Dick Roche wrote that Julian Assange’s extradition case raised questions about freedom of the press, the extraterritorial spread of U.S. laws, and whether Europe is prepared or lacking to protect media freedom.
Dick Roche is the former Minister of European Affairs and former Minister of the Environment of Ireland. He also served as chairman of the Irish Justice and Peace Commission.
Since its inception, WikiLeaks has been the thorn in the eyes of powerful American institutions.
It published a Guantanamo detention center operation manual in 2007, which caused a sensation in Washington.
In April 2010, WikiLeaks released a shocking video clip of civilians killed in an attack by a US helicopter in Baghdad. The video clip killed civilians, including two Reuters staff, and won global recognition.
Later in 2010, WikiLeaks released a large amount of material related to US behavior in Afghanistan. Materials from Iraq, Guantanamo, and U.S. diplomatic cables from Chelsea Manning, the U.S. Army Intelligence Service.
The release of the document angered American institutions. A grand jury held a private hearing on whether Assange and WikiLeaks should face charges under the Espionage Act. The Obama administration has reservations about this. It believes that if Assange is accused, it will set a precedent and affect traditional media, which will expose based on leaks and bring a political counterattack.
During the 2016 US presidential campaign, WikiLeaks made global headlines by publishing emails sent by Hillary Clinton on a private email server and emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. This action damaged Clinton’s campaign. It also destroyed WikiLeaks. Democrats accused Assange of helping Russia work hard to elect Donald Trump.
In the spring of 2017, with the arrival of the Trump administration, WikiLeaks returned to the news, exposing that the CIA monitored the political parties running for the 2012 French presidential election and dropped the blockbuster codenamed “Refuge No. 7” .
Vault 7 revealed that the CIA has developed malware targeting Android, iOS and Windows operating systems to enable it to access mobile phones, laptops and even smart TVs. An internal investigation called the release “the largest data breach in the history of the Central Intelligence Agency.”
The CIA was deeply stung by the leak. The newly appointed Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Mike Pompeo called WikiLeaks a “hostile intelligence agency” and argued that Assange “as a foreigner” has no First Amendment rights, that is, the right to protect journalism.
A series of legal actions were subsequently taken. In December 2017, a federal judge filed a criminal case against Assange, making him the first person to be charged for publishing government documents under the Espionage Act of 1917. A series of prosecutions were subsequently conducted in March 2018, May 2019 and June 2020. Yahoo News reported that the CIA reviewed the possibility of kidnapping and even assassinating Assange.
Although this happened in the United States, Assange faces major legal issues in the United Kingdom. In June 2012, Assange was facing extradited to Sweden for harassment and rape—he denied it—but Assange gave up bail and took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy.
Assange claimed that if he was extradited to Sweden, he would be handed over to the United States, and he remained in the embassy until April 2019. With political changes in Ecuador, the British police were allowed to enter the embassy and arrest him.
Within days of being arrested, Swedish prosecutors abandoned their investigation into the rape allegations. Sweden’s statute of limitations for allegations of harassment has expired.
Assange was accused of skipping bail in 2012 and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison.
The United States immediately issued 18 indictments against Assange and demanded his extradition from the United Kingdom to the United States. The charges in the indictment could be punishable by 175 years in prison.
In January of this year, a British judge blocked an extradition request citing concerns about Assange’s mental health and suicide risk. The U.S. Department of Justice stated that although “disappointed with the final court ruling, we are glad that the U.S. has the upper hand on every point of the law proposed.”
Just two weeks later, Joe Biden became president. On February 9, it was announced that the Biden administration would appeal the January extradition decision.
The appeal was heard in the High Court of the United Kingdom from October 27th to 28th. In court, the United States provided a “package of guarantee” on how Assange would be treated if he was extradited, including allowing him to serve his sentence in Australia. This is the only concession made by the United States.
The United States argues that the “political exception” ban on extradition does not apply to Assange’s case, and that it is not a “political” act to announce the documents received from Chelsea Manning. Assange’s actions are not protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, questioning His freedom of speech protection under the European Convention on Human Rights.
The case brought by the United States has a chilling effect on press freedom and those who have the courage to expose evidence of state wrongdoing.
It shuts down protective measures, which have always been the key to protecting the ability of journalists and the media to share information, and those in power sometimes suppress this information.
In 2013, the Obama administration decided not to take action against Assange on the grounds that the actions of Assange and WikiLeaks were similar to news activities protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Trump and the current Biden administration reversed this position.
By restricting protective measures that have long been accepted as the norm, the United States is destroying an important cornerstone of democracy.
The second aspect of the Assange case has received due attention-the extraterritorial influence of American law.
In 2019, the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) expressed concern about the extraterritorial impact of U.S. law and pointed out that “European policymakers have recently been exposed to more or less power” to deal with the spread of U.S. extraterritorial laws. The January 2021 report produced by CEPS for the European Parliament reflects similar concerns.
The case of French citizen and former Alstom executive Frédéric Pierucci (Frédéric Pierucci) provides a clear example of the impact of extraterritorial influence on mankind.
Pierucci was arrested in New York in 2013. He spent two years in a US prison while the FBI was investigating the corruption of his Indonesian employer Alstom. Corrupt activities have little to do with any direct actions by Pierucci. He is actually an economic hostage. The case ended with Alstom being forced to pay the largest economic fine in the history of the United States and to hand over control of its key business areas to its American rival, General Electric.
When WikiLeaks released Chelsea Manning’s documents, Australian national Assange was doing business in Europe. The release of this material has not been challenged in Europe. No European prosecutors have accused WikiLeaks or Assange of violating any laws in Europe. The actions of the United States against Assange are a sinister extension of the scope of American extraterritoriality.
A disturbing example of the inability that SWP pointed out in its 2019 report is that there has been no major counterattack against Assange’s prosecution within Europe.
The European Convention on Human Rights and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights promise to protect media freedom. The disturbing silence on the Assange case has raised questions about the importance of this commitment.
[Edited by Alice Taylor]
