Former Democratic Presidential candidate and Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard calls out the Biden Administration’s continued prosecution of whistleblower Julian Assange.
In a video posted on social media yesterday, Gabbard said that success in the extradition proceedings would be a ‘further nail in the coffin of democracy. She also criticised Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland for their increasing authoritarianism. She made no mention of Vice President Kamala Harris, whom she famously ‘took down’ in the Presidential debates in 2019.
The increasingly authoritarian Biden/Garland administration is doubling down on its crusade against our constitutionally protected rights of freedom of speech, assembly, etc. by continuing its vindictive… pic.twitter.com/yjIBqcjdnO
— Tulsi Gabbard ???? (@TulsiGabbard) October 28, 2021
Assange is currently in the notorious Belmarsh Prison, London, where he is awaiting the outcome of extradition proceedings brought by the United States government for alleged hacking and espionage charges.
Gabbard called the continuing prosecution an assault on freedoms, particularly freedom of expression, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly.
Assange faces up to 175 years in jail. The current proceedings relate to a ruling earlier in the year which denied the extradition on the grounds of Assange’s mental health. The US appealed that decision and have presented to the court a number of conditions which they will abide by, effectively trying to guarantee the whistleblower’s mental health.
However, lawyers for Assange have rejected the conditions as ‘vague’ or ‘simply ineffective’, while Amnesty International has stated they’re ‘not worth the paper they’re written on.’
