June 17, 2022
“We are going to use every appeal avenue,” Stella Assange told a London press conference on Friday after the home secretary signed the extradition order, reports Joe Lauria.
By Joe Lauria
in London
Special to Consortium News
Julian Assange’s wife and one of his lawyers on Friday vowed to fight the decision of British Home Secretary Priti Patel to sign an extradition order earlier in the day sending imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange to the United States to face trial on espionage and computer intrusion charges.
“This is the outcome that we have been concerned about for the last decade,” Assange lawyer Jennifer Robinson told a London press conference. “This decision is a grave threat to freedom of speech, not just for Julian, but for every journalist, editor and media worker.”
She said he faced up to 175 years in a U.S. prison for publishing material for which he has won numerous press awards as well as a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. “This should shock everyone,” she said.
“We are not at the end of the road, we are going to fight this,” Stella Assange, the publisher’s wife, told the press conference. “We are going to spend every waking hour fighting for Julian until he is free, until justice is served.”
She told the press: “I’m sure you understand the extremely serious implications this has for all of you and for human rights.”
Tim Dawson of the National Union of Journalists told the press briefing: “It is worth thinking through what that threat is from the position of an individual journalist. Any journalist in this room” who published classified material “will face the same risk.” He said journalists now had to ask themselves “is it worth the risk of going to prison for the rest of my life?”
Stella Assange said she had spoken to her husband just after he had learned of Patel’s decision. “It is very difficult for him to see third parties making life or death decisions on him based on politics,” she said.
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