Very soon ASSANGE in court again…
We’re just writing now to let you know that you’ve previously signed up to get updates from the Courage Foundation, and if you’d like to receive updates on our latest campaign, you’ll need to subscribe here. Courage fundraises and campaigns for the protection of journalistic sources, for journalists’ right to publish, and for your right to know. We launched in 2014 in the wake of Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations and escape from U.S. prosecutors, both to support Snowden’s courageous act of whistleblowing and to prepare for the next Snowden to come.
With limited resources and a small international team, Courage has raised funds and awareness for Chelsea Manning, Jeremy Hammond, Matt DeHart, Emin Huseynov, Barrett Brown, and Lauri Love. In 2018, with Courage’s backing, Lauri Love — a UK computer science student accused of digital civil disobedience against the persecution of Aaron Swartz — successfully defeated an extradition request from the United States.
Now Courage is standing up against another U.S. extradition request, this time for WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange. Wanted on 18 counts of espionage and computer crime for the 2010 publications of the Iraq and Afghan War Logs, State Department cables, and Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs, Assange’s case is a litmus test for the freedom of the press in the United States and around the world. If convicted, Assange would face up to 175 years in prison.
It’s important to know that Julian Assange is being indicted for publishing classified documents, provided to WikiLeaks by U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning, exposing U.S. war crimes and rampant corporate corruption. Assange is not wanted in connection with WikiLeaks’ 2016 publication of DNC emails.
The indictment against Assange marks the first-ever attempt to prosecute a journalist, in this case an Australian citizen operating in Europe, for publishing. A conviction would effectively be a death sentence for Assange — and for the First Amendment. The U.S. government cannot be allowed to dictate what is published about it, either within or beyond its borders.
Assange is currently imprisoned in the high-security Belmarsh prison in London, in conditions amounting to solitary confinement and where COVID19 has already killed fellow inmates. After visiting him in prison in May 2019, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer determined that Assange had suffered psychological torture.
Assange’s extradition hearing in London commenced for one week in February and is scheduled to resume for three more weeks on September 7th. The U.K. justice system has thus far proved chaotic: Assange has been served a superseding indictment that the court hadn’t been given, legal monitors from Reporters without Borders were turned away, and journalists following the case by teleconference were sent to the wrong court case or left on hold. We cannot allow this case to proceed without the press access necessary to hold it transparent and accountable.
Opposition to the U.S. extradition request is more important than ever. Stay tuned for announcements on upcoming events, extradition hearing coverage, and more.
Courage – couragefound.org@gmail.com
