Representatives James McGovern (Massachusetts) and Thomas Massey (R-Kentucky) have written a letter to President Biden asking for a pardon for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and for the administration to stop targeting his journalistic work. He asked them to “send a clear message.'' .
Australian publisher Assange pleaded guilty in June and received a prison term as part of an agreement with the US Department of Justice to end his jail term in London for publishing classified US military documents leaked by intelligence sources. It was announced. Assange spent years trying to avoid extradition from the UK to the US.
“We begin by expressing our gratitude for the government's decision last spring to expedite the resolution of the criminal case against publisher Julian Assange and withdraw the related extradition request pending in the UK.” wrote Biden in a letter. . “This ends Mr Assange's long period of detention, allowing him to be reunited with his family and return to his homeland of Australia.”
Before the plea deal, Assange, 53, was facing: 17 charges under the Espionage Act One count alleging receiving, possessing, and communicating confidential information to the public and conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. The agreement spared him the possibility of spending up to 175 years in a maximum-security prison in the United States.
WikiLeaks' Julian Assange says he admitted 'crimes against journalism' to be freed
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (centre), his wife Stella Assange (right), and WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Christine raise their fists as they arrive at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, eastern France, on Tuesday, October 1, 2024.・Mr. Hrabunson. (AP Photo/Pascal Bastien)
The charges were filed by the Trump administration's Department of Justice over WikiLeaks' 2010 release of leaked cables by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, and the Biden administration's investigation into the charges was brought by the Trump administration's Justice Department until a plea deal was reached. The prosecution continued. The cables detailed alleged war crimes committed by the U.S. government in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, as well as instances in which the CIA was involved in torture and deportation.
WikiLeaks' “collateral murder” video, which showed U.S. forces shooting civilians in Iraq, including two Reuters journalists, was also released 14 years ago.
The lawmakers told Biden, who is scheduled to retire in January, that they were “deeply concerned that the agreement that closed the case required Assange to plead guilty to a felony charge under Section 793 of the Espionage Act. '', emphasizing the importance of this decision. Prosecuting Assange under the Espionage Act “raised alarm” not only among defenders of freedom of expression and freedom of the press, but also among members of Congress.
In 2013, the Obama administration decided not to prosecute Assange over WikiLeaks' 2010 release of confidential cables because it would have required the prosecution of journalists at major news organizations who had published the same material.
President Obama too Manning's 35-year prison sentence commuted Manning, who was sentenced to seven years in prison in January 2017 for violating the Espionage Act and other charges, was released later that year after being imprisoned since 2010.
“Simply put, section 793, which criminalizes the acquisition, retention and disclosure of confidential information, can be used against journalists and news organizations engaged in their normal activities, especially those conducting interviews. , there are long-standing and well-founded concerns about national security, and this risk reportedly influenced the Obama administration's decision not to prosecute Mr. Assange,” McGovern and Massey wrote. Ta.
Julian Assange secures freedom through plea deal with us, sentenced to prison
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (center) arrives at a U.S. courthouse for a plea deal in Saipan, Mariana Islands, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP)
Assange has been held in London's high-security Belmarsh Prison since April 11, 2019, when he was expelled from the Ecuadorian embassy for breaching his bail conditions. He had applied for asylum at the embassy since 2012 to avoid being extradited to Sweden on charges of raping two women. Sweden offers no guarantee that it will protect him from extradition to the United States. The investigation into the sexual assault charges was ultimately closed due to lack of evidence. .
He was the first journalist to be prosecuted under this law. Espionage laws.
“The terms of Mr. Assange's plea agreement set a precedent that deeply concerns us,” the letter said. “After reviewing the charges under the Espionage Act, it became clear that Mr. Assange's case was the first time the Act had been applied against a publisher.”
Lawmakers said they share the views of Committee to Protect Journalists chief executive Jodi Ginsburg, who said in response to the plea deal, “We are committed to keeping him in custody.'' While we welcome the end, the U.S. pursuit of Assange has set up harmful legal issues.''It would set a precedent that would pave the way for journalists to be tried under the Espionage Act if they received confidential material from a whistleblower. ”
“We therefore urge you to consider issuing a pardon to Mr. Assange,” the lawmakers wrote. “A pardon removes the precedent set by the petition and sends a clear message that the U.S. government under your leadership will not target or investigate journalists or news organizations simply for doing their jobs. Become.”
Last year, while Mr. Assange was still in a London prison seeking extradition to the United States, Mr. McGovern and Mr. Massey wrote a letter to Biden signed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers urging the president to drop the case against Mr. Assange. led.
Mr Assange's brother, Gabriel Shipton, is scheduled to return to Washington DC in January as part of his campaign to ask Mr Biden to pardon the WikiLeaks founder before leaving office.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange agrees to plea deal to avoid prison time in US
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, left, is escorted as he arrives at a U.S. courthouse to take part in a plea deal, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, in Saipan, Mariana Islands. (AP)
Shipton and Assange's wife, Stella, called Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese a farewell call to the president, who had asked for Assange's prosecution to be halted before the plea deal and said they had filed a lawsuit against Biden. He urged the government to urge him to grant amnesty. Call the outgoing commander-in-chief.
As a condition of his plea, Assange was required to destroy classified information provided to WikiLeaks.
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At a sentencing hearing in June in federal court in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific Ocean, U.S. District Judge Ramona Mangroña said there was no evidence that anyone had been implicated by WikiLeaks' publications. He pointed out that the US government has admitted that there is no such thing. harm the road.
“The government has said there are no individual victims here, meaning the dissemination of this information has not caused any known physical injury,” the judge said at the time. “These two facts are very related. If this were something that wasn't already known and it was closer, I would say: [2012] I have no intention of accepting this plea bargain in front of me. But that's 2024. ”
