LONDON (Bywire News) - On the same day the world celebrated UN Human Rights Day, a London judge made the controversial decision to extradite Julian Assange back to the U.S. The decision brings them a step closer to prosecuting him for exposing U.S. war crimes. However, campaigners argue he is being punished for holding power to account.
Many world leaders and influential organisations have condemned his imprisonment as a direct attack on whistleblowers and media freedom. Assange’s lawyers have said they will be investigating options on how to appeal the decision immediately, including a potential appeal to the UK Supreme Court.
The US Government had been appealing an earlier decision to deny extradition due to fears over conditions within US prisons and the risk of suicide. On Friday the court ruled in their favour leaving the final decision in the hands of the UK government.
That means that Assange’s fate currently lies in the hands of Priti Patel – not a position that anyone would like to find themselves in. Even so, despite the new court ruling, Assange will not be leaving the UK anytime soon.
Stella Morris, Assange’s fiancée, has launched an online crowdfunding campaign, ‘Julian Assange’s High Court fight against extradition’, hoping to raise £175,000. Morris described the High Court’s decision as “dangerous and misguided” and a “grave miscarriage of justice.”
Social media has seen a mass outcry from his supporters, with #FreeAssange trending. Meanwhile, Australian politicians have called for prime minister, Scott Morrison, to support Assange and get him back to Australia.
“An Australian citizen is being prosecuted for publishing details of war crimes, yet our government sits on its hands and does nothing,” the Australian Greens leader, Adam Bandt, told Guardian Australia on Saturday.
Reporters Without Borders, the world's biggest NGO focusing on the defense of media freedom, has condemned the High Court’s ruling, and has again called for Assange’s immediate release.
RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said, “We condemn today’s decision, which will prove historic for all the wrong reasons.”
“We fully believe that Julian Assange has been targeted for his contributions to journalism, and we defend this case because of its dangerous implications for the future of journalism and press freedom around the world.”
Other organisations, including Amnesty International, Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Committee to Protect Journalists have also issued responses.
Amnesty International has said, “The US government’s indictment poses a grave threat to press freedom both in the United States and abroad. If upheld, it would undermine the key role of journalists and publishers in scrutinizing governments and exposing their misdeeds would leave journalists everywhere looking over their shoulders.”
The CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney said, “As brave whistleblowers have explained for decades, this kind of abuse of the Espionage Act against sources — and now journalists and publishers — is an embarrassment to basic ideals of justice and to core First Amendment values.”
In a statement, Trevor Timm, executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation and an expert witness for the defense at the trial level said, “The U.S. Justice Department’s dogged pursuit of the WikiLeaks founder has set a harmful legal precedent for prosecuting reporters simply for interacting with their sources.”
Once extradited, Assange faces 175 years in prison on 18 different charges. Appeals from his lawyers are expected to take place in the upcoming months, with the European Court of Justice being the last option.
(Written by Klaudia Fior, edited by Tom Cropper)