According to the Assange extradition campaign, the Argentine intellectual sent a letter in English to British Home Secretary Priti Patel, who has held the Australian journalist’s future in her hands since London’s High Court ruled in April against him transferring to North American territory .
After Pérez Esquivel recalled that the trial judge had denied Assange’s extradition because he feared his precarious mental health would lead him to commit suicide in a US prison, Pérez Esquivel warned Patel that it could have deadly consequences for cyberactivists could face if the UK decides to stand up to American justice.
The United States wants to prosecute the journalist for publishing secret files on WikiLeaks exposing war crimes by his military in Iraq and Afghanistan and thousands of documents compromising US diplomacy.
If Assange, who has been held in a UK maximum-security prison since his arrest at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in April 2019, is tried by a US court and found guilty, he could face 175 years in prison on the 17 charges against him to be judged .
However, the Argentine intellectual, winner of the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize, considered Washington’s request illegal and abusive, urging the interior minister to defend the rule of law and refuse extradition.
He also reminded him that several international organizations, including the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the European Parliament, as well as dozens of heads of state and former heads of state have expressed their concerns about Assange’s situation and are calling for his release.
I join with the growing collective concern over violations of Mr Julian Assange’s human, civil and political rights, added Pérez Esquivel, who also warned Patel that the prosecution of the WikiLeaks founder sets a bad precedent for freedom of the press, and ratifies the universal jurisdiction of the United States.
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