Press Freedom

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.

France: Chaos Over Police Violence And Macron’s Security Bill

November 29, 2020 Telesur English. Resist! France, Police violence, Press Freedom, Security Law

France has protested against the bill on security promoted by the government of Emmanuel Macron into the night on Saturday. The organizers of the protests warn that the security bill approved last week by the National Assembly is an attack on freedom of expression and fundamental public freedoms. "This bill aims to restrict the freedom of the press, the freedom to inform and be informed, the freedom of expression, in short, the fundamental public freedoms of our Republic," stated the coordinators who called the protests.

Free Speech Under Attack In Australia

October 21, 2020 Daniel Hurst, The Guardian. Educate! Australia, Press Freedom, Right to Protest, Surveillance

Journalists and advocacy groups could face compulsory questioning by Asio as part of a proposed expansion of the spy agency’s powers, according to external legal advice prepared by leading barristers. With senior officials of Asio due to give evidence to Senate estimates hearings on Tuesday, the new advice seen by Guardian Australia argues a bill before parliament to extend the reach of questioning powers could have a “chilling effect” on the willingness of people to speak to journalists. It also argues some of the work of civil society organisations – especially those involved in environmental and human rights advocacy – may be caught by the broad definition of “acts of foreign interference” because it includes clandestine acts that “are otherwise detrimental to the interests of Australia”.

Persecuting Assange Is A Blow To Reporting And Human Rights Advocacy

October 17, 2020 Janine Jackson, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Educate! Human Rights, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

If it were not for a tiny handful of journalists—ShadowProof’s Kevin Gosztola preeminent among them—Americans might be utterly unaware that a London magistrate, for the last month, has been considering nothing less than whether journalists have a right to publish information the US government doesn’t want them to. Not whether outlets can leak classified information, but whether they can publish that information on, as in the case of Wikileaks, US war crimes and torture and assorted malfeasance to do with, for instance, the war on Afghanistan, which just entered its 19th year, with zero US corporate media interest.

Ten Reasons Why The Assange Trial Threatens Freedom Of Speech

October 14, 2020 Fidel Navaez and Ben Norton, The Grayzone. Educate! Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

At the end of the hearings that seek to extradite journalist Julian Assange to the United States, on October 1, his defense team should have felt triumphant. Because with more than 30 witnesses and testimonies, throughout the whole month of September, they gave a beating to the prosecution representing the U.S. If the case in London were decided solely on justice, as it should in a state based on law, this battle would have been won by Assange. However, this “trial of the century” is, above all, a political trial, and there remains the feeling that the ruling was made beforehand, regardless of the law.

On Contact: Assange Extradition Hearing

October 4, 2020 Chris Hedges, RT. Resistance Report Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

Chris Hedges discusses with former British ambassador Craig Murray the hearing that just adjourned in London to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States. Murray’s exhaustive reporting, which can be found at craigmurray.org.uk, has become one of the few sources of reliable information about the hearing, which has become notoriously difficult to cover due to court restrictions imposed on the press, and is being ignored by most mainstream news organizations.

National Security Journalism Is On Trial

October 1, 2020 Jameel Jaffer, Just Security. Educate! Extradition, Journalism, Julian Assange, Press Freedom

Few American media organizations seem to have noticed, but the U.S. Justice Department has spent the past few weeks trying to persuade the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales to extradite Julian Assange to the United States to face charges under the 1917 Espionage Act. The hearing is scheduled to wind down at the end of this week. At this point Assange has alienated pretty much everyone, including many erstwhile supporters, and few people on this side of the Atlantic seem troubled by his indictment or by the possibility that he will be extradited, tried, convicted, and imprisoned.

Reportback: Julian Assange Hearing On Tuesday September 29

September 30, 2020 Craig Murray. Educate! Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

Tuesday has been another day on which the testimony focused on the extreme inhumane conditions in which Julian Assange would be kept imprisoned in the USA if extradited. The prosecution’s continued tactic of extraordinary aggression towards witnesses who are patently well informed played less well, and there were distinct signs that Judge Baraitser was becoming irritated by this approach. The totality of defence witnesses and the sheer extent of mutual corroboration they provided could not simply be dismissed by the prosecution attempting to characterise all of them as uninformed on a particular detail, still less as all acting in bad faith.

Report: Bad Day For Julian Assange

September 29, 2020 Craig Murray. Educate! Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

Today was the worst day for the defence since the start of the trial, as their expert witnesses failed to cope with the sheer aggression of cross-examination by the US Government and found themselves backing away from maintaining propositions they knew to be true. It was uncomfortable viewing. It was not that the prosecution had in any way changed their very systematic techniques of denigrating and browbeating; in fact the precise prosecution template was once again followed. It goes like this. undermine academic credentials as not precisely relevant humiliate by repeated memory test questions of precise phrasing of obscure regulations or definitions

Report: Julian Assange Hearing

September 28, 2020 Craig Murray. Educate! Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

It is hard to believe, but Judge Baraitser on Friday ruled that there will be no closing speeches in the Assange extradition hearing. She accepted the proposal initially put forward by counsel for the US government, that closing arguments should simply be submitted in writing and without an oral hearing. This was accepted by the defence, as they need time to address the new superseding indictment in the closing arguments, and Baraitser was not willing for oral argument to take place later than 8 October. By agreeing to written arguments only, the defence gained a further three weeks to put together the closing of their case.

Report, Thursday, September 24: Julian Assange

September 25, 2020 Craig Murray. Educate! Extradition, Julian Assange, Press Freedom, Wikileaks

During the hearing of medical evidence the last three days, the British government has been caught twice directly telling important lies about events in Belmarsh prison, each lie proven by documentary evidence. The common factor has been the medical records kept by Dr Daly, head of the jail’s medical services. There has also been, to put it at its very lightest, one apparent misrepresentation by Dr Daly. Personally, I am wary of the kind of person who impresses Ross Kemp. This is Mr Kemp’s description of the medical wing at Belmarsh: “Security is on another level here with six times more staff per inmate than the rest of the jail.”

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