• The event will take place on August 26, 2023.
• Currently, the Australian editor is under confinement in HM Prison Belmarsh in London.

Supporters of former Australian editor and founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, are getting new ground for their campaign. Wistaverse, a metaverse dedicated to social actions, in collaboration with ‘Don’t Extradite Assange,’ official campaign to bring extradition of Julian Assange to a standstill, will organize the Free Assange Rally.

Julian Assange Got Massive Support From Global Organizations

Wistaverse owns a land on metaverse game The Sandbox. Don’t Extradite Assange pinned the announcement on their official account of social media platform X. Furthermore, the event will take place on August 26, 2023. As of now, organizations including Pen International, Reporters Without Borders, International Federation of Journalists and more support the campaign to free Julian Assange.

Source: Twitter

In June 2023, leading news media house The Guardian said the WikiLeaks founder is “dangerously close” to the United States extradition following an unsuccessful legal appeal. Priti Patel, the United Kingdom secretary, signed a rejection of Assange’s grounds sanctioned by Justice Jonathan Swift.

A Final Push?

Currently, the Australian editor is under confinement in HM Prison Belmarsh in London. In February, campaigners organized a ‘night carnival’ in the English capital to call for his release, UK-based tabloid Daily Mail reported. In the meantime, nearly 2,000 supporters conjoined the event in Assange’s support.

His wife, Stella Asange, said the event “has had a big impact on central London.” She added that “We need to keep building until the movement is so big that those in power and the courts realize that there is nowhere else to go than to free Julian.”

John Rees, Don’t Extradite Assange’s founder, called the metaverse event a ‘first of its kind’ political rally. He believes the initiative will attract thousands to the cause. Furthermore, he told Yahoo! Finance, a news provider, that “Julian’s waiting to see whether the high court will hear his latest, and possibly, last appeal inside the British court system. So if this fails, the government will want him on a plane extradited to the United States where he’ll be put in a high-security prison.”

Think tank Lowy Institute believes the same. It says Julian Assange’s legal options are running out. The Australia United States Ministerial Consultation (AUSMIN) talks underscores the case approaching ‘critical pivot points.’ Another think tank Amnesty International believes the U.S. must drop the charges.

On August 21, 2023, protesters gathered outside the home of U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding the charges against Julian Assange be dropped, conservative news provider Fox News reported. Later, a supporter for Julian Assange’s cause told them “People care about the outcome, we care for the human rights of Julian Assange.”

Metaverse to Become Truly Immersive By 2040

The metaverse is at a budding phase, lacking its core value, immersion. For instance, The Sandbox, the platform hosting Julian Assange’s campaign, too, isn’t immune to it. The game features pixelated environments and avatars similar to the open world game Minecraft.

In a study conducted by Pew Research Center, a think tank, 54% of experts they talked to believe virtual worlds will become truly immersive experiences by 2040. To that end, the metaverse will potentially serve as a digital twin to the physical world, a large variety of activities including education, shopping, socialization and more could transition to a digital sphere.