Reporters Without Borders calls for Assange’s release

The journalists organization Reporters Without Borders has again called for the release of the WikiLeaks founder after agreeing to appeal the extradition proceedings of Julian Assange.

WikiLeaks had previously announced that the High Court in London would allow the United States to appeal in a “limited manner”. So the procedure may relate only to official reasons. However, according to his fiancée, Stella Morris, the Australian is still threatened with extradition to the United States and has been sentenced to 175 years in prison.

A London court rejected the US extradition request in January due to Assange’s deteriorating mental health and expected prison conditions in the US. Assange, who is in a maximum security prison in London, has not been released because the United States has appealed. Now he has to wait for the result of these actions.

The US judiciary accuses Assange, along with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, of stealing classified materials from US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as a large number of diplomatic cables and publishing them on the WikiLeaks online platform. This put the lives of American informants at risk in many countries. For American investigators, Assange is a spy. But his supporters see him as an investigative journalist.

It is not surprising that the British Supreme Court allowed the US government to appeal, said Christian Meir, managing director of Reporters Without Borders in Germany, in a statement released Thursday. “Julian Assange should not be in this position in the first place,” he added. He warned that the conviction would have “serious consequences for press freedom around the world”.