UK Members of Parliament demand end to US extradition of Julian Assange

Parliamentarians of the United Kingdom on Tuesday wrote the United States Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, at the request of the cessation of the extradition process against the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange.

The legislators’ request occurs on the fourth anniversary of the imprisonment in the European nation of the 51-year-old Australian journalist and also demands the “return home” of the communicator.

British representatives from at least six parties recalled that Assange disseminated “information with evidence” related to “crimes against humanity, corruption and human rights abuses” assumed by Washington in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The journalist, pending extradition to the northern country, faces 18 crimes of espionage and computer intrusion and has remained since April 11, 2019 in the maximum security prison of Belmarsh, southeast of London, since Ecuador withdrew political asylum.

Similarly, they warned that the delivery of an award-winning reporter and editor “would have a chilling impact on journalism and set a dangerous precedent for other media professionals and organizations”. Likewise, they considered, it would undermine the reputation of the United States regarding the rule of law and freedom of expression, included in the first amendment of the North American constitution.