25/06/2024 Session
The rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on The detention of Julian Assange and its chilling effects on human rights, Sunna Ævarsdóttir (Iceland, SOC), has welcomed the news of the release of Julian Assange from prison.
“I am relieved to be finally able to say: Julian Assange will soon be a free man. Mr Assange has spent the last fourteen years in confinement, five of which were in a high-security prison in the United Kingdom, pending his possible extradition to the United States.
Over the last few months, I have been working on a report concerning his detention and its chilling effects on human rights. In May, I conducted a fact-finding visit to the United Kingdom, during which I had the opportunity to meet with Julian Assange, his wife, allies, lawyers, politicians, journalists and human rights defenders.
Many of my interlocutors emphasised that his harsh treatment has already had a chilling effect on media freedom and risked dissuading other journalists from reporting on human rights violations and war crimes being committed. I find this particularly disturbing in the context of ongoing conflicts and gruesome human rights violations.
While I rejoice over Mr Assange’s release, my work doesn’t end. I will continue to analyse the impact of his treatment and, hopefully, make the right recommendations so that no other publisher, journalist or whistleblower willing to report on matters of utmost relevance in a democratic society ever experiences the same ordeal.
As the US Supreme Court rightly stated over sixty years ago: ‘without an informed and free press there cannot be an enlightened people’. I hope that Mr Assange’s sacrifice and principled stance will eventually lead to an improvement of the respect for human rights and media freedom.”
PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights is to hold a public hearing today at 2 p.m. on this topic, with invited experts. A video recording of the event will be made available on the Assembly’s YouTube channel tomorrow morning, or follow the committee’s X account for live posts.