An ex-ecuadorian president stated that Julian Assange was being pursued because they want to deter others from uncovering war crimes. He argued that the prosecution was a complete sham.
“It’s such a paradox that on the International Human Rights Day a tremendous attack was committed on the human rights of a journalist – for the sin of having told the truth,” Rafael Correa, who ruled Ecuador between 2007 and 2017, told in an interview to RT Spanish, where he hosted a talk show.
The British High Court ruled Friday that WikiLeaks’ co-founder can be extradited into the USA, where he was wanted for espionage.
Under Assange’s helm, WikiLeaks published troves of classified materials about US’ war in Afghanistan and Iraq, including a harrowing video of American helicopters gunning down civilians in Baghdad in 2007.
“War criminals are persecuting the one who denounced them,”Correa stated that he dismissed the Assange case. “total hypocrisy.”
Assange, who would have disclosed the secrets to China, Russia and left-leaning Latin American governments including mine, would have been applauded by international media, the US Congress and the British parliament. However, his actions were in direct opposition to the US’s interests, so he was labelled a criminal.
Correa claimed that the purpose of the prosecution had been to intimidate others. “nobody else dares to denounce the secrets of great powers.”He claimed that war crime should not be considered as state secrets. “The whole world must know about them. Such crimes must be punished.”
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Assange fled to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, fearing that he would be extradited to Sweden for a rape probe which was dropped later. He was granted asylum by Correa’s government, but that decision was reversed nearly seven year later under Correa’s successor Lenin Moreno. Assange, who was being accused of violating asylum rules in 2019, was expelled by the embassy. British police arrested Assange immediately and placed him in jail
In response to Assange’s mental health, an earlier UK court decided against Assange being extradited. US appealed this verdict, and they won. They promised not to confine Assange alone and reduced the chance of him suicide.
Assange’s legal team and supporters promised to appeal the verdict.
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