Time passes and no good news come from one of the last Cypherpunks, Julian Assange. In
my earlier post I wrote that it was unknown, at the moment, if Julian appealed British home secretary Priti Patel's decision to give Assange to US authorities. Meanwhile, Guardian, maybe one of Assange's last loyal supporters,
confirms that the appeal was made. However, we don't know when we will hear the outcome of this appeal.
Of course, during all this time, Julian is still held prisoner in jail, where he lives since 2019.
Meanwhile, his lawyers initiated a trial against CIA, accusing the agency for spying on Assange while he was under political asylum inside Ecuador embassy, by taping his discussion with his lawyers.
According to Guardian, "Robert Boyle, a New York attorney representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said the alleged spying on Assange’s attorneys means the WikiLeaks founder’s right to a fair trial has “now been tainted, if not destroyed. There should be sanctions, even up to dismissal of those charges, or withdrawal of an extradition request.”."
While this trial is a small attempt to help Julian somehow, most likely, no charges against him will be lifted...
However,
more and more people pressure Australian government to help one of his iconic citizen, while Biden is under heavy media pressure to lift the charges put on Assange's head.
Five big international media outlets wrote an open letter to Biden, entitled as
Publishing is not a crime.
Publishing is not a crime: The US government should end its prosecution of Julian Assange for publishing secrets.
Twelve years ago, on November 28th 2010, our five international media outlets – the New York Times, the Guardian, Le Monde, El País and Der Spiegel – published a series of revelations in cooperation with WikiLeaks that made the headlines around the globe.
“Cablegate”, a set of 251,000 confidential cables from the US state department, disclosed corruption, diplomatic scandals and spy affairs on an international scale.
In the words of the New York Times, the documents told “the unvarnished story of how the government makes its biggest decisions, the decisions that cost the country most heavily in lives and money”. Even now in 2022, journalists and historians continue to publish new revelations, using the unique trove of documents.
For Julian Assange, publisher of WikiLeaks, the publication of “Cablegate” and several other related leaks had the most severe consequences. On [April 11th] 2019, Assange was arrested in London on a US arrest warrant, and has now been held for three and a half years in a high-security British prison usually used for terrorists and members of organised crime groups. He faces extradition to the US and a sentence of up to 175 years in an American maximum-security prison.
This group of editors and publishers, all of whom had worked with Assange, felt the need to publicly criticise his conduct in 2011 when unredacted copies of the cables were released, and some of us are concerned about the allegations in the indictment that he attempted to aid in computer intrusion of a classified database. But we come together now to express our grave concerns about the continued prosecution of Julian Assange for obtaining and publishing classified materials.
The Obama-Biden administration, in office during the WikiLeaks publication in 2010, refrained from indicting Assange, explaining that they would have had to indict journalists from major news outlets too. Their position placed a premium on press freedom, despite its uncomfortable consequences. Under Donald Trump however, the position changed. The DoJ relied on an old law, the Espionage Act of 1917 (designed to prosecute potential spies during world war one), which has never been used to prosecute a publisher or broadcaster.
This indictment sets a dangerous precedent, and threatens to undermine America’s first amendment and the freedom of the press.
Obtaining and disclosing sensitive information when necessary in the public interest is a core part of the daily work of journalists. If that work is criminalised, our public discourse and our democracies are made significantly weaker.
Twelve years after the publication of “Cablegate”, it is time for the US government to end its prosecution of Julian Assange for publishing secrets.
Publishing is not a crime.
The editors and publishers of:
The New York Times
The Guardian
Le Monde
Der Spiegel
El País
Last, but not least, this year a new book about Julian's struggle was published:
The Trial of Julian Assange: A Story of Persecution, written by Nils Melzer's (I also added this title to OP). I was not sure if I could buy it from my country, but I was lucky and, after a few weeks while I searched for various places where I hoped to find it, I finally found it!
Therefore, I proudly present you:
Needless to say, the book from top-left corner of the picture is Edward Snowden's
Personal Record, another great (and shocking) writing, which I recommend you all to read as well.
I added this title to the four books written by Assange and to the other book which I bought, which also depicts his life,
The Most Dangerous Man In The World: The Inside Story On Julian Assange And WikiLeaks, written by Andrew Fowler.
To all those supporting his cause: please buy this book too! Maybe it's the smallest gesture we can make for him and for his cause!
