A group of members of the European Parliaments, and former members of Congress and local legislatures have written to Britain's secretary of state for justice urging that Julian Assange be released from Belmarsh prison on compassionate grounds.

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The text of the letter signed by former British MP Chris Williamson, former U.S. Mike Gravel and former Congressman Ron Paul among other political leaders:

June 1, 2020

FAO The Rt Hon Robert Buckland QC MP
Lord Chancellor & Secretary of State for Justice

CC The Hon Bob Neill MP
UK Commons Justice Committee Chair

Dear Sir,

REQUEST FOR COMPASSIONATE RELEASE OF JULIAN ASSANGE

As current and former elected representatives in democracies committed to human rights, the presumption of innocence and the rule of law, we wish to support the urgent appeal sent to you by Australian MPs Andrew Wilkie and George Christensen, who wrote:

"We ask that you urgently reconsider providing Mr. Assange with release from Belmarsh Prison to monitored home detention, as he fits all of the grounds noted for such early release by leading organizations as the World Health Organization, the United Nations and the UK Prison Officers Association. These organizations have been unanimous in calling for the release of all non-violent COVID-19 prisoners, and we ask that you give compassionate consideration to the following:

• Mr. Assange is a non-violent remand prisoner with no history of harm to the community. He is not convicted and is thus entitled to the presumption of innocence.
  
  
• Doctors of Mr. Assange warn he is at high risk from dying if he contracts COVID-19 as he has a pre-existing chronic lung condition.
  
  
• We are advised that COVID-19 is rapidly spreading throughout UK prisons, and that there are infections [and at least one death] at Belmarsh Prison.
  
  
• We understand that the prison is short staffed and normal activity regimes are suspended.
  
  
• Mr Assange is in poor mental health due to spending so much time in solitary confinement over recent years, and prison COVID-19 lock-down measures are further undermining his mental health.

We ask that you give further consideration to the very reasonable request by Mr. Assange's lawyers that this non-violent Australian prisoner "be released into home detention with a 24-hour ankle monitor."

With the director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention warning of a second wave of coronavirus during influenza season, we stress that even those vulnerable prisoners, such as Julian Assange, who survive the current crisis remain at risk.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, former Member of the Legislative Council of NSW, Australia

Clare Daly, Member of the European Parliament, Republic of Ireland

Andrew Feinstein, former Member of the African National Congress, South Africa

Mike Gravel, former US Senator, United States

Heike Hänsel, Member of the German Bundestag, Germany

Eva Joly, former Member of the European Parliament, France

Ogmundur Jonasson, former Member of the Icelandic Parliament, Iceland

Ron Paul, former US Congressman, United States

Yanis Varoufakis, Member of the Greek Parliament, Greece

Mick Wallace, Member of the European Parliament, Republic of Ireland

Chris Williamson, former Member of Parliament, United Kingdom

Signatories from the European Parliament:

Stelios Kouloglou- Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left - Greece

Dimitrios Papadimoulis-Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left - Greece

Marketa Gregorova- Czech Pirate Party - Czech Republic

Yana Toom- Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe - Estonia

Marisa Matias- Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left - Portugal

Maria Arena- Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats - Belgium

Carles Puigdemont- Non Attached - Spain

Antoni Comin- Non attached - Spain

Clara Ponsati- Non attached - Spain

Dietmar Koster- Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats - Germany

Kostantinos Arvanitis- Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left - Greece

Eleonora Evi- Non attached member - Italy

Martin Sonnenborn- Non attached member - Germany

Helmut Scholz- Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left - Germany

Clare Daly- Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left - Ireland

Mick Wallace- Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left - Ireland

Katerina Konecna-Group of the European United Left -Czechia

Jose Gusmao- Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left - Portugal

Eugenia Rodriguez Palop- group of the European United left - Spain

Klaus Buchner- Greens - Germany

Idoia Ruiz Villanueva- European United Left - Spain

Manuel Bompard- Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left - France

Damien Careme- Greens - France

Marc Johan Botenga- Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left - Belgium

Cornelia Ernst- Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left - Germany

Diana Riba Greens- Spain

Derk Jan Eppink- European Conservatives and Reformists Group - Netherlands

Rob Roos- European Conservatives and Reformists Group - Netherlands

Rob Rooken-European Conservatives and Reformists Group - Netherlands

Petros Kokkalis-Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left - Greece

Patrick Breyer- Greens - Germany

Alviina Alametsä- Greens -Finland

Martin Buschmann- Non attached - German

Sira Rego- Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left- Spain

Manu Pineda- Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left - Spain

Ismail Ertug- Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats - Germany

Authors Website: http://consortiumnews.com/

Authors Bio:
Consortiumnews.com was founded by Robert Parry in 1995 as the first investigative news magazine on the Internet. The site was meant to be -- and has become -- a home for important, well-reported stories and a challenge to the inept but dominant mainstream news media of the day.