UK (Commonwealth Union) – Protestors were seen forming human chain surrounding the British Parliament, opposing his extradition and demanding his release from Belmarsh High Security Prison. The prison is notorious for criminals facing terrorism and murder charges. Many protestors suggested that reason he was in the Belmarsh High Security Prison was a political smear. Stella Assange the wife of Julian Assange appeared at the protest with her 2 kids and was greeted with cheers from the protestors.
Stella Assange, who is a professional lawyer stated that the British government’s decision to extradite Julian Assange was not the end and stated the legal team will pursue all possible avenues. The extradition of Julian Assange was approved in June of this year by then Home Secretary Priti Patel.
Stella Assange appeared on the TV show Uncensored hosted by Piers Morgan where he queried from Mrs. Assange the accusation that the Wikileaks website put information out that put people at risk. Mrs. Assange responded by stating she did not accept it and “Wikileaks did actually redact all of those publications from the Manning that Manning gave to Wikileaks. In fact, it was in cooperation with those newspapers, they told Wikileaks what had to be redacted and then Wikileaks published it redacted.” “In fact, Wikileaks withheld 15,000 documents from the Afghan war logs got criticized over redacting too much in relation to Iraq and in relation to Cable gate,” she said in reference to Bradley Manning who admitted providing Wikileaks the documents. Mrs. Assange further stated that “Julian did in fact take every precaution to redact any names” further emphasizing that the names putting those at risk were removed.
Stella Assange was joined in the protest by Russel Brand and other prominent individuals. Many protestors expressed concerns that Julian Assange will not get a fair trial in the US as he has been indicted under the Espionage Act charges which could see him in prison up to 170 years.
Image1:- wsws.org
