Germany’s largest Journalist Union’s statement
(Machine translation)
The German Association of Journalists opposes the extradition of whistleblower and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from Great Britain to the USA. Assange, whose health is said to have deteriorated rapidly, is currently serving a prison sentence in the UK for violating probationary conditions. The US authorities then demand his extradition to charge him with publishing secret government documents. “Assange’s stay at the London embassy in Ecuador was in fact already several years in prison,” says DJV Federal Chairman Frank Überall. The world public owes the whistleblower comprehensive information and insights into government machinations that would otherwise never have come to light. The surveillance of journalists in the London Embassy of Ecuador, where Julian Assange had been a refuge for years, was also scandalous. According to NDR information, three of the station’s journalists were spied on when they visited Assange at the embassy. The station has filed a complaint. “The journalists concerned have the right to know what information was siphoned off and with what justification this happened,”
Read original article [in German] at DEUTSCHER JOURNALISTEN-VERBAND