Pamela Anderson tweets support to Julian Assange: ‘The fight is not over’
WikiLeaks founder will be kept in British custody as US appeals decision
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Your support makes all the difference.Pamela Anderson has tweeted out a message of support for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after a court in London said he should not be extradited to the US.
Posting a brief video of a sunrise, the former Baywatch actress, 53, wrote, "A special sunrise for my dear friend #Julian Assange - (not to be extradited) stay tuned, the fight is not over - but, in a hopeful moment to breathe in - I can only imagine Julian (in court, still in that mask), taking that breath... #humanrights #freespeech #pardonassange"
A British judge rejected the United States' request to extradite Assange on Monday (4 January), arguing that his mental health would be in danger if moved to a US prison and that he may seek to take his own life.
Assange has been held for more than 18 months at a London prison.
Anderson has been a vocal advocate for Assange since he posted military video footage of a 2007 Apache helicopter airstrike near Baghdad that killed a dozen civilians.
The two later met up in 2014 at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. In March 2019, it was speculated that they were romantically involved.
Read More: Julian Assange will not be extradited to US to face charges over WikiLeaks, judge rules
Anderson recently spoke to the New York Post about how President Donald Trump should pardon Assange. "Everyone should be asking Mr. Trump to pardon him," she said. "Anyone with influence should speak up for his freedom because it is our freedom, too. Take to Twitter and start a storm of requests."
She continued, arguing that US prosecutors should "drop the charges".
"Stop this persecution of a man who was brave enough to stand up for the right thing,” she said. "We can be a part of setting him free. We just need to have the courage he had and speak up."
Assange, 49, founded WikiLeaks in 2006. After a series of leaks in 2010, which included the aforementioned Baghdad attack (also known as the “Collateral Murder” video), the Afghanistan war logs, the Iraq war logs, and Cablegate, the US government launched a criminal investigation against Wikileaks.
In April 2019, the US charged Assange with "conspiracy to commit computer intrusion", carrying a maximum sentence of five years. In May 2019, the federal government charged Assange with 17 counts under the Espionage Act for his role in publishing classified military and diplomatic cables.
The US has said that it would continue its efforts to extradite Assange.
The court is set to reconvene later this week to consider his bail.
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