Six months have passed since Julian Assange was freed from prison. Now, after his 14-year odyssey, it can be said that the worst is over. But his fight for justice is still going on. Because of his plea bargain with US authorities, Julian now carries the stigma of a convicted felon having served five years in prison. This fact is not to be underestimated: it has serious consequences for freedom of the press and freedom of speech. In fact, it sets a dangerous legal precedent, opening the way for other potential misuses, by allowing Federal investigators to prosecute – and courts to convict – under the US Espionage Act, any journalist or publisher who dares to divulge an “inconvenient” truth. The entire field of investigative journalism is thus affected, because the Assange verdict “criminalises every aspect of communicating with a whistleblower, from receiving and possessing confidential information to publishing it”. This is why the Free Assange movement has launched a campaign – also active in Italy – to gather signatures on a petition asking Biden to grant the Australian journalist a pardon. We spoke about the campaign with Gabriel Shipton, Assange’s brother.
By Dario Lucisano
The idea of asking Biden for a pardon for Julian Assange arose during a trip by Gabriel Shipton to the United States. “I was in Washington,” Gabriel tells L’Indipendente, “where I had the opportunity to speak with many of Julian’s supporters in Congress”. The battle for Assange’s release from prison generated a rich and composite support movement defying traditional political labels. Within the walls of US institutions, it managed to mobilize individuals from both sides of the political spectrum, without ever becoming a structured coalition. Many members of Congress wondered what could be done to prevent Assange’s case from happening to other journalists: the idea of asking for a presidential pardon thus arose. It all started when Democrat James McGovern and Republican Thomas Massie wrote a joint letter to the President asking him to pardon Assange. So “we set up a website where you can email President Biden and the head of the Office of pardons. We now have less than a month left before Trump takes office on 20 January”. The platform has collected more than 30,000 signatures and is active on multiple domains, including one in Australia.
But why is it so important for Assange to receive a pardon? “The fact is, the Assange verdict is not just about Julian,” Gabriel answers us. “Yes, the stigma of ‘convicted felon’ puts some limitations on him; but the most worrying thing is the limitation that the verdict puts on freedom of speech and freedom of journalism. Thanks to the plea bargain, US prosecutors and investigators now feel they can use the Espionage Act to investigate and prosecute any journalist and any publisher, anywhere in the world, who has simply done their job by exposing classified government misdeeds.” Assange was sentenced to 62 months in prison under that Act, which is a Federal law punishing unauthorised reception and disclosure of Federal classified information. This is the first time that the Espionage Act, originally designed to target spies and people who leaked military secrets during the First World War, has been applied against a journalist doing his job, and this negatively affects the entire field of investigative journalism.
In other words, the conviction against Assange constitutes a “dangerous precedent” that can be used to prosecute individuals who manage to uncover inconvenient truths. It “paves the way for a potential five-year prison sentence for anyone facing similar charges to those hanging over Julian’. Thus, “Julian’s conviction restricts the freedom of the press throughout the world, just as it restricts our right to know what our governments are doing in our name: it affects all of us, not just journalists, not just editors, but every committed citizen around the world.”
That is why the #pardonAssange petition platform is open for everyone to sign, US citizens and non-US citizens, so that “the President and his advisors take note of the global support there is for Julian”. The Free Assange movement is also putting pressure on the Australian prime minister to lobby for Assange during Biden’s farewell call to him.
The season for issuing pardons has just got into full swing. Given the large number of pardons handed out by Biden so far, Assange’s supporters are counting on Julian getting one. “Before the verdict was issued, the administration’s evasive rhetoric was always about not wanting to interfere with the Justice Department. Now that the verdict has been delivered, it’s entirely up to Biden: he can stand for freedom of the press or against it.”
