A British High Court has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/26/world/europe/julian-assange-uk-court-us-extradition.html?smtyp=cur&amp;smid=tw-nytimes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">granted</a> Julian Assange limited leave to appeal his extradition to the United States from the United Kingdom.
The United States has until April 16 to provide “assurances” that Assange “is permitted to rely on the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (which protects free speech), that he is not prejudiced at trial (including sentence) by reason of his nationality, that he is afforded the same First Amendment protections as a United States citizen and that the death penalty is not imposed” or else the court will grant Assange the right to a full appeal hearing regarding his extradition.
The United States has sought to extradite Assange since 2019, having accused him of violating the Espionage Act by publishing in 2010 tens of thousands of classified documents he obtained from Chelsea Manning, a former intelligence analyst.
The Heritage Foundation has <a href="https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/commentary/julian-assange-should-not-be-pardoned" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pointed out</a>:
<blockquote>
A formal government review of Assange’s actions and of their consequences found the following:
</blockquote>
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li>
<blockquote>Multiple lives were lost and others were put at risk.</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>U.S. diplomatic relations were severely harmed.</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>Foreign militaries changed their tactics and procedures—making them more difficult to predict and counter.</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>Key intelligence sources and methods were lost or disrupted.</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>Tens of millions of taxpayer funds were wasted responding to or mitigating the threat posed by these illegal disclosures.</blockquote>
</li>
</ul>
“Assange, a self-proclaimed ‘famous teenage hacker in Australia,’ has a long history of actively encouraging and recruiting individuals to hack into non-public systems to obtain sensitive classified information, often telling those individuals how to exploit system vulnerabilities and providing those individuals with a list of targets,” the Heritage Foundation added.
In late 2010, Assange moved from Great Britain to Sweden, where the police issued an international arrest warrant for him after accusations of sexual assault. In June 2012, the Ecuadorean Embassy in London offered him asylum, which lasted until 2019, at which point the United States indicted him for violating the Espionage Act.
Assange was then arrested; in 2021, a British judge denied the extradition order, a decision that was reversed by the British High Court. In 2022, British Home Secretary Priti Patel approved the extradition request.
In the decision released Tuesday, the court noted, “Turning however to the 2003 Act, the starting point is that the language of section 81(a) is clear. It precludes extradition where extradition is for the purpose of prosecuting the requested person on account of their political opinions. It says nothing, however, about preventing extradition for a political offence. Although there may be a degree of overlap, the two are separate concepts.”
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Although Assange’s lawyers say he could be sentenced to 175 years in prison in America, the U.S. government’s attorneys say it is more likely he would be sentenced to four to six years in prison.

Julian Assange

Julian Assange Granted Limited Appeal To Challenge Extradition To U.S.

Courts

Extradition

WikiLeaks

World

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/ben-jerrys" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ben &amp; Jerry&#8217;s</a> founder Ben Cohen was arrested Thursday in front of the Department of Justice (DOJ) during a protest against the detainment of Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange.
Cohen, a co-founder of the popular ice cream brand, was <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/07/06/ben-jerrys-co-founder-ben-cohen-arrested-during-dc-protest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrested</a> in Washington, D.C. by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for blocking an entrance to the DOJ. Cohen can be seen in photos from the protest sitting in front of one of the entrances to the DOJ before he was led away in handcuffs by law enforcement.
A left-wing activist group called CODEPINK was demonstrating alongside Cohen. A woman can be seen in photos from the protest holding a pink and black sign reading &#8220;Free Assange.&#8221; Clouds of pink smoke from the protesters are also visible.
<div id="attachment_583503" style="width: 416px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-583503" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-583503" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519966042-300x200.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 06: As a pink smoke bomb clouds the air, Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben &amp; Jerry’s ice cream, refuses to leave an entrance outside the Department of Justice before being arrested July 6, 2023 in Washington, DC. Cohen was arrested after protesting the Department of Justice’s prosecution of Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)" width="406" height="270" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519966042-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519966042-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519966042-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519966042.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 406px) 100vw, 406px" />Win McNamee/Getty Images</div>
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_583517" style="width: 416px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-583517" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-583517" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519962833-300x200.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 06: Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben &amp; Jerry’s ice cream, refuses to leave an entrance outside the Department of Justice before being arrested July 6, 2023 in Washington, DC. Cohen was arrested after protesting the Department of Justice’s prosecution of Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)" width="406" height="270" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519962833-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519962833-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519962833-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519962833.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 406px) 100vw, 406px" />Win McNamee/Getty Images</div>
In another photo from the demonstration, Cohen stands next to a large sign reading &#8220;Freedom of the Press&#8221; that resembles the Constitution. The sign has been lit on fire.
<div id="attachment_583529" style="width: 414px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-583529" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-583529" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519971354-300x200.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 06: Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben &amp; Jerry’s ice cream, speaks outside the Department of Justice as a copy of the Bill of Rights burns before Cohen was arrested July 6, 2023 in Washington, DC. Cohen was arrested after protesting the Department of Justice’s prosecution of Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)" width="404" height="269" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519971354-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519971354-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519971354-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519971354.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 404px) 100vw, 404px" />Win McNamee/Getty Images</div>
Assange, an Australian activist and hacker, became known in the U.S. during the 2016 presidential election, when he released troves of internal documents from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Clinton campaign on his WikiLeaks website.
The leaks appeared to show that the DNC favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination and actively worked to sideline him. After the leaks, DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned, and the DNC apologized to Sanders.
In October, about a month before the 2016 election, Wikileaks started publishing emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in a daily, slow-drip leak.
Those emails <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-blog-updates/2016/10/john-podesta-hillary-clinton-emails-wikileaks-000011" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed</a> that CNN commentator Donna Brazile had shared questions for a CNN town hall ahead of time with the Clinton campaign. Brazile resigned from CNN after the leaks. She had previously served as interim DNC chairwoman in 2011, and after Schultz resigned in 2016, she took that post again.
In May, 2019, a U.S. federal grand jury <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-charged-18-count-superseding-indictment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indicted</a> Assange on 18 counts related to compromising classified information.
Assange is currently in prison in London, where he has been held since April, 2019. The U.S. is attempting to extradite him, but those efforts have been <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/04/uk/julian-assange-extradition-wikileaks-us-gbr-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">challenged</a> in British courts.
Cohen called Assange&#8217;s detainment &#8220;outrageous&#8221; and said the whistleblower is suffering simply for publicizing the truth.
&#8220;It’s outrageous. Julian Assange is nonviolent. He is presumed innocent. And yet somehow or other, he has been imprisoned in solitary confinement for four years. That is torture. He revealed the truth, and for that, he is suffering, and that’s we need to do whatever we can to help him and to help preserve democracy, which is based on freedom of the press,&#8221; Cohen <a href="https://www.codepink.org/dojarrest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> during the protest, according to CODEPINK.
“It seems to me that, right now, unless things change, and unless we change them, freedom of the press is going up in smoke,” Cohen said.
<div id="attachment_583523" style="width: 415px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-583523" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-583523" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519973769-300x200.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 06: Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben &amp; Jerry’s ice cream, is arrested outside the Department of Justice July 6, 2023 in Washington, DC. Cohen was arrested after protesting the Department of Justice’s prosecution of Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)" width="405" height="270" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519973769-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519973769-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519973769-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519973769.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 405px) 100vw, 405px" />Win McNamee/Getty Images</div>
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_583525" style="width: 414px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-583525" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-583525" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519943632-300x200.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 06: Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben &amp; Jerry’s ice cream, is arrested outside the Department of Justice July 6, 2023 in Washington, DC. Cohen was arrested after protesting the Department of Justice’s prosecution of Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)" width="404" height="269" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519943632-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519943632-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519943632-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1519943632.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 404px) 100vw, 404px" />Win McNamee/Getty Images</div>
Ben &amp; Jerry&#8217;s has garnered a reputation for being progressive in its messaging.
On July 4, the Vermont-based ice cream company <a href="https://twitter.com/benandjerrys/status/1676214289353572352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1676214289353572352%7Ctwgr%5Ee4878efc0fade3c3ddea341a914a2d6723b32307%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxbusiness.com%2Fmarkets%2Fben-jerrys-independence-day-message-calls-stolen-indigenous-land-returned-native-americans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> that the U.S. &#8220;exists on stolen Indigenous land&#8221; and called on Americans to &#8220;commit to returning it.&#8221;
Cohen was previously <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/ben-jerrys-co-founder-ben-cohen-arrested-at-protest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrested</a> in 2018 while protesting the noise from Vermont National Guard F-35 fighters.

Ben & Jerry’s Co-Founder Protests At Justice Department For Press Freedom

PHOTOS: Ben & Jerry’s Founder Arrested At DOJ During Julian Assange Protest

Ben & Jerry's Founder Arrested At DOJ During Julian Assange Protest

Ben &amp; Jerry's

Crime

Department of Justice

Washington D.C.

Adding to a trend of polling Twitter on significant issues, Elon Musk is asking users to opine on whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden should be pardoned.
Both Assange and Snowden are facing serious charges in the United States but are regarded by their supporters as critical whistleblowers of national security secrets.
&#8220;I am not expressing an opinion, but did promise to conduct this poll. Should Assange and Snowden be pardoned?&#8221; Musk asked in a tweet on Saturday evening. More than 14 hours into the 24-hour poll, with more than 2.6 million responses, a little more than 80 percent of users chose &#8220;yes.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I am not expressing an opinion, but did promise to conduct this poll.
Should Assange and Snowden be pardoned?
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1599224347121500160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Assange, a 51-year-old from Australia, is best known for his leadership of WikiLeaks, a group that has given a platform for whistleblowers to release sensitive documents. That includes publishing documents stolen from Democrats during the 2016 election cycle.
<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus?utm_campaign=dwplus&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=dwsite&amp;cid=dwplus&amp;mid=z&amp;xid=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus?utm_campaign=dwplus&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=dwsite&amp;cid=dwplus&amp;mid=z&amp;xid=0" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">TIRED OF THE LEGACY MEDIA&#8217;S BIAS CONTROLLING THE NARRATIVE AND OBSCURING THE TRUTH? JOIN US AND SAVE 30%.</a>
Assange was arrested in 2019 outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after a years-long asylum was revoked. He was <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/05/julian-assange-gets-50-weeks-for-jumping-bail/">sentenced to 50 months</a> in prison for skipping bail in 2012 when he faced possible extradition to Sweden in sex crimes investigations that <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/assange-wins-first-stage-in-effort-to-appeal-us-extradition">have since been dropped</a>.
This year, Assange has been fighting extradition to the United States to stand trial on charges stemming from the publication of classified documents more than a decade ago. A group of news outlets, including The New York Times, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/28/us/politics/julian-assange-wikileaks-charges.html">criticized the U.S. government</a> in a letter last week, saying that indicting Assange under the Espionage Act &#8220;sets a dangerous precedent&#8221; that jeopardizes national security reporting. Their letter did not voice support for federal prosecutors to drop the part of the case related to accusations of a hacking-related conspiracy, though it did note “some of us are concerned” about it.
Snowden, 39, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-charges-snowden-with-espionage/2013/06/21/507497d8-dab1-11e2-a016-92547bf094cc_story.html">has been charged</a> by the Justice Department with two counts of violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and one charge of stealing the property of the U.S. federal government after he left his job at an NSA facility in Hawaii in 2013. He then flew out of the country and leaked classified information, including documents about domestic surveillance programs.
Snowden has been living in exile in Russia for years, and on Friday, his lawyer said Snowden had <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/02/edward-snowden-russian-citizenship/">sworn an oath of allegiance</a> to Russia and received a Russian passport.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX who completed a $44 billion takeover of Twitter earlier this year, held a poll last month on the social media platform asking users if former President Donald Trump should be reinstated. Trump was banned after the Capitol riot in January 2021. After a slim majority voted in Trump&#8217;s favor, the former president&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/leftists-rage-over-musk-reinstating-trumps-account-on-twitter-this-is-bulls">account was reinstated</a>, though Trump has yet to tweet anything since then.

Elon Musk and Twitter

Elon Musk Polls Twitter On Whether Julian Assange and Edward Snowden Should Be Pardoned

Big Tech

Edward Snowden

Elon Musk

Poll

Twitter

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and its former director <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/topic/mike-pompeo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Pompeo</a> were slapped with a lawsuit Monday from a group of journalists and lawyers over allegations that the government agency spied on them and hundreds of others while meeting with Wikileaks founder <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/julian-assanges-wife-says-hell-kill-himself-after-brits-approve-extradition-to-america/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Julian Assange</a> at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.
The <a href="https://assangedefense.org/press-release/attorneys-and-journalists-illegally-searched-during-visits-with-julian-assange-sue-cia-and-michael-pompeo/">lawsuit</a> alleges that the CIA under Pompeo violated the Fourth Amendment rights of journalists Charles Glass and John Goetz and attorneys Margaret Kunstler and Deborah Hrbek, who have represented Assange.
&#8220;The United States Constitution shields American citizens from U.S. government overreach even when the activities take place in a foreign embassy in a foreign country,&#8221; Richard Roth, the leading lawyer representing the group, told Daily Wire in a statement.
The filings allege authorities made each visitor surrender any electronic device such as smartphones or laptops during their interactions with Assange, who is currently fighting extradition to the U.S., where he faces 175 years in prison for publishing classified information. The Wikileaks founder had lived in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London under political asylum since 2012 until authorities arrested him seven years later.
However, Roth said the journalists and lawyers who met with Assange had their conversations recorded and data from their electronic devices copied by Undercover Global SL, a private security contractor, and passed along to the CIA under the direction of Pompeo.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit have also filed the case again Undercover Global and its Chief Executive David Morales Guillen.
&#8220;It is somewhat startling that in light of the Fourth Amendment protection we have in the Constitution, the federal government would actually go ahead and take this confidential information,&#8221; Roth told reporters during a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrpR4h1Toa4">press conference</a>.
Monday&#8217;s lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and the plaintiff&#8217;s are only asking for 
injunctive relief and not money damages.
U.S. law prohibits the CIA from collecting intelligence on citizens. However, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/cia-sued-over-alleged-spying-lawyers-journalists-who-met-assange-2022-08-15/">reports</a> that lawmakers have alleged that the alphabet agency keeps clandestine of Americans&#8217; communications data.
&#8220;Think of what we store in our phones and our computers — birthdays, bank information, dates of birth — all of this was recorded, and then given over to the Central Intelligence Agency,&#8221; Robert Boyle, a New York Civil Rights and constitutional law attorney, told reporters during the press conference. &#8220;So the violations of the privacy rights here were particularly egregious.&#8221;
Boyle argues that the alleged violations have also &#8220;tainted, if not destroyed,&#8221; a fair trial for Assange.
Margaret Kunstler, a criminal and civil rights attorney and a plaintiff in the case, called the act by the government agency &#8220;terrible,&#8221; adding she can&#8217;t think of anything worse than the opposition listening in on their plans and conversations.
&#8220;Gross misconduct is exactly what has happened here,&#8221; Kunstler said. &#8220;And I don&#8217;t understand how the CIA — I guess through the insanity of Pompeo — could think that they could do this is so outrageous that it&#8217;s beyond my comprehension.&#8221;
Kunstler visited Assange at the Embassy between January 2017 and March 2018.
Deborah Harbeck, an attorney who has visited Mr. Assange, echoed her fellow plaintiff, saying the violation of her constitutional rights is an outrage.
&#8220;I have the right to assume that the U.S. government is not listening to my private and privileged conversations with my clients,&#8221; Harbeck told reporters, adding that information about other clients in cases she may have on her phone or laptop is secure from illegal government intrusion.
Harbeck reportedly visited Assange during the relevant period.
John Goetz, the editor of investigations at German public broadcaster NDR, told reporters he worked with Assange between 2011 and 2017. He said he met with the political asylee for editorial discussion about stories at the Embassy.
&#8220;I find that quite disturbing that what was essentially a private editorial situation was conceivably or possibly are likely being listened to,&#8221; Goetz said. &#8220;I thought that we were protected, especially as American citizens, by the Fourth Amendment.&#8221;
Nathan Fuller, director of Assange&#8217;s defense committee, argued that the journalists tried to publish crucial content for the public interest and its right to know what lengths the government would reach to silence reporters who reveal information &#8220;embarrassing to the regime.&#8221;
&#8220;This should worry anybody who values investigative journalists and journalism and should be aware of the unprecedented threat that this prosecution poses to it,&#8221; Fuller told reporters.
According to Reuters, Pompeo and Undercover Global S.L. could not immediately be reached for comment.
The filings allege that Pompeo has said in the past he would target whistleblowers who exposed U.S. government secrets and argued that &#8220;the one thing [current] whistleblowers don&#8217;t need is a publisher&#8221; due to the availability of the Internet. The former CIA director allegedly called WikiLeaks &#8220;a non-state hostile intelligence service&#8221; while referring to Assange as a &#8220;narcissist,&#8221; &#8220;fraud,&#8221; and a &#8220;coward.&#8221;
Assange founded Wikileaks in 2006 and has since published over 10 million documents exposing war crimes, human rights violations, corruption, and other government misconduct worldwide. He faces 18 counts under the Espionage Act, including a spying charge related to WikiLeaks&#8217; release of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables.

Pennsylvania Senate Candidate David McCormick Holds Campaign Event With Mike Pompeo

Journalists And Lawyers Who Met With Julian Assange Sue CIA, Mike Pompeo Over Alleged Spying

Mike Pompeo

Stella Moris, the wife of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, suggested that her husband would kill himself if he is extradited to the United States after the British Home secretary approved a judge’s order to fly Assange from the maximum-security Belmarsh Prison in London to Virginia to stand trial.
British Home Secretary Pristi Patel approved the order on Thursday; paving the way for Assange, a native Australian, to stand trial on espionage charges.
“If he&#8217;s extradited to the U.S., the conditions he will be under will be oppressive,” Stella Moris told a press conference Friday. “It will drive him to take his own life. That&#8217;s not simply a regular discussion about mental health. We are talking about driving a person to take their own life.”
American officials have informed the British government that Assange will not be held in maximum security if he is extradited.
Moris said Assange’s declaration that he would kill himself was made “recently,” adding that she would fight the order with “every available avenue. &#8230; I&#8217;m going to use every waking hour fighting for Julian until he is free,” <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10926609/Priti-Patel-signs-order-extradite-Julian-Assange-face-espionage-charges.html">The Daily Mail</a> reported.
“We are not at the end of the road here,” Moris insisted. “We are going to fight this. We are going to use every available avenue. I&#8217;m going to use every waking hour fighting for Julian until he is free, until justice is served. &#8230; we have the conviction that this wrong will be righted and the courts will, eventually, do the right thing.”
Moris said Assange’s latest appeal, which he has 14 days to file, would offer evidence that the CIA allegedly tried to kill him with poison when he took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he spent seven years hiding starting in 2012.
In May, the British Supreme Court denied Assange permission to appeal his extradition to the U.S.
Assange has been accused of aiding U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack a classified government computer and steal classified diplomatic cables and military files which WikiLeaks published; in 2013, Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison; the sentence was <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-commutes-bulk-chelsea-mannings-35-year/story?id=44837319">commuted</a> by former President Barack Obama in 2017.
“The Obama administration was forced to rush to safety foreign friends whom Manning had outed as helping Americans,” <a href="applewebdata://D47854CA-EC3C-47C2-ABA3-2462EFA55273/v">National Review</a> noted in 2017. “He broke faith with every relevant provision of the Army’s warrior ethos — he abandoned his mission, he actively aided the enemy, and he acted with stunning disregard for the lives of his comrades.”
Assange also is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents regarding the United States’ wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“Under the Extradition Act 2003, the Secretary of State must sign an extradition order if there are no grounds to prohibit the order being made,” a spokesman for the British Home Office stated.
“Extradition requests are only sent to the Home Secretary once a judge decides it can proceed after considering various aspects of the case,” their spokesman continued. “On June 17, following consideration by both the Magistrates Court and High Court, the extradition of Mr. Julian Assange to the U.S. was ordered. Mr. Assange retains the normal 14-day right to appeal. In this case, the UK courts have not found that it would be oppressive, unjust or an abuse of process to extradite Mr. Assange.”
“Anyone in this country who cares about freedom of expression should be deeply ashamed that the Home Secretary has approved the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States, the country that plotted his assassination,” WikiLeaks charged. “Julian did nothing wrong. He has committed no crime and is not a criminal. He is a journalist and a publisher, and he is being punished for doing his job. It was in Priti Patel&#8217;s power to do the right thing. Instead she will forever be remembered as an accomplice of the United States in its agenda to turn investigative journalism into a criminal enterprise.”

Assange Supporters Gather At Belmarsh Prison As He Weds Partner

Julian Assange’s Wife Says He’ll Kill Himself After Brits Approve Extradition To America

Chelsea Manning

Espionage

Great Britain

The long battle against the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is approaching its culmination, with a Westminster Magistrates Court sending the case request to the U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel after his extradition was approved.
Patel will now determine whether the United States’ long-standing request to extradite Assange meets various legal requirements, including the promise that he will not face execution. If his extradition is fully approved, Assange will likely appeal to the British High Court.
Assange&#8217;s attorney, Mark Summers QC, informed Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring that &#8220;serious submissions&#8221; on U.S. sentencing law would be sent to Patel, and that the Home Secretary has “no option but to send this case to the Secretary of State.”
“It is not for me to raise fresh evidence [at this stage] even though there have been serious developments in this case,” he added.
&#8220;I am duty-bound to send your case to the Secretary of State for a decision on whether you will be extradited,&#8221; the judge told Assange, who spoke briefly via video link from Belmarsh Prison during the hearing. &#8220;You have the right to appeal to the High Court and if you exercise your right to appeal it will not be heard until [Patel] has made her decision.&#8221;
“He has done no more than tell the world about military planning, military policies and the horrors of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and I think he deserves to be thanked,” controversial British politician, Jeremy Corbyn, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/apr/20/uk-court-approves-extradition-of-julian-assange-to-us">told</a> reporters outside the Westminster magistrates court.
Assange has been incarcerated in the United Kingdom since being removed from Ecuador’s embassy in London in 2019. That same year, the U.S. Department of Justice filed multiple charges against Assange related to an alleged violation of the Espionage Act following the release of classified documents by Wikileaks.
The U.S.-based charges were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-can-be-extradited-to-the-u-s-british-court-rules">summarized</a> as follows:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">His complicity in illegal acts to obtain or receive voluminous databases of classified information;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">His agreement and attempt to obtain classified information through computer hacking; and </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">His publishing certain classified documents that contained the unredacted names of innocent people who risked their safety and freedom to provide information to the United States and its allies, including local Afghans and Iraqis, journalists, religious leaders, human rights advocates, and political dissidents from repressive regimes.” </li>
</ul>
It was first ruled in December 2021 that Assange could be extradited to the United States.
Meanwhile, numerous British politicians have called for President Joe Biden to drop the charges facing Assange. In a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/julian-assange-and-a-clarion-call-for-freedom-u-k-politicians-call-on-biden-to-drop-charges-against-wikileaks-founder">letter</a> last summer, 24 Members of Parliament wrote, “We appeal to you to drop this prosecution, an act that would be a clarion call for freedom that would echo around the globe.”
Ian Haworth is a writer for The Daily Wire and contributor to Morning Wire. Follow him on <a href="https://twitter.com/ighaworth">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ighaworth">Facebook</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/IanGHaworth">YouTube</a>.

Assange Case

British Court Approves Julian Assange Extradition To U.S., Wikileaks Founder Awaiting Final Decision

Jeremy Corbyn

United Kingdom

Julian Assange, the controversial founder of Wikileaks, can be extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States, according to a High Court ruling in the UK. 
“The US won its appeal against a January UK court ruling that he could not be extradited due to concerns over his mental health,” reported <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59608641">BBC News</a>, with Judge Timothy Holroyde saying that the court “allows the appeal.”
“Judges were reassured by US promises to reduce the risk of suicide,&#8221; the BBC added.
“The background to the request for Mr Assange’s extradition is well-known,” according to <a href="https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/USA-v-Assange-judgment101221.pdf">court documents</a>. “He is a founder of the Wikileaks website. He has been indicted in the USA on 18 counts connected with obtaining and disclosing defence and national security material through the website, primarily in 2009 and 2010 but also to some extent since.”
The U.S.-based charges were summarized as follows:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">His complicity in illegal acts to obtain or receive voluminous databases of classified information;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">His agreement and attempt to obtain classified information through computer hacking; and </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">His publishing certain classified documents that contained the unredacted names of innocent people who risked their safety and freedom to provide information to the United States and its allies, including local Afghans and Iraqis, journalists, religious leaders, human rights advocates, and political dissidents from repressive regimes.” </li>
</ul>
Assange can now be extradited to the United States to face Espionage Act charges, which carry significant jail time.
“Mr. Assange fled into the Ecuadorean Embassy in London in 2012 when he was facing an investigation on allegations of sexual assault in Sweden, which were eventually dropped. He said he feared his human rights would be violated if he was extradited in that case,” explained <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/10/world/europe/uk-julian-assange-extradition.html">The New York Times</a>. “He remained in the embassy for seven years until he was ejected in 2019. The United States unsealed an indictment against him on hacking charges on the day of his expulsion, and then charged him under the Espionage Act weeks later. He has been detained in London’s Belmarsh prison since 2019.”
“Assange, who was not permitted to attend the hearing in person, is wanted by U.S. authorities over the publication of hundreds of thousands of classified military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010 and 2011,” <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/10/us-wins-appeal-over-extradition-of-wikileaks-founder-assange.html">CNBC</a> reported. “They say his actions put lives in danger and they accuse him of 18 counts, meaning he faces a 175-year prison sentence.”
Stella Morris, Julian Assange’s fiancée, said that they would appeal this decision “at the earliest possible moment.”
She described the High Court’s ruling as “dangerous and misguided” and a “grave miscarriage of justice.”
“How can it be fair, how can it be right, how can it be possible, to extradite Julian to the very country which plotted to kill him?” Morris added.
<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/petition/julian-assange-usa-justice/">Amnesty International</a> has called for the U.S. to drop these charges against Assange.
“Authorities in the USA must drop the espionage and all other charges against Julian Assange that relate to his publishing activities as part of his work with Wikileaks,” Amnesty International stated. “The US government’s unrelenting pursuit of Julian Assange for having published disclosed documents that included possible war crimes committed by the US military is nothing short of a full-scale assault on the right to freedom of expression.”

Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Can Be Extradited To The U.S., British Court Rules

A bipartisan collection of 24 British politicians have requested that President Joe Biden drop all charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that the U.S. rescind its demand for Assange’s extradition.
“We hope that your administration will become a staunch ally of all those working to roll back the shadow of criminalisation against journalists and others who exercise the rights enshrined in the United States by the Constitution&#8217;s First Amendment,” the <a href="https://dontextraditeassange.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Assange-Biden-2021.pdf">letter</a> begins. “Your administration, in partnership with the government of this country, has launched the campaign in defence of media freedom. It is in this context that we wish to raise with you the case of Julian Assange.”
“As President Obama&#8217;s Vice President you played an important role in the decision not to prosecute Julian Assange over publications relating to the Afghan and Iraq wars and conditions in Guantanamo Bay. You, like us, must have been disappointed when your predecessor launched a prosecution carrying a 175-year sentence against a globally renowned publisher and free press campaigner for his 2010 award-winning publishing work, which was carried out in the United Kingdom,” the letter continues, before outlining major groups which “view the government&#8217;s prosecution against this publisher with alarm.” 
“The Washington Post&#8217;s Executive Editor writes that the indictment is ‘criminalizing common practices in journalism that have long served the public interest,’&#8221; the letter says. &#8220;The New York Times Editorial Board considers it to be ‘aimed straight at the heart of the First Amendment,’ and for Amnesty International, ‘the charges against him should never have been brought in the first place’ because it is &#8220;putting media freedom and freedom of expression on trial.’” 
The politicians then claim, “The chilling effect of this prosecution is keenly felt on” on British shores. 
“The National Union of Journalists and Reporters Without Borders have warned that ‘Our government must ensure the UK is a safe place for journalists and publishers to work. Whilst Julian Assange remains in prison facing extradition, it is not,’” they write.
“Earlier this year Westminster Magistrates Court refused the US application to extradite Julian Assange to the US. The Guardian Editorial Board noted that your incoming administration ‘can, and should, let Mr. Assange walk free,’” the letter continues. “We had hoped that this might be the occasion to draw a line under this prosecution. Unfortunately, the US Department of Justice is still pursuing this case, leaving Julian Assange facing a third year of incarceration in Belmarsh High-Security prison.”
“Mr. Assange, an Australian member of the press who had been invited to this country by The Guardian in 2010 to work on these publications on the basis of our robust free press traditions, is the subject of a US criminal case. The effect of your predecessor&#8217;s decision to take a criminal case against a member of the press working in our country is to restrict the scope of permissible press activities here, and set a precedent that others will no doubt exploit,” the letter concludes. “The case against Mr. Assange weakens the right to publish important information that the government finds uncomfortable. Indeed, this value is central to a free and open society. The case against Mr. Assange also undermines public confidence in our legal systems. Our countries are also increasingly confronted with the contradiction of advocating for press freedom abroad while holding Mr. Assange for years in the UK&#8217;s most notorious prison at the request of the US government.”
“We appeal to you to drop this prosecution, an act that would be a clarion call for freedom that would echo around the globe,” the authors write.
The letter was signed by 24 Members of Parliament, including the controversial MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott.
Assange is currently wanted in the United States, facing an 18-count indictment regarding charges of espionage.

Julian Assange And A ‘Clarion Call For Freedom’: U.K. Politicians Call On Biden To Drop Charges Against WikiLeaks Founder

A British judge ruled Monday that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will not be extradited to the United States to face trial on charges that he engaged in espionage and deliberately published documents designed to undermine and imperil the American military.
The judge did not allow Assange to go free, however. A decision on that will likely come on Wednesday when Assange has a bail hearing.
&#8220;In a mixed ruling for Assange and his supporters, District Judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected defense arguments that the 49-year-old Australian faces a politically motivated American prosecution that rides roughshod over free-speech protections,&#8221; the Associated Press reported. &#8220;But she said Assange’s precarious mental health would likely deteriorate further under the conditions of &#8216;near-total isolation&#8217; he would face in a U.S. prison.&#8221;
Assange has repeatedly said that he will commit suicide if held in solitary confinement in an American prison, something likely to happen given that he is a high-value prisoner. His defense also presented evidence that he suffers from severe depression and some form of Autism Spectrum Disorder &#8212; conditions that might cause him to deteriorate mentally and emotionally.
The United States has charged Assange with 17 counts of espionage and one count of &#8220;computer misuse&#8221; stemming from his involvement with Chelsea Manning&#8217;s (then Bradley Manning) efforts to leak classified documents and video about American military operations in Iraq. According to the U.S. government, Manning was unable to break into some of the military&#8217;s secure files and Assange provided Manning with advice, making him culpable in Manning&#8217;s own espionage.
Manning was convicted of leaking classified government documents and sentenced to more than 20 years in federal prison. President Barack Obama commuted Manning&#8217;s sentence before he left office in 2017 though he did not issue a full pardon.
Assange was arrested back in April of 2019 and, since then, has been held in a British prison awaiting news of whether he would be sent to the United States to stand trial, and face a maximum sentence of 175 years.
Monday&#8217;s ruling, keeping Assange in the UK, though, is just a partial victory. The judge did not make a ruling on whether Assange&#8217;s actions, as the founder of Wikileaks, were protected as &#8220;reporting&#8221; or &#8220;publishing&#8221; or whether Assange would be able to use the First Amendment as a defense to the espionage charges.
“While we are extremely disappointed in the court’s ultimate decision, we are gratified that the United States prevailed on every point of law raised,” the U.S. government said in a statement, recognizing the partial victory. “In particular, the court rejected all of Mr. Assange’s arguments regarding political motivation, political offense, fair trial, and freedom of speech.”
&#8220;Lawyers for the U.S. government said they would appeal the decision, and the U.S. Department of Justice said it would continue to seek Assange’s extradition,&#8221; the AP reported.
Assange&#8217;s lawyer, Barry Pollack, was optimistic, telling the media that he hopes the United States will stand down.
&#8220;We hope that after consideration of the U.K. court’s ruling, the United States will decide not to pursue the case further,” he said.
There are other options on the table for Assange. His associates have reportedly been asking for a pardon from outgoing President Donald Trump, who will leave office in January and is likely to pardon a number of people on his way out, and it is not known how incoming president Joe Biden feels about prosecuting Assange.

Extradition Trial For Julian Assange Begins At The Old Bailey

UK Will Not Extradite Julian Assange To Stand Trial In The US

Swedish prosecutors have dropped an investigation into a rape allegation against WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange dating back to 2010.
The controversial Australian is currently serving 50 weeks in jail in London for breaching his bail conditions after being forcefully removed in April from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he had been holed up since 2012 in an attempt to avoid extradition to Sweden.
Assange was accused of sexual misconduct by two different women, one accusing him of rape and another of sexual assault following a 2010 conference in Stockholm involving WikiLeaks. Assange, now 48, has consistently denied the allegations, maintaining that the sex was consensual and that he was only avoiding returning to Sweden because he feared extradition to the U.S.
Though Sweden dropped the rape investigation in 2017, federal prosecutors re-opened the case after Assange was finally dislodged from the embassy where he had sought refuge for seven years.
&#8220;The reason for this decision is that the evidence has weakened considerably due to the long period of time that has elapsed since the events in question,&#8221; the Swedish Prosecution Authority said in a statement Monday, as reported by <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50473792">BBC</a>.
&#8220;After conducting a comprehensive assessment of what has emerged during the course of the preliminary investigation I then make the assessment that the evidence is not strong enough to form the basis for filing an indictment,&#8221; Deputy Director of Public Prosecution Eva-Marie Persson announced Monday.
&#8220;I would like to emphasize that the injured party has submitted a credible and reliable version of events,&#8221; Persson stressed. &#8220;Her statements have been coherent, extensive and detailed; however, my overall assessment is that the evidential situation has been weakened to such an extent that that there is no longer any reason to continue the investigation.&#8221;
BBC notes that prosecutors also held a news briefing in Stockholm, &#8220;saying that the decision to drop the inquiry had been taken after interviews with seven witnesses in the case.&#8221;
In addition to the rape and sexual assault charges, Assange was also accused of molestation and unlawful coercion; the investigations into those charges were dropped in 2015 due to statute of limitations.
The U.S. has long sought Assange&#8217;s extradition for his alleged role in a massive U.S. security breach. In June, the British government approved the U.S. request, though Assange remains for now in London&#8217;s Belmarsh prison for breaching his bail conditions.
In response to Sweden&#8217;s decision, Assange’s legal team issued a statement Monday reiterating his claim that the reason he refused to return to Sweden was not because he feared the allegations, which he denies, but because of the threat of extradition to the U.S.
“From the outset of Sweden’s preliminary investigation, Julian Assange’s expressed concern has been that waiting in the wings was a United States extradition request that would be unstoppable from Sweden &#8212; and result in his spending the rest of his life in a US prison,&#8221; said Assange&#8217;s lawyers, as reported by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/nov/19/sweden-drops-julian-assange-investigation">The Guardian</a>. &#8220;Now that the U.S. does seek Mr Assange’s extradition to stand trial on unprecedented charges for journalistic work, it continues to be a matter of extreme regret that this reality has never been properly acknowledged and that the process in Sweden &#8212; with which Mr. Assange has always expressed his willingness to engage and indeed did so &#8212; became so exceptionally politicized itself.&#8221;

Julian Assange Rape Investigation In Sweden Dropped; Assange Responds

Sweden

Overnight Monday, the United States finally filed the paperwork necessary to request the United Kingdom extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange so that he can stand trial for conspiracy and mishandling false information in America.
<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/10/politics/julian-assange-us-extradition-request/index.html?utm_content=2019-06-11T11%3A18%3A01&amp;utm_term=link&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twCNN">CNN reports</a> that the U.S. barely made the June 10 deadline, submitting its full paperwork just under the wire. It&#8217;s unlikely that the United States forgot about Assange until last night, of course, and more likely that U.S. officials wanted to keep the details of their extradition request confidential for as long as possible.
For now, Assange, if he were to be sent to the United States as opposed to any of the other countries requesting extradition, including Sweden, which has an open warrant for Assange on a sexual assault case, would stand trial on one charge of &#8220;computer intrusion&#8221; and at least 17 additional charges of &#8220;encouraging, receiving and publishing national defense information in concert with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.&#8221;
If the request is granted, prosecutors would be limited to those 18 counts, meaning that the United States is choosing to go after Assange only for his collaboration with the former Bradley Manning, who broke into classified U.S. military files and stole thousands of documents Manning believed would convince Americans to put an end to the Iraq War, apparently as part of a revenge plot for the military&#8217;s &#8220;Don&#8217;t Ask, Don&#8217;t Tell&#8221; policy.
Assange accepted and published Manning&#8217;s material, which included audio and video files and, according to the charging documents, encouraged Manning to find more classified material. The U.S. government says Assange&#8217;s actions bypassed the First Amendment&#8217;s guarantee of freedom of the press because he openly assisted Manning in committing a criminal act (hacking into the classified files).
Manning, of course, was convicted of espionage for the same event and served several years in prison before being granted leniency by then-President Barack Obama. Manning is now in prison again, being held on contempt of court charges for refusing to testify in front the grand jury that ultimately issued the additional counts against Julian Assange.
As of right now, Assange&#8217;s extradition looks likely. Although Sweden has filed an extradition request in the United Kingdom, a judge in Sweden <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48503730">ruled last week</a> that the country cannot hold court against Assange in absentia, barring Sweden&#8217;s ability to get an official charging document against Assange from the European Union.
The EU, the judge said, requires that a criminal be served with charges in person, and Sweden, which is part of the EU, cannot &#8220;arrest&#8221; Assange and issue a warrant against him since he is already being held in an EU country.
That leaves the United States with the only complete extradition request in front of a U.K. judge.
Wikileaks and others have tried to involve the United Nations, but <a href="https://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&amp;jsonp=vglnk_156026844083113&amp;key=2c32fa3abe3d1e2178126c66aebb5890&amp;libId=jwryvpyk0102wzqi000DA1ff9edohpig4m&amp;loc=https%3A%2F%2Fhotair.com%2Farchives%2F2019%2F06%2F11%2Fus-submits-formal-extradition-request-uk-assange-just-wire%2F&amp;v=1&amp;out=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.msn.com%2Fen-us%2Fnews%2Fworld%2Ftop-british-diplomat-says-he-wouldnt-block-assange-extradition%2Far-AAChKgc&amp;ref=https%3A%2F%2Fhotair.com%2F&amp;title=US%20submits%20formal%20extradition%20request%20with%20UK%20for%20Assange%20--%20just%20under%20the%20wire&amp;txt=he%20carries%20no%20brief%20for%20Assange">according to Yahoo News</a>, the U.N. doesn&#8217;t want to be involved and is willing to allow Assange to face justice.
&#8220;Julian Assange is someone who is alleged to have committed some very serious crimes, alleged to have led to people&#8217;s deaths,&#8221; a U.N. official told the outlet. &#8220;And so it is absolutely right that he faces justice, and he has no more reason to escape justice than anyone else who is alleged to have committed crimes.&#8221;
For now, though, Assange remains in a U.K. prison where he ended up after being turned out by Ecuadorian authorities. Assange had been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for years, avoiding extradition to any number of countries burned by Wikileaks. Late last year, the Wikileaks founder&#8217;s antics apparently began to wear on Ecuadorian officials, who accused Assange of living in filth and refusing to follow the basic edicts of personal hygiene.
Early in 2019, Assange apparently ran afoul of his official asylum treaty with Ecuador when Wikileaks published materials designed to interfere in South American politics &#8212; something Assange was supposed to avoid as a condition of his remaining in hiding in London. The Ecuadorians finally turned Assange out last month.

United States Formally Submits Request To Extradite Julian Assange

The United States issued an updated charging document Thursday, accusing Wikileaks founder Julian Assange of espionage and mishandling classified information he received from then-information officer Chelsea Manning.
The 18-count indictment includes the single count of conspiracy that appeared on Assange&#8217;s arrest warrant issued shortly before he was evicted from the Ecuadorian embassy in London and taken into British custody.
<a href="https://www.lmtonline.com/news/article/Assange-charged-with-violating-Espionage-Act-13882846.php">LMT Online</a> reports that federal prosecutors believe &#8220;Assange worked with a former Army intelligence analyst to obtain and disseminate classified information.&#8221; The indictment also argues that Assange cannot be considered a &#8220;reporter&#8221; for purposes of the First Amendment&#8217;s guarantee of freedom of the press.
Instead, the U.S. government seems to claim that Assange is a foreign agent engaged in the &#8220;explicit solicitation of classified materials&#8221; that he could publish in pursuit of an agenda, not as mere information for Americans he believed were kept in the dark about their country&#8217;s role in the deaths of Iraqi civilians during the initial years of the Iraq War.
The indictment, as the initial claim of conspiracy, stems from Assange&#8217;s interactions with Manning, who stole thousands of classified documents, audio and video files, and funneled them to Wikileaks in the hopes that Wikileaks would publish them. In the initial arrest warrant, the U.S. government described Assange as &#8220;encouraging&#8221; Manning, helping him to hack further into a classified database in order to get better material.
Manning was eventually arrested and convicted on espionage charges.
Assange believes himself to be a reporter and publisher, and considers Wikileaks a protected media outlet. To be convicted of espionage, a court of law would need to find that Assange is not, in fact, simply a publisher &#8212; and that&#8217;s what the U.S. government is arguing in order to avoid any long-term consquences for other journalists who obtain and publish classified information.
Prosectuors, LMT reports, say Assange &#8220;repeatedly encouraged sources with access to classified information to steal it&#8221; and wanted the information he received to have potential &#8220;political, diplomatic, ethical or historical impact on release.&#8221;
Assange&#8217;s attorney&#8217;s contend that Wikileaks is a news media outlet and that, if he is convicted of espionage for publishing material that turned out to be classified, Assange&#8217;s case could have repercussions for any member of the media who published information the U.S. government didn&#8217;t want readers or news consumers to see.
&#8220;The factual allegations against Mr. Assange boil down to encouraging a source to provide him information and taking efforts to protect the identity of that source,&#8221; Assange&#8217;s attorney Barry Pollack said in a statement Thursday afternoon.
The 18 counts carry with them a maximum jail sentence of 170 years, but there&#8217;s no guarantee that Assange will face trial in the United States. A court in the U.K. is currently considering at least two requests for Assange&#8217;s extradition &#8212; from the United States and Sweden &#8212; and is not expected to rule on where Assange is headed next until early June. Sweden filed its charges late last week, resurfacing an arrest warrant issued for Assange in the early 2000s stemming from an alleged sexual assault.
Assange remains in jail in the U.K. awaiting the court&#8217;s decision.

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