Numerous media representatives from Germany, Austria and Switzerland have campaigned for the immediate release of Julian Assange from his British prison. The founder of the whistleblower platform Wikileaks should not be extradited to the United States, stressed representatives of Reporters Without Borders Germany (RoG), the German Association of Journalists (DJV), the German Journalists’ Union (dju) von Verdi, the Austrian Journalists’ Clubs and the Club Suisse de la Presse on Monday in Berlin.
The media representatives emphasized that the new federal government must deviate from the course of its black-red predecessors and stand up for Assange. Above all, members of the Green government, who had already signed requests for the release of the hacker, would now have to “position themselves more clearly than the previous federal government”, demanded RoG managing director Christian Mihr and regretted that the new government was apparently “unfortunately starting from scratch again”. to have to.
Greens are required
The new head of the Federal Foreign Office, Annalena Baerbock (Greens), has so far failed to live up to Assange’s claim of “value-based foreign policy”. Mihr also made Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) directly responsible, during his talks next week in Washington with US President Joe Biden, to urge the government there to stop the extradition request and to stand up “for freedom of the press worldwide”. It is the only realistic hope for Assange that the US drop the case.
The British High Court ruled last week that the native Australian can appeal to the British Supreme Court in the proceedings for his extradition to the United States. However, his lawyers must first apply for admission, which the Supreme Court will then decide on. As a result, the extradition process continues to drag on. The US judiciary wants to put Assange on trial for allegations of espionage. He faces up to 175 years in prison if convicted.
Assange’s partial success in court is “no reason for joy or relief,” emphasized Mihr. The Supreme Court does not have to accept the case, then the decision lies with the British Home Secretary Priti Patel. Assange will have to spend many more months, if not years, unjustly in prison. Great Britain had already blatantly violated the rule of law when observing the proceedings. It was an attempt to wear down the prominent prisoner. The circumstances are “unacceptable”.
“Psychological Abuse”
Assange has been incarcerated in Belmarsh, a high-security prison in London, for more than two years. According to reports, the now 50-year-old suffered a stroke in prison. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, has identified traces of psychological abuse. He raised serious allegations against the federal government last year.
The US and Great Britain are not so much concerned with a conviction, but with “punishment through the process,” said Wikileaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson. Assange will now be “pulled from one negotiating room to the next for twenty years” in order to break it. Every layman understands that he is not treated and protected appropriately in the USA: “He is a political prisoner.”
DJV chairman Frank Überall described the actions of Great Britain and the USA as “a disgrace to press freedom and human rights in general”. The rule of law is being trampled on. This is a “devastating signal to whistleblowers, but also to journalists”. Assange had “released important information”. He deserves “not punishment, but solidarity, gratitude and protection”. Without valid information from insiders, “in large parts we can no longer do our necessary investigative business”.
“Attack on Freedom of the Press”
“Numerous attacks on free and independent reporting are currently taking place,” added dju managing director Monique Hofmann. These included “strategic intimidation lawsuits”. The “completely unrestrained attack on press freedom” must stop, stressed Günter Bartsch from the Recherche network. Large amounts of data are becoming increasingly important for reporting and international investigative cooperation. The US government has also not told citizens the truth about the war, which Wikileaks has made clear.
Investigative journalist Günter Wallraff described Assange alongside Putin critic Alexej Navalny as “the most important political prisoners of the time”. They had made state crimes public and should be proposed together for the Nobel Peace Prize. The “death by installments” of the Wikileaks founder must be stopped. Secret services had fabricated the “martyr of the Enlightenment” (“Süddeutsche Zeitung”) as a “monster”. Wallraff launched an initiative for Assange two years ago.
The media representatives should make joint representations to the Council of Europe and the EU Parliament, since decisions on freedom of the press and whistleblower protection were not implemented there either, suggested Fred Turnheim from the Austrian Journalists’ Club. It is necessary to put an end to the whole theatre. His Swiss colleague Pierre Ruetschi recalled the Geneva appeal for the immediate release of Assange in the summer. Only pressure from the media and citizens could force the British government to take such a step.
(vbr)