Julian Assange is an Australian journalist who has been in the public eye and under harsh scrutiny by the American government since 2010 when his site WikiLeaks published a series of confidential American war crimes, and most recently in 2016 when WikiLeaks exposed Hillary Clinton's emails. Due to this, the American government has taken a personal interest in trying to bring Assange to "justice" as they claim he has committed crimes by reporting private U.S War information. The U.S government has been trying to charge him through the Espionage Act.
To give further context, the Espionage Act was implemented in 1917 by the U.S government in order to silence anti-war voices, the law specifically targeted government employees to keep them from speaking out against the government. Which raises the question, how could a non-U.S citizen who doesn't work for the government be charged through the Espionage Act? This act is particularly controversial as many feel it impedes on the First Amendment protections.
In the government's attempt to find a way to prosecute Assange and hold him accountable for what they deem as "wrongdoings," in 2019 Assange was charged with hacking and on 17 different accounts through the Espionage Act. As Assange maintains his innocence, he has had a hard time managing to avoid prosecution as his security is in constant threat. Over the last 10+ years, Assange has relied on seeking asylum from the Educator embassy in Britain. However, after spending years in the embassy, the British government dragged him out, and he is now in the highest security prison where he has been awaiting further legal action. Most recently, his request for bail was denied by the British courts on Jan 6, 2021. At the moment, the British courts do not see enough justification and evidence for Assange to be extradited to the U.S.
With the changing over in U.S Presidential administrations, Assange has become an even hotter topic. Originally, the Obama administration was the first to raise questions about Assange's legality in releasing sensitive information, but the justice department quickly ruled out that there was no legal way to prosecute him, especially not through the Espionage Act. When Donald Trump initially ran for president, one of the promises he ran on was that he would pardon Julian Assange. That didn't end up happening, and so now with the Biden Administration in office many question what will come of Julian Assange's case.
After reviewing Assange and his case I'm torn with whats "right" or "wrong" I can understand why from a government's perspective, they wouldn't want secret information leaked, but at the same time it is the people's government and they have every right to know what is happening. The journalist in me understands Assange created WikiLeaks as an undiplomatic platform to give whistleblowers a voice and site to receive controversial but necessary information. At the end of the day, Assange was just doing his part as a journalist, giving information a platform to be heard and sharing it with the public. If Julian Assange is prosecuted, we should take that as a threat to the First Amendment.
Sources:
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/julian-assange-still-prison-america-s-democratic-principles-are-still-ncna1253051
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-11047811
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/us/politics/assange-trump-pardon.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/us/politics/julian-assange-extradition.html
To give further context, the Espionage Act was implemented in 1917 by the U.S government in order to silence anti-war voices, the law specifically targeted government employees to keep them from speaking out against the government. Which raises the question, how could a non-U.S citizen who doesn't work for the government be charged through the Espionage Act? This act is particularly controversial as many feel it impedes on the First Amendment protections.
In the government's attempt to find a way to prosecute Assange and hold him accountable for what they deem as "wrongdoings," in 2019 Assange was charged with hacking and on 17 different accounts through the Espionage Act. As Assange maintains his innocence, he has had a hard time managing to avoid prosecution as his security is in constant threat. Over the last 10+ years, Assange has relied on seeking asylum from the Educator embassy in Britain. However, after spending years in the embassy, the British government dragged him out, and he is now in the highest security prison where he has been awaiting further legal action. Most recently, his request for bail was denied by the British courts on Jan 6, 2021. At the moment, the British courts do not see enough justification and evidence for Assange to be extradited to the U.S.
With the changing over in U.S Presidential administrations, Assange has become an even hotter topic. Originally, the Obama administration was the first to raise questions about Assange's legality in releasing sensitive information, but the justice department quickly ruled out that there was no legal way to prosecute him, especially not through the Espionage Act. When Donald Trump initially ran for president, one of the promises he ran on was that he would pardon Julian Assange. That didn't end up happening, and so now with the Biden Administration in office many question what will come of Julian Assange's case.
After reviewing Assange and his case I'm torn with whats "right" or "wrong" I can understand why from a government's perspective, they wouldn't want secret information leaked, but at the same time it is the people's government and they have every right to know what is happening. The journalist in me understands Assange created WikiLeaks as an undiplomatic platform to give whistleblowers a voice and site to receive controversial but necessary information. At the end of the day, Assange was just doing his part as a journalist, giving information a platform to be heard and sharing it with the public. If Julian Assange is prosecuted, we should take that as a threat to the First Amendment.
Sources:
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/julian-assange-still-prison-america-s-democratic-principles-are-still-ncna1253051
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-11047811
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/us/politics/assange-trump-pardon.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/us/politics/julian-assange-extradition.html
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