Dear friends,

From 20-21 February, the crucial "Day X" hearing, which could determine Julian Assange's fate, will take place at the UK High Court. If the WikiLeaks publisher is extradited to the US, he faces up to 175 years' in prison t and would be the first publisher convicted under the Espionage Act, setting a dangerous precedent for journalism. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is the only NGO to have monitored the entire extradition procedures to date. I will be back in court on behalf of RSF, as part of our global campaign to #FreeAssange.

Charged with 18 counts, 17 under the Espionage Act, following WikiLeaks' publication of more than 250,000 classified documents in 2010, Assange has already spent more than four and a half years in London's Belmarsh prison, where he has been held on remand since April 2019. The WikiLeaks publisher has been arbitrarily deprived of his freedom through various means since December 2010. Any grounds rejected by these judges cannot be further appealed in the UK, so Assange's only remaining hope to prevent extradition would be to apply to the European Court of Human Rights.

Assange's persecution has gone on long enough. We need your help more than ever! Support our campaign to #FreeAssange, for journalism, for press freedom, and for all of our right to know.