Countdown To Day X: Assange Prosecution Is Politically Motivated
The legal team for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has long maintained that the “political opinions and political actions” of Assange led to his prosecution.
Editor’s Note: Ahead of a major appeal hearing before the British High Court of Justice on February 20 and 21, the “Countdown To Day X” series will highlight key aspects of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s appeal against extradition to the United States.
The legal team for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has long maintained that the prosecution under President Donald Trump was “politically motivated at every stage” and that it was the “political opinions and political actions” of Assange that led to “his prosecution in the first place.”
Extradition from the United Kingdom is supposed to be opposed when the request is “improperly motivated by an ‘extraneous consideration.’” That covers any person targeted as as a result of their “race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, or political opinions.”
Assange’s legal team previously outlined [PDF] the political opinions that allegedly made him a target: a belief in “open society” and freedom of expression; antiwar, anti-surveillance, and anti-imperialism views; a belief in “political transparency as a means” to achieve “democratic accountability,” including the public’s right to access information on “political corruption, war crimes, torture, etc; and support for “exposure of crimes against humanity and accountability for such crimes.”
Read the full article at The Dissenter.