Tag: Julian Assange

January 25, 2023

Prosecution of Assange Would Lead to End of the First Amendment, Advocates Warn

Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg joined other leading journalists, attorneys and human rights defenders to call on the Biden administration to drop its extradition request and indictment against journalist and WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, citing the grave threat Assange’s prosecution would pose to journalism worldwide. “Every empire requires secrecy to cloak its acts of violence that maintain… Read more »

December 5, 2022

“Publishing Is Not a Crime”: The New York Times Joins the Fight to Free Assange

In a stunning development earlier this week, The New York Times, the Guardian, Le Monde, DER SPIEGEL and El País signed a joint open letter calling on the U.S. government to dismiss the Espionage Act charges against Julian Assange for publishing classified military and diplomatic secrets. “Publishing is not a crime,” the letter states. “The U.S. government should end its prosecution of… Read more »

August 21, 2022

Mike Pompeo and CIA Sued for Illegal Surveillance of Assange’s Visitors

Attorneys and journalists whom the CIA spied on when they visited WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London have filed a lawsuit against the CIA, its former director Mike Pompeo, UC Global and its director, David Morales, in U.S. District Court. Assange is in a London prison fighting extradition to the United States. He… Read more »

June 23, 2022

Julian Assange Is Enduring Unbearable Persecution for Exposing US War Crimes

Ever since U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel formally ordered the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the U.S. last week, press freedom advocates around the world have been mobilizing. Assange Defense, on whose advisory board I serve, is organizing a national and international campaign to pressure U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and President Joe Biden to… Read more »

March 18, 2022

Extradition Looms for Assange After UK Supreme Court Refuses to Hear His Appeal

The British judicial system has erected still another barrier to Julian Assange’s freedom. On March 14, the U.K. Supreme Court refused to hear Assange’s appeal of the U.K. High Court’s ruling ordering his extradition to the United States. If extradited to the U.S. for trial, Assange will face 17 charges under the Espionage Act and up to… Read more »

January 27, 2022

Julian Assange Can Now Seek Appeal Against US Extradition to Top UK Court

On January 24, 2022, the British High Court of Justice allowed WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange to ask the U.K. Supreme Court to hear his appeal of the extradition order. In December 2021, the High Court had overturned U.K. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser’s January 2021 ruling denying the U.S. request for extradition. Following a three-week evidentiary hearing, Baraitser concluded… Read more »

December 16, 2021

British Court Trusts US to Protect Assange Even Though CIA Plotted to Kill Him

In a patently political decision, the U.K. High Court reversed the British lower court’s denial of extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States on a narrow ground, despite the recent revelations of a CIA plot to kidnap and assassinate him. Assange was charged by the Trump administration with violation of the Espionage Act for revealing evidence… Read more »

October 30, 2021

Biden’s DOJ Downplayed Suicide Risk for Assange in Appeal of Extradition Denial

The Biden administration asked two United Kingdom High Court judges to overturn the British district judge’s denial of extradition of journalist Julian Assange this week during an October 27-28 appeals hearing in London. If extradited to the United States, the WikiLeaks founder would face 175 years in prison for exposing evidence of U.S. war crimes. Determined to bring… Read more »