Six Reasons Julian Assange Should Be Thanked, Not Punished – Scoop.co.nz

Saturday, 19 September 2020, 7:20 amArticle: David Swanson

ByWorld BEYOND War, September 18, 2020https://worldbeyondwar.org/assange/

1.The effort to extradite and prosecute Julian Assange forjournalism is a threat to future journalism that challengespower and violence, but a defense of the media practice ofpropagandizing for war. While the New York Timesbenefitted from Assanges work, its only reporting on hiscurrent hearing is an articleabout technical glitches in the court proceedings utterly avoiding the content of those proceedings, evenfalsely suggesting that the content was inaudible andotherwise unobtainable. The corporate U.S. media silence isdeafening. Not only does President Donald Trumps effortto imprison Assange (or, as he has publicly advocated in thepast, kill him) conflict with media fictions about Russia,and contradict fundamental pretenses about U.S. respect forfreedom of the press, but it also serves an importantfunction that is clearly in the interest of media outletsthat promote wars. It punishes someone who dared to exposethe malevolence, cynicism, and criminality of U.S.wars.

2. The Collateral Murder videoand the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs documented some of thegreatest crimes of recent decades. Even the exposure of themisdeeds of a U.S. political party was a public service, nota crime certainly not the crime of treason againstthe United States by a non-U.S. citizen, a concept oftreason that would make the entire world subject to imperialdictates and certainly not the crime of espionagewhich has to be committed on behalf of a government, not onbehalf of the public interest. If U.S. courts were toprosecute the actual crimes exposed by Julian Assange andhis colleagues and sources, they would have little timeavailable for prosecutingjournalism.

3. The idea thatpublishing government documents is something other thanjournalism, that real journalism requires hiding governmentdocuments while describing them to the public, is a recipefor misleading the public. Claims that Assange assisted asource in criminally (if morally and democratically)obtaining documents lack evidence and appear to be asmokescreen for the prosecution of basic journalisticpractices. The same goes for claims that Assangesjournalism harmed people or risked harming people. Exposingwar is the very opposite of harming people. Assange withhelddocuments and asked the U.S. government what to redact priorto publishing. That government chose not to redact anything,and now blames Assange without evidence for a smallnumber of deaths in wars that have killed huge numbers ofpeople. We have heard testimony this week that the Trumpadministration offered Assange a pardon if he would reveal asource. The offense of refusing to reveal a source is an actof journalism.

4. For years theUnited Kingdom maintained a pretense that it sought Assangefor criminal accusations from Sweden. The idea that theUnited States sought to prosecute the act of reporting onits wars was mocked as paranoid fantasy. For global societyto now accept this outrage would be a significant blow topress freedom globally and to the independence of any vassalstate from U.S. demands. Those demands tend to be, first andforemost, to buy more weapons, and, secondarily, toparticipate in the use of thoseweapons.

5. The United Kingdom, evenoutside of the European Union, has laws and standards. Theextradition treaty it has with the United States prohibitsextradition for political purposes. The United States wouldpunish Assange brutally pre-trial and subsequent to anytrial. The proposal to isolate him in a cell in a prison inColorado would amount to a continuation of the torture thatUN special rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer says Assangehas already been subjected to for years. An espionagetrial would deny Assange the right to put forward any casein his own defense that spoke to his motivations. A fairtrial would also be impossible in a country whose toppoliticians have convicted Assange in the media for years.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called Wikileaks anon-state hostile intelligence service. Presidentialcandidate Joe Biden has called Assange a hi-techterrorist.

6. The legal processthus far has not been legal. The United States breachedAssanges right to client-lawyer confidentiality. Duringthe last year at the Ecuadoran Embassy, a contractor spiedon Assange 24 hours a day, seven days a week, includingduring his private meetings with his attorneys. Assange hasbeen denied the ability to properly prepare for the currenthearings. The court has displayed extreme bias in favor ofthe prosecution. Were corporate media outlets reporting onthe details of this travesty, they would soon findthemselves treated in a hostile manner by those in power;they would find themselves on the side of the seriousjournalists; they would find themselves on the side ofJulian Assange.

David Swanson isan author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He isexecutive director of WorldBeyondWar.organd campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org.Swanson's books include WarIs A Lie. He blogs at DavidSwanson.organd WarIsACrime.org.He hosts TalkNation Radio. He is a 2015,2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee. Follow himon Twitter: @davidcnswansonand FaceBook.

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