Left-wing lawmakers go to the US embassy to demand an end to the persecution of Assange.
Members of Parliament from the PT, PCdoB, and PSOL parties endorsed the letter addressed to US President Joe Biden.
247 - Members of Parliament from the PT, PCdoB and PSOL endorsed a letter to be delivered this Tuesday (11) to the United States embassy asking for the withdrawal of espionage charges against Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks and who is imprisoned in London, England. He awaits extradition to the US, where he could be sentenced to 175 years.
The date chosen to deliver the letter, which is addressed to US President Joe Biden, coincides with the date of the Australian journalist and activist's arrest in England four years ago.
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In the document, parliamentarians express concern regarding the extradition request for Assange from the United Kingdom to the US, and the negative precedent this would create for freedom of expression and the press worldwide.
They argue that Assange, by releasing thousands of classified documents about American military activities, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, was essentially practicing investigative journalism.
In Washington, Democratic lawmakers have also been mobilizing to prevent Assange's extradition. Representative Rashida Tlaib is circulating a letter among her House colleagues urging the Justice Department to drop the charges against Assange and end its extradition efforts.
The Department of Justice has accused the editor of WikiLeaks of publishing classified information. Publishing classified information is a violation of the Espionage Act, although this has never been challenged in the Supreme Court, and constitutional experts consider this element of the law unconstitutional.