Dear President Correa, We are writing to urge you to grant political asylum to Julian Assange.As you know, British courts recently struck down Mr. Assange’s appeal against extradition to Sweden, where he is not wanted on criminal charges, but merely for questioning. Mr. Assange has repeatedly made clear he is willing to answer questions relating to accusations against him, but in the United Kingdom. But the Swedish government insists that he be brought to Sweden for questioning. This by itself, as Swedish legal expert and former Chief District Prosecutor for Stockholm Sven-Erik Alhem testified, is “unreasonable and unprofessional, as well as unfair and disproportionate.” We believe Mr. Assange has good reason to fear extradition to Sweden, as there is a strong likelihood that once in Sweden, he would be imprisoned, and then likely extradited to the United States. As U.S. legal expert and commentator Glenn Greenwald recently noted, were Assange to be charged in Sweden, he would be imprisoned under “very oppressive conditions, where he could be held incommunicado,” rather than released on bail. Pre-trial hearings for such a case in Sweden are held in secret, and so the media and wider public, Greenwald notes, would not know how the judicial decisions against Mr. Assange would be made and what information would be considered.The Washington Post has reported that the U.S. Justice Department and Pentagon conducted a criminal investigation into "whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange violated criminal laws in the groups release of government documents, including possible charges under the Espionage Act." Many fear, based on documents released by Wikileaks, that the U.S. government has already prepared an indictment and is waiting for the opportunity to extradite Assange from Sweden.The U.S. Justice Department has compelled other members of Wikileaks to testify before a grand jury in order to determine what charges might be brought against Mr. Assange. The U.S. government has made clear its open hostility to Wikileaks, with high-level officials even referring to Mr. Assange as a “high-tech terrorist,” and seeking access to the Twitter account of Icelandic legislator Birgitta Jónsdóttir due to her past ties to Wikileaks. Were he charged, and found guilty under the Espionage Act, Assange could face the death penalty. Prior to that, the case of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier accused of providing U.S. government documents to Wikileaks, provides an illustration of the treatment that Assange might expect while in custody. Manning has been subjected to repeated and prolonged solitary confinement, harassment by guards, and humiliating treatment such as being forced to strip naked and stand at attention outside his cell. These are additional reasons that your government should grant Mr. Assange political asylum.We also call on you to grant Mr. Assange political asylum because the “crime” that he has committed is that of practicing journalism. He has revealed important crimes against humanity committed by the U.S. government, most notably in releasing video footage from an Apache helicopter of a 2007 incident in which the U.S. military appears to have deliberately killed civilians, including two Reuters employees. Wikileaks’ release of thousands of U.S. State Department cables revealed important cases of U.S. officials acting to undermine democracy and human rights around the world.Because this is a clear case of an attack on press freedom and on the publics right to know important truths about U.S. foreign policy, and because the threat to his health and well-being is serious, we urge you to grant Mr. Assange political asylum.Thank you for your consideration of our request.Michael Moore, Film DirectorDanny Glover, Film DirectorOliver Stone, Film DirectorNaomi Wolf, AuthorGlenn Greenwald, Constitutional lawyer and columnist, Salon.comChris Hedges, JournalistColeen Rowley, retired FBI agent and former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel, one of three “whistleblowers” named Time Magazine’s “Persons of the Year” in 2002Ann Wright, US Army Colonel (Retired) and former US diplomatRay McGovern, Former U.S. Army officer and longtime senior CIA analyst (ret.)Thomas Drake, NSA Whistleblower, Bill of Rights ActivistLinda Lewis, Board Member, Whistleblower Support FundKent Spriggs, Guantanamo habeas counselJesselyn Radack, National Security & Human Rights Director, Government Accountability ProjectMark Weisbrot, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy ResearchMedea Benjamin, Cofounder, Global ExchangeKathy Kelly, Co-coordinator, Voices for Creative NonviolenceMark Johnson, Executive Director, Fellowship of ReconciliationDenis J. Halliday, UN Assistant Secretary-General 1994-98. National of IrelandLeslie Cagan, co-founder, United for Peace and JusticeRuss Wellen, Foreign Policy in FocusJames Early, Board Member, Institute for Policy Studies Jim Naureckas, Fairness & Accuracy in ReportingSam Husseini, Director, Washington Office of the Institute for Public AccuracyRobert Naiman, Policy Director, Just Foreign PolicyJane Hirschmann Jews Say No! New York, organizer, U.S. Boat to GazaRichard Levy, lawyer, passenger, U.S. Boat to GazaHelaine Meisler, Orton-Gillingham Learning Specialist, Helaine Meisler Learning Center, Woodstock, New York Laurie Arbeiter, Artist/Activist, WE WILL NOT BE SILENTMayo C. Toruño, Professor and Chair, Economics DepartmentCalifornia State University, San BernardinoJulio Huato, Associate Professor of Economics, St. Francis CollegeMichael Brun, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Illinois State UniversityDana Frank, Professor, Department of History, University of California, Santa CruzAdrienne Pine, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, American UniversityMiguel Tinker Salas, Professor, Latin American History, Pomona CollegeSteve Ellner, Professor of Political Science, Johns Hopkins University/Universidad de Oriente, VenezuelaMarc Becker, Professor of Latin American History, Truman State UniversityDr Francisco Dominguez, Head of Centre for Brazilian and Latin American Studies, Middlesex University, London, UKPeter Hallward, Professor of Philosophy, Kingston University LondonDoug Hertzler, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Eastern Mennonite UniversityCarolyn Eisenberg, Professor of US Foreign Policy, Hofstra UniversityVijay Prashad, Professor of International Studies, Trinity College, USAT.M. Scruggs, Professor Emeritus, University of IowaEllen Schrecker, Professor of History, Yeshiva UniversityAntonia Darder, Leavey Endowed Chair of Ethics and Moral Leadership, Loyola Marymount University, Los AngelesDemetra Evangelou, Professor, Purdue UniversityGilbert G. Gonzalez, Professor Emeritus, University of California, IrvineRenate Bridenthal, Professor (retired), City University of New YorkA. Belden Fields, Professor Emeritus, Political Science, University of IllinoisC. G. Estabrook, Visiting Professor (retired), University of IllinoisCarol Murry, Doctor of Public Health, HawaiiEllen Barfield, Veterans For PeaceLibor Von Schönau, OccupyWallStreet Legal, New York Gar W. Lipow, journalist, member of Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, author of Solving the Climate Crisis through Social Change
