#Wikileaks founder Julian Assange

[destielmemenews]

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[insightfultake]

Julian Assange, a Crusader for the Public Right Released from Jail

Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, is the bravest editor of our generation when all mass media stakeholders are busy selling information to leverage the political parties to win elections and rule the country. Accountability and transparency are unfamiliar concepts to contemporary media across the globe. His contribution to democracy and freedom of the press is undermined by the mainstream media...read more

[dailyworldecho]

[xtruss]

Extradition of “Australian Julian Paul Assange, The Founder of The WikiLeaks,” On Hold Until U.S. Gives More Assurances (Hello Australia! Where The F*** Are You?)

British Judges Asked the United States, Which Wants to Try the WikiLeaks Founder on Espionage Charges, For More Guarantees About His Treatment.

— By Megan Specia | March 26, 2024 | The New York Times

Julian Assange’s wife, Stella Assange, speaking outside the High Court in London during a hearing in February. Credit...Carl Court/Getty Images

The High Court in London ruled on Tuesday that Julian Assange, the embattled WikiLeaks founder, cannot be immediately extradited to the United States, saying American authorities must offer assurances about his treatment first, including over his First Amendment rights and protection from the death penalty.

The decision had been highly anticipated as the moment the court would decide if Mr. Assange had exhausted his challenges within British courts. Instead, in a nuanced ruling, two judges determined that clarity on his fate would again be on hold.

The two High Court judges said that the court “will grant leave to appeal” on narrow grounds, “unless a satisfactory assurance is provided by the Government of the United States of America.”

The court has given the United States three weeks “to give satisfactory assurances” that Mr. Assange “is permitted to rely on the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (which protects free speech), that he is not prejudiced at trial (including sentence) by reason of his nationality, that he is afforded the same First Amendment protections as a United States citizen and that the death penalty is not imposed.”

If those assurances are not given by April 16, then Mr. Assange will be granted a full appeal hearing. If the United States does provide the requested assurances, there will be a further hearing on May 20 to decide if they “are satisfactory, and to make a final decision on leave to appeal.”

While the United States has already provided some assurances over the treatment of Mr. Assange if he was extradited, the High Court judges asked for additional guarantees.

The Case Against Julian Assange:

— Who is Julian Assange? Assange is the founder of WikiLeaks. He rose to international prominence in 2010, when the group released diplomatic and military files related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan leaked by Chelsea Manning, an Army intelligence analyst. In 2016, ahead of the U.S. presidential election, WikiLeaks published Democratic National Committee emails stolen by hackers tied to Russian intelligence agencies.

— When did Assange’s Legal Troubles Begin? In 2012, Assange fled to the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to escape extradition to Sweden, where he faced an inquiry into accusations of rape and sexual assault that were later dropped. He remained in the embassy for seven years, until he was ejected in 2019.

— What Happened Next? The United States unsealed an indictment against Assange and sought his extradition, with prosecutors accusing him of violating the Espionage Act for his role in the 2010 disclosures and of conspiring to hack into a Pentagon computer network.

— Where is Assange Now? After he was expelled from the embassy, Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail in London for breaching bail conditions related to the rape inquiry. He has remained at Belmarsh Prison, where he married his longtime partner in 2022, while his lawyers fought his U.S. extradition order.

— What’s the Status of the Extradition Case? Five years after Assange was first imprisoned in a high-security facility in Britain while fighting a United States extradition request, the Biden administration has given the clearest signal to date that it might drop its prosecution of him. His wife said that her hopes were tempered.

The United States has sought the extradition of Mr. Assange since 2019, and the British government approved an extradition order in 2022, but he has fought his removal through the courts while detained in a high-security prison in southeast London.

Mr. Assange, 52, is accused of violating the U.S. Espionage Act with WikiLeaks’ 2010 publication of tens of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents leaked by Chelsea Manning, an Army intelligence analyst.

Speaking outside the London court on Tuesday, Stella Assange, Mr. Assange’s wife, urged the U.S. government to drop the charges against her husband.

“The Biden administration should not offer assurances. They should drop this shameful case that should never have been brought,” she told reporters gathered outside the court. “Julian should never have been in prison for a single day. This is a shame on every democracy. Julian is a political prisoner.”

As Mr. Assange’s case has unfolded over the years, it has become highly charged politically, raising First Amendment issues and alarming advocates of media freedom. The United States, Britain, where his extradition case is being heard, and Australia — where Mr. Assange is a citizen — are all involved, and in recent months there have been calls for some political resolution to see the charges reduced or dismissed.

Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said that Tuesday’s ruling “presents the U.S. government with another opportunity to do what it should have done long ago — drop the Espionage Act charges.”

“Prosecuting Assange for the publication of classified information would have profound implications for press freedom,” Mr. Jaffer said in a statement, “Because publishing classified information is what journalists and news organizations often need to do in order to expose wrongdoing by government.”

The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment.

Here’s a Brief History of the Case Against Julian Assange.

Mr. Assange moved to Britain in late 2010 from Sweden. The Swedish police issued an international arrest warrant for him later that year over sexual assault accusations.

In June 2012, he was granted political asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London — where he stayed for the next seven years.

Sweden dropped its case against Mr. Assange. He was thrown out of the embassy in 2019, and shortly after, the United States announced an indictment against him, charging him with 18 counts of violating the Espionage Act by participating in a criminal hacking conspiracy and by encouraging hackers to steal secret material.

He was promptly arrested, and has been seeking to halt his removal to the United States through British courts ever since.

In 2021, a British judge denied the extradition request for Mr. Assange, ruling that he was at risk of suicide if sent to an American prison. But the High Court later reversed that decision based on assurances from the Biden administration that he would not be held in the United States’ highest-security facility and that, if convicted, he could serve his sentence in Australia.

By 2022, Priti Patel, who as Britain’s home secretary was responsible for the country’s borders and security, had approved the extradition request — and Mr. Assange’s legal team fought that as well.

When a lower-court judge denied their request that he be allowed to appeal, they asked the High Court to overturn that move.

Mr. Assange’s lawyers say that he could face up to 175 years in prison if convicted, although lawyers for the United States government have said that he was more likely to be sentenced to four to six years.

And Here’s What Happened at the Most Recent Court Hearings.

During a two-day hearing in the High Court in February, Mr. Assange’s lawyer Edward Fitzgerald told the judges, Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson, that his client had been “exposing serious criminality” by publishing the leaked documents, and laid out nine grounds on which Mr. Assange hoped to appeal the extradition order.

In their ruling on Tuesday, the judges dismissed six of the nine grounds for appeal as unfounded.

But they said that Mr. Assange had a “real prospect of success” on three of the issues raised, including on the threat to his freedom of expression in the United States; that his trial might be prejudiced because as an Australian he might not be given the same rights as American citizens; and that there was nothing to prevent the death penalty from being imposed, which would violate British extradition policies.

The court decided that “unless satisfactory assurances are provided, the court will grant leave to appeal on those grounds.”

Mr. Assange did not appear in the courtroom, despite having been granted rare permission to do so for the first time since 2021. His lawyers told the court that he was not well enough to attend or even to attend via video link from prison.

At a news briefing in February, Ms. Assange had said that her husband’s legal team would “definitely and immediately file an application” with the European Court of Human Rights if blocked from further appeals in Britain, and that he would ask for an “injunction to stop the U.K. from extraditing him.”

— Megan Specia reports on Britain, Ireland and the Ukraine war for The Times. She is based in London.

[seachranaidhe]

🇬🇧🇺🇸 NEW: ‘The UK executive is wining and dining with people plotting the assassination of my husband’ #FreeJulianAssangeNow

@Stella_Assange, wife of the imprisoned WikiLeaks founder, sits down with Declassified’s @kennardmatt for her most candid interview yet.👇(2) 👉 Stella on British media: “If the UK press had reported fairly and critically about this case, would Julian be in Belmarsh prison today? I don’t believe so.”👉 Stella on US extradition: “I’m convinced Julian cannot survive under the conditions the US will…

[zvaigzdelasas]

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.

24 Jun 24

[reality-detective]

The US Government is attempting to extradite Wikileaks founder and publisher, Julian Assange, for this specifically: The Collateral Murder release.

This footage so scares them, that they have spent billions, and committed countless crimes, attempting to arrest, imprison, and kill the journalist for publishing it also.

Never forget this footage, or the terrible truth it represents. 🤔

[truth4ourfreedom]

OPERATION HAMMER: THE END MAY BE NEAR FOR THE PEDOPHILES AND THE CORRUPT LEFT!!!!

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is publishing information that we freedom loving Americans must repost and share! Here is one of his latest:

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Operation Hammer

In a world shadowed by secrecy, where power struggles and hidden agendas shape our reality, the storm is finally upon us. Operation Hammer, an unprecedented global initiative, has brought to light the underbelly of corruption, foreign interference, and crimes against humanity. With 450,000 sealed indictments leading to thousands of JAG tribunals, the stage is set for a seismic shift in the fight for justice and transparency.

The critical executive orders—13818, 13848, and 13959—are the backbone of this monumental operation, targeting human rights violators, foreign election meddling, and Chinese military companies. This is not just a battle; it is a war for the soul of humanity.

The Unfolding of Operation Hammer. Operation Hammer is a codename that has sent shockwaves through the corridors of power worldwide. This initiative, spearheaded by the White Hats military, is a coordinated effort to dismantle deeply entrenched networks of corruption and criminality. The sheer scale of this operation is staggering: 450,000 sealed indictments, thousands of JAG (Judge Advocate General) tribunals, and a litany of trials, sentencings, and, in some cases, executions. This is not merely a legal battle; it is a global reckoning.

The Genesis of Operation Hammer. The genesis of Operation Hammer can be traced back to the alarming rise of crimes against humanity and foreign election interference. As global citizens, we have witnessed the erosion of democratic principles, the manipulation of electoral processes, and the gross violation of human rights. The executive orders 13818, 13848, and 13959 are not just legal instruments; they are the swords of justice designed to cut through the web of deceit and bring the perpetrators to account.

Executive Order 13818: Targeting Human Rights Abusers Executive Order 13818, signed on December 20, 2017, is a powerful weapon in the fight against human rights abuses. This order enables the U.S. government to impose sanctions on individuals and entities involved in serious human rights abuses and corruption. The global reach of this order means that no tyrant or corrupt official is beyond the grasp of justice.

Executive Order 13848: Combating Foreign Election Interference Foreign election interference is a dagger aimed at the heart of democracy. Executive Order 13848, signed on September 12, 2018, addresses this critical threat. This order declares a national emergency to deal with the threat of foreign interference in U.S. elections. It allows for the imposition of sanctions on individuals and entities that have engaged in or assisted foreign interference in elections, ensuring the sanctity of the democratic process.

Executive Order 13959: Restricting Chinese Military Companies The global influence of Chinese military companies has raised alarms about national security and economic stability. Executive Order 13959, signed on November 12, 2020, seeks to address this issue by prohibiting U.S. investments in Chinese companies that support the Chinese military. This order is a decisive step in curbing the expansion of China’s military-industrial complex and protecting American interests.

The Mechanics of Operation Hammer. The execution of Operation Hammer is a meticulous and coordinated effort involving various branches of the military and intelligence agencies. The sealed indictments are a testament to the thorough investigations and the gathering of irrefutable evidence against the accused. These indictments cover a wide range of crimes, including human trafficking, corruption, election fraud, and more.

The JAG tribunals are at the heart of this operation. These military courts are tasked with ensuring that justice is served swiftly and fairly. The trials are conducted with the utmost transparency, providing the world with a front-row seat to the administration of justice. The sentences handed down by these tribunals range from imprisonment to execution, depending on the severity of the crimes committed.

Join and share my channel immediately: https://t.me/JulianAssangeWiki

PLEASE REBLOG AND SHARE!! MAY GOD BLESS OPERATION HAMMER!!

[lasseling]

Flashback: Hillary Clinton Proposed Killing Assange with ‘Drone Strike’

Two-time failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at one time proposed using a military drone strike to extrajudicially assassinate Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

[cyberpunkonline]

What is a Cypherpunk?

The term "cypherpunk" refers to a movement and a community of activists advocating for the widespread use of strong cryptography and privacy-enhancing technologies as a route to social and political change. Emerging in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the cypherpunk movement is a confluence of libertarian political philosophy, hacker ethos, and cryptographic science.

The Core Traits of Cypherpunks

1. Advocacy for Privacy and Anonymity: Cypherpunks champion the right to privacy, emphasizing that individuals should have control over their personal information and digital footprints. This advocacy is often in direct opposition to government surveillance and corporate data collection practices.

2. Use of Cryptography: The cornerstone of the cypherpunk movement is the use of strong cryptography to secure communications and transactions. Cypherpunks believe that through cryptographic techniques, individuals can protect their privacy in the digital world.

3. Open Source and Decentralization: A significant trait among cypherpunks is the belief in open-source software and decentralized systems. This ethos promotes transparency, security, and resistance to censorship and control by central authorities.

Who are the Cypherpunks?

The cypherpunk community consists of programmers, activists, academics, and technologists. Notable figures include Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks; Jacob Appelbaum, a former spokesperson for the Tor Project; and Hal Finney, a pioneer in digital cash systems. The manifesto "A Cypherpunk's Manifesto" by Eric Hughes (1993) [https://www.activism.net/cypherpunk/manifesto.html] eloquently encapsulates the philosophy and ideals of this movement.

The Cypherpunk Movement

Cypherpunks are not a formal organization but rather a loosely associated group sharing common interests in cryptography and privacy. The movement's origins can be traced to the “Cypherpunks” mailing list, started in 1992 by Eric Hughes, Timothy C. May, and John Gilmore. This list served as a platform for discussing privacy, cryptography, and related political issues.

Relation to Cyberpunk Principles

While cypherpunks share some overlap with the cyberpunk genre of science fiction, they are distinct in their real-world activism. Cyberpunk literature, like William Gibson's "Neuromancer" (1984) [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6088006-neuromancer], often presents a dystopian future where technology is pervasive and oppressive. In contrast, cypherpunks aim to use technology, specifically cryptography, as a tool for empowerment and resistance against such dystopian futures.

Notable Contributions and Technologies

The cypherpunk movement has been instrumental in the development of technologies that emphasize privacy and security:

Tor (The Onion Router): A free and open-source software for enabling anonymous communication [https://www.torproject.org/].

Pretty Good Privacy (PGP): A data encryption and decryption program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication [https://www.openpgp.org/].

Bitcoin: The creation of Bitcoin by an individual or group under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto was heavily influenced by the ideas of the cypherpunk movement. It embodies principles of decentralization and financial privacy [https://bitcoin.org/en/].

Wikileaks: Founded by Julian Assange, WikiLeaks is a multinational media organization that publishes news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources [https://wikileaks.org/].

Conclusion

The cypherpunk movement is a critical lens through which to view the ongoing dialogue about privacy, security, and freedom in the digital age. While not an organized group, the collective impact of cypherpunks on modern cryptography, internet privacy, and digital rights is profound. As digital technology continues to permeate every facet of our lives, the principles and contributions of the cypherpunk community remain more relevant than ever. - REV1.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

US espionage on Brazil: recalling when WikiLeaks revealed NSA spied on former President Dilma Rousseff and members of her government

The website published a list of 29 phone numbers of Brazilian officials allegedly monitored since 2011

On Tuesday (25), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party) celebrated the release of Australian journalist Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder.  

"Today, the world is a little better and less unjust. Julian Assange is free after 1,901 days in prison. His release and return home, albeit belatedly, is a victory for democracy and the fight for press freedom," said the Brazilian president in a social media post.

Since the beginning of his third presidential term, in January 2023, Lula has been one of the most vocal global leaders in defending Assange’s release. Among the information revealed by WikiLeaks throughout a decade, one has marked Brazilian diplomacy: the publication of documents proving that Dilma Rousseff was being spied on.

Continue reading.

[collapsedsquid]

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is due to plead guilty on Wednesday to violating U.S. espionage law, in a deal that will end his imprisonment in Britain and allow him to return home to Australia, ending a 14-year legal odyssey. [...] He is due to be sentenced to 62 months of time already served at a hearing in Saipan at 9 a.m. local time on Wednesday (2300 GMT Tuesday). The island in the Pacific was chosen due to Assange's opposition to travelling to the mainland U.S. and for its proximity to Australia, prosecutors said. Assange left Belmarsh prison in the UK on Monday before being bailed by the UK High Court and boarding a flight that afternoon, Wikileaks said in a statement posted on social media platform X.

How nice that the US has an convenient island to sentence unruly Australians.

[klett161]

So I think many people are not aware about the current state of Julien Assange, the founder of Wikileaks since he‘s not getting a lot of media attention any more and the news cycle has long moved on.

Around 2 years ago the British courts already ruled that hell be extradited into the Usa where he will spend the rest of his life in jail under according to amnesty International: „a real risk of serious human rights violations including possible detention conditions that would amount to torture and other ill-treatment“. In the Usa he will face charges for his Journalistic practices such as leaking footage of Us soldiers committing war crimes.

Right now he‘s being held in Belmarsh high security prison in the east of London, England. He has been there since two years ago and is currently being held in solitary confinement. While the courts in the Uk already ruled about his extardidment to the Usa two years ago he is right at the moment in the process of making his last appeal. if it fails which it mostly likely will his last chance would be an appeal to the Un human rights comitee. The last appeal in front of the court in the Uk will be held on the 16th and 17th of February.

He is being charged for „being a risk to the national security of the United States of America“ under the 1917 Espionage act which was put in place during the Usa‘s Involvement in the first world war to fight german spy’s in Us Institutions and should have been abolished after the end of it. Instead it stayed in place up until today conveniently giving the Us-Government a reason to jail some of their stongest critics.

You just have to really think about the Implications that this whole case carries with it, if the Us Government can classify every document they don‘t want the public to know about because it would Inform them about their atrocities and crooked doings and everyone leaking them can get charged how can you still talk about a functioning Democracy? Not that I think that any representative democracy especially not the one in the Usa represents the true will of the people. But even taken this aside the rational of a democracy must be that information is somewhat available for voters to base their decision on. The thing is the Us-Government knows and this includes both parties that all of their little war adventures in the middle east and the all civilian casualties, displaced people and other atrocities commited would,even under the most ignorant Americans, raise some eyebrows. THEY FEAR THE TRUTH

And I think all of this is not only typical for the Us but for basically every liberal democracy. Nominally there is a right to free speech for everyone up until the point that you pose a real thread to the Government. And no, the constitution will not defend you because guess what even if there are no convenient laws like the Us espionage act that help to prosecute you, there are all sorts of secret services that don’t give a fuck about the constitution and their only purpose is to do what ever is best for the nation-state they are serving weather that is overthrowing government’s, bribing a court or assasinations doesn’t matter. And if the Usa can keep on silencing its sharpest critics without international condemnation or condemnation by their citizens, other western countries will follow this example and be more confident to prosecute their own critics openly, I do believe this is somewhat of a slippery slope.

There will be some last big demonstrations on the 20th and 21st of February outside of the royal court where the hearings will take place. Demonstrations starting as early as 8:30(GMT) so if you live in the area consider going. And even if you don’t live near london you can still get active, share Information, talk to friends and family, make solidarity graffitis, write an article for a local newspaper or zine, attend solidarity demonstrations or if there are none in your area organize one yourself. Anything really just don‘t look away

Please Reblog and share not only this post but all posts aiming to raise awareness about this topic.

This struggle is not merely about Julien Assange it‘s about press freedom as a whole. And not just in the Us but everywhere, so go and fight for free speech while you still can

Source:

amnesty International: https://www.amnesty.org/en/petition/julian-assange-usa-justice/

[workersolidarity]

🇺🇲🇦🇺

JULIAN ASSANGE REACHES PLEA DEAL WITH UNITED STATES JUSTICE DEPT

Journalist Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, who has been detained in Belmarsh Prison in the UK for the last 5 years, has reached a plea deal with the United States Justice Department.

According to published court documents, the intrepid journalist, Julian Assange (52yo), an Australian citizen, will plead guilty to one count of Conspiracy to Obtain and Disclose National Defense Information. This despite not being an American citizen, nor committing any crimes inside United States territory.

Assange has, until now, denied he violated any laws while receiving classified United States national defense documents beginning in 2009 from Chelsea Manning, who herself was convicted for passing documents to Assange and other news outlets.

Assange has repeatedly insisted he has done nothing more or less than any other journalist would do, and worked to protect his sources as other news outlets would typically do.

Reporting in the US mainstream media states that Assange will be in court on Wednesday at 9am in the Northern Mariana Islands, appearing before US District Court Justice Ramona Manglona to plead guilty to the charge in exchange for a sentence of time served, 62 months in the British Belmarsh prison, after which, he will be returned to his home country of Australia.

The charges stem from documents Assange received from Chelsea Manning, at the time a Military Intelligence analyst. Assange published the documents to the news organization he founded, WikiLeaks, in one of the largest dumps of classified information in American history, revealing a multitude of war crimes committed by American occupation forces during their invasion of Afghanistan and subsequent illegal invasion of Iraq.

The court documents revealing Assange's plea deal were filed on Monday evening in the US District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, a US-occupied territory in the Pacific Ocean.

Assange will appear in court on Wednesday, and is expected to be sentenced to 62 months, with credit for time served in British prison, allowing Assange to return to his country of citizenship.

Assange has been held in Belmarsh Prison in the UK for the last 62 months, where his health has rapidly deteriorated, with many of those closest to the journalist suggesting in recent months he could die from poor health if not released soon.

#source

@WorkerSolidarityNews