Countdown To Day X: Denying Assange’s Freedom Of Expression
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his legal team assert that extradition to the United States would be a “flagrant denial” of his rights to freedom of expression because the charges criminalize Assange for engaging in journalism.
When Assange was first charged, Ben Wizner of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Jameel Jaffer of the Knight First Amendment Institute declared, “The [computer offense] characterizes everyday journalistic practices as part of a criminal conspiracy. Cultivating a source, protecting a source’s identity, communicating with a source securely—the indictment describes all of these activities as the ‘manners and means’ of the conspiracy.”