Julian Assange's prosecution threatens global media freedom: IEJ, EFJ

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
14 Feb 2024 22:20
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The Wikileaks founder is currently awaiting a potentially final appeal hearing scheduled at the High Court in London from February 20-21.

A pedestrian walks past posters in support of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange laid out at the Torre del Angel entrance by protesters demanding his freedom, in Mexico City, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023 (AP)

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) said on Wednesday that the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange represents a global threat to media freedom.

"The ongoing prosecution of Julian Assange jeopardizes media freedom everywhere in the world," the IFJ and EFJ said in a joint statement.

In April 2019, Assange was transferred to London's high-security Belmarsh prison for breaching bail conditions. He faces prosecution in the US under the Espionage Act for obtaining and disclosing classified information.

If found guilty, he could be sentenced to up to 175 years in prison.

Last June, Assange's appeal at the UK High Court was unsuccessful.

He is currently awaiting a potentially final appeal hearing scheduled at the High Court in London from February 20-21.

CPJ perpetually excludes Assange from imprisoned journalists list

For the fifth consecutive year, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has ignored Jullian Assange again in its census report for 2023.

This prompted Kevin Gosztola, a journalist for Scheerpost, to email the CPJ and demand answers on why Assange is still excluded, however, Gosztola was met with disappointment.

CPJ answered by matching its exact statement from a 2019 post authored by Robert Mahoney, CPJ executive editor in which he stood by the exclusion of the Australian activist and journalist:

"After extensive research and consideration, CPJ chose not to list Assange as a journalist, in part because his role has just as often been as a source and because WikiLeaks does not generally perform as a news outlet with an editorial process."

When Gosztola mentioned that “extensive research and consideration” was completed in 2019, CPJ answered: “Yes, there have been many articles about our position on Assange. While you’re free to disagree, our position has been clear, transparent, and consistent for years.”

The "extensive research and consideration" that CPJ did to decide that Assange is not a journalist has never been shared with the public, according to Gosztola who stressed that Assange never held a security clearance or a position in the US government that would allow him access to classified documents.

A US Army intelligence analyst, Chelsea Manning, is the source of the documents at issue in the Espionage Act prosecution against Assange. She submitted over 700,000 files that were classified military and government documents to WikiLeaks and Assange published them in 2010 and 2011.

Noting that CPJ ignored Gosztola's comment on what labels someone as a journalist, they previously defined a journalist as someone who covers the news or comments on public affairs through any media —including in print, in photographs, on radio, on television, and online."

When asked by Gosztola if they were under pressure from the US, CPJ ignored this question completely.

There was no posting on CPJ’s website about Assange through the entirety of 2023, as well as an obvious lack of acknowledgment of Assange’s detention in the UK. CPJ has also ignored the lawsuit against the CIA for allegedly "copying the contents of journalists’ electronic devices" when they visited Assange.