President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party) asked for Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, to be released. The request was made after a meeting this Monday, in Brasilia, with Kristinn Hrafnsson, executive editor of the WikiLeaks website, and Joseph Farrel, the organization’s ambassador.
On his official Twitter account, Lula said that he was informed about Assange’s health and the fight to free the Australian journalist. “I asked them [Hrafnsson and Farrel] to send my solidarity message to him. Hope Assange is released from this unfair prison,” he wrote.
Estive com @khrafnsson, editor-chefe do WikiLeaks, e com o editor Joseph Farrell, que me informaram da situação de saúde e da luta por liberdade de Julian Assange. Pedi para que enviassem minha solidariedade. Que Assange seja solto de sua injusta prisão.
— Lula (@LulaOficial) November 29, 2022
📸: Cláudio Kbene pic.twitter.com/DuSvdEBQQY
Tweet: “I met with @khrafnsson, the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, and with editor Joseph Farrell, who informed me of Julian Assange's health situation and struggle for freedom. I asked them to send my solidarity. May Assange be released from his unjust imprisonment.”
In a statement, WikiLeaks said that Lula “has long been outspoken about the illegality of Julian Assange’s prison and extradition attempt by the United States of America. At the meeting President Lula reiterated his ongoing support for Julian Assange and his wish to see him freed”.
Media outlets request the dismissal of charges
On the same day, some of the world’s leading media outlets requested the US government to dismiss the charges against Assange. In a letter, they stated that the prosecution filed by the US against the activist damages the freedom of the press.
“Obtaining and disclosing sensitive information when necessary in the public interest is a core part of the daily work of journalists. If that work is criminalized, our public discourse and our democracies are made significantly weaker. Twelve years after the publication of “Cable Gate”, it is time for the U.S. government to end its prosecution of Julian Assange for publishing secrets. Publishing is not a crime”, reads the letter.
:: In a letter, world's leading newspapers urge U.S. to drop charges against Assange ::
The document was published by the following media outlets: the British newspaper The Guardian; The New York Times, from the US; the Spanish newspaper El País; Le Monde, from France; and the German magazine and website Der Spiegel.
These five media outlets were chosen to publish more than 250,000 documents provided by WikiLeaks between 2010 and 2011 about US military abuses in Iraq.
Charges
Assange faces 18 charges under the Espionage Act in the US. In 2010, he published classified information on American diplomatic and military activities. Among the revelations, the WikiLeaks website published a torture handbook by the United States Army used in Guatánamo Bay Detention Camp.
Assange also made public the register of victims in the Iraq War, in which the US admit that 60% of those killed were civilians. One of the most shocking leaks was a video in which Iraqi citizens are attacked by gunfire in an American helicopter on July 12, 2007.
:: "Freedom for Assange": journalistic entities receive Wikileaks representatives at the ABI ::
Julian Assange has been in a British prison since 2019 under the constant threat of extradition to the US, where he could face up to a 175-year sentence.
Before that, Assange stayed at the Embassy of Ecuador in the United Kingdom from 2012 until 2019, when the Latin American country revoked his asylum, and the British authorities arrested him.
In June this year, the UK’s Home Secretary Priti Patel authorized Assange’s extradition. However, the journalist’s lawyers have filed an appeal against the extradition. There is no specific date to decide on the appeal.
Edited by: Flávia Chacon e Vivian Virissimo
