'Julian Assange could be next', warns whistleblower Edward Snowden after McAfee's death

Former US National Security Agency (NSA) consultant Edward Snowden on June 24 warned that Julian Assange “could be next” after tech mogul John McAfee was reported dead in Barcelona prison following the news that he was being extradited to the US on criminal tax evasion charges. The news of McAfee’s apparent suicide was reported by Spanish media outlets on June 23. Weighing in on the incident, Snowden who leaked highly classified information from the NSA in 2013 and is now a data privacy advocate, stated that Europe should not extradite those accused of non-violent crimes to an “unfair” court system.

“Julian Assange could be next. Until the system is reformed, a moratorium should remain,” he added.

Mentioned by Snowden, the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in April 2019 in the UK and the British court temporarily blocked his extradition to the United States in January 2021 on 18 charges including the ones through the Espionage Act of obtaining and sharing classified information. After it was founded in 2006, WikiLeaks rose to global recognition in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by the US Army intelligence Chelsea Manning.

The 49-year-old Assange remains imprisoned in Britain’s toughest jail, HMP Belmarsh and has not been bailed ahead of an appeal hearing because of flight risk. Meanwhile, Snowden was also granted permanent residency in Russia in October 2020. In the aftermath of the global surveillance disclosures in the US, Snowden flew from Hong Kong to Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport.

John McAfee found dead in Spanish prison

British-American computer programmer and businessman John McAfee was found dead in his cell in a jail near Barcelona on June 23. The 75-year-old tech mogul is reported to have taken his own life in prison in Barcelona and his lawyer confirmed the same on Wednesday. However, his death stirred speculation, not only because of Janice’s warning but also John himself flagging his own ‘suicide’ in the previous years. He was charged with tax evasion last year and was found dead just hours after it was made public that he would be extradited to the United States. 

John McAfee, whose legal troubles reportedly spanned from Tennessee to Central America to the Caribbean, was discovered at the Brians 2 penitentiary in northeastern Spain. Reportedly, the security officials tried to revive him but the jail’s medical team on Wednesday finally certified his death. A statement from the regional Catalan government said, “A judicial delegation has arrived to investigate the causes of death...everything points to death by suicide.” However, the statement did not mention the tech mogul by name.

McAfee’s reported suicide on Wednesday came after Spain’s National Court on Monday ruled in the favour of his extradition. The 75-year-old had argued in an earlier hearing that the charges against him by prosecutors in Tennessee were ‘politically motivated’ and claimed that he would have to spend the rest of his life imprisoned if he was to return to the United States. The Monday ruling was made public on June 23 and was open for appeal and the final extradition of the antivirus pioneer would have required Spanish Cabinet’s approval.

IMAGE: AP