"We had an official authorization (number 645511) to meet Julian Assange this morning, confirmed on March 31st, but we were finally barred access to Belmarsh prison at the last minute for a spurious reason. It's a shame," the RSF chief wrote on Twitter.
The WikiLeaks publisher was also very disappointed by the refusal, Deloire said, citing Assange's wife.
"Julian Assange is prosecuted for his contribution to journalism and this procedure threatens journalism as a whole. Enough is enough. The United States must put an end to these lawsuits," Deloire added.
WikiLeaks was founded by Assange on October 4, 2006, but rose to prominence in 2010 when it began to publish large-scale leaks of classified government information, especially from the US. Since April 2019, Assange has been held in the high-security Belmarsh prison in London while facing prosecution in the US under the Espionage Act. If convicted, the WikiLeaks founder may get 175 years in prison. In December 2022, he appealed to the European Court of Human Rights to challenge his extradition.