UK, US officials pressured journalists to aid in Assange prosecution
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According to James Ball of Rolling Stone, the Justice Department and FBI have used "vague threats and pressure tactics" to elicit compliance from journalists.
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, February 5, 2016. (AP)
According to James Ball of Rolling Stone, the US Justice Department is conducting a propaganda campaign against journalists in order to strengthen its criminal prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Meanwhile on Monday, Amnesty International released a statement calling on the Australian government to take all necessary measures to ensure the WikiLeaks founder's safe release.
According to James Ball, the Justice Department and FBI have used "vague threats and pressure tactics" to elicit compliance from journalists, citing his own experience being harassed by government authorities.
Ball temporarily worked and lived with Assange, who is currently imprisoned in the United Kingdom and facing extradition to the United States for allegedly breaking the Espionage Act.
Ball wrote an article in 2013 criticizing WikiLeaks, its handling of US State Department cables, and its ties with writer Israel Shamir. According to the report, the US government attempted to make official assertions made in the article by getting Ball to submit testimony on the subject.
Check out: A Man VS An Empire: WikiLeaks... Truth as it is
According to the article, UK law enforcement officers approached Ball in 2021 and informed his lawyer during a meeting that they work closely with US spy agencies and that "James Ball" is not a real identity. Ball expressed astonishment at the claims and confirmed that his birth name is still James Ball.
The report quoted the prosecutor as stating that he "cannot help but ask whether Mr. Ball would reconsider his decision about speaking to the investigators, even if only just to respond to Shamir’s allegations."
Ball turned down the US Justice Department's request, and his attorneys urged him not to travel to the US, where he might be easily subpoenaed or detained, or speak publicly about the incident, according to the article.
The article also revealed that three additional journalists who previously worked with Assange have been approached by law officials and have stated their desire not to comply.
In the report, Ball details how "in other words, I wasn’t the only one worried about the ‘voluntary’ request I had received,” adding that “the two years spent not traveling to the US, on legal advice, has stifled stories I would otherwise have written for US outlets. I had a credible fear of prosecution.”
The Justice Department’s actions are endangering the media’s constitutional rights, the report said. Ball calls on the Biden administration to explain its handling of the Assange case and why it is worth stifling journalistic efforts, according to the report.
According to the study, the Justice Department's activities are threatening the media's constitutional rights. Ball has asked the Biden administration to explain its treatment of the Assange matter and why it is worth suppressing media efforts.
Assange, who provided the world with important and dangerous information, paid a steep price for his revelations, but as a result, he established a new and pioneering school in investigative journalism around the world.
Julian Assange; a name that emerged in the media and international arena after WikiLeaks, a website he founded in 2010, revealed important and dangerous information and facts about what the United States government and other governments have wrought in the Middle East - crimes they have not been held accountable for yet. As a result, Assange faced pressure and persecution, until he was arrested by the British police in 2019 after seeking refuge for seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
