[ "The bottom line is that journalism is not a crime," said Rep.
Jim McGovern. "The stakes are too high for us to remain silent." ]
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US LAWMAKERS RENEW CALL FOR BIDEN TO DROP CHARGES AGAINST JULIAN
ASSANGE  
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Brett Wilkins
November 6, 2023
Common Dreams
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_ "The bottom line is that journalism is not a crime," said Rep. Jim
McGovern. "The stakes are too high for us to remain silent." _

Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange protest outside
London's Old Bailey court on September 7, 2020 as his fight against
extradition to the U.S. resumed. (Photo: Richard Baker/Getty Images),

 

Imploring the Biden administration to "not pursue an unnecessary
prosecution that risks criminalizing common journalistic practices," a
bipartisan group of 16 U.S. lawmakers have signed a letter
[[link removed]] dated
Wednesday to President Joe Biden urging him to end the attempted
extradition of Julian Assange and drop all charges against the jailed
publisher.

"Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, faces multiple charges under the
Espionage Act due to his role in publishing classified documents about
the U.S. State Department, Guantánamo Bay, and wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan," states the letter, which is led by Reps. Jim McGovern
(D-Mass.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). "He has been detained on remand
in London since 2019 and is pending extradition to the U.S., having
lost his appeal of the extradition order in the courts of the United
Kingdom."

Assange—who suffers
[[link removed]] from
physical and mental health problems including heart and respiratory
issues—published materials, many of them provided by whistleblower
Chelsea Manning, exposing U.S. and allied war crimes, including
the "Collateral Murder"
[[link removed]] video showing a U.S. Army
helicopter crew killing a group of Iraqi civilians, the Afghan War
Diary [[link removed]], and
the Iraq War Logs
[[link removed]].

"Deep concerns about this case have been repeatedly expressed by
international media outlets, human rights, and press freedom
advocates, and members of Congress," the lawmakers wrote. "In April of
this year... members of the House argued
[[link removed]] to
Attorney General Merrick Garland that 'every day that the prosecution
of Julian Assange continues is another day that our own government
needlessly undermines our own moral authority abroad and rolls back
the freedom of the press under the First Amendment at home.'"

The new letter has been signed by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
[[link removed]] (D-N.Y.), Jamaal
Bowman
[[link removed]] (D-N.Y.), Ayanna
Pressley
[[link removed]] (D-Mass.), Greg
Casar (D-Texas), Ilhan Omar
[[link removed]] (D-Minn.), Cori Bush
[[link removed]] (D-Mo.), Rashida Tlaib
[[link removed]] (D-Mich.), Eric
Burlison (R-Mo.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Paul Gosar (R-Az.),
Jesús "Chuy" García (D-Ill.), Pramila Jayapal
[[link removed]] (D-Wash.), Matthew
Rosendale (R-Mont.), and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

Ina message
[[link removed]] last
month inviting congressional colleagues to sign the letter, McGovern
and Massie explained that their goal is"to strongly encourage the
Biden administration to withdraw the U.S. extradition request
currently pending against Australian publisher Julian Assange and halt
all prosecutorial proceedings against him as soon as possible."

McGovern said
[[link removed]] last
month in a statement to _The Intercept_ that "the bottom line is
that journalism is not a crime."

"The work reporters do is about transparency, trust, and speaking
truth to power," he added. "When they are unjustly targeted, we all
suffer the consequences. The stakes are too high for us to remain
silent."

The new letter follows last month's official state visit of Australian
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, an Assange supporter who raised the
jailed journalist's case with President Joe Biden, insisting
[[link removed]] that
"enough is enough." A cross-party delegation of Australian lawmakers
also traveled
[[link removed]] to
the U.S. ahead of Albanese's visit in an effort to pressure the Biden
administration "to cease its pursuit and prosecution of Julian
Assange."

Imploring Americans to put themselves in Australian shoes, former
Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce told reporters after
meeting with U.S. officials during the lawmakers' trip: "Imagine if
the Australian government said, 'Hey you in Murfreesboro, Tennessee,
as far as we're concerned, you committed a crime, and you're going to
Canberra where we're going to send you to jail for 175 years,' you'd
be up us like a rat up a drainpipe."

According to
[[link removed]] the
United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Assange has been
arbitrarily deprived of his freedom since he was arrested on December
7, 2010. Since then he has been held under house arrest, confined for
seven years in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London while he was protected
by the administration of former Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa,
and jailed in London's notorious maximum-security Belmarsh Prison,
where he is now.

If fully convicted of the Espionage Act charges,
Assange—who fathered
[[link removed]] two
children with attorney Stella Morris, whom he married
[[link removed]] last year, while holed up in
the Ecuadorean Embassy—could be sentenced to 175 years in prison.

_Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams._

_Common Dreams is a reader-supported independent news outlet created
in 1997 as a new media model.  Our nonprofit newsroom covers the most
important news stories of the moment. Common Dreams free online
journalism keeps our millions of readers well-informed, inspired, and
engaged._

_We are optimists. We believe real change is possible. But only if
enough well-informed, well-intentioned—and just plain fed up and
fired-up—people demand it. We believe that together we can attain
our common dreams._

* Julian Assange
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* press freedom
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* Espionage Act
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* Civil Liberties
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* WikiLeaks
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