Oversight
The Case Against Julian Assange Is a Threat to Journalists Everywhere
Any precedent set for his news-gathering activities could be used against news outlets that report on Trump
The Trump administration is counting on the public’s dislike of WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange to potentially curtail press freedom rights. Don’t fall for it.
In a stunning series of events on Thursday, Assange’s asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London — where he’s taken refuge for the last seven years — was forcibly revoked, and he was quickly arrested by British authorities. Shortly after his arrest, the Department of Justice released an indictment alleging Assange engaged in a conspiracy to commit computer crimes and indicated it would attempt to extradite Assange to the United States to stand trial.
The charge was not related to WikiLeaks’ controversial publication of hacked emails during the 2016 election. Instead, the charged focused on Assange’s role in gathering and publishing classified U.S. Pentagon and State Department documents in 2010, which were provided to the organization by whistleblower and one-time Army private Chelsea Manning.
