President Luiz Inácio lula da Silva (PT) again criticized the arrest of the Australian journalist Julian Assange. Shortly after the coronation ceremony of King Charles III. in London this Saturday (6th), Lula declared it was “a disgrace” that the journalist was being held in prison. The WikiLeaks founder has been held in a maximum security prison in Belmarsh, England, since 2019.
The President said it was important to defend “a movement by the world press” in defense of the Australian, “not to defend him as a person but to defend liberty”. Lula also explained that he has already written letters to Assange and has also written articles in defense of the Australian. The information comes from Agência Brasil.
“It is a disgrace that a journalist who denounces one state’s betrayals of the other should be arrested and sentenced to death in prison and that we are doing nothing to free him,” he told reporters after attending the attended the coronation ceremony.
Despite meeting UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last Friday (5), the same day he landed in London, Lula admitted he ended up not raising the issue. “It was a subject I forgot to talk to him about,” he said. But he indicated that he intends to call Sunak as soon as he arrives in Brazil to deal with the matter.
“We need to put our theories into practice from time to time so that we can continue to talk about freedom of expression,” he added.
Who is Julian Assange?
Journalist Julian Assange is wanted by the United States for 18 crimes, including espionage. The complaint relates to the leaks of nearly 500,000 documents provided by a former US security agent in 2009 and 2010.
The material focused primarily on the US government’s performance in the conflicts against Afghanistan and Iraq. All disclosure was made through WikiLeaks, of which Assange is the founder. One of the most notable releases came in 2019, when video of an American attack using helicopters in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, was released.
The attack left a dozen dead, including two Portal employees.
A leak hit Brazil directly. In 2015, documents released on WikiLeaks containing confidential information from the US National Security Agency revealed that at least 29 phones belonging to members or former members of Dilma Rousseff’s (PT) government had been tapped by the US government.
The Australian was arrested in the UK in 2010 on a European arrest warrant for sex crimes in Sweden, which he denies. After that, he will be released after posting bail.
With the extradition to Sweden approved by the British judiciary, he fled to the Ecuadorian embassy in London in August 2012. He stayed as political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy for 7 years until 2019. United by taking refuge, he was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison.
In June 2022, thenBritish Home Secretary Priti Patel approved Assange’s extradition request to the United States. So far, however, the journalist has not been sent to the US country to stand trial on the charges which could face up to 175 years in prison if found guilty.