A few days before the possible final phase of the tormented and controversial trial of Australian publisher and journalist Julian Assange, the UN special rapporteur urges the British government to suspend his possible extradition In the USA.
Award-winning WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is at a crucial stage of his extradition trial to the United States: appeal hearings to be held at the UK High Court on February 20 and 21 they could actually be decisive.
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The United Nations Special Rapporteur, Alice Jill Edwards, on February 5 from the UN headquarters in Geneva urged the British authorities to consider Julian Assange's appeal, because there would be no legal basis to proceed with the extradition.
Julian Assange, detained at Belmarsh prison since 2019, would face 18 counts for his role in obtaining and disclosing classified documents related to national defense, including evidence of war crimes. Assange's case represents in many ways an unprecedented legal case in the history of proceedings against investigative journalism. At least in countries where democratic regimes exist.
Who are the UN special rapporteurs?
Special rapporteurs are independent experts who they work under the mandate of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), a Geneva-based organization that collaborates with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The task of the special rapporteurs, as well as that of the body they represent, is to monitor and report any violations of human rights in all States acceding to the United Nations and inform global public opinion about the human rights situation in the world. It also has the task of setting up working groups, adopting special procedures on cases that deserve special attention.
Special procedure on the Assange affair
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Alice Jill Edwards, has urged the British authorities to consider Julian Assange's appeal, on the basis of reasonable grounds to believe that, he was extradited, he could undergo similar treatment. torture or other forms of ill-treatment or punishment.
In fact, just like his predecessor Nils Melzer, Edwards calls on the British government to withdraw the extradition order for Julian Assange, in order to ensure full respect for absolute and obligatory ban on discharge in places where the subject could be a victim of torture and to take all necessary measures to safeguard their physical and mental health.
As we read in the press release issued by the UN: “THE Diplomatic assurances of humane treatment provided by the U.S. government are not a guarantee sufficient to protect Mr. Assange from such risks and […] they are not legally binding”as the Special Rapporteur said.
“The risk of being placed in prolonged solitary confinement, despite his poor mental health, and receiving a potentially disproportionate sentence raises questions about the compatibility of Mr. Assange's extradition to the United States with the the UK's international human rights obligationsin accordance with article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the corresponding article 3 of the United Nations Convention against Torture and the European Convention on Human Rights.Edwards said.
Julian Assange: concerns and hopes
If Julian Assange loses even this chance to appeal on February 20-21, it is very unlikely that the Supreme Court will hear the case, which would mean that last resort legal before extradition, he would be left alone the European Court of Human Rights.
This is why Edwards' position is so important at this time: the United Kingdom is one of the founding countries of the United Nations and, as the rapporteur herself says, is a signatory to the main human rights conventions. man. This is why, by continuing to ignore the numerous calls, which have followed one another over the years, from equally authoritative institutions, in favor of continued failure to respect fundamental human rights in the Assange case would be completely unreasonable.
The unprecedented political persecution of Julian Assange, which actually began as early as 2010, and which continues to be talked about thanks to a multitude of experts in the field of human rights and civil rights – as in this case – law international, presidents, political figures, independent journalists, doctors, world-renowned artists, activists from around the world, requires us to pay close attention to the Assange case, and pressure on the United Kingdom.