Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder arrested in London

[The Minsky Moment]

He leaked hacked info obtained from Russian military intelligence
He delclined to publish a huge leak from the Russian Interior Ministry
His TV show ran on RT (Russian state media)

That's just what I recall from the top of my head

[Admiral Yi]

Thanks.  #2 is a real doozy.

[garbon]

With Assange's appeal to US extradition taking place this week - the Guardian has been out in force about how this represents a fundamental threat to press freedom.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/18/the-guardian-view-on-julian-assange-why-he-should-not-be-extradited

The Guardian view on Julian Assange: why he should not be extradited
Sending him to be tried in the United States would be an unacceptable act against the WikiLeaks founder – and against journalism

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/18/julian-assange-press-freedom-wikileaks-uk-high-court

We have seen Assange's plight in a UK prison, but extraditing him this week would be a disaster for us all
It is vital not to forget about the man – and the repercussions for press freedom if the high court says he can be sent to the US

Coverage of the artpiece to destroy art for him hasn't been as rosy.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/feb/13/im-not-trying-to-destroy-art-says-man-planning-to-do-just-that-if-assange-dies-in-jail

I'm not trying to destroy art, says man planning to do just that if Assange dies in jail
Andrei Molodkin believes WikiLeaks founder will be freed, leaving $45m of precious artworks unscathed

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/feb/13/andrei-molodkin-julian-assange-dissolving-art-in-acid

Threatening to dissolve masterpieces in acid is a pathetically banal stunt for our shallow times
Russian artist Andrei Molodkin will destroy works by Picasso, Rembrandt and Warhol if Julian Assange dies in prison. It's an unoriginal idea born of art-historical ignorance

[Sheilbh]

Not to forget former editor, Alan Rusbridger (who almost financially ruined the Guardian), and current editor of Prospect:
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/64791/enough-is-enoughits-time-to-set-julian-assange-free

[The Brain]

I remember (or did I dream it?) when some guy wanted to be buried with a van Gogh, and there was some brouhaha. My understanding is that generally paintings like that aren't protected legally, so who cares if he destroys them?

[garbon]

I remember (or did I dream it?) when some guy wanted to be buried with a van Gogh, and there was some brouhaha. My understanding is that generally paintings like that aren't protected legally, so who cares if he destroys them?

Odd take for a history forum.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I've been ready for this guy to stop being talked about for about 10 years.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Also, I have never really bought into the journalism argument. Journalists aren't allowed to help people hack into government servers, in the UK or the U.S.

[Admiral Yi]

Also, I have never really bought into the journalism argument. Journalists aren't allowed to help people hack into government servers, in the UK or the U.S.

Is there a line in your mind between Assange and the NYT w/ the Pentagon Papers?

[OttoVonBismarck]

Also, I have never really bought into the journalism argument. Journalists aren't allowed to help people hack into government servers, in the UK or the U.S.

Is there a line in your mind between Assange and the NYT w/ the Pentagon Papers?

Yeah, you don't prosecute news outlets for publishing things leaked to them as passive recipients, even if the person leaking it to them broke the law to do so. That is also AFAIK the legal consensus in America.

But if the NYT hired a computer hacker to break into DoD computers the NYT's managers who cooked up the scheme would face serious criminal charges. The indictment against Assange accuses him of providing actual technical help to Chelsea Manning to crack a password hash. You cross the line as a journalist when you help pick the lock.

The NYT didn't help Daniel Ellsberg walk the report out of the Pentagon, they simply published what he gave them.

Now, I have not taken a significant interest in Assange's tedious case (I view him as a rabble rouser and a Russian asset), so I don't know how strong the government's case is on those facts. But we do have a court system here to adjudicate things like that and an extradition treaty with Britain.

[Admiral Yi]

I was not aware of that.

[OttoVonBismarck]

As far as I am aware everything Assange is charged with in the indictment is because it is alleged he helped with the actual breach of the classified data. I don't believe, given previous Supreme Court rulings, a prosecution would get very far if they were going after him simply because he passively received stuff another person stole and then published it.

Although I think some of that has never been fully litigated because cases like Ellsberg's ended up hinging on the government doing illegal things to build its case against him and his charges being dismissed for that reason.

[grumbler]

Although I think some of that has never been fully litigated because cases like Ellsberg's ended up hinging on the government doing illegal things to build its case against him and his charges being dismissed for that reason.

The NYT case was fully litigated.  Ellsberg's criminal trial is the case where the prosecution case was tossed due to the illegal activities of some people investigating it.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Although I think some of that has never been fully litigated because cases like Ellsberg's ended up hinging on the government doing illegal things to build its case against him and his charges being dismissed for that reason.

The NYT case was fully litigated.  Ellsberg's criminal trial is the case where the prosecution case was tossed due to the illegal activities of some people investigating it.

The NYT case wasn't criminal, it was around a government injunction--Ellsberg's case is more comparable to Assange's because it was an Espionage Act case, which the NYT was an entity was never prosecuted under the Espionage Act. I also specifically said it was Ellsberg's case that had not been fully litigated, since it was not carried to a judgment due to the government's illegal evidence collection in his case.

[Zanza]

Julian Assange agrees to plea deal with Biden administration that will allow him to avoid imprisonment in US

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge related to his alleged role in one of the largest US government breaches of classified material, as part of a deal with the Justice Department that will allow him to avoid imprisonment in the United States, according to newly filed federal court documents.

Under the terms of the new agreement, Justice Department prosecutors will seek a 62-month sentence – which is equal to the amount of time Assange has served in a high-security prison in London while he fought extradition to the US. The plea deal would credit that time served, allowing Assange to immediately return to Australia, his native country.

The plea deal must still be approved by a federal judge, but as of Monday morning, Assange had been released from a UK prison, according to WikiLeaks.

"Julian Assange is free. He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1901 days there. He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stansted airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK," WikiLeaks said a Tuesday statement.

A video uploaded by the group showed a black van traveling on a motorway followed by footage of Assange boarding a plane.

A federal judge in the Northern Mariana Islands set a plea hearing and sentencing for Wednesday morning, according to the US District Court there. Justice Department prosecutors had asked the court for the proceedings to take place on the same day because Assange was resistant to setting foot in the continental US for his guilty plea, according to a letter from prosecutors.

The court on the islands is near Australia, where Assange is a citizen and is expected to return to after the court hearing, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors told the judge they "anticipate that the defendant will plead guilty to the charge ... and be sentenced by the Court for that offense."

Assange was being pursued by US authorities for publishing confidential military records supplied by former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in 2010 and 2011. He faced 18 counts from a 2019 indictment for his alleged role in the breach that carried a max of up to 175 years in prison, though he was unlikely to be sentenced to that time in full.

US officials alleged that Assange goaded Manning into obtaining thousands of pages of unfiltered US diplomatic cables that potentially endangered confidential sources, Iraq war-related significant activity reports and information related to Guantanamo Bay detainees.

President Joe Biden in recent months has alluded to a possible deal pushed by Australian government officials to return Assange to Australia.

FBI and Justice Department officials have opposed any deal that didn't include a felony guilty plea by Assange, people briefed on the matter told CNN.

Last month, a UK court ruled that Assange had the right to appeal his final challenge against extradition to the US, dealing a win to him in his years-long fight to avoid prosecution in the States for his alleged crimes.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/24/politics/julian-assange-plea-deal-biden-administration/index.html