WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange is a political prisoner and the process against him is a crime against journalism, said a group of academics, politicians, journalists and advocates convened ahead of his extradition hearing.
“What we’re witnessing is a murder,” NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden told the ‘Belmarsh Tribunal’ in London on Friday, appearing via video link.
“Everywhere we look, from Afghanistan to economics, from pandemic to pervasive surveillance, the obvious has been made unspeakable,” he added, because speaking up would put one in the same category as Assange, a “political criminal” charged for “the transgression of choosing the wrong side.”
Edward Snowden now speaking at the Belmarsh Tribunal pic.twitter.com/1nnHelPhjs— Sre?ko Horvat (@HorvatSrecko) October 22, 2021
“Do we have any rights, if we don’t defend them?” Snowden said. “Can we be said to be free if even our power to express ourselves, to understand the facts of our world, can be fenced off from us?”
Anyone who loves the truth is a criminal in the same category as Assange in the eyes of the state, and the only difference is that of degree, Snowden argued, and will share his fate.
If we’re going to free the world, we have to free Assange.
The ‘Belmarsh Tribunal’ set out to turn the tables on Assange’s accusers – the US government, but also the UK that has kept him imprisoned, Sweden for making spurious accusations that drove him to exile in the first place, and Ecuador for revoking his asylum. It was organized by the Progressive International and presided over by Srecko Horvat, the Croatian philosopher who co-founded the European political movement DiEM25 along with former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who also spoke on Friday.
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