‘Free Julian Assange!’ say Roger Waters, John Pilger, and British MP Chris Williamson

Legendary musician Roger Waters sang “Wish You Were Here” in honor of Julian Assange, at a public concert outside the British Home Office. He was joined by journalist John Pilger and UK MP Chris Williamson in calling for the imprisoned Wikileaks publisher to be freed, and not extradited to the US.

Video edited by Ben Norton

Footage by Mohamed Elmaazi and Drew McFadyen

CHRIS WILLIAMSON (UK Member of Parliament): I think the treatment of Julian Assange by the British government brings shame on Britain’s reputation. Because Julian Assange in my opinion is the most important journalist anywhere in the world. And the way in which we have undermined his human rights by incarcerating him, in a high security prison at Belmarsh, is an absolute outrage.

KRISTINN HRAFNSSON (Journalist and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks): Julian Assange is not in a good place. A maximum security prison is not fun. And he is not being treated well in that prison. Of course he shouldn’t be there; publishers shouldn’t be there. But he’s in no position to prepare for the defense of his life, basically, for the forthcoming extradition hearing. And that is the punishment, the penalty, and the revenge of the system here, against him, to put him in the situation where he can’t prepare a defense properly.

JOHN PILGER (Award-winning journalist and filmmaker): I saw [Assange] recently, and he is not well. He has lost a lot of weight. But he has the most extraordinary resilience. And he even maintains a sense of humor,which I find quite remarkable. But there’s no doubt the months of isolation, months of the continuing sense of persecution — the U.N. rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, put it very well when he said Julian is the victim of mobbing. It’s a particular kind of victimization. And the psychological effects of that are very, very damaging. So when you say, “What would I want?” I want to get him out of there. This is not a place for human beings.It’s like a warehouse. It’s a cage. And he is an innocent man. He should be out of there.