Julian Assange is facing criminal charges in the US for “espionage” over the release of more than 700,000 confidential and classified US diplomatic and military documents, mostly about the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced on Tuesday the “absurd” decision of the British authorities not to allow its members to visit the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, who has been imprisoned for almost four years in a maximum security prison outside London, despite having secured permission to do so in advance.
“We had received official permission to visit Julian, it was confirmed (…) but when we arrived early this morning at Belmars Prison in London, the gentleman at the entrance told us that our names had been removed from the visitors’ list,” he said. Christophe Delois, RSF’s general secretary, told reporters.
“He told us that the prison director made this decision because we are journalists,” Mr. Delois continued. “This explanation is absurd (…) We are here as representatives of a non-governmental organization to visit Julian, not in our journalistic capacity.”
Australian citizen Julian Assange, 51, is facing criminal charges in the US for “espionage” over the release of more than 700,000 confidential and classified US diplomatic and military documents, mostly about the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
After his arrest by British police in 2019, after seven years of remaining in the Ecuadorian embassy in the British capital, where he fled in 2012, Mr Assange, locked up in Belmars maximum security prison, is awaiting the outcome of his appeal. against the British government’s decision to proceed with his extradition.
In front of the prison, Christophe Delois called for Julian Assange to be “released” while calling on the US to “end the prosecutions”.
According to a representative of the prison authorities, indeed the two representatives of RSF were not allowed to enter because they are journalists, as “the regulation” of the prison provides. The same source assured that “future requests” will be considered.
“Julian was upset that he was not allowed to meet” with the Reporters Without Borders representatives, said his wife Stella Assange, who was able to see him.
“The decision by the British authorities to block this meeting is ridiculous,” he added, insisting his incarceration in the maximum security prison “is a scandal on all levels.”
Source :Skai
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