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Allies of Julian Assange Demand His Liberty on Press Freedom Day

Supporters of the whistle-blowing website's founder highlighted the hypocrisy of US, British and European Union leaders' pious words on World Press Freedom Day, when they have contributed to Julian Assange's ongoing imprisonment.
Sputnik

Supporters of jailed Wikileaks founder Julian Assange have demanded his liberty on World Press Freedom Day.

His allies took to Twitter on Monday to demand his release from the Belmarsh high-security prison in London, where he is still fighting extradition to the US on espionage and computer fraud charges.

A protest was held in Assange's homeland Australia outside the Sidney headquarters of Channel 7 news.

Australian MP Andrew Wilkie repeated his call for his countryman to be set free, insisting that "Journalism is not a crime & no one should be punished for doing the right thing".

The Assange Defence Committee urged others to pressure US Presidnet Joe Biden to drop the charges, which stem from Wikileaks publication of evidence of war crimes from Pentagon whistle-blower Chelsea Manning.

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​One supporter called out the hypocrisy of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeting about press freedom when his government's continued pursuit of Assange's extradition from the UK is all that keeps the journalist imprisoned there.

Another made the same point to British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

​​And another called on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to put her money where her mouth was.

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