03:50Political and social activists gathered in Conway Hall of London on Thursday to support the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and call for his release.
Prominent figures delivered supportive speeches which were met with applauses by the audience. Banners reading 'Don't Extradite Assange', 'Protest to defend a free press. Day X is here’ and ‘Free Julian Assange’ were also hanging around the hall.
"Actually Julian, we are with you and we will be with you for as long as it takes for you to be able to walk in freedom on the streets and go back to your very valuable work of finding out the abuse of power of the richest and most powerful in this world, the damage it does to the poorest and most vulnerable people on this planet and why journalism, real journalism is designed to make the rich, the powerful, the political classes and everybody else uncomfortable," said former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
In 2010, WikiLeaks leaked secret US military information. Assange later got asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he stayed for around seven years until he was detained.
The wife of Julian, the lawyer Stella Assange, who also attended the rally, said that Julian ‘was just 39 when Wikileaks published the Chelsea Manning revelations. He was arrested at the age of 47, and now ‘after almost five years, he will turn 53 this year.’
"He is the most consequential political prisoner of our times because he reveals the incoherence and contradictions of liberal democracies,” she said.
Julian Assange has been detained in the UK since 2019, contesting the British government's decision to extradite him to the US. He faces charges for disseminating over 700,000 classified documents on American military and diplomatic operations, primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan, starting in 2010.
The 52-year-old journalist argued that he violated no laws and that his publication of top secret documents was legitimate journalism protected by the US Constitution.
‘The most consequential political prisoner of our times’ – Activists hold a rally in London to demand release of Julian Assange
Political and social activists gathered in Conway Hall of London on Thursday to support the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and call for his release.
Prominent figures delivered supportive speeches which were met with applauses by the audience. Banners reading 'Don't Extradite Assange', 'Protest to defend a free press. Day X is here’ and ‘Free Julian Assange’ were also hanging around the hall.
"Actually Julian, we are with you and we will be with you for as long as it takes for you to be able to walk in freedom on the streets and go back to your very valuable work of finding out the abuse of power of the richest and most powerful in this world, the damage it does to the poorest and most vulnerable people on this planet and why journalism, real journalism is designed to make the rich, the powerful, the political classes and everybody else uncomfortable," said former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
In 2010, WikiLeaks leaked secret US military information. Assange later got asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he stayed for around seven years until he was detained.
The wife of Julian, the lawyer Stella Assange, who also attended the rally, said that Julian ‘was just 39 when Wikileaks published the Chelsea Manning revelations. He was arrested at the age of 47, and now ‘after almost five years, he will turn 53 this year.’
"He is the most consequential political prisoner of our times because he reveals the incoherence and contradictions of liberal democracies,” she said.
Julian Assange has been detained in the UK since 2019, contesting the British government's decision to extradite him to the US. He faces charges for disseminating over 700,000 classified documents on American military and diplomatic operations, primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan, starting in 2010.
The 52-year-old journalist argued that he violated no laws and that his publication of top secret documents was legitimate journalism protected by the US Constitution.
Political and social activists gathered in Conway Hall of London on Thursday to support the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and call for his release.
Prominent figures delivered supportive speeches which were met with applauses by the audience. Banners reading 'Don't Extradite Assange', 'Protest to defend a free press. Day X is here’ and ‘Free Julian Assange’ were also hanging around the hall.
"Actually Julian, we are with you and we will be with you for as long as it takes for you to be able to walk in freedom on the streets and go back to your very valuable work of finding out the abuse of power of the richest and most powerful in this world, the damage it does to the poorest and most vulnerable people on this planet and why journalism, real journalism is designed to make the rich, the powerful, the political classes and everybody else uncomfortable," said former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
In 2010, WikiLeaks leaked secret US military information. Assange later got asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he stayed for around seven years until he was detained.
The wife of Julian, the lawyer Stella Assange, who also attended the rally, said that Julian ‘was just 39 when Wikileaks published the Chelsea Manning revelations. He was arrested at the age of 47, and now ‘after almost five years, he will turn 53 this year.’
"He is the most consequential political prisoner of our times because he reveals the incoherence and contradictions of liberal democracies,” she said.
Julian Assange has been detained in the UK since 2019, contesting the British government's decision to extradite him to the US. He faces charges for disseminating over 700,000 classified documents on American military and diplomatic operations, primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan, starting in 2010.
The 52-year-old journalist argued that he violated no laws and that his publication of top secret documents was legitimate journalism protected by the US Constitution.