Free Assange Rally

We will gather at Charles Circle (aka Hamilton Coolidge Sq) on Monday, August 14, 4-5:30pm to protest the continued prosecution of Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks.  Please spread the word among supporters of press freedom and our First Amendment, including using this Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/612393754358765

Assange is dangerously close to extradition to the United States.  He is on his very last available appeal in the UK Courts.  If they refuse to hear it, that is a green light for extradition.  The political situation in the UK leaves it unknown as to whether they would wait for Assange to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights or extradite him immediately to the USA. 

It is a dire outcome for all if Assange is extradited.  The global precedent against press freedom will have been set. Around the world, supporters of freedom of the press are waiting with bated breath for legal updates on Julian’s case.

July 31, there was global outcry over Secretary of State Blinken’s comments about Assange in Australia – telling Australians that Assange had committed serious crimes against US national security and the US could not entertain the Australian government’s plea for the US government to end this prosecution and free their citizen.

https://consortiumnews.com/2023/08/01/australian-mps-blast-blinken-over-assange/

August 2, the DC based activist organization, Code Pink protested Blinken and delivered a condemnation letter to State Dept’s Australian desk, Dan Callahan.

Video: https://twitter.com/codepink/status/1686855264421425153?s=20

Letter: https://twitter.com/AssangeActionDC/status/1687106901660827650?s=20

We agree with what Australian MP Andrew Wilkie told The Guardian‘s Australian edition that Assange was “not the villain … and if the US wasn’t obsessed with revenge it would drop the extradition charge as soon as possible.”

“Antony Blinken’s allegation that Julian Assange risked very serious harm to US national security is patent nonsense,” Wilkie said.

“Mr Blinken would be well aware of the inquiries in both the US and Australia which found that the relevant WikiLeaks disclosures did not result in harm to anyone,” said Wilkie. “The only deadly behaviour was by US forces … exposed by WikiLeaks, like the Apache crew who gunned down Iraqi civilians and Reuters journalists” in the infamous Collateral Murder video.”

Jail the war criminals not the journalist!

This is a perfect time to write our government: the president at WhiteHouse.gov/contact or 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, DC 20500 or AG Merrick Garland at AskDOJ@usdoj.gov or Dept of Justice,950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20530.  Or call Congress at 202-224-3121.  Give them a piece of your mind.