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Thousands of protestors gathered today outside of the UK parliament forming a human chain in solidarity with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The United States is trying to have Assange extradited to face criminal charges for leaking classified information to the public. Protestors gathered in a line which stretched from the parliaments perimeter railings and snaked across nearby Westminster Bridge to the other side fo the River Thames.

Assanges wife, Stella, recently posted the following on Twitter,

WE DID IT!

I told Julian today was EPIC.

On behalf of Julian and our family THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts to each of you.

It took 5,000 people to complete the chain. We did that and more. Likely 10-12,000 people.

Post your pics from today below! #FreeAssangeNOW pic.twitter.com/8srE8uxh5n

Assange was charged under the Espionage Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, largely for actions rightfully recognized as protected news-gathering practices. He made public previously classified documents exposing various war crimes and other immoral and unethical actions carried out by the US and other governments.

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For the first time in the history, the government has brought criminal charges against a publisher for the publication of truthful information. This establishes a dangerous precedent that can be used to target all news organizations that hold the government accountable by publishing its secrets. And its equally dangerous for U.S. journalists who uncover the secrets of other nations.

Ben Wizner, Director of the American Civil Liberties Unions Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, American Civil Liberties Union, explains,

For the first time in the history of our country, the government has brought criminal charges against a publisher for the publication of truthful informationIt establishes a dangerous precedent that can be used to target all news organizations that hold the government accountable by publishing its secrets. And its equally dangerous for U.S. journalists who uncover the secrets of other nations.

If Julian is extradited he will be put on trial in Alexandria, Virginia, where he stands no chance of a fair trial. It is where US intelligence agencies are headquartered. The court complex is 15 miles from CIA headquarters. The state is populated by employees of the very sector whose abuses and crimes Julian exposed. The Espionage Act prevents Julian from arguing why he published what he published, what he exposed, and the fact it didnt result in any physical harm.

The Espionage Act was originally intended for use against spies. But its been used against journalistsand whistleblowers in recent decades. These new charges against Assange threaten to criminalize reporting in the United States and around the world.

Daniel Hale a former U.S. intelligence analyst was arrested and sentenced to 45 months in prison for violating the Espionage Act. Hale leaked documents about the secretive U.S. drone program, showing 90% of people killed in Afghanistan were innocent bystanders.

A favourite quote of ours here at The Pulse comes to mind. Its fromNils Melzer, the Human Rights Chair of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law who has served as the UN Rapporteur on Torture and Other Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

How far have we sunk if telling the truth becomes a crime? How far have we sunk if we prosecute people that expose war crimes for exposing war crimes? How far have we sunk when we no longer prosecute our own war criminals? Because we identify more with them, than we identify with the people that actually expose these crimes. What does that tell about us and about our governments? In a democracy, the power does not belong to the government, but to the people. But the people have to claim it. Secrecy disempowers the people because it prevents them from exercising democratic control, which is precisely why governments want secrecy.

Proponents of Assanges extradition would argue that he threatened national security. We would argue, as would many others, that national security has become an umbrella tool to censor information that exposes unethical and immoral actions of corporations and governments. Its simply used as an excuse to justify these actions for ulterior motives, be it financial or political gain, while simultaneously deeming these actions as necessary and good for the collective.

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Thousands Form Human Chain Around UK Parliament Demanding The Release ...

Over the weekend, here in Australia and in the UK, thousands of well-meaning protesters lined up to support calls for the release of a high-profile computer hacker named Julian Assange.

Assange has been an internationally renowned hacker, active since he was 16 years of age using the handle Mendax and pleading guilty in 1996 to 24 charges of hacking into the Melbourne computers of Canadian telecommunications company Nortel. He was fined and released on a good behaviour bond.

Assange has now spent three years in a British jail pending extradition to the US on hacking charges.

Meanwhile, his public defence has been hijacked by political activists running a press freedom campaign. His celebrity lawyers have lost a series of court cases to stop his extradition.

Assange faces multiple counts of aiding and abetting convicted whistleblower Chelsea Manning.

Manning, a soldier at the time, stole hundreds of thousands of classified US military files. Ironically, during the time that Assange has sought refuge in anEcuadorian embassy and fought to avoid a court appearance, Manning has been jailed and then had her sentence commuted.

Commutation comes with the implied acceptance of guilt. It does not mean a conviction has been overturned, so the prospects for Assange if he ever fronts an American court are dire. Especially if you read the very comprehensive indictment, containing detailed technical evidence relating to the hacking allegations.

American human rights lawyers warn against fighting charges under the rarely used Espionage Act, which Assange faces. They say such cases are pretty much unwinnable.

In arecent interview, controversial Australian expat journalist John Pilger, one of Assanges strongest supporters, made a bizarre claim.

If Julian is extradited to the United States, I think it will effectively end real independent investigative journalism.

However, the reality isAssange isnot really a journalist and contrary to claims by Pilger and others the case has limited consequences for press freedom.

Not one journalist or any media organisation that published the stolen files has been pursued, much less charged including Assanges WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks dumped huge amounts of confidentialmaterial straight onto the internet, unfiltered and uncorroborated. If ithad merely passed it on to the global media outlets that subsequently, but very selectively, published reports based on some of the stolen files Assanges identity as a source would have been protected.

Although there are journalists who applaud his actions, there are many who dont believe that such mass leaking is responsible journalism. Thats another reason why the press freedom angle is weak.

At the very least WikiLeaks arguably violated the privacy rights of people named in documents they reasonably expected would be kept confidential. The recent uproar over the Optus hacking highlights the sensitivity we attached these days to the information we provide to third parties.

So why is the US so determined to convict Assange?

The most sensational material his WikiLeaks website exposed the Collateral Murder video of helicopter gunships firing at civilians in Baghdad has been widely circulated via mainstream media and online. Yet its release has not seen anyone charged with war crimes.

The pursuit of both Manning and Assange, as Mannings alleged co-conspirator, is all about frightening off anyone else contemplating similar actions. Its also about American military pride. Not only did he allegedly help steal their files, Assange taunted them relentlessly for years.

Hopes of a change of heart by the incoming Biden administration were optimistic given WikiLeaks alleged covert support for Donald Trump.

Calls for the Australian government to demand Assangesrelease understate the extent to which both sides of American politics are aligned on national security issues.

Further complicating the matter is the fact that the actions of Manning and Assange would be criminal offences pretty much everywhere around the world.

Rather than continuing their current problematic press freedom campaign, those activists who just took to the streets would arguably be better engaged calling for global whistleblower laws.

Laws that protect whistleblowers and also anyone who assists them including journalists, lawyers and even computer hackers.

If they hope to see Assange released any time soon they should persuade him to do a plea bargain on one of the lesser charges with a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.

With an allowance for time served he could be out and back here in Australia with his young family in time for Christmas.

Laurie Patton is a prominent public interest advocate and a former journalist. He has recently launched a campaign to secure whistleblower laws from both state and federal governments

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Who is Julian Assange and why does America hate him so much?

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The morale and energy of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange held in jail for three-and-a- half years has been greatly boosted by plans for a human chain to encircle Britains parliament, his wife has said.

Several thousand supporters of Asange, 51, have signed up to form the chain in which they will link arms and spread themselves around parliament in protest over his detention and possible extradition to the US.

If enough people show up on Saturday, campaigners plan to have the human chain spread over Westminster Bridge, turn right onto the South Bank, then return to parliament by means of Lambeth Bridge.

Assanges wife, Stella Moris, told The Independent the human chain was part of a day of international demonstrations over his continued incarceration in Belmarsh Prison, as lawyers fight an attempt by the US authorities to force him to go on trial in America.

The Houses of parliament are the seat of democracy, and Julian represents democracy at its strongest government accountability and democratic movement, she said.

So the human chain around parliament symbolises the support people have for Julians release and for what he represents.

Stella Moris talks to the media outside Westminster Magistrates' Court in London in April

(PA)

The US has charged Assange with a total of 18 counts, some under the Espionage Act, and which in theory could carry a total of 175 years in jail.

They have accused him of publishing confidential military records and diplomatic cables, some of which were leaked to him by a former US army intelligence officer.

Assange and his supporters say he was exposing what they believe were war crimes committed by the US and UK as part of the so-called war on terror. He has received the support of journalism and press freedom organisations around the world, and a UN torture envoy has denounced the way he is being treated.

A lower court initially rejected the extradition request, stating it feared Mr Assange, an Australian citizen, would probably take his own life if put in US custody.

In April, an appeals court said Mr Assange could be sent to face trial in the US, leaving it up to then home secretary Priti Patel to review the case. She signed off on his extradition in June.

Ms Moris said the human chain was intended to be separate from the legal appeal that is taking place, and to highlight that every day he remained in Belmarsh Jail was a punishment.

Its to remind people that this is a political case, and his imprisonment is politically motivated, said Ms Moris, who is the mother of two children with the WikiLeaks founder.

Popular expressions over how intolerable that is are necessary in order to bring this to an end. Im convinced the resolution here is not in the court, its in the governments getting together and actually finding a solution.

Priti Patel agrees to extradite Julian Assange

She said the Australian government had said the case had gone on too long and should be brought to an end.

Mr Assange was arrested in April 2019 having spent five years in the Ecuadorean embassy in London after he sought political asylum.

He fought extradition to Sweden, where police said they wanted to investigate him over two accusations of sexual assault. Mr Assange has denied the claims and said he believed he would be taken to the US.

Ms Moris said her husband knew about the plans for the human chain and that it had given him a boost.

Its incredibly energising for him to know that he has support, she said. You know, its all over the world.

She added: It gives him huge moral support, to know that people havent forgotten him, rather that theyre waking up to the enormous injustice this is.

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Julian Assange greatly energised by planned human chain around ...

Assange 'suffering profoundly' in prison

He's waiting on a UK High Court appeal against his extradition to the US, where he faces espionage charges.

"When you hear politicians or government officials in the UK or in the US or in this country talk about due process or the rule of law, this is what they are talking about - punishment by process, burying him under legal process until he dies."

Stella Moris stands with her children Gabriel and Max outside Belmarsh Prison, London, following a visit with Julian Assange. Source: AAP

"We need to see action, we all want to see our prime minister stand up at the press conference taking questions about Julian's release from prison rather than his death in custody."

Readers seeking crisis support can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14. More information and support with mental health is available at Beyond Blue.org.au and on 1300 22 4636.

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Julian Assange is 'suffering profoundly' in prison, his lawyer says ...