"Europe should not extradite those accused of non-violent crimes to a court system so unfair - and prison system so cruel - that native-born defendants would rather die than become subject to it. Julian Assange could be next. Until the system is reformed, a moratorium should remain," Snowden said on Twitter.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) June 23, 2021
Earlier, the El Pais newspaper reported that McAfee, 75, was found dead on Wednesday, in his prison cell in Spain's Barcelona where he committed suicide. Doctors tried to resuscitate him, but were unable to save him. McAfee's death came after the Spanish National Court approved his extradition to the United States, where he was accused of tax evasion.
In mid-June, McAfee testified in the Spanish National Court. During the hearings he denied all the charges brought against him in the US, claiming that they were of political nature.
WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange was arrested in London on 11 April 2019, and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for jumping bail back in 2012, when he took refuge inside the Ecuadorean embassy in the UK capital to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was facing sexual assault charges that were later dropped by the Swedish court.
Assange is wanted by the US Justice Department on espionage and computer fraud charges after WikiLeaks published thousands of secret files and classified information that shed light on war crimes committed by US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He faces up to 175 years in solitary confinement inside a top security American prison if convicted in the United States.
In January, UK district judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled not to extradite Assange, citing health reasons and the risk of suicide in the US prison system, but decided that he must wait in prison for the outcome of an appeal filed by US prosecutors.
