International press asks US to suspend proceedings against Assange

Several international media organizations that helped WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange publish diplomatic cables this Monday asked the United States to drop the lawsuit for attacking press freedom.

This is stated in a letter published in New York Times🇧🇷 Le Monde🇧🇷 country🇧🇷 Der Spiegel or The keepernewspapers that collaborated 12 years ago to release excerpts from 250,000 compromising documents on the US administration.

The documents were obtained by an Australian journalist as part of a scandal that began after the data was obtained by then US soldier Bradley Manning.

The media executives who released these secret revelations in Washington have now banded together to oppose plans by a US court to indict Assange under legislation aimed at prosecuting World War I spies.

“Publishing is not a crime,” the letter said, which viewed Assange’s trial as “a direct attack on press freedom.”

Assange has been held in the UK’s Belmarsh High Security Prison in south London since he was arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in the British capital in 2019, where he has lived as a refugee for seven years.

Last June, the former UK Home Secretary approved Assange’s extradition to the US, although the Australian’s lawyers later filed an appeal to challenge the decision.

British newspaper The keeper recalls this Monday that under a mandate from former US President Barack Obama, the US administration has decided that it will not prosecute the founder of WikiLeaks for leaking information in 2010 because it would set a precedent.

Now the international press is calling on the current Joe Biden administration to drop the charges against Assange.

The letter, published this Monday by various media outlets, expresses “serious concern” about the continuation of the lawsuit against Julian Assange for obtaining and publishing confidential material.

“Obtaining and disclosing classified information when it is necessary for the public interest is a fundamental part of the daily work of journalists. If this work is criminalized, our public discourse and our democracy will become much weaker,” they note.

“Twelve years after the publication of Wikileaks by the US administration, it is time to end the process against Julian Assange for publishing classified documents. Publication is not a crime,” the newspapers conclude.

The revelations on the digital portal WikiLeaks revealed the secrets of US actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, information about extrajudicial detentions in the Guantanamo prison (on the island of Cuba) and diplomatic cables revealing human rights violations around the world.

In this regard, the Wikileaks revelations have sparked diplomatic tensions around the world, sparked a broad debate about the legality or illegality of the leaks, and led many, both inside and outside of journalism, to question the future consequences.

Adding to the controversy were debates about freedom of expression, cyber warfare, the identity of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, and “copycats”: new forums on the Internet that make room for identical filters.