Judge Vanessa Baraitser today ruled against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange‘s extradition to the United States arguing it would be “oppressive by reason of Assange’s mental health”. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its UK and Australian affiliates, the NUJ and the MEAA, and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcome the decision and are urging the authorities to immediately release Julian Assange. The judge argued Assange suffers from depression and that there is a high risk of suicide. If extradited, she considered it likely the US would send him to prison under special administrative measures (SAMs) and wouldn’t prevent Assange from committing suicide. Therefore, she considered his…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its affiliate in the UK, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), in condemning the detention of Julian Assange pending his extradition proceedings. We call on journalists’ organisations in Europe to support the NUJ’s DEA campaign to draw to broad attention concern about the implications of this lawsuit for free speech. The EFJ joins the NUJ in further condemning the attempted use of the US Espionage Act to prosecute Assange for his work exposing the war crimes committed by US service personnel in the Iraq and Afghan war logs. The Espionage Act has also…

Citizens, journalists, artists, human rights organisations and journalists’ unions gathered on January 29th in Brussels to call on the Belgian government to do its utmost to protect Julian Assange and impede his extradition to the United States. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ and EFJ) joined the two Belgian civil society organisations, Carta Academica and Belgium4Assange, in two public actions organised in Brussels to defend freedom of expression, freedom of the press and our right to know in general, and Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning, Sarah Harrison and Edward Snowden in particular. Over 120 personalities, artists, activists and journalists…

Julian Assange, publisher of Wikileaks, is currently detained in Belmarsh high-security prison in the United Kingdom. He faces extradition to the United States and criminal prosecution under the US Espionage Act. He has been charged for publishing the Afghanistan and Iraq war diaries and US embassy cables, important documents that many journalists around the world used and helped to publicise. The “War Diaries” provided evidence that the US Government misled the public about activities in Afghanistan and Iraq and committed war crimes. “We believe that the arbitrary detention and criminal prosecution of Julian Assange set an extremely dangerous precedent for…

The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) join their Norwegian affiliate Norsk Journalistlag in condemning the US government’s decision to prosecute WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange under the Espionage Act. “Uncovering secret or classified information relevant to the debate in society is at the heart of media’s public mission. By publishing information that powerful stakeholders want to keep undisclosed, media can contribute to keep those in power accountable. It is therefore crucial that the publication of such material lies within the freedom of the media, even when authorities wish to keep the information undisclosed,” says a statement issued today by…

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The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the release of Ukrainian journalists Stanislav Aseev and Oleh Halaziuk who suffered a long illegal custody in Donetsk. On Sunday, at a checkpoint near Gorlovka, pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine have concluded a long-awaited prisoner exchange of 200 prisoners, including the two journalists who contributed to the Ukrainian service of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. While welcoming these releases, the EFJ recalls that 122 journalists and media actors remain in prison in Europe: 108 in Turkey; 7 in Russia; 6 in Azerbaijan; 1 in the United Kingdom (Julian Assange, founder and publisher of WikiLeaks,…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) was invited by the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists &Democrats in the European Parliament to a seminar on Diversity in Media and Culture Versus Convergence  on Thursday 7 of April. Ms Maria Joao Rodrigues, S&D Vice President and the chair of the Culture Committee Silvia Costa introduced the seminar highlighting the group’s priorities for pluralism, culture, media and communication as major sources of development and as a way to integrate European citizens within the European public sphere. Dr Elda Brogi from the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF) exposed the…