U.S. Reps. James McGovern, D-Mass., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., wrote a letter to President Biden urging him to pardon WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to “send a clear message” that his administration will not target Journalist activities
Assange, an Australian publisher. Pleaded guilty in June. and was sentenced to prison time as part of a plea deal he reached with the U.S. Department of Justice. To end his imprisonment in London for the release of secret US military documents. As sources leaked to him, Assange has spent years trying to avoid extradition from the UK to the US.
“First, we write to express our appreciation for your administration’s decision last spring. “To facilitate the resolution of the criminal case against publisher Julian Assange and to withdraw the relevant extradition request pending in the United Kingdom,” the lawmakers wrote to Biden. “This makes the detention of Mr. Assange The protracted period has ended. and allowed him to be reunited with his family again. and returned to his home country of Australia.”
Before the deal, Assange, 53, was facing 17 charges under the Espionage Act on charges of receiving, possessing, and disseminating confidential information to the public, and one charge of conspiring to intrude into a computer system. The deal allows him to avoid the prospect of spending 175 years in a maximum security prison in America.
WIKILEAKS’ JULIAN ASSANGE says he begged ‘Offenses Against Journalism’ in order to be released
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (center) with his wife Stella Assange (right) and WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristin Hrafnsson raise their fists as they arrive. European Council in Strasbourg east of france On Tuesday 10 Oct. 1 Nov. 2024 (AP Photo/Pascal Bastian)
The Trump administration’s Justice Department is prosecuting the charges. According to the publication of a 2010 WikiLeaks cable leaked by US military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. And the Biden administration is continuing to prosecute until a plea agreement is reached. The cable details allegations of war crimes committed by the U.S. government in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention camps, including CIA involvement in torture and other crimes.
WikiLeaks’ ‘Collateral Murder’ video showing US military Killing civilians in Iraq including two Reuters journalists It was also published 14 years ago.
Lawmakers told Biden Assange, who is due to resign in January, said they were “gravely concerned that the settlement agreement requires Assange to plead guilty to criminal charges under Section 793 of the Espionage Act,” emphasizing that that such a decision to prosecute Assange under the Espionage Act “To send a warning signal” to members of Congress as well as supporting freedom of expression and freedom of the media
In 2013, the Obama administration decided not to prosecute Assange over the release of secret WikiLeaks cables in 2010 because it would require prosecuting journalists from major news organizations. that also publish the same type of media
President Obama too Manning’s 35-year prison sentence reduced for violating the Espionage Act and other offenses for seven years in January 2017, and Manning, who had been imprisoned since 2010, was released later that year.
“Simply put, there are long-standing and well-founded concerns that Section 793, which provides that the acquisition, retention or disclosure of sensitive information, may be a criminal offence. May be applied to journalists and news organizations engaged in their normal activities. Especially those that cover national security topics This risk reportedly informed the Obama administration’s decision not to prosecute Assange,” McGovern and Massie wrote.
JULIAN ASSANGE maintains his freedom in agreement with us. Sentenced to prison time
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (center) arrives at the US courthouse. to enter into an agreement in Saipan Mariana Islands Wednesday, June 26, 2024 (AP)
Assange is being held at high security Belmarsh Prison in London. Since being transferred from the Ecuadorian Embassy on April 11, 2019 for violating bail conditions He has sought refuge at the embassy since 2012 to avoid being deported to Sweden over allegations that he raped two women. This is because Sweden will not provide guarantees to protect him from extradition to the United States. An investigation into allegations of sexual harassment was eventually dropped due to lack of evidence.
He is the first journalist to be charged under Espionage Act
“The terms of Mr. Assange’s plea agreement set a precedent that deepens our concerns,” the letter said. “A review of prosecutions under the Espionage Act makes it clear that Mr. Assange’s case is the first of its kind. that this Act has been applied to publishers.”
Members of parliament said They shared the views of Jodi Ginsburg, the top executive of the Committee to Protect Journalists. which responded to the agreement by saying “Although we welcome the end of his incarceration, But the United States Pursuing Assange instead creates dangerous legislation. Setting a precedent by opening the way for journalists to be prosecuted under the Espionage Act if they receive secret information from a whistleblower.”
“We encourage you to consider issuing a pardon to Mr. Assange,” the lawmakers wrote. “A pardon erases the precedent set in the petition. and send a clear message that the US government Under your leadership, journalists and media will not be targeted or investigated just to do their jobs.”
Last year, while Assange was still in a London prison fighting extradition to the United States, McGovern and Massie brought a letter to Biden signed by a bipartisan group of congressional colleagues calling on the president to end it. The case against Assange
Gabriel Shipton, Assange’s younger brother Returning to Washington, D.C. in January. as part of a campaign calling for Biden WikiLeaks founder pardoned before leaving office
JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS founder, reaches deal to avoid jail time in US
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (left) is taken to a US court. To make an agreement in Saipan, Mariana Islands, Wednesday, June 26, 2024 (AP)
Stella, wife of Shipton and Assange asked Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. That was before the plea agreement called for an end to Assange’s prosecution. and said he had raised the case with Biden. to demand that the president issue a pardon in a farewell telephone call Call the commander-in-chief who is about to leave.
As a condition of his plea, Assange is required to destroy classified information given to WikiLeaks.
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During a hearing in June at the federal court in Saipan. Capital of the Northern Mariana Islands which is the commonwealth of the United States in the pacific ocean U.S. District Judge Ramona Manglona noted that the U.S. government admitting that there is no evidence that WikiLeaks’ publications put anyone in harm’s way
“The government says there are no personal victims here. That tells me that the publication of this information did not result in any physical injury,” the judge said at the time. “These two facts are very related. I will say that if I didn’t know and it was closer to 2012, I wouldn’t have been so inclined to accept this deal in front of me. But that is 2024.”
