Joe Biden, President, United States

Vladimir Putin, President, Russian Federation

Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister, Australia

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President, Mexico

Wikileaks founder and publisher Julian Assange is being extradited to the United States. WNBA star and Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner is being held by Russia.

We hereby petition the leaders of the United States and Russia to pardon, exonerate, acquit, free and release Julian Assange and Brittney Griner. We demand a mutual prisoner release between the United States and Russia that returns Assange and Griner to their homes and families.

We further petition the leaders of Australia and Mexico to use diplomatic channels to facilitate Assange's release. Australian Prime Minister Albanese has promised to secure Assange's return to Australia. Mexican President López Obrador offered Assange asylum in Mexico on July 12. Julian should be allowed to live freely wherever he chooses once released.

Brittney Griner was detained in Russia in February 2022 for allegedly possessing hashish oil. She plead guilty on July 7 and faces up to ten years in a Russian penal colony. Griner is one of the most accomplished women's basketball players of all time and uses her platform to educate against school bullying and police violence. US President Biden has promised to do everything in his power to bring her home. On July 19 Biden signed an executive order declaring a national emergency to boost efforts to save Griner and other detainees. But legal analysts say that Biden's executive order won't help release her. "(As) I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I'm terrified I might be here forever," wrote Brittney in a letter to Biden on July 4. Brittney's wife, Cherelle Griner, says that Biden needs to do a lot more to free Brittney.

Julian Assange has been detained in a maximum security prison in the United Kingdom for the last three years. Before that, he spent seven years trapped as an asylum seeker in the embassy of Ecuador in the UK. As the head of Wikileaks, Assange published material exposing abuses of power by numerous governments, including US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. Much of what Wikileaks published has also been published in the mainstream media and none of it has been contested as erroneous or fabricated. The UK is extraditing Assange to the US, which is putting him on trial for espionage despite the fact that he isn't an American citizen. He faces up to 175 years in prison. Dozens of human rights organizations and the United Nations have called for Julian's release. López Obrador said that the US should tear down the Statue of Liberty if Assange is sentenced. Assange and Wikileaks were never in league with the Russian government, but Russia has an opportunity to stand up for press freedoms and human rights by agreeing to and calling for a mutual prisoner release. So does the United States.