On the 9th July 2020, Bára Huld Beck reports on the Icelandic web site Kjarninn ( The Core). Google translated
A group of Icelandic MPs from five parties have gathered and submitted a statement to the US Embassy in Iceland urging the US government to drop the charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
A cross-party group of ten Icelandic MPs has sent a statement to the US Embassy in Iceland calling on the US government to drop charges against investigative journalist and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. According to the parliamentary group, he could, if convicted, be sentenced to 175 years in prison for his work, but he has now been held in a security prison in the UK for over two years.
Helga Vala Helgadóttir and Guðmundur Andri Thorsson, MPs from Samfylkingarinn, Ari Trausti Guðmundsson, MP from VG, Halldóra Mogensen, Þórhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir, Björn Leví Gunnarsson and Andrés Ingi Jónsson, MPs from Pírata, Hanna Katrín Friðriksson and Jón Steindór Valdimarsson, MPs from Viðreisn and Inga Sæland, chairman of the People’s Party.
Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor of Wikileaks, challenged Icelandic MPs a week ago to make their voices heard regarding Assange’s case, but MPs from around the world have taken up the issue and protested his imprisonment. Since then, the Supreme Court of London has granted the United States government permission to appeal in part to the verdict handed down on January 4 that Assange should not be extradited to the United States for health reasons.
Statement by the Icelandic MPs:
We, the undersigned, MPs in Iceland from the entire political spectrum, urge the US Government to drop the charges against Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, and withdraw the extradition request against him in the UK.
The allegations of “espionage” against Assange are an attempt to criminalize investigative journalism, setting a dangerous precedent for media freedom around the world.
UN special envoy for torture, Nils Melzer, has said Assange was “dehumanized by isolation, ridicule and shame” and stripped of his fundamental human rights. It is the punishment for exposing war crimes and torture committed by US forces during the Iraq war.
Recent revelations, in which key witnesses in the case admit to having fabricated allegations against Assange, should mark the end of attacks on a multi-award winning journalist. We urge leaders, governments and parliamentarians around the world to raise their voices and support media freedom, the rule of law and the public’s right to knowledge.
Helga Vala Helgadóttir, Samfylkingin
Guðmundur Andri Thorsson, Samfylkingin
Ari Trausti Guðmundsson, Left Green
Halldóra Mogensen, Pirates
Þórhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir, Pirates
Björn Leví Gunnarsson, Pirates
Andrés Ingi Jónsson, Pirates
Hanna Katrín Friðriksson, Viðreisn
Jón Steindór Valdimarsson, Viðreisn
Inga Sæland, People’s Party
Read origin article in Kjarninn