Jill Stein, the unsuccessful third-party candidate for president in 2012 and 2016, defended WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who was arrested Thursday by British authorities, saying his arrest was a threat to democracy.

“Arresting Julian Assange for publishing is an attack on fundamental press freedom that democracy depends on. Like Chelsea Manning, US empire wants to imprison him for the "crime" of revealing what our government is doing. All who support democracy must resist!” the former Green Party candidate said Thursday on Twitter.

Stein, who calls herself an “activist for people”, also tweeted a request for her followers to call British embassies in the U.S. to demand his release.



Emergency actions to support political prisoner Julian Assange are being announced in Washington DC, NYC, & across the globe. Join the wave of action to tell the UK government: publishing the truth is not a crime! #ProtectJulian #FreeAssange https://t.co/3GvM8l8aVG — Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) April 11, 2019



Stein has been a longtime supporter of Assange and WikiLeaks, the nonprofit Assange helped found that publishes leaked, often classified, information.

“WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a hero,” Stein wrote in a 2016 op-ed defending WikiLeaks.

Stein has praised Assange and WikiLeaks for exposing what she said is “censorship, spin, and deception” to control public perception of events.

Stein ran unsuccessful campaigns for president in both 2012 and 2016 where she attempted to run to the left of the Democratic candidates, focusing on environmental issues.

Assange was arrested Thursday morning in London after being evicted from Ecuador’s embassy after almost seven years of asylum there.

Federal prosecutors in Virginia said Thursday he has been indicted with conspiring with Chelsea Manning to hack U.S. government computer systems.

[ Opinion: Assange indictment does not violate press freedoms]