Press Freedom

Press Freedom Groups Call On DOJ To Drop Assange Charges

February 9, 2021 Assange Defense. Resist! Department of Justice, Joe Biden, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

The letter comes just days before the United States’ deadline to appeal the ruling in Julian Assange’s extradition hearing. On January 4, British Judge Vanessa Baraitser blocked Assange’s extradition last month on medical grounds, and the U.S. announced its intent to appeal that decision. It has until February 12 to file its appeal. The New York Times’ Charlie Savage writes, “The litigation deadline may force the new administration to confront a decision: whether to press on with the Trump-era approach to Mr. Assange, or to instead drop the matter.”

Assange Ruling Is A Blow Against A Free Press – A Closer Look

January 10, 2021 Mohamed Elmaazi, Jacobin Magazine. Educate! Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

Judge Vanessa Baraitser’s decision to prevent Julian Assange’s extradition to the United States to face trial on espionage-related criminal charges is a partial victory for Assange, his family, and his supporters. Baraitser was not satisfied that US prison authorities would be able to prevent the award-winning journalist from taking his life, given the conditions of solitary confinement and isolation that he would likely face during pre-trial detention and in the event of his conviction. However, in her ruling, the judge made clear that Assange would have been extradited, if it weren’t for his “substantial risk” of committing suicide.

Police Arrest Several People Near Court After Assange’s Bail Denied

January 7, 2021 Sputnik News. Resist! Bail, Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

London - The police arrested several supporters of Assange who did not have press IDs and refused to disperse as the city is currently under a lockdown and public gatherings prohibited. Among the detained are several women and an elderly man. Journalists with proper identifications were allowed to continue their work. Earlier in the day, Westminster Magistrates Court refused to release Assange on bail, leaving him incarcerated while a US appeal against the decision not to extradite him to the United States is considered. Assange was arrested in London in April 2019 and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for jumping his bail back in 2012, when he took refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK capital to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced sexual assault charges and possible extradition to the United States.

Assange Wins. The Cost: Press Freedom Is Crushed

January 5, 2021 Jonathan Cook. Educate! Dissent, Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

The unexpected decision by Judge Vanessa Baraitser to deny a US demand to extradite Julian Assange, foiling efforts to send him to a US super-max jail for the rest of his life, is a welcome legal victory, but one swamped by larger lessons that should disturb us deeply. Those who campaigned so vigorously to keep Assange’s case in the spotlight, even as the US and UK corporate media worked so strenuously to keep it in darkness, are the heroes of the day. They made the price too steep for Baraitser or the British establishment to agree to lock Assange away indefinitely in the US for exposing its war crimes and its crimes against humanity in Iraq and Afghanistan. But we must not downplay the price being demanded of us for this victory.

Assange: Judge Denies United States’ Extradition Request

January 4, 2021 Kevin Gosztola, Shadowproof. Educate! Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

Citing harsh federal prison conditions in the United States, a British district court judge rejected the United States government’s extradition request against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Judge Vanessa Baraitser accepted that Assange was diagnosed with a “recurrent depressive disorder.” Although he functions at a high level, she accepted he was diagnosed with autism as well. She accepted that he would likely be imprisoned at a supermax prison in the U.S. under special administrative measures (SAMs) and would find a way to commit suicide. “I am satisfied that, in these harsh conditions, Mr. Assange’s mental health would deteriorate causing him to commit suicide with the ‘single minded determination’ of his autism spectrum disorder,” Baraitser declared.

Stella Moris: If British Court Sends Julian Assange To The United States

January 4, 2021 Stella Moris, Globe and Mail. Educate! Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, United Kingdom (UK)

London - A month ago, I would wake up in the middle of the night seized by a recurring nightmare: my little boys, Max, 22 months, and Gabriel, who is three, had been orphaned. I was still here but their father was not. Their father is Julian Assange, the publisher of WikiLeaks. Today, that terrible nightmare is all too close to becoming a reality. Julian has been on remand in Belmarsh prison in South-East London for almost two years. He is fighting a political extradition to the United States, where he risks being buried in the deepest, darkest corner of the US prison system for the rest of his life. Julian embarrassed Washington and this is their revenge.

Protesters Gather In DC In Solidarity With Assange

January 4, 2021 Sam Carliner, Medium. Resist! Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

Press freedom activists and independent journalists endured the cold and rain outside the British Embassy in Washington D.C. on Sunday Jan. 3. With less than 24 hours until a potential blow to the future of press freedom, the crowd of free speech advocates was there to make as much noise as possible. On Monday, Jan. 4, U.K. judge Vanessa Baraitser will announce if the U.K. government will extradite Australian journalist and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States. Assange faces up to 175 years in prison for charges under the Espionage Act. Leading press freedom and human rights groups have acknowledged that if Baraister rules in favor of extradition, it will set a dangerous precedent that journalists can be charged by the United States government for publishing truthful information.

Father Takes Assange’s Fight To New York

January 4, 2021 AAP Newswire, Shepparton News. Educate! Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, United States

The father of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has turned his focus from the UK to the US where he hopes a change of president could advantage his son. Assange is being held at London's Belmarsh Prison, pending a court decision on a warrant for his extradition to the US to face charges. A judgment is due to be handed down at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday, but Assange's father John Shipton won't be there. Mr Shipton says there's too much uncertainty about his ability to travel amid a series of border closures in the UK due to a mutant strand of coronavirus. "It's all up in the air like it is for everybody ... except the situation is more tenuous for Julian because it's 10 years long," he told AAP.

Assange Extradition: Legal Teams Likely Informed Already Of Judge’s Decision

January 3, 2021 Alexander Mercouris, Consortium News. Educate! Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

In accordance with a British magistrate court’s usual procedure, Julian Assange’s Judgment has almost certainly already been written and sent in draft form to the respective teams of lawyers, probably early on Friday evening. The lawyers therefore already know what the decision is, as well as the British government and at least the Department of Justice in Washington. Under established procedure, Assange’s lawyers are not supposed to tell Assange himself what the decision is so he and his family are probably the only people who are directly involved in his case who don’t yet know its outcome. The purpose in sending the Judgment in draft form to the lawyers in advance of the Court hearing is to give them an opportunity to check it for factual mistakes.

Upcoming Ruling In Assange Trial Threatens More Than Freedom Of The Press

January 3, 2021 Steve Brown, Covert Action Magazine. Educate! Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

Although important legal principles are at stake in the extradition trial of Julian Assange, for which a ruling will be handed down on January 4, it should not be forgotten that there are important human issues at stake as well. One such issue is Assange’s health, which has progressively worsened under what seems to be cruel and even sadistic maltreatment by the British government, including the refusal of appropriate medical care and confining him in his cell for 23 hours a day, seven days a week. The other is that, if the Judge’s ruling is adverse, Julian’s two children may never see their father again. Many stories have been written about the legal issues in Julian’s case, and the chilling effect that his extradition to the U.S.—where he will almost certainly be imprisoned for life...

The Julian Assange Pardon Drive

January 2, 2021 Binoy Kampmark, Counterpunch. Organize! Extradition, Julian Assange, Pardon, Press Freedom

The odds are stacked against Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks publisher who faces the grimmest of prospects come January 4. On that day, the unsympathetic judicial head of District Judge Vanessa Baraitser will reveal her decision on the Old Bailey proceedings that took place between September and October this year. Despite Assange’s team being able to marshal an impressive, even astonishing array of sources and witnesses demolishing the prosecution’s case for extradition to the United States, power can be blindly vengeful. Such blindness is much in evidence in a co-authored contribution to The Daily Signal from this month.

The Kafkaesque Imprisonment Of Assange Exposes US Myths

December 31, 2020 Glenn Greenwald, Substack. Educate! Asylum, Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

Persecution is not typically doled out to those who recite mainstream pieties, or refrain from posing meaningful threats to those who wield institutional power, or obediently stay within the lines of permissible speech and activism imposed by the ruling class. Those who render themselves acquiescent and harmless that way will — in every society, including the most repressive — usually be free of reprisals. They will not be censored or jailed. They will be permitted to live their lives largely unmolested by authorities, while many will be well-rewarded for this servitude. Such individuals will see themselves as free because, in a sense, they are: they are free to submit, conform and acquiesce.

The Fate Of Press Freedom To Be Decided On January 4

December 28, 2020 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. Podcast Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

Judge Vanessa Baraitser will announce her decision on the United States' request to extradite Julian Assange on January 4. Assange faces 18 charges, 17 of them under the Espionage Act, which has been weaponized to go after journalists who expose war crimes and other truths the United States wants to keep secret. If he is extradited, it will end press freedom as we know it. Any journalist anywhere in the world will know they could face similar consequences if they expose the US government. I speak with Kevin Gosztola of Shadowproof, who has been following the extradition process closely, about what is likely to happen and what activists can do to protect Julian Assange and our right to know.

Assange Hearing Outcome Could Set An “Alarming Precedent” For Free Speech

December 18, 2020 Benjamin Lynch, Index on Censorship. Educate! Extradition, Free Speech, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

Assange’s partner, Stella Moris, is remaining resolute despite his extradition hearing decision being less than a month away and him being held in a prison that has recently had a Covid-19 outbreak. Speaking over the phone to Index, Moris discusses the hearing’s details and what it could mean for the future of freedom of expression. And she talks about the deep implications it has had for her and her young family. “Obviously it is very difficult. I speak to Julian on a daily basis unless there is a problem. [But] he is in prison. Soon to be for two years. He has been there for longer than many violent prisoners who are serving sentences. All in all, he has been deprived of his liberty for ten years now,” she told Index.

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