Statement: Spokesperson: Aotearoa 4 Assange, Matt Ó Branáin.

Tomorrow, February 20 in London, Australian Journalist Julian Assange faces perhaps his final chance to avoid extradition to the U.S.

I am a Free Assange activist from New Zealand, who has been following the case almost full time for 4.5 years, and campaigning through Europe and the UK since October 2022, since I inspired a human chain of 8,000 around the British Parliament to free Julian.

Tomorrow I will be outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London as Julian faces his last chance to avoid extradition to the U.S. I will be staging a Photo Action outside along with Italian artist Davide Dormino, inviting the public to stand on a chair and make a photograph to share.

What has surprised me is I have been granted last-minute access to monitor the hearings remotely, a privilege not granted to many journalists, excluding almost anyone outside England and Wales, and major media organisations in Australia and the U.S. including Fox News.

Julian faces a 175 year sentence for activities described as ‘common journalistic practices’ by the editors of the five major international Newspapers he collaborated with on the 2010 publications he is indicted for.

The charges are unprecedented. The U.S. seeks to prosecute him for publishing leaked evidence of war crimes in Iraq, which are credited with ending the illegal invasion. If ending a war with truthful journalism is a crime, what chance do we have of preventing further atrocities? Why has this case dragged on so long when every major Human Rights group has called for his freedom? Why has a case of this magnitude not yet provoked more outcry from the media and the public?

In Australia at least it has reached a crescendo. The Australian Parliament last week voted with a two thirds majority to demand the U.S. and UK free Julian. Polls show as much as 90% of the public think he should be freed.
With such a clear mandate, it would seem profoundly unwise for the US and UK to risk snubbing such a clear request from such a vital ally?

The shared values of our long-standing partnership with the U.S. and UK are what is on trial. Because what do we need the might of the U.S. Army to defend us from exactly, if not from those that jail our journalists for revealing their war crimes?

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Attached image:

Matt Ó Branáin.

Spokesperson: Aotearoa 4 Assange