Leading American and European media outlets that have worked with the WikiLeaks founder urged on Monday that the United States should stop prosecuting Julian Assange due to concerns about press freedom.
The editors and proprietors of the Guardian, the New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and El Pas sent an open letter stating that “this indictment sets a dangerous precedent and threatens to damage America’s First Amendment and the freedom of the press.”
The disclosure of private U.S. military data and diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks is the subject of 18 accusations against Assange that include an espionage charge. His admirers claim that he is a persecuted anti-establishment hero who revealed American malfeasance, notably in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
On Monday, it will have been twelve years since those media sites joined together to publish snippets from more than 250,000 papers Assange had gotten as part of the infamous “Cablegate” leak.
The information, which exposed the inner workings of American diplomacy throughout the world, was disclosed to WikiLeaks by Chelsea Manning, a former American soldier. According to the letter, the documents “revealed corruption, diplomatic scandals, and international espionage issues.”
A group of journalists and attorneys filed a lawsuit against the CIA and its former director Mike Pompeo in August over claims the spy agency watched them when they visited Assange when he was staying in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Assange stayed at the embassy for seven years before being brought out and imprisoned in 2019 for violating his bail terms. He is still behind bars.
While his extradition case is being resolved, he has remained imprisoned in London. He may get a term of up to 175 years in a maximum security prison in the US if extradited there.
In a lengthy legal dispute that has lasted more than ten years, his legal team has made an application to the High Court in London to stop his extradition.
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