Free Julian Assange now

The prisoner of conscience is being persecuted by two self-styled leaders of Western democracies, while his own country, Australia, silently ignores his abuse and torture

Published: 28 Jun, 2020

Julian Assange has been detained under inhumane conditions amounting to torture by the British government at the behest of Washington for more than a year.
Last Friday was the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Doctors for Assange, an international group of medical workers, have exposed the terrible conditions in which the founder of 

WikiLeaks has been held, and called for his immediate release.

As his health has deteriorated, 216 doctors from 33 countries have called for an end to “The ongoing torture and medical neglect of Julian Assange”, the title of a correspondence published in the latest The Lancet, the prestigious British medical journal.

“As a person incarcerated solely for publishing activity, continuing to hold Mr Assange under these conditions represents the torture of a publisher and journalist,” they wrote.

The prisoner of conscience is being persecuted by two self-styled leaders of democracies, while his own country, Australia, silently ignores his abuse and torture.

Assange travelled to Europe and Asia trying to recruit hackers, US government claims
25 Jun 2020


Assange’s crimes are nothing more or less than exposing the war crimes and hypocrisy of the US and those of its allies. The US extradition case against Assange is a direct assault on international journalism and publishing.

In May last year, Nils Melzer, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and two medical experts visited Assange and described his treatment in prison as amounting to psychological torture.

The Lancet article warns: “In the context of attacks against and arrests of journalists at the recent global protests, his treatment and the precedent it sets are of international concern.”

Besides withholding medical treatment, “isolation and under-stimulation are key psychological torture tactics, capable of inducing severe despair, disorientation, destabilisation, and disintegration of crucial mental functions”.

Among his many key exposes are the US military’s targeting of civilians in Iraq, conducting secret drone strikes in Yemen, and spying on UN representatives.

The US extradition case against Assange is similar to that against Chinese telecoms giant
Huawei’s No 2 Meng Wanzhou in Canada.

Both involve the abusive application of American laws against foreigners on foreign soil, with the connivance of allied governments.

It is also part of America’s cover-up of its war crimes, a campaign which most recently imposes sanctions against officials of the International Criminal Court – and their family members – for investigating possible atrocities committed by US military and intelligence agents.

If Americans can get Assange and Meng, they can get anyone.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Free Julian Assange from his jail cell now

Alex Lo has been a Post columnist since 2012, covering major issues affecting Hong Kong and the rest of China. A journalist for 25 years, he has worked for various publications in Hong Kong and Toronto as a news reporter and editor. He has also lectured in journalism at the University of Hong Kong.