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WikiLeaks is fighting “secrecy and corruption around the world, and it works for the benefit of both the American people and the public interest of all mankind,” writes Nils Melzer in an open letter.
“Mr. President, in granting grace to Mr.” Send Assange a clear message of justice, truth and humanity to the American people and the world, “said the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or cruel treatment or punishment. degrading.
“You would rehabilitate a brave man who has suffered injustice, persecution and humiliation for more than a decade just because he told the truth,” added Melzer.
Assange, 49, is currently being held in London’s strict Belmars security prison and is fighting for his extradition to the United States. On January 4, a British judge must decide whether to grant a US request to extradite Assange in a case that his defenders consider scandalous in terms of freedom of the press.
Australian J. Assange faces 18 charges in the United States for 500,000. the publication on WikiLeaks in 2010 of secret documents detailing aspects of US military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Melzer had previously condemned the conditions at Belmars prison, saying that the “increasing suffering” Assange had suffered amounts to torture.
In a letter Tuesday, N. Melzer wrote: “I visited Mr. Assange … with two independent doctors and I can testify to the fact that his health has seriously deteriorated and he has reached a point where his life is in danger. “
The expert noted that Mr. Assange suffers from a respiratory disease and makes him more vulnerable to the COVID-19 coronavirus infection, which already affects several prisoners from Belmars.
According to Melzer, Assange “did not steal any of the information he published and obtained it from authentic documents and sources in the same way as all other serious and independent investigative journalists.”
“PAGS. Prosecuting Assange for correcting serious information about gross misconduct by officials … in the United States or elsewhere would amount to punishing bad news,” Melzer wrote.
Assange, arrested 10 years ago on December 7, could face up to 175 years in prison if convicted.
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