Manifesto read in Sant Feliu de Guixols (21.3.2021) and Barcelona (22.3.2021).

In defence of Julian Assange

The Catalan National Assembly has organized three rallies (Sant Feliu seafront (Costa Brava, Catalonia) and Barcelona (Gràcia and Old City quarters 22.32021 and 24.3.2021) to call people’s attention to the fact that next month a London court will be issuing a sentence that will affect the future of Julian Assange, the Australian journalist and social activist currently imprisoned in London. In 2010, he made known to the whole world the criminal activity carried out by various states – notably the United States – in the field of international politics and arms deals.

⬛⬜📽 Cadena humana avui a Sant Feliu de Guíxols: per la llibertat de Julian Assange, per la llibertat d'expressió! #FreeAssange #XarxaIndependència pic.twitter.com/JX8DbuuDpx

— Assemblea Nacional Catalana (@assemblea) March 21, 2021

Despite the good news we had on January 4 when a London court denied his extradition to the United States, his situation is in no way acceptable today. No democrat can agree with the small print of that sentence that continues to stigmatize and criminalize his activity.

It should not be for health reasons alone that extradition is denied, but because it is obvious that Julian Assange has committed no crime. He has simply acted with the transparency every democratic government should employ.

Now, in April, the UK refusal for extradition must be confirmed before the appeal of the United States government. A new period must be opened in which the immediate release and rehabilitation of Julian Assange is the only plausible option.

The new American president, Joe Biden, must be called upon to withdraw charges against this brave journalist because a democratic society can never punish those active circulating information of interest to the general public, an activity that every journalist is committed to by profession.

Human Chain of 50 people in Sant Feliu seafront (Costa Brava, Catalonia)

We want to add our voice of support for Assange to twenty international organizations that have in recent weeks called for the suspension of the charges against Assange. And they have done so because they pose a direct threat to freedom of the press and the freedom to disseminate and receive information. Signatories include Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Frontiers.

Catalan actress reads a Manifesto against UK extradition of hero journalist #JulianAssange to USA at Barcelona rally in favour of Catalan political prisoners and exiles @people4assange @AssangeCampaign @JA_Defence @DefendAssange pic.twitter.com/eKzgoUrH9x

— ToniStrubellTrueta✊Puigdemont🎗️ (@tonistrubellt) March 22, 2021

It is also intolerable that in 2010 Joe Biden should have called Assange a “high-tech terrorist” when his is precisely one of the states that most practice technological terrorism. We also wiish to remember the truth spoken by Rebecca Vincent, director of international campaigns for Reporters Without Frontiers, who said two months ago that if Assange is convicted, “no journalist can be sure that he/she will not be prosecuted for publishing information such as that published by Wikileaks.”

Artists and dignitaries in defence of Julian Assange in La Plaça de la Vila de Gràcia, Barcelona
22/03/2021.

As Catalans, we also have an extraordinary debt with Julian Assange for the solidarity he displayed before, during and after the Independence Referendum held on October 1, 2017.

Thank you Julian Assange. We demand your freedom now!

#FreeAssange #AMNISTIA @CarmeSansa salut i República. pic.twitter.com/ciw2deFwrQ

— Dustinof2 (@dustinof2) March 22, 2021