Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2012 10:53:24 -0500
From: info@???
To: pilarcastel@???
Subject: Six Months Trapped in Embassy
Ask Obama to drop all plans to prosecute WikiLeaks for committing journalism.
RootsAction Board Member Jeff Cohen at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.
Share this action on Facebook
Share this action on Twitter
Six months ago RootsAction members flooded Ecuador's government with requests to grant asylum to the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange.
Ecuador did so.
But Assange has been unable to leave the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, facing the threat of arrest and extradition to the United States, where he could face life in prison or even death.
It's time we did something about it.
Sweden, in an apparently unprecedented move, is seeking to extradite and imprison someone without charging him with a crime -- after having refused opportunities to fully question him in England.
We don't know the facts behind the sexual assault accusations against Assange in Sweden and can take no position on them. We take sexual assault seriously. But the WikiLeaks leader is seeking protection from the United States, not Sweden.
Sweden has a record of bowing to U.S. pressure, including the handing over of two men to the CIA in 2006 -- leading the U.N. to find Sweden complicit in torture.
The United States reportedly has a sealed indictment prepared for Assange, charging him with crimes against "national security."
The United States has a record of, and an open formal policy of, incarceration without proper trial, solitary confinement and other abusive treatment, and the death penalty. Assange has the international human right to be protected from such a nation and to request asylum elsewhere.
Assange, neither charged with nor convicted of any crime, is acting out of fear of our nation's abuses of the rule of law.
Ask President Obama to publicly end his practice of prosecuting whistleblowers and journalists, and commit to permitting Assange to travel free of U.S. interference.
Please forward this email widely to like-minded friends.
-- The RootsAction.org team
P.S. Our small staff is supported by contributions from people like you; your donations are greatly appreciated.
P.P.S. RootsAction is an independent online force endorsed by Jim Hightower, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Daniel Ellsberg, Glenn Greenwald, Naomi Klein, Bill Fletcher Jr., Laura Flanders, former U.S. Senator James Abourezk, Coleen Rowley, and many others.
Background:
Jeff Cohen: My Visit to a London Embassy Under Threat
Open Democracy: What Has WikiLeaks Ever Taught Us?
Guardian: Julian Assange Seeking Asylum in Ecuadorian Embassy in London
Human Rights Watch: Sweden Violated Torture Ban in CIA Rendition
Rolling Stone: WikiLeaks Stratfor Emails: A Secret Indictment Against Julian Assange?
Click here to unsubscribe and stop ALL email from RootsAction.
To modify your email communication preferences or update your personal profile, visit your subscription management page at: http://hq-salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/6503/profile/
