A Night Carnival for Assange is to be held on Saturday 11 February 2023. This will be followed by a rally in the Emmanuel Centre, Marsham Street, Westminster, SW1P 3DW. Speakers will include Stella Assange, Ben Westwood, Kristinn Hrafnsson, Richard Ratcliffe and Jeremy Corbyn. The assembly point for the Carnival will at 4pm at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LJ and proceed to the Houses of Parliament.
Julian Assange remains in custody in Britain pending a US extradition request to face trial and could face up to 175 years in prison in the US if found guilty. Assange is appealing against the British government’s approval of his extradition. The WikiLeaks founder has been charged under the US Espionage Act, including publishing classified material. Campaigners point out that the actions against Julian Assange are a serious threat to press freedom.
The case against Mr Assange relates to hundreds of thousands of leaked documents about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as well as diplomatic cables, which were made public by WikiLeaks, working with the Guardian and other media organisations. They revealed horrifying abuses by the US and other governments that would not otherwise have been disclosed. The campaign to free Julian Assange has been encouraged by significant progress since October. The five main publishing partners of WikiLeaks published a joint letter calling on US authorities to drop the case against him. The Australian Prime Minister is now openly declaring that Australia is engaging its allies to bring Julian’s imprisonment to an end.
Further information on the event can be seen on this link:
https://dontextraditeassange.com/events/night-carnival-for-assange/
Submitted by Alastair Kneale
DOI Celtic League (9th February 2023)
