Reps. McGovern and Massie urge Biden to pardon Julian Assange and ‘send a clear message’ on press freedom

U.S. Reps. James McGovern, D-Mass. and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., wrote a letter to President Biden urging him to pardon the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange “to send a clear message” that his administration will not target journalistic activities.

Assange, an Australian broadcaster, pleaded guilty in June and was sentenced to prison as part of a deal he reached with the US Department of Justice to end his prison term in London on charges of publishing classified US military documents leaked to him by a source. Assange spent years avoiding extradition from UK to US

“We write, first, to express our appreciation for your administration’s decision last spring to facilitate the resolution of the criminal case against broadcaster Julian Assange and to withdraw the relevant extradition request pending in the United Kingdom,” the lawmakers wrote to Biden. . “This ended Mr Assange’s lengthy detention and allowed him to be reunited with his family and return to his native Australia.”

Assange, 53, was facing charges before the plea deal. 17 crimes under the Espionage Act one count of conspiracy to obtain, possess and publicly communicate confidential information, as well as conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. The deal helped him avoid the potential of spending up to 175 years in an American maximum security prison.

WIKILEAKS’ JULIAN ASSANGE SAID THAT HE CLAIMED ‘JOURNALISM CRIME’ TO BE RELEASED

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (center), his wife Stella Assange (right) and WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson raise their fists as they arrive at the European Council in Strasbourg, eastern France, on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Pascal Bastien)

The accusations were brought forward by the Trump administration’s Department of Justice after WikiLeaks published cables leaked by US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in 2010, and the Biden administration continued to prosecute until the plea agreement. The cables detail alleged war crimes committed by the US government in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, as well as examples of the CIA’s acts of torture and rendition.

WikiLeaks’ “Secondary Murder” video, which showed the US army shooting civilians, including two Reuters reporters, in Iraq was also published 14 years ago.

Lawmakers told Biden, who will leave office in January, that they were “deeply concerned that the agreement ending the case required Mr. Assange to plead guilty to serious charges under Section 793 of the Espionage Act.” Prosecuting Assange under the Espionage Act “raised alarms” among members of Congress as well as advocates for freedom of speech and the press.

In 2013, the Obama administration decided not to indict Assange for WikiLeaks’ publication of classified cables in 2010 because it would have to also indict journalists from major news organizations who published the same materials.

President Obama too Reduced Manning’s 35-year sentence He was sentenced to up to seven years in prison in January 2017 for violations of the Espionage Act and other crimes, and Manning, who had been in prison since 2010, was released at the end of the same year.

“Simply put, there is a long-standing and well-founded concern that Section 793, which criminalises the acquisition, retention or disclosure of sensitive information, could be used against journalists and news organisations, particularly those who report, in the ordinary course of their activities. McGovern and Massie “This risk reportedly led to the Obama administration’s decision not to prosecute Mr. Assange,” he wrote.

AFTER JULIAN ASSANGE MADE A DEAL WITH US, WE SECURED HIS FREEDOM, AND FINALLY HE WAS PUNISHED.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (center) arrives at the U.S. courthouse to negotiate a plea deal in Saipan, Mariana Islands, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP)

Assange had been held in London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison since he was removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy on April 11, 2019, for violating his bail conditions. He had been seeking asylum at the embassy since 2012 to avoid being sent to Sweden due to allegations that he raped two women because Sweden did not provide assurances that it would protect him from extradition to the United States. .

He became the first journalist to be sued Espionage Act.

“The terms of Mr. Assange’s plea agreement now set a precedent that greatly deepens our concerns,” the letter says. “A review of prosecutions under the Espionage Act makes clear that Mr. Assange’s case is the first time the Act has been brought against a publisher.”

Members of Congress said they shared the view of Jodie Ginsberg, chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists, who reacted to the Plea Agreement with the following words: “While we welcome the end of detention, the United States’ pursuit of Assange has led to harmful legislation.” “It will set a precedent by paving the way for journalists to be prosecuted under the Espionage Act if they receive classified material from whistleblowers.”

“We therefore urge you to consider amnesty for Mr. Assange,” the MPs wrote. “A pardon would break the precedent set by the defense and send a clear message that the U.S. government, under your leadership, will not target or investigate journalists and media organizations simply for doing their jobs.”

McGovern and Massie last year, while Assange was still jailed in London and fighting extradition to the US led to letter Letter to Biden signed by a bipartisan group of congressmen calling on the president to drop the case against Assange.

Assange’s brother, Gabriel Shipton, is returning to Washington DC in January as part of a campaign urging Biden to pardon the WikiLeaks founder before he leaves office.

WIKILEAKS FOUNDER JULIAN ASSANGE DEMANDED TO AVOID JAIL SENTENCE IN THE USA

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (left) is escorted to the U.S. courthouse to negotiate a plea deal Wednesday, June 26, 2024, in Saipan, Mariana Islands. (AP)

Shipton and Assange’s wife, Stella, asked Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who called for an end to the investigation into Assange before the plea agreement and said he had forwarded the case to Biden, to call on the president to issue a pardon in his farewell phone call. Meet with 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 her sentencing hearing in June in federal court in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. Commonwealth in the Pacific, U.S. District Judge Ramona Manglona noted that the U.S. government had acknowledged there was no evidence that WikiLeaks publications implicated anyone in the crime. harms it in some way.

“The government has stated that there is no personal victim here. This suggests to me that the dissemination of this information did not result in any known physical injury,” the judge said at the time. “Those two facts are very relevant. If this was still unknown and closer to (2012), I would say I wouldn’t be as willing to accept this plea deal before I do. But this is 2024.”