Human chain formed around UK parliament in support of Julian Assange

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
8 Oct 2022 20:42
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It has been eight months since Julian Assange has been isolated and without visitors, with the exception of his lawyers.

Human chain formed around UK parliament in support of Julian Assange

Protesters formed a human chain around the UK parliament in London on Saturday to call for the release of persecuted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

The chain spanned from the front of the Houses of Parliament to the River Thames, over Westminster Bridge before looping to the river at the other side of the historic building.

The Australian-born publisher has been in prison since he was removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2019 and arrested by British police.

He is currently appealing a decision to extradite him to the US where he is wanted to face trial for allegedly violating the US Espionage Act.

In 2010, Assange released classified military and diplomatic files where he exposed Washington's war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.

If found guilty, Assange faces the prospect of being held behind bars for several decades, as his sentencing is set to be at 175 years in prison.

Julian Assange's son at the rally today

Assange still remains in London's Belmarsh prison, where he has been in detention since April 2019. His extradition was halted by a UK judge last year, but the US government was successful in its appeal to the high court.

Assange has become a symbol of press freedom which exposed the dark side of western democracies as the US continues to muzzle reporting on serious security concerns.

"Free Assange, end extradition", "journalism is not a crime" and "prosecute war crimes, not Assange" were some of the slogans protesters chanted during the rally.

Another protest took place in Zagreb, Croatia.