Dozens of members of the German federal parliament, the Bundestag, have issued a statement demanding the release of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
More than 70 members of the German parliament from four political parties have called on US President Joe Biden and the British government to stop the impending deportation of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from the UK to the US to face espionage charges.
"Journalists must not be persecuted or punished for their work anywhere in the world," the Bundestag deputies wrote in an open letter. "In the interest of press freedom as well as for humanitarian reasons in view of his poor state of health, Julian Assange must be released without delay."
German MPs demand release of Julian Assange
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assangeremained in the public consciousness, even while he was out of sight, hunkered down in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, with the threat of extradition to the US hanging over him. But this film is not about Assange so much as it is about the members of his family who found themselves thrust into the public eye as the spokespeople for the campaign for his release.
Two figures take centre stage: one is Stella Moris, Assange’s fiancee and the mother of two children conceived while he remained in the embassy. The other is John Shipton, Assange’s father. Shipton is a fascinating character – abrupt, ill at ease with the voracious press attention, but also possessed of a sharp, unusual intelligence that tends to veer off at jarring tangents. It’s a mind, you suspect, that is not dissimilar to that of his son.
Documentary films : Ithaka review – intriguing portrait of the campaign to free Julian Assange