JSC condemns UK High Court decision, approving Julian Assange’s extradition to the USA, by Lord Chief Justice Burnett, which came on the Human Rights Day where the world celebrates human rights, among which freedom of expression and speech and press freedom are highly valued for their value in monitoring and exposing any human rights violations committed. 

The decision, which was regarded as “grave miscarriage of justice” by his fiancée Stella Moris , overturns an earlier decision blocking his extradition in January 2021. She added, “: “How can it be fair, how can it be right, how can it be possible, to extradite Julian to the very country which plotted to kill him?” 

The Journalist Support Committee in Geneva (JSC) reiterate its call for the immediate and unconditional release of Julian Assange, founder and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, and for all charges and legal prosecutions to be dropped, as his trials pave the way for undermining press freedom globally and threatening the security of journalists and researchers in their quest to reveal the truth to local and international communities, especially with the Yahoo News report, which referred to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) discussing the issue of the kidnapping or killing Assange in 2017, before charges were brought against him and the planning of extensive spying on WikiLeaks associates.

JSC demands urgent actions by the American authorities, as well as the British, to release Assange without any restrictions or conditions, as his case poses a blatant threat to the core aim of journalism, which is exposing the truth.Moreover, JSC re-asserts that the most dangerous issue about the British judiciary’s decision remains that it sets a legal precedent in the history of the British and European judiciary, where it explicitly criminalized the basics of any journalistic task, which is the right to receive information, contact sources, and protect them, as well as publishing the information obtained, which may pave the way for the possibility of holding journalists accountable under national security considerations in law.

Journalist Support Committee - Switzerland
Friday, December 10th, 2021