Julian Assange’s brother has raised millions of dollars to free the Wikileaks founder, who is fighting extradition to the U.S. from a London prison.
Gabriel Shipton told Hill.TV on Tuesday that he’s raised $47 million so far to free his brother, who has been “buoyed by the amount of support that has been shown around the world.”
“We’ve seen people really taking a stand on this issue now. The snowball is building and it will just keep building,” he said. “People will have to take a stand on this issue and they will have to pressure Biden and the Biden administration to drop this prosecution.”
Shipton partnered with decentralized autonomous organization AssangeDAO and an artist named Pak to sell a collection of digital artwork as a non-fungible token (NFT), with the proceeds going toward his brother’s legal defense fund.
Last year, Assange lost a major legal battle when a British court ruled he could be extradited to the U.S. to face a trial over his publication of sensitive U.S. documents through Wikileaks. But last month, the High Court in London said he could appeal the decision.
Shipton said AssangeDAO formed in December after the British lower court ruling and evolved into a rallying point for activists pushing to free Assange and stand up for freedom of speech rights.
“It’s really a way to use this platform, this art, to get to the real heart of what this case is about,” he said.
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