Refusal to extradite Julian Assange: Biden government appeals

Joe Biden fully intends to judge Julian Assange. His government, in power since January 20 in the United States, has decided to appeal the decision of the British justice which had refused the extradition of the Australian, founder of WikiLeaks. This appeal was announced Friday by the US Department of Justice which therefore intends to judge the whistleblower for the massive dissemination of confidential documents from the year 2009. The British decision of January 4 indicated a refusal of extradition of Julian Assange to the United States because of the suicide risk of the cyber activist in the American prison system.

“Yes, we have appealed and we are continuing to seek his extradition,” ministry spokesman Marc Raimondi told Agence France-Presse. Several human rights and press freedom organizations had called on Joe Biden to drop the charges against Julian Assange, arguing that the charges “threaten press freedom” and would set a precedent that would “criminalize” journalistic practices.

What Joe Biden said about Julian Assange ten years ago

Julian Assange is under the blow of lawsuits launched under the presidency of Donald Trump, to whom the supporters of Julian Assange had asked to pardon him, in vain. Under Barack Obama, who had Joe Biden for vice-president, American justice had given up on prosecuting the founder of WikiLeaks. 10 years ago, Joe Biden considered that Julian Assange was more like a “high tech terrorist” than an heir to the “Pentagon papers” which revealed in the 1970s the lies of the United States on the war of Vietnam.

The 49-year-old Australian is being held in the UK awaiting UK justice to consider the appeal and his fiancee Stella Morris has called on the UK Court of Appeal to dismiss the US claim. “Any assurances that the (US) Department of Justice could give about the legal proceedings or the detention regime that Julian might risk in the United States would be not only unnecessary but also meaningless,” she said in a statement. communicated.

 

“The United States has long been breaking its prisoner treatment commitments to countries that accept extradition, including the United Kingdom, as human rights organizations have documented on numerous occasions. ”, She added. American justice wants to judge him in particular for espionage, after the distribution from 2010 of more than 700,000 classified documents on American military and diplomatic activities, in particular in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

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