British Judge to Determine on January 4th if Julian Assange Will be Extradited to the United States
Jose Nino
|
On January 4, 2020, the British judge handling the extradition trial of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will determine if Assange will end up being extradited to the United States.
Should he end up being extradited to the US, Assange will be tried under the Espionage Act simply for shining light on war crimes that the U.S. government carried out. According to Dave DeCamp of Antiwar.com, Assange could potentially face 175 years in prison. The Trump administration’s Justice Department indicted the WikiLeaks founder on 17 counts of espionage and one county of conspiracy to carry out a computer crime. The charge relates to documents that former U.S. Army soldier Bradley Manning sent over to WikiLeaks.
President Donald Trump has been rumored to have been flirting with the idea of pardoning Assange. However, nothing has materialized thus far. Assange’s fiance Stella Moris recently went on Fox News to make the case for pardoning the whistleblower.
“The consequences of a trial against Julian don’t just affect him or us as a family because everyone agrees this is a terrible, terrible case. It’s a terrible case because it is the end of the first amendment,” she stated.
Since April 2019, Assange has been imprisoned in London’s Belmarsh Prison. Nils Melzer, a UN special rappoteur has compared Assange’s treatment in Belmarsh to torture.
Melzer has been an outspoken opponent of the extradition. He accused the U.S. government of criminalizing journalistic activity.
“In essence, the United States is trying to criminalize investigative journalism. That’s the purpose of the extradition request, nothing else,” Melzer asserted.
Exposing the excesses of the military industrial complex will lead to situations similar to what Assange is facing.
Sadly, one of the Trump administration’s biggest failures was not pardoning Assange. He could have given the political establishment the middle finger by doing so.
The incoming Biden administration will undoubtedly find ways to prosecute Assange and have him rot in prison. America First representatives and whistleblowers should campaign hard for decriminalizing whistleblowing that exposes the Deep State. No institution of the corrupt ruling class should be exempt from scrutiny.
No person should deserve such treatment for shedding light on governmental abuse.
Share: