Julian Assange

UK Steps Up War On Whistleblower Journalism

February 14, 2024 Kit Klarenberg, The Grayzone. Educate! Freedom of the Press, Journalism, Julian Assange, National Security Act, National Security State, United Kingdom (UK), Wikileaks

It was the afternoon of May 17 2023 and I had just arrived at London’s Luton Airport. I was on my way to the city of my birth to visit my family. Before landing, the pilot instructed all passengers to have their passports ready for inspection immediately upon disembarking the plane. Just then, I noticed a six-strong squad of stone-faced plainclothes British counter-terror officers waited on the tarmac, intensely studying the identification documents of all travelers. As soon as the cops identified me, I was ordered to accompany them into the airport terminal without explanation. There, I was introduced to two officials whose names I could not learn, who subsequently referred to each other using nondescript callsigns. I was invited to be digitally strip searched, and subjected to an interrogation in which I had no right to silence, no right to refuse to answer questions, and no right to withhold pin numbers for my digital devices or sim cards.

Like Prison Visiting Rules, Use Of The Espionage Act Is Arbitrary, Punitive

February 11, 2024 Jeffrey Sterling, Scheer Post. Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Espionage Act, Journalism, Julian Assange

In Mid-December 2023, Charles Glass, the esteemed writer, journalist, broadcaster, and publisher visited with Julian Assange, an inmate at Belmarsh Prison in the U.K. Assange has been confined there since April, 2019. He is awaiting his final appeal to quash U.S. efforts to extradite him to face some of the same Espionage Act charges I was confronted with. Glass chronicles the visit in a recent piece in The Nation. His account took me right back to prison. Glass’s visit with Assange could have been a visit with me. I fondly remember Charles Glass. He wrote to me while I was in FCI Englewood, the prison I was bound in after being convicted of violating the Espionage Act in 2015.

Dear Mr. High Commissioner: Help Free Assange

February 10, 2024 Christophe Peschoux, Consortium News. Resist! Extradition, Human Rights, Julian Assange, Legal System, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

On 20-21 February, a High Court in London will decide Julian Assange’s fate: freedom or death. Two judges will decide whether the WikiLeaks founder will still be able to lodge an ultimate appeal, or will end his days in an American jail. Mr. Assange has committed no crime. His only fault is to have revealed some of the crimes of the powerful of our time. Lèse majesté crime! American wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere have destroyed millions of lives and ruined these countries for generations to come. No one has been prosecuted. On the contrary, these crimes have been covered up with impunity in the United States. And yet Mr. Assange is being punished for having published evidence of some of them. Political justice.

Unaccountable Hackers: The CIA, Vengeance And Joshua Schulte

February 7, 2024 Binoy Kampmark, Counter Punch. Educate! CIA, Hacking, Hacktivism, Julian Assange, Wikileaks

The release of the Vault 7 files in the spring of 2017 in a series of 26 disclosures, detailing the hacking tools of the US Central Intelligence Agency, was one of the more impressive achievements of the WikiLeaks publishing organisation. As WikiLeaks stated at the time, the hacking component of the agency’s operations had become so sizeable it began to dwarf the operations of the National Security Agency. “The CIA had created, in effect, its ‘own NSA’ with even less accountability and without publicly answering the question as to whether such a massive budgetary spend on duplicating the capabilities of a rival agency could be justified.”

Assange’s Very Life Is At Stake

February 5, 2024 Mary Kostakidis, Consortium News. Educate! Extradition, health, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, United Kingdom (UK), Wikileaks

In Julian Assange’s extradition case, Magistrate Judge Venessa Baraitser determined he would not survive imprisonment in a U.S. Supermax facility – that he is very likely to commit suicide. One of the final witnesses in the 4 week extradition trial in 2020 was an American lawyer whose client Abu Hamza was held in ADX Colorado where Julian is likely to be sent. Abu Hamza has no hands. He was extradited from the U.K. following assurances by the U.S. that the prison system was able to deal with the special requirements of such a prisoner. His lawyer testified that despite assurances he would not be placed in total isolation, that is indeed where he was kept, under Special Administrative Measures, and the U.S. had also failed to delivered on other undertakings to protect his human rights – he did not have a toilet in his cell he could operate – he was stripped of all dignity, contrary to guarantees.

In Assange’s Darkest Hour, Committee To Protect Journalists Excludes Him

January 23, 2024 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. Educate! Extradition, Journalists, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released its census report for 2023. Three hundred and twenty detained or imprisoned journalists were counted by the press freedom organization, as of December 1, 2023. As indicated, that number is not far from the record high of 360 jailed journalists that was set in 2022. The 2023 census takes on greater significance given the Israeli government’s war on Gaza and the military attacks and crackdown on Palestinian journalists. Seventeen journalists were jailed by Israel, the “highest number of arrests” since CPJ began tracking arrests in 1992. It is the first time that Israel has “ranked among the top six offenders.”

Parliamentarians Launch Urgent Bid To Spare Assange From US Extradition

January 15, 2024 Matthew Knott, The Sydney Morning Herald. Resist! Australia, Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

Australian politicians across the political divide have launched a last-ditch bid to prevent Julian Assange from being extradited to the United States to face espionage charges as the WikiLeaks founder faces a crucial final legal challenge in Britain next month. The four co-convenors of the cross-party Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group wrote to British Home Secretary James Cleverly arguing for an urgent review of Assange’s case. This was in light of a judgment in the Supreme Court of the UK in November, striking down Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Bill Introduced In House Calls For US To Drop Charges Against Assange

January 7, 2024 Dave DeCamp, Scheer Post. Organize! Biden administration, Congress, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

A resolution introduced in the House last month calls for the US to drop the charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who faces up to 175 years in prison if extradited to the US and convicted for journalism that exposed US war crimes. The bill, introduced by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), expresses “the sense of the House of Representatives that regular journalistic activities, including the obtainment and publication of information, are protected under the First Amendment and that the federal government should drop all charges against and attempts to extradite Julian Assange.”

CIA Loses Motion To Dismiss Lawsuit Against It

December 22, 2023 Consortium News. Resistance Report CIA, Julian Assange, Legal System, Surveillance, Wikileaks

Lead attorney Richard Roth of The Roth Law Firm, along with plaintiffs Margaret Ratner Kunstler, a civil rights lawyer, and media lawyer Deborah Hrbek, held a ZOOM press conference Friday, Dec. 22 at 1:00 pm EST to answer journalists’ questions regarding their lawsuit against the C.I.A. for allegedly violating their Fourth Amendment rights. Judge John G. Koeltl of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan rejected a C.I.A. motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by four American citizens alleging they were wrongfully spied on while visiting Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in an illicit scheme to seize the plaintiff’s electronic devices.

Biden Is Trump’s Poodle

December 20, 2023 Colonel (Ret) Ann Wright, Popular Resistance. Educate! Extradition, Joe Biden, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

Biden, you defeated Trump, yet your administration has NOT rolled back all of the evil caused by Trump. Take the case of journalist Julian Assange. Under the Obama administration of which you, Biden, were Vice-President for 8 years, journalist and publisher Julian Assange was NOT prosecuted for publishing the Collateral Damage video of the U.S. Army murder by hellfire missile of Reuters reporters nor the classified Afghanistan and the Iraq war files. However, you and the Obama administration did prosecute and won conviction of U.S. Army PFC Bradley Manning for disclosing those classified materials.

Assange Appeal Hearing Set For February

December 19, 2023 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. Educate! Extradition, Joe Biden, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Whistleblowers

Imprisoned publisher Julian Assange will face two High Court judges over two days on Feb. 20-21, 2024 in London in what will likely be his last appeal against being extradited to the United States to face charges of violating the Espionage Act. Assange’s wife Stella Assange confirmed that the hearing will take place at the Royal Courts of Justice. Assange had had an earlier request to appeal rejected by High Court Judge Jonathan Swift on June 6. Assange then filed an application to appeal that decision and the dates have now been set. Assange is seeking to challenge both the home secretary’s decision to extradite him as well as to cross appeal the decision by the lower court judge, Vanessa Baraitser.

United Kingdom’s Rwanda Deportation Ruling Offers Assange Hope

November 27, 2023 Craig Murray, Consortium News. Educate! Extradition, Julian Assange, Legal System, Rwanda, United Kingdom (UK)

The judgment of the Supreme Court on the illegality of deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda was given massive publicity in connection with the sacking of Home Secretary Suella Braverman, but in fact it is a decision of much wider significance. It also has great relevance to the coming High Court hearing on Julian Assange, both in terms of the arguments, some of which are common to both cases, and the stance of the judges, some of whom are also common to both cases. Let me start with the point on which the Supreme Court decision turned – whether or not the court should independently determine whether Rwanda is a safe country, or whether the Home Secretary is entitled to make that decision without the possibility of judicial interference, provided correct procedures are followed.

Update On Lawsuit Against Alleged CIA Spying On Assange Visitors

November 20, 2023 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. Educate! CIA, Julian Assange, Legal System, Privacy, Surveillance, UC Global

A United States court held an extraordinary hearing on November 16, where a judge carefully considered a lawsuit against the CIA and former CIA director Mike Pompeo for their alleged role in spying on American attorneys and journalists who visited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Judge John Koeltl of the Southern District of New York pushed back when Assistant U.S. Attorney Jean-David Barnea refused to confirm or deny that the CIA had targeted Americans without obtaining a warrant. He also invited attorneys for the Americans to update the lawsuit so that claims of privacy violations explicitly dealt with the government’s lack of a warrant.

A Look At Assange From Inside The CIA, State Department And US Military

October 30, 2023 Eleanor Goldfield, Project Censored. Resistance Report CIA, Julian Assange, State Department, US military

You may have heard of Julian Assange, but chances are that you haven’t heard about him from inside the CIA, State Department and US military. In this special episode, Eleanor first talks with former CIA counterterrorism officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou about what Assange would face if extradited to the United States, as Kiriakou himself has sat in the very same court that awaits Assange. Kiriakou also discusses the CIA’s rabid stance against Assange and inside workings that allowed the CIA to plan Assange’s murder with total abandon and without any accountability. Next up, former Marine Corps captain and State Dept officer Matthew Hoh joins the show again to walk us through exactly what classified information is, and why that’s important in understanding the files that wikileaks shared. Matthew debunks the popular trope that the Wikileaks publications put any US lives at risk, pointing out that the true harm was to the empire itself.

Assange’s Freedom May Be Pivotal In Australia’s Support For US

October 24, 2023 Marjorie Cohn, Truthout. Educate! AUKUS, Australia, China, Joe Biden, Julian Assange, New Cold War

The stakes are high as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrives in Washington, D.C., today to meet with President Joe Biden. The U.S. government hopes to obtain Australia’s support for its cold war initiatives against China. Australia is one of the United States’ closest allies. Australia, the U.S. and the U.K. comprise “AUKUS,” a trilateral “security” alliance in the Indo-Pacific. This is a crucial issue for Australia as well. Before Albanese left for the United States, he told parliament that the AUKUS transfer of U.S. and British nuclear submarine technology to Australia was critical to the future of the alliance.

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