5 November 2019 — Roots Action

Julian Assange is being held in prison in the United Kingdom, convicted of and charged with no crime there. He is in danger of being extradited to the United States to be prosecuted for publishing accurate information in the public interest. This is a threat to journalism and to democracy, not just to WikiLeaks and Assange.

Click here to sign a petition to the government of the United Kingdom.

Click here to sign the following petition.

To the Government of the United Kingdom:

We the undersigned respectfully call on the appropriate authorities of the United Kingdom to immediately release Julian Assange, citizen of Australia, from Belmarsh prison where he is being unjustly and cruelly incarcerated.

Acting as a publisher through WikiLeaks, Mr. Assange has done the world a service in documenting the war crimes and other abuses of the United States and other governments, organizations, and corporations.

He is not charged with any crime or even misdemeanor in the United Kingdom, and has fully served his sentence for his single offense: jumping bail to avoid extradition to the United States via Sweden. He was not and is not charged with any crime in Sweden.

The sole charges against Mr. Assange originate in the United States, where he is charged with the publication of accurate information provided by informed sources, as well as with encouraging a source, and protecting a source. These are regular and necessary practices of journalism in a free and democratic society. The prosecution of a publisher for publishing accurate information that is clearly in the public interest is a threat to journalism and to democracy.

The “espionage” prosecution by the United States of a non-U.S. citizen who has not been in and is not in the United States would be an additional dangerous precedent to set.

It is quite clear that in its current treatment of Julian Assange, the United Kingdom is debasing itself as a mere instrument of political repression exercised by the United States. The current imprisonment of Mr. Assange is a blot on the United Kingdom’s judicial system, a disgrace to British decency.

There is every reason to fear an unfair trial, or cruel imprisonment without trial, in the United States. We appeal to your sense of justice to uphold the best traditions of British democracy and respect for human rights by immediately freeing, rather than extraditing, Julian Assange.