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Press Freedom

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.

Lawsuit Succeeds In Lifting Gag Rules At Pittsburgh Jail

May 14, 2024 Yale Law School. , , , , ,
In a win for government accountability in Pennsylvania, the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic at Yale Law School and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press have succeeded in lifting Allegheny County Jail rules that forbid employees from talking to the press or posting information on social media. As part of a settlement reached in the federal First Amendment lawsuit on April 23, the Pittsburgh jail has adopted new policies that affirm employees’ right to speak and to disclose wrongdoing at the jail. The policies also empower jail employees to speak out to the press on matters of public concern.

Unicorn Riot Nets Resounding Win For Press Freedom Against Oil Corporation

May 11, 2024 Dan Feidt, Unicorn Riot. , , , ,
Saint Paul, MN — The Minnesota Court of Appeals issued a ruling favoring Unicorn Riot on Monday, May 6, rejecting the oil company Energy Transfer LP’s attempt to obtain newsgathering materials through a subpoena, blunting a three-year legal pressure campaign. In April 2021, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline started trying to force Unicorn Riot to give out sensitive and privileged materials developed in the process of covering the controversial fracked oil pipeline and the massive, historic organized resistance against it. (See our full-length documentary, Black Snake Killaz [2017], DAPL category, and Standing Rock and DAPL content tags for dozens of original stories.)

Israel Shuts Down Al Jazeera Operations In The Country

May 7, 2024 Abdul Rahman, People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , , ,
Two days after the world commemorated Press Freedom day, Israel ordered the Al Jazeera media network to be shut down, calling it a “threat to national security” on Sunday, May 5. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet unanimously voted to shut down Al Jazeera’s operations almost a month after the Israeli parliament had passed legislation which had given the government the right to shut down any foreign media channel in the country in the name of protecting national security. Israel had earlier accused Al Jazeera of colluding with Hamas and had also claimed it participated in the October 7 attacks.

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.

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.

How Britain Would Be Obliged To Free Julian Assange

April 12, 2024 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. , , , , ,
President Joe Biden’s remark on Wednesday that his administration is considering ending the prosecution of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange appears based on a calculation that the U.S. could lose in court on Assange’s appeal against Britain’s order to extradite him. The High Court of England and Wales in its ruling last month has given the United States until Tuesday to assure Assange will not face the death penalty or the court would have no choice but to follow the law and free Assange. The two-judge panel also ruled the U.S. must provide a First Amendment guarantee equivalent to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights

Biden Is ‘Considering’ Dropping Assange Case

April 11, 2024 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. , , , ,
President Joe Biden said Wednesday his administration is “considering” Australia’s request that the case against Julian Assange be dropped. Biden’s remark came in response to a reporter’s question at the White House on Wednesday. The news came in a tweet from  Kellie Meyer, a reporter for News Nation, who quoted a White House pool report from the Japanese prime minister’s visit. The exchange between the reporter and Biden was captured on video.

Biden Administration Equivocates On Federal Shield Law For Journalists

April 7, 2024 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. , , ,
The White House has refused to say whether President Joe Biden supports a federal shield law for journalists that would protect them from having to reveal their confidential sources. In January, the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act, or the PRESS Act, passed in the United States House of Representatives. The legislation would “prohibit the federal government from compelling journalists and providers of telecommunications services to provide information identifying a source or any other record obtained or created by journalists in the course of their work,” according to a House Judiciary Committee report.

Extradition Removes CIA’S ‘Rationale’ For Assassinating Assange

March 29, 2024 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. , , , ,
While recognizing that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had valid grounds to appeal extradition to the United States, the British High Court of Justice refused to consider “fresh evidence” involving the CIA. On March 26, the High Court granted Assange a limited appeal but adjourned the decision so that the U.S. government could submit "assurances" related to the court's concerns. The High Court astonishingly stated [PDF] that the “extreme measures” considered by the CIA were intended to keep Assange from fleeing to Russia. If he was “lawfully” in U.S. custody after extradition, there would no longer be a risk that the agency would kidnap or assassinate him.

Assange’s Fate Awaits US ‘Assurances’

March 26, 2024 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. , , , ,
The High Court in London on Tuesday gave the United States an opportunity to rebuff Julian Assange’s plea that he be allowed to appeal the Home Office’s order to extradite him to the U.S. to face espionage charges.  In a complex ruling at the Royal Courts of Justice, the court agreed with Assange that he had grounds to ask for an appeal, but invited the United States to give the court assurances by April 16 that could negate Assange’s arguments.  Specifically, the two-judge panel ruled that Assange had grounds to appeal because his extradition was incompatible with his rights of expression in the European Convention on Human Rights.

Assange And The Sickness Of US Prisons

March 14, 2024 John Kiriakou, Consortium News. , , , ,
Many of us nervously await news from the High Court of England and Wales on the fate of Julian Assange, hoping against hope that he won’t be extradited to the United States.  At the same time, we’re preparing for the worst. Julian has well-documented medical problems, including a small stroke while incarcerated two years ago.  He has consistently received subpar medical care at Belmarsh Prison in the U.K.  If anything, that will worsen once he arrives in the United States. I’ve written recently and extensively about prison medical care in the U.S.  It’s terrible.
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