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Editor Tariq Ali Speaks at 'In Defense of Julian Assange' Book Launch in London - Video

Washington is still seeking Assange's extradition, a matter that is up to a UK court to decide. If extradited, he faces a sentence of up to 175 years over espionage.
Sputnik

The book "In Defense of Julian Assange", featuring contributions from Noam Chomsky, Vivienne Westwood, and Pamela Anderson, is being launched on 23 November in London.

Co-editor Tariq Ali and BAFTA Award-winning documentary filmmaker John Pilger are taking part at the book's launch at the China Exchange.

Activists from all around the globe, as well as British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, American actress Pamela Anderson, and former diplomat Craig Murray have contributed to the book.​ 

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WikiLeaks announced on 19 November that Sweden had discontinued its investigation into a rape allegation against Assange, which it began in 2010. However, the whistleblower still faces criminal charges from two other countries — the United Kingdom and the United States. Assange is currently serving a prison sentence in the United Kingdom for breaching his bail conditions, but the United States has requested that he be extradited.

Assange and WikiLeaks leapt into the spotlight back in 2010 when they released a classified video of the killing of two Reuters staffers in a US airstrike in Iraq in 2007. The group has since published hundreds of thousands of other classified materials on the US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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