Trump pardon for Julian Assange would ‘secure President’s legacy as defender of free speech’ - Nobel laureates

Presidential nominee: Donald Trump
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Five Nobel Prize winners have urged Donald Trump to “put a defining stamp” on his presidency by offering a pardon to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.  

The outgoing President is under pressure to stop the prosecution of Assange over the leak of US military cables and classified documents a decade ago.  

Assange’s supporters say he is being persecuted as a journalist, claiming the case against him poses a threat to the First Amendment protection of free speech in the US Constitution. 

In his fight against being sent to America for trial, Assange claimed his extradition should be blocked because the case against him was being politically-driven by Trump and his allies.  

But the activist is now looking to the Republican president to use a pardon to stop the case in its tracks.  

Northern Irish peace activist Mairead Maguire, human rights activist Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, feminist campaigner Rigoberta Menchú, Iranian political activist Shirin Ebadi, and Austrian novelist Peter Handke have now signed a letter to Trump supporting Assange’s cause.  

“We write to request that you put a defining stamp on your presidential legacy by pardoning Julian Assange or stopping his extradition”, they said.

“Assange has fought for truth and justice. His work with WikiLeaks has pioneered accountability in the media and exposed corruption, civil liberties violations in the United States and around the world, and the true cost of war.”

The five Nobel Prize laureates say the case against Assange “threatens the constitutional protections that Americans hold dear”, suggesting to Trump: “By offering a pardon, to put a stop to the prosecution of Assange, your presidency will be remembered for having saved First Amendment protections for all Americans.”

Assange is currently being held in the maximum security HMP Belmarsh as he awaits the outcome of his extradition trial.  

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He denies hacking claims around the release of the documents and cables in 2010 and 2011, which related to the Afghan and Iraq wars as well as detainees at Guantanamo Bay.  

The US case is that Assange’s activities breached the Espionage Act, and he is accused of putting the lives of military sources at risk.  

But he argues the information was release was in the public interest, and disputes suggestions that he was responsible for the identification of sources. 

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser is due to rule on Assange’s extradition at the Old Bailey on January 4 next year.  

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