A letter signed by a bipartisan group of US House members demands Biden end the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is facing extradition to the US and up to 175 years in an American maximum security prison.
In a “Dear Colleague” letter obtained by Fox News Digital, Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and James McGovern (D-MA) asked fellow House members to join their bipartisan effort to “strongly encourage the Biden administration to withdraw the U.S. extradition request currently pending against Australian publisher Julian Assange and halt all prosecutorial proceedings against him as soon as possible.”
The separate letter the congressmen are referring to will be sent to Biden after Massie and McGovern gather signatures from House members. Lawmakers have until Thursday to sign the letter.
Fox News reports: The bipartisan congressional effort to free Assange comes a month after a delegation of Australian lawmakers across the political spectrum visited Washington, D.C., and met with members of Congress, U.S. officials and civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, to demand the U.S. drop the charges against Assange, who could be sentenced to up to 175 years in an American maximum-security prison.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Washington this week to meet with Biden and is expected to bring up Assange’s case. Albanese has repeatedly called on the U.S. in recent months to end the prosecution of Assange.
A spokesperson for the Australian government said in a statement to Fox News Digital that it “has made clear its view that Mr. Assange’s case has dragged on for too long and that it should be brought to a close.”
The statement continued: “The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister have expressed this view to the governments of the United Kingdom and United States and we will continue to do so. The Australian Government cannot intervene in another country’s legal or court processes just as they are unable to intervene in Australia’s. We continue to convey our expectations that Mr. Assange is entitled to due process, humane and fair treatment, access to proper medical care, and access to his legal team.”
“Deep concerns about this case have been repeatedly expressed by international media outlets, human rights and press freedom advocates,” Massie and McGovern wrote in the letter. “Last April, several Members of Congress argued to Attorney General Merrick Garland that ‘[e]very day that the prosecution of Julian Assange continues is another day that our own government needlessly undermines our own moral authority abroad and rolls back the freedom of the press under the First Amendment at home.’ One example: the Assange case has been cited by officials of the People’s Republic of China to claim that the U.S. is ‘hypocritical’ when it comes to support for media freedom.”
Assange would face trial in Alexandria, Virginia, if he exhausts his legal appeals and is extradited to the U.S. He is facing 17 charges for allegedly receiving, possessing and communicating classified information to the public under the Espionage Act and one charge alleging a conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.
The charges followed the 2010 publication of cables U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning leaked to WikiLeaks that detailed alleged war crimes committed by the U.S. government in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp. The materials also exposed instances of the CIA allegedly engaging in torture and rendition.
Wikileaks’ “Collateral Murder” video showing the U.S. military gunning down civilians in Iraq, including two Reuters journalists, was also published 13 years ago.
(Article by Baxter Dmitry republished from thepeoplesvoice.tv)