances of torture,” he told this newspaper.

In London, various deputies, artists and intellectuals joined hands with those of the group of activists and defenders of press freedom and the right to be informed who support the cause of the Australian. “His crime is none other than divulging the dirty secrets of those who hold power,” the filmmaker protested. Ken Loach before joining the chain.

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Yanis Varoufakis, a former Greek minister, warned in a previously recorded video that the UK government’s handover of Assange to the administration of Joe Biden It would be “a blow against freedom of expression, against journalism and against the check-up and control mechanisms” of the powerful. “If they silence Assange, they can silence anyone”tweeted the former British Labor leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

The campaign for the release of the computer scientist, journalist and manager of the pioneering platform for leaks of official documents has been able to complete this Saturday the first “human fence” of the Palace of Westminster in favor of democracy and fundamental rights. In a few minutes, the chain of arms has covered a large part of the more than 2.5 kilometers of sidewalk on both banks and on two Thames bridges that surround Parliament. Last month a river of people sailed three sections of this same route in order to say goodbye to the late Queen Elizabeth.

“It is gratifying to see so many people in support of Assange. Public opinion is solidifying against extradition and recently the opinion that it is an attack on citizenship is spreading,” says the former British diplomat, Craig Murray.

conspiracy charges

The American Justice demands the delivery of Assange to try him for a charge of conspiracy to infiltrate government computer systems and for 17 other alleged crimes of obtaining and disseminating confidential information in violation of the espionage lawfrom 1917.

The accusations are related to the publication on WikiLeaks of some 90,000 parts of the war in Afghanistan400,000 documents on military actions in Iraq250,000 diplomatic cables and more than 800 database reports Guantanamo. The set of charges is penalized with up to 175 years in prison.

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The family, lawyers and sympathizers justify in the public interest the mission fulfilled by the then director of WikiLeaks by “publishing evidence of war crimes and state crime” in the colossal leak of 2010. New York Times, Guardian, Le Monde and other traditional newspapers collaborated with Assange in the initial dissemination of the reports. “He faces capital punishment for doing what journalists do,” concluded the musician brian eno.

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