They believe that “twelve years after the first publications”, “it’s time for the US government to drop the charges against Julian Assange”, “publishing is not a crime”
Four of the world’s largest newspapers – the American New York Times, the British Guardian, Spain’s El Pais, France’s Le Monde – and the German magazine Der Spiegel today called on the US government to drop the charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, for massive leak of documents.
The 51-year-old Australian is being prosecuted in the US for publishing since 2010 more than 700,000 confidential documents about US military and diplomatic activities, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have been the source of a series of revelations by these five media outlets. Assange faces up to 175 years in prison.
He was arrested by British police in 2019 after seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and is currently being held in a maximum security prison near London, awaiting a hearing on his appeal against the British government’s decision to extradite him to the US .
“Gathering and disseminating sensitive information when necessary in the public interest is an essential part of journalists’ daily work,” write the editors-in-chief and CEOs of the five media outlets.
“If this work is criminalized, not only the quality of public dialogue but also our democracies will be significantly weakened.”
They believe that “twelve years after the first publications”, “the time has come for the US government to drop the charges against Julian Assange”, “the publication is not a crime”.
They recall that the five media editors “felt it necessary to publicly criticize his stance in 2011 when the full texts of diplomatic cables were published, and some of us are still troubled by the allegation that (Assange) helped gain electronic access to a secret database’. “But today we jointly express our great concern about the endless legal proceedings to which Julian Assange is being subjected,” they emphasize.
The authors of the text point out that the action, launched under the US presidency of Donald Trump, and based on legislation dating back to 1917 to combat espionage “has never been used against journalists, media or broadcasters”. “Such an indictment creates a dangerous precedent” and “threatens freedom of information”, they underline.
Last month, US Attorney General Merrick Garland issued new, more protective guidelines for journalists, but stopped short of any final consequences for Julian Assange. These new guidelines authorize the prosecution of journalists suspected of acting as agents of foreign powers and support a case-by-case approach to cases involving individuals who are not necessarily journalists in the traditional sense of the term.
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
