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Julian Assange

Experts Warn Julian Assange Plea Deal Could Set Dangerous Precedent

June 26, 2024 Alexandra Topping, The Guardian. , , ,
The next UK government must push the US for reassurance it will not pursue journalists for publishing classified information, human rights organisations and experts have argued after the release of Julian Assange. Experts have warned that the plea deal struck between the WikiLeaks founder and the US authorities – which will see him plead guilty to one charge under the Espionage Act, but avoid serving any additional time in custody – could set a dangerous precedent. Assange, who has battled his extradition to the US since WikiLeaks published more than 250,000 leaked classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010, was facing up to 175 years in prison on 18 counts.

Julian Assange Is Finally Free

June 25, 2024 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. , , , ,
Julian Assange has agreed to a plea deal with the United States. He left Belmarsh on Monday and is headed to Australia, WikiLeaks said. “He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stansted airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK,” WikiLeaks said in a tweet early Tuesday morning London time. Stella Assange, tweeted: “Julian is free!!!! Words cannot express our immense gratitude to YOU- yes YOU, who have all mobilised for years and years to make this come true. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.” Assange was released as a result of a plea deal with the United States, the BBC reported.

Julian Assange Is Free, But Government Still Abused The Espionage Act

June 24, 2024 Defending Rights and Dissent. , , ,
Defending Rights & Dissent welcomes the news that Julian Assange will go free for the first time in over a decade. For over five years, Assange has been confined to Belmarsh Prison in London, as he contested his extradition to the US. Prior to that, Assange spent seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy under what a United Nations Work Group deemed to be arbitrary detention.  On Monday, it was announced that Assange had filed a guilty plea in the US District of Northern Mariana Islands. Assange, who faced 17 counts under the Espionage Act and one count of conspiracy to violate the Computer Fraud And Abuse Act, pled guilty to single count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense Information in violation of the Espionage Act.

Judges Named For Assange Appeal

June 14, 2024 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. , , , , ,
The judges in Julian Assange’s two-day appeal hearing on July 9-10 are the same who granted Assange a rare victory last month:  his right to appeal the Home Office’s extradition order to the United States. Justices Jeremy Johnson and Victoria Sharp granted Assange the right to appeal on only two of nine requested grounds, but they are significant: 1) his extradition was incompatible with his free speech rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights; and 2) that he might be prejudiced because of his nationality (not being given 1st Amendment protection as a non-American).

IBAHRI Urges Joe Biden To Drop All Charges Against Julian Assange

June 9, 2024 International Bar Association. , , , , , , , , , ,
The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) urges United States President Joe Biden, to drop all charges against Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in relation to the Wikileaks publication, in 2010, of more than 250,000 leaked classified documents – exposing alleged human rights abuses allegedly perpetrated by the US army during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. It was reported in April 2024 that the US President said ‘we’re considering it’ in response to a journalist’s question about a request from the Australian Government that Mr Assange be allowed to return to his native country.

Victory For Assange, First Amendment, UK Court Grants Right To Appeal

May 30, 2024 Marjorie Cohn, Truthout. , , , ,
On May 20, a two-judge panel of the High Court of England and Wales handed WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange a significant victory. Justice Jeremy Johnson and Dame Victoria Sharp granted him leave to appeal the U.K.’s extradition order on two grounds. The High Court will now schedule a hearing at which Assange will be allowed to argue that his rights to freedom of expression and to be free from discrimination based on his nationality would not be protected if he were extradited to the United States. In the U.K., the right to appeal is not automatic. While they didn’t rule on the merits of Assange’s claims, Johnson and Sharp determined that the two issues have sufficient legal merit to be reviewed by the High Court.

Something Changed In The Assange Case

May 23, 2024 Craig Murray, Consortium News. , , , ,
In the normal run of things, if a very senior judge instructs you to give an assurance to their Court, it would probably not be wise to avoid giving the assurance, to devote a huge amount of text to trying to obscure the fact you have not given the assurance, and then to lecture the judge on why they were wrong to ask for the assurance in the first place. Most lawyers would probably advise against that course of conduct. But this did not deter the fearless James Lewis KC, back to lead for the United States prosecution against Julian Assange, eyes twinkling and his neat nautical facial hair having grown rather wilder, as though he had decided to assume a piratical air to match his reckless conduct of the case.

The Slow-Motion Execution Of Julian Assange Continues

May 21, 2024 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. , , ,
The decision by the High Court in London to grant Julian Assange the right to appeal the order to extradite him to the United States may prove to be a Pyrrhic victory. It does not mean Julian will elude extradition. It does not mean the court has ruled, as it should, that he is a journalist whose only “crime” was providing evidence of war crimes and lies by the U.S. government to the public. It does not mean he will be released from the high-security HMS Belmarsh prison where, as Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, after visiting Julian there, said he was undergoing a “slow-motion execution.”

Assange Wins Right To Appeal On First Amendment Issue

May 20, 2024 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. , , , ,
The High Court in London on Monday granted Julian Assange the right to appeal the order to extradite him to the United States on the grounds that the U.S. did not satisfy the court that it would allow Assange a First Amendment defense in a U.S. court. “We spent a lot of time listening to the United States putting lipstick on a pig, but the judges didn’t buy it,” Stella Assange told reporters outside the court building. “As a family we are relieved but how long can this go on? The United States should read the situation and drop the case now.” Assange has been imprisoned in London’s notorious Belmarsh Prison for more than five years on remand pending the outcome of his extradition. 

What To Expect At Julian Assange’s Appeal Hearing On May 20

May 19, 2024 Assange Defense. , , , ,
On Monday, May 20th, the UK High Court will decide whether Julian Assange will be allowed to appeal the decision allowing his extradition before the UK Courts. The High Court will first hear arguments from the defense and the prosecution regarding the “assurances” provided by the U.S. Julian Assange’s final appeal hearing was held on February 20th​ and 21st​ this year, upon which the judges made a ruling on March 26th​, provisionally allowing Julian Assange to appeal the decision to extradite him to the U.S., but only if the U.S. doesn’t provide sufficient assurances that he will not be sentenced to death and that he will be allowed to rely on the First Amendment that is, his right to free speech.

Media Freedom Faces Unprecedented Threats Globally

May 4, 2024 Abdul Rahman, People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , ,
Journalists and independent media outlets are facing an unprecedented decline in press freedom and a rise of state repression all across the world, according to the annual report published by Reporters without Borders (RSF) on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on May 3. RSF claims that the physical security of journalists continues to be the main threat to press freedom, noting that over 100 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israel in Palestine in the last seven months of war in Gaza. RSF’s World Press Freedom Index of 2024 notes with worry that in most of the countries, political authorities supposed to protect press freedom, have emerged as the primary threat and the world has seen a “worrying decline in respect for media autonomy.”

Call To Action For Julian Assange

April 29, 2024 Assange Defense, Popular Resistance. , , , , ,
Assange’s legal team has the right to challenge the credibility and validity of the U.S. assurances filed on February 24, 2024. The U.S. would then have a right to reply to Assange’s legal submissions to the court, which will hold a hearing on May 20, 2024, to determine whether or not to accept the U.S. assurances. If the court does, Assange can be put on a plane to the U.S. theoretically that day. If not Assange would be granted a full appeal against the Home Office’s 2022 order to extradite him. We are calling for a MAYDAY FOR JULIAN.  This is an action you can do from the comfort of your home. All we are asking is for you to make just 6 calls per week.

Assange Assurances: An Australian Response

April 25, 2024 CN Live!, Consortium News. , , ,
Some members of the Australian legal, political and diplomatic community are troubled by a U.S. assurance that signals Julian Assange would be “potentially very greatly prejudiced” in a U.S. court, as British judges anticipated, given that foreign nationals who acted abroad do not have constitutional rights. Stating that Assange is able to “seek to rely” on such rights as the First Amendment, the assurance makes no mention of what is “long-settled” law, according to Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the Supreme Court USAID v. Open Society case of 2020. This and other precedents establish that he could be denied these rights.

CIA Director Claims Lawsuit Over Spying On Assange Visitors Could Damage Security

April 19, 2024 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. , , ,
CIA Director William Burns claimed that a lawsuit involving alleged spying on Americans, who visited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, must be dismissed or there could be “serious” and “exceptionally grave” damage to the “national security of the United States.” In a declaration [PDF] that invokes the “state secrets privilege,” Burns also maintained that the CIA could not provide any explanation in open court for why the agency believes damage could occur if the lawsuit proceeds. “[T]he complete factual bases for my privilege assertions cannot be set forth on the public record without confirming or denying whether CIA has information related to this matter and therefore risking the very harm to the U.S. national security that I seek to protect,” Burns added.

US Government Rejects Australia’s Call To End Assange Case

April 17, 2024 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. , , , ,
Faced with a deadline set by the British High Court of Justice, the United States Embassy in London submitted “assurances” to potentially avoid an appeal in the case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The assurances come days after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Australia government asked the U.S. to offer Assange, an Australian citizen, a “felony plea deal” that would allow him to return home. Instead of ending the case, the U.S. State Department provided a diplomatic note to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that contained assurances related to issues raised by Assange’s legal team and upheld by the High Court.
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