Roger Waters, bassist and vocalist for Pink Floyd, will reportedly perform his iconic song Wish You Were Here in front of the British Home Office, in solidarity with Julian Assange.
According to the Stop the War Coalition on Twitter, the performance by the famous musician, also known for his political activism, will be next Monday at 18:00 local time, as part of a campaign for freedom of expression, and against the eventual extradition of the founder of Wikileaks to the United States.
Assange was arrested last April 11 at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, after the government of that country withdrew the political asylum he was granted seven years ago.
Expeditiously tried by a British court, the Australian cyberactivist is now serving a 50-week prison sentence in Belmarsh Maximum Security Prison for violating bail granted in 2012 in connection with alleged sexual offences committed in Sweden.
In addition to being requested by the Swedish justice system, Assange is facing an extradition order issued by the United States government, which seeks to hold him accountable for the disclosure on Wikileaks of hundreds of thousands of documents and secret files of US diplomacy and the US Army.
The 17 charges filed by the US Attorney’s Office, including conspiracy to commit espionage, carry a total sentence of 175 years in prison.
Last February, when Assange was still in the Ecuadorian diplomatic mission, Waters was among those who urged the Australian government to take action on the case.
‘Julian Assange is a national Australian treasure.
ulian Assange is an Australian national treasure. He is a brilliant, brave, honest, humane, relevant, genuine, journalist and publisher of immense influence and significance on the world stage,’ the Pink Floyd frontman states, who also called him a true hero.