By Carolyn Bninski

Freedom of the press and the fate of Julian Assange are intimately intertwined. Assange is an Australian and the founder of Wikileaks, an organization that has published millions of documents which expose crimes and malfeasance of governments, corporations and individuals around the world.

Some of the Wikileaks documents reveal U.S. war crimes and diplomatic cables, CIA hacking tools known as Vault 7, and U.S. surveillance of the phones of U.N. and foreign leaders, including allies of the U.S. government. Wikileaks has also published documents about Russian government surveillance of phone calls and long-term storage of all information and data of subscribers.

Wikileaks is a publisher and does not hack into computers or servers. It receives documents that have leaked by whistle blowers. It publishes these documents, which is the role of a publisher in societies with a free press.

On May 23, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Assange on 17 counts of violating the U.S. Espionage Act for his role in obtaining and publishing secret military and diplomatic documents in 2010. The U.S. indictment describes routine journalistic practices, including taking measures to protect the identity of a source and receiving and publishing information. The indictment against Assange is the first use of the Espionage Act against a publisher in U.S. history and permits no public interest defense.

Key mainstream papers, no friends to Assange, saw the threat to freedom of the press and responded.

The New York Times Editorial Board wrote the following: “The new indictment … could have a chilling effect on American journalism as it has been practiced for generations. It is aimed straight at the heart of the First Amendment. The new charges focus on receiving and publishing classified material from a government source. That is something journalists do all the time … This is what the First Amendment is designed to protect: the ability of publishers to provide the public with the truth.”

Washington Post Executive Editor Marty Baron wrote: “Dating as far back as the Pentagon Papers case and beyond, journalists have been receiving and reporting on information that the government deemed classified. Wrongdoing and abuse of power were exposed. With the new indictment of Julian Assange, the government is advancing a legal argument that places such important work in jeopardy and undermines the very purpose of the First Amendment.”

Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Matt Murray writes: “The right to publish uncomfortable, important information that the government would prefer to be kept secret is central to a truly free press.”

The ACLU warns that the charges “establish a dangerous precedent that can be used to target all news organizations that hold the government accountable by publishing its secrets.”

The bottom line is that the fate of Assange and journalism around the world are intertwined.

Regarding rape allegations, note that on Nov. 19 Swedish prosecutors announced that they were dropping the investigation into the 2010 rape allegation against Assange.

For the last six months, Assange has been held in Britain’s Belmarsh prison, often compared to United States’ Guantanamo Bay. Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, describes Belmarsh as “a brick and wire hell of sensory deprivation” and describes Assange current situation: “Julian has been there for 6 months now, mostly alone in a cell for over 20 hours a day — virtually in solitary confinement. I don’t know how much longer he can last.”

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, and his medical team visited Assange at Belmarsh in May and reported that he showed “all the symptoms typical for prolonged exposure to psychological torture” and demanded immediate measures for the protection of his health and dignity. On Nov. 1, Melzer wrote that the conditions continue and “abuse may soon end up costing (Assange’s) life.” The British are holding Assange beyond his sentence for not showing up at a court appearance and are preparing to extradite him to the U.S. for a show trial on the espionage charges.

If Assange is convicted of espionage, critical press functions will be severely undermined. Going forward, the media will be very reluctant to publish information on government crimes and malfeasance.

So what can we do? Speak out in all the ways you can: contact Congress, write letters to the editor, talk to friends, attend protests, donate money for Assange’s defense, learn more at defend.wikileaks.org, and contact me to get involved at the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center at carolynbninski@gmail.com.

Carolyn Bninski lives in Boulder.

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