Published 19:47 IST, February 21st 2020
WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange to seek asylum in France amid extradition case
The legal team of WikiLeaks publisher and whistleblower Assange will be seeking asylum on the basis of health and humanitarian grounds to the French government
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is fighting an extradition battle to the US, might seek asylum in France, his lawyer said on Friday. The whistleblower's lawyer said that the legal team of Assange would be in contact with French President Emmanuel Macron to seek political refuge. He further called France, the land of "human rights."
Julian Assange's' lawyer, speaking to a European media outlet said that the request for political asylum was "not an ordinary demand" considering the whistleblower's nationality. The legal team of Assange will be seeking asylum on the basis of health and humanitarian grounds. Citing Article 53 of the French constitution, the lawyer said that the European country can allow refuge to a man who is being 'threatened on reasons for his freedom of expression.'
The French government under then-President Francois Hollande had refused to provide asylum to the WikiLeaks publisher in 2015 after he wrote an open letter in France's Le Monde. The government of France had then said that Julian Assange's situation did not hold an "immediate danger." Julian Assange was holed up in London's Ecuadorian embassy for seven years until he was dragged out by the UK Police. He took refuge in a small office converted into a bedroom. The 47-year-old lived there with his cat.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been moved out of the solitary confinement and his health has shown improvement since then, said the whistleblower’s spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson. Speaking in a news conference, Hrafnsson said that he acknowledged the pressure from his legal team, public, and other inmates to get him out of isolation. In January, Assange’s lawyer had lamented that his client was not getting enough time with the legal team to discuss the case regarding extradition case. Assange’s lawyer Gareth Peirce reportedly told a British court that the difficulty in getting time with the whistleblower is causing delays in the case.
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. In 2010, as per published files of WikiLeaks, Congress' Rahul Gandhi told the then US Ambassador at lunch that Hindu extremists groups post a greater threat to his country than the Muslim terrorists.
Updated 19:47 IST, February 21st 2020