Extraditing Assange would hit press freedom, rights advocate tells UK
LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should not be extradited to the United States because it would have a chilling effect on press freedom, a European human rights chief said on Thursday.
Assange, 48, is in prison in London, where an extradition hearing begins next week. The U.S. authorities want to try him on 18 counts including conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law.
Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner, said Assange’s case raised questions about the protection of people who publish classified information in the public interest, exposing human rights violations. – Reuters