A British court has started deliberations on whether to extradite Julian Assange to the U.S., where he faces espionage charges and up to 175 years in prison for his role in publishing classified documents exposing U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. A crowd of supporters, including Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, rallied in Central London to demand his release. This is Assange’s lawyer, Jennifer Robinson.
Jennifer Robinson: “WikiLeaks has published evidence of war crimes, human rights abuse and corruption the world over. It’s for this that Julian Assange sits in a high-security prison, facing 175 years in prison in the United States. As you’ve heard today, this case is an abuse of process. It’s an abuse of process, and it’s a political offense.”
A verdict in Assange’s extradition case is not expected until at least this summer.
