British designer Vivienne Westwood enters giant 'birdcage' to protest for Julian Assange

Joining the protest for the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, British fashion designer and activist Vivienne Westwood posed in a giant birdcage in London on Tuesday and called for his extradition to the US to be stopped. Dressed in a canary yellow outfit, the 79-year-old designer led protesters who chanted “Free Julian Assange” outside London’s Central Criminal Court. Video of the incident went viral on social media. 

49-year-old Assange is currently being held in a high-security prison in London. Speaking to the press, Westwood said that freeing Assange would mean that “journalists can continue to tell the truth, rather than repeating the spin that’s dealt to them by the government.” The designer has turned to activism in recent years, leading campaigns in support of Assange and drawing attention to climate change at her fashion shows.

Assange was arrested last year after being evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had been holed up for years. He maintains he was acting as a journalist entitled to First Amendment protection. His lawyers have argued the US charges of espionage and computer misuse were politically motivated and an abuse of power.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange conspired with 'Anonymous' hackers: US Justice Department

Extradition hearing in September

WikiLeaks founder’s extradition hearing, which was earlier postponed due to the pandemic, will now resume on September 7. Assange had also applied for a bail, in March, arguing that he was at risk of contracting the novel coronavirus in the British prison. However, Judge Vanessa Baraitser at Westminster Magistrates' Court rejected his bail plea saying the pandemic does not as of itself provide grounds for whistleblower’s release.

Assange conspired with hackers affiliated to “Anonymous” and “LulzSec” to obtain classified information, said US Justice Department in July. The updated indictment by a federal grand jury charged Assange with offences related Assange’s alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States. While the new indictment does not add additional counts to the prior 18 charges, the DOJ said in a statement that it broadens the scope of the conspiracy surrounding alleged computer intrusions with which Assange was charged earlier. According to the Justice Department, Assange communicated directly with a leader of LulzSec and provided a list of targets for the group to hack.

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Julian Assange Case

The 48-year-old whistleblower currently imprisoned in Belmarsh is slapped with 18 charges in the United States including the Espionage Act, for conspiring to gain access into US military secrets between January and May 2010. If convicted, he will face up to 175 years in the US prison. 

Wikileaks, an anti-secrecy organisation, was founded in 2006 as a platform for whistleblowers to release classified information anonymously. By 2015, Wikileaks became a portal to publish over 10 million documents, including top-secret documents.  Ever since its launch in 2006, Wikileaks has published thousands of classified documents, disclosing the details from national security, war, politics to the film industry. 

WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange to seek asylum in France amid extradition case