Drop the Charges on Julian Assange

We are joining with other groups to sign onto this public letter:

We are writing to ask you to circulate a letter to members of Congress asking them to sign a letter asking President Biden and Attorney General Garland to drop the charges against Julian Assange.

We are sending this email to the members of Congress listed below and are attaching draft letters in case that is useful for you.

We are a group of people who have been supporting Julian Assange around Boston, Boston Area Assange Defense, affiliated with the national Assange Defense Committee, AssangeDefense.org.

Julian Assange and WikiLeaks published thousands of documents detailing, among other things, the conduct of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  This information has helped the public evaluate the conduct of the government and likely contributed to the end of the war in Afghanistan.

Julian Assange has the support of many organizations, national and international, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch; Freedom of the Press Foundation, and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

All these organizations have called for the United States to drop the charges and to free Assange.

These organizations (and many others) advocate for him, as we do, because they understand that prosecuting Assange threatens the freedom of the press and, if successful, obstructs the public’s access to vital information.

The prosecution of Julian Assange will be a threat to all of us – including members of Congress.

Freedom of the Press

Congress must act to uphold this principle.  The United States must depend on a free and open press if it is to be regarded as a democracy.

1. The prosecution criminalizes publishing any information about the US Government that the government wishes to keep secret.
2. American news organizations cannot report responsibly about war, foreign relations or national security without sometimes disclosing classified information.
3. Journalists regularly publish classified secrets and protect the identity of their sources of information.

The prosecution of Julian Assange

1. For the first time, the US Government is using the Espionage Act, adopted during the First World War, to prosecute a publisher, Julian Assange. The Act denies defendants the right to explain in court any reasons for revealing government secrets.

2. The use of the Espionage Act against Julian Assange paves the way for future governmental prosecution of other journalists.

3. The prosecution has violated Assange’s rights in many ways, for instance, by videotaping and wiretapping even legal discussions and by denying him medical treatment. The CIA plotted to kidnap him or possibly kill him.

4. The prosecution is based on evidence provided by Sigurdur Thordarson, who has admitted that he fabricated his testimony in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

5. The surveillance of Assange, the plot to kidnap him, and the bargaining to elicit false testimony are grounds for dismissal of the case because of undeniable government misconduct.
6. There is no legal reason to hold Assange in prison, let alone a high security prison, according to Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.  Julian Assange is not a convict; he is not serving a sentence.  He could be put in house arrest to ensure his presence in a much less intrusive manner, but he is being detained in Belmarsh, a high security prison, in total solitary confinement.

7. Since 2012 the restrictions on Julian Assange’s confinement have grown more severe. In May, 2019, Nils Melzer and two medical experts on the effects of torture separately examined him shortly after he was confined to Belmarsh Prison.  Each concluded that he showed the symptoms of prolonged psychological torture.

8. In October of 2021, Assange suffered a stroke, one of the consequences of psychological torture.  He could easily die in prison.

9. Julian Assange is charged under the United States Espionage Act, effectively charging him with a political act. The extradition treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom precludes extradition of someone for political acts, but the United Kingdom is ignoring this agreement in the treaty.

The stakes are high if the United States continues to prosecute Julian Assange, not just for him but for all citizens.

We implore you to act on this and circulate a letter urging the president and the attorney general to drop the charges against Julian Assange and end the prosecution.

January 28, 2022