Re: Really? This tired old thing again?
"The charges against Assange should never have been brought in the first place. It is not too late for the US authorities to set things right and drop the charges"
- Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International Secretary General
"Mr. Assange is not a criminal convict and poses no threat to anyone, so his prolonged solitary confinement in a high security prison is neither necessary nor proportionate and clearly lacks any legal basis."
- Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on torture
"Journalists must not be persecuted or punished for their work anywhere in the world. In the interest of press freedom as well as for humanitarian reasons in view of his poor state of health, Julian Assange must be released without delay."
- Open letter signed by more than 70 members of the German parliament
"Julian Assange has made a significant investigative contribution to the news by revealing classified footage and text of possible US war crimes. In his work with the Internet platform WikiLeaks, Assange has always accepted immense reprisals in favor of reporting. The relentless pursuit of the investigative journalist Assange by the USA with the threat of extradition now poses a threat to free reporting in general."
- Excerpt from the 2022 Günter Wallraff Prize jury motivation
"I just say that enough is enough. There is nothing to be served by his ongoing incarceration. I think that when Australians look at the circumstances, look at the fact that the person who released the information is walking freely now, having served some time in incarceration but is now released for a long period of time, then they'll see that there is a disconnect there."
- Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia
"In view of both the press freedom implications and the serious concerns over the treatment Julian Assange would be subjected to in the United States, my assessment as Commissioner for Human Rights is that he should not be extradited."
- Dunja Mijatović, Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe
"I observe the closest of similarities to the position I faced, where the exposure of illegality and criminal acts institutionally and by individuals was intended to be crushed by the administration carrying out those illegalities. Assange cannot get a fair trial for what he has done under these charges in the United States."
- Daniel Ellsberg