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High Court decision “Grave miscarriage of justice,” says Julian
Assange’s fiancée A
UK court has overturned an earlier decision blocking the extradition of Julian
Assange to the United States where he is accused of publishing true
information revealing crimes committed by the US government in the Guantanamo
Bay detention camp, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and details of CIA torture and
rendition. Julian Assange was not given permission to attend the appeal
hearing in person. The
prosecution against Julian Assange is an existential threat to press freedom
worldwide. Leading civil liberties groups, including Amnesty International,
Reporters Without Borders, ACLU, and Human Rights Watch have called
the charges against Julian Assange a “threat to press freedom around the
globe.” Journalist unions, including the National Union of Journalists and
the International Federation of Journalists, have said that “media freedom is
suffering lasting damage by the continued prosecution of Julian Assange.” He
faces a 175-year prison sentence. Responding to
the decision of the High Court to overturn the lower court’s earlier ruling to
block the extradition of Mr. Assange, Stella Moris,
Julian Assange’s fiancee, said: "We will
appeal this decision at the earliest possible moment.” Moris described the High Court’s ruling as “dangerous and misguided”
and a “grave miscarriage of justice.” “How can if
be fair, how can it be right, how can it be possible, to extradite Julian to
the very country which plotted to kill him?” she said. On September
26, CIA plans to assassinate Julian Assange were uncovered in a bombshell
report. The detailed investigation revealed that discussions of assassinating
Julian Assange in London had occurred “at the highest levels” of the CIA and
Trump White House, and that kill “sketches” and “options” had been drawn up
on orders of Mike Pompeo, then CIA director. The investigation revealed that
plans to kidnap and rendition Assange were far advanced
and the CIA’s operations prompted a political decision to produce charges
against him. Editor-in-chief
of WikiLeaks, Kristinn Hrafnsson said, “Julian’s life is once more under
grave threat, and so is the right of journalists to publish material that
governments and corporations find inconvenient. This is about the right of a
free press to publish without being threatened by a bullying superpower.” Amnesty
International says the
so-called ‘assurances’ upon which the US government relies “leave Mr. Assange
at risk of ill-treatment,” are “inherently unreliable,”
and “should be rejected,” adding that they are “discredited by their
admission that they reserved the right to reverse those guarantees.”
Amnesty concluded the charges against Assange are “politically motivated” and
must be dropped. Julian Assange
and Stella Moris are engaged to be married and have
two children, who are British and live in London. Click
here to hear Stella Moris outside court following
the decision; updates via @wikileaks |