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☆ Julian Assange’s mission was to change the world - but at what cost?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-27 | by ( Lauren Said-Moorhouse | Claudia Rebaza | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

Julian Assange leaves a Melbourne court after facing charges of computer hacking in 1995. WikiLeaks/ReutersUnder a global spotlightAs WikiLeaks continued its disclosures, Assange found himself the latest cause célèbre – his every movement intensely scrutinized. … He liked the fuss that (the disclosures) caused but he was oddly incurious actually about the documents.”Others offer alternative explanations for Assange’s eccentricities. There were mounting calls for Assange to leave WikiLeaks and, when he didn’t, many cut ties with it. Outside the confines of his diplomatic shelter, the world questioned whether Assange was trying to circumvent justice.

Persons: London CNN — Julian Assange, ”, He’s, Chelsea Manning, Joe Biden, Assange’s, Anthony Albanese, Assange, “, ” –, Julian Assange, Ian Kenins, Sarah Palin’s, Atika Shubert, Shubert, ” Shubert, célèbre, Fidel Narvaez, “ Assange, ” Narvaez, James Ball, Joe Raedle, ” Ball, Ball, …, Narvaez, Hans Crescent, Lenin Moreno, Moreno, Abu Hamza al, Masri, Stella Assange, Daniel Leal, Stella, “ I’m, Nick Vamos, It’s, Alice Jill Edwards, Agnès Callamard, El País, Der Spiegel, Jameel Jaffer, Xiaofei Xu, Alex Stambaugh Organizations: London CNN, WikiLeaks, Court, Ecuadorian, Army, Australian, Pentagon, NASA, University of Melbourne, Fairfax Media, of Scientology, Republican, CNN, Chelsea, Apache, Reuters, Guardian, Ellingham, Hans, London’s Metropolitan Police, US Justice Department, of Justice, Britain's, Getty, Peters & Peters, Prosecution Service, Human Rights, UN, Amnesty, The New York Times, Columbia University Locations: United States, Australian, London’s, Australia, Townsville, Queensland, cybercrime, Melbourne, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Iraq, London, Afghanistan, ”, Sweden, Ecuador, UK’s, Belmarsh

☆ U.S. Lays Out Protections for Assange if He Is Extradited
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Megan Specia | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The possibility that Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, could be extradited to the United States seemed to edge closer on Tuesday, after American officials sent assurances to British authorities that he would not face the death penalty or be persecuted for his nationality, and that he could seek First Amendment protections. The assurances were the latest turn in a prolonged legal battle over the extradition of Mr. Assange, who has been indicted by the United States for violating the Espionage Act by publishing classified documents. Mr. Assange, 52, was the head of WikiLeaks in 2010 when it published tens of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents leaked by Chelsea Manning, an Army intelligence analyst. He has been held in a high-security British prison since the charges were filed in 2019. The charges raised questions about First Amendment issues, and some saw them as a threat to press freedom.

Persons: Julian Assange, Assange, Biden, Assange’s, Chelsea Manning Organizations: WikiLeaks, British, Embassy Locations: United States, Australia, U.S, London

☆ Assange’s Wife Expresses Cautious Hope as Biden Suggests U.S. Might Drop Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Megan Specia | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Five years after Julian Assange, theWikiLeaks founder, 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. But Mr. Assange’s wife said on Thursday that her hopes were tempered by the reality that his extradition case had reached a critical moment. “It’s been five years, and he’s at the closest he’s ever been to extradition now,” his wife, Stella Assange, said in an interview, adding, “Obviously with a comment like this from the president, it’s a good sign and we receive it with hope. But, you know, that doesn’t stop us from dreading the worst.”President Biden, when asked by a reporter on Wednesday about a request from Australia, Mr. Assange’s home country, that he be allowed to return there, replied, “We’re considering it.” Those three words offered the suggestion that the United States might no longer pursue Mr. Assange on charges under the Espionage Act over WikiLeaks’ publishing of tens of thousands of secret military and diplomatic documents more than a decade ago.

Persons: Julian Assange, theWikiLeaks, Biden, Assange’s, “ It’s, ”, Stella Assange, it’s, “, Assange Organizations: United, WikiLeaks Locations: Britain, United States, Australia

☆ Biden says US is considering Australia’s request to drop prosecution of Julian Assange
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Donald Judd | Lauren Said-Moorhouse | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Washington CNN —President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House Wednesday that his administration is “considering” a request from Australia to drop charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. In February, the Australian Parliament approved a motion calling for Assange to be released to his home country of Australia. Asked Wednesday about Australia’s call to end Assange’s prosecution, Biden told reporters at the White House, “We’re considering it.” CNN has reached out to the National Security Council for additional comment on the president’s remark. US authorities say Assange, 52, put lives at risk by publishing secret military documents and have for years been seeking his extradition on espionage charges. If the US fails to give these, Assange would be allowed to appeal his extradition at a hearing in May.

Persons: Joe Biden, Julian Assange, Assange, Biden, “, ”, Chelsea Manning, Manning, London’s Organizations: Washington CNN, White, Wikileaks, ” CNN, National Security Council, Army, Ecuadorian, CNN, US Locations: Australia, Virginia, Iraq, Guantanamo, London, Australian, Assange’s, Iraqi

☆ Biden Says U.S. Is Considering Dropping Its Case Against Assange
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Erica L. Green | More About Erica L. Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden said on Wednesday that the United States was considering dropping its prosecution of Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who has been jailed in London for years while fighting extradition to face U.S. charges related to his publication of classified documents. Mr. Biden made the comment on the case of the embattled publisher, who is being detained in a high-security prison, in response to a question about a request from Mr. Assange’s home country of Australia that he be allowed to return there. “We’re considering it,” Mr. Biden said at the White House, where he was hosting Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan. Mr. Assange has been jailed for nearly five years after being indicted by the United States with 18 counts of violating the Espionage Act for publishing thousands of documents detailing secret military operations and diplomatic intelligence, as well as revelations about the civilian death tolls in the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Persons: Biden, Julian Assange, Assange’s, “, ” Mr, Fumio Kishida, Assange Organizations: WikiLeaks, White Locations: United States, London, Australia, Japan, U.S, Iraq, Afghanistan

London CNN —WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has fended off the threat of immediate extradition to the United States after the High Court in London asked the US to provide more assurances. US authorities say Assange, 52, put lives at risk by publishing secret military documents and have for years been seeking his extradition on espionage charges. If the US fails to give these assurances, Assange would be allowed to appeal his extradition at a further hearing in May. Assange has fought extradition for the last five years from London’s Belmarsh prison, and for seven years before that was holed up as a political refugee at the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK capital. But the court refused to grant him leave to appeal on the ground that the prosecution is politically motivated.

Persons: Julian Assange, Assange, ”, London’s, Mr Assange, “, ” Stella Assange, Assange’s, Biden, Assange's, Toby Melville, Chelsea Manning, Manning, Edward Fitzgerald Organizations: London CNN, Court, CNN, US, Ecuadorian, CIA, Ecuadorian Embassy, Army Locations: United States, London, Australian, Assange’s, Iraqi, Ecuadorian, Virginia, Iraq, Guantanamo, …

☆ Julian Assange Extradition Appeal Decision: What Could Happen?
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Emma Bubola | Megan Specia | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Two British judges are set to decide on Tuesday whether Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, will be granted the right to appeal an extradition order to the United States, where he is facing charges under the Espionage Act. In April 2022, a London court ordered his extradition to the United States. Last month, two High Court judges heard Mr. Assange’s final bid for an appeal. Mr. Assange is allowed to appeal. In this case, Mr. Assange would be allowed to have a full appeals case heard in front of the British court on new grounds.

Persons: Julian Assange, Assange, Priti Patel, Britain’s, Assange’s Organizations: WikiLeaks Locations: United States, London

☆ Julian Assange makes last-ditch attempt in UK court to avoid extradition to the US
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Lauren Said-Moorhouse | Claudia Rebaza | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images Assange attends a seminar at the Swedish Trade Union Confederation in Stockholm on August 14, 2010. LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images Assange and his bodyguards are seen after a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, in November 2010. FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images Assange, on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy, holds up a United Nations report in February 2016. Carl Court/Getty Images Assange speaks to the media in May 2017, after Swedish prosecutors had dropped their investigation of rape allegations against Assange. Jack Taylor/Getty Images Assange was seen for the first time in months during a hearing via teleconference in Quito, Ecuador, in October 2018.

Persons: London CNN — Julian Assange’s, Priti Patel, Assange, Julian Assange, Jack Taylor, LEON NEAL, BERTIL ERICSON, FABRICE COFFRINI, Carl Court, Geoff Caddick, Oli Scarff, CARL COURT, Leon Neal, Philip Toscano, Ricardo Patino, Frank Augstein, David Paul Morris, John Stillwell, Mike, Pompeo, Maria Sol Borja, Chelsea Manning, Alastair Grant, Daniel Leal, Elizabeth Cook, Assange’s, Edward Fitzgerald, ”, “, ” Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald, Assange “, ” Mark Summers, Stella, Julia Hall, Rebecca Vincent, ” Vincent, Nick Vamos, “ It’s, Vamos Organizations: London CNN, WikiLeaks, European, of Human Rights, Ecuadorian, Guardian, Getty, Swedish Trade Union Confederation, St, Paul's, Court, British, Ecuadorian Embassy, Oxford Union Society, Ecuadorian Foreign, Southwest Festival, Bloomberg, United Nations Human Rights, United, United Nations, CIA, CNN, Army, Ecuador, Southwark Crown, Metropolitan Police, US Justice Department, Eastern, of, Department, US, UK’s, Media, Foreign Press Association, Amnesty, International Campaigns, US Espionage, Peters & Peters, Prosecution Service Locations: United States, British, Belmarsh, Queensland, Australia, Westminster, London, Afghanistan, AFP, Stockholm, Iraq, Geneva, Switzerland, Sweden, Ecuador, Austin , Texas, Ecuadorian, United Nations, United Kingdom, Quito, Southwark, America, of Virginia, Guantanamo, Australian, Europe, UK’s

☆ ‘Beginning of the End’ as Assange Case Returns to Court
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Megan Specia | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Since 2019, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been held in a high security prison in southeast London while his lawyers fight a U.S. extradition order. Now, that particular battle may be nearing its end. On Tuesday, Mr. Assange’s case returned to a British court for a two-day hearing that will determine whether he has exhausted his right to appeal within the U.K. and whether he could be one step closer to being sent to the United States. Image Julian Assange leaving Westminster Magistrates Court in London in 2020. A High Court hearing this week will determine whether he has exhausted his right to appeal in the U.K. Credit... Henry Nicholls/ReutersMr. Assange did not appear before the court, declining to attend virtually because of ill health, according to his lawyers, but dozens of protesters gathered outside, demanding his release.

Persons: Julian Assange, Assange’s, Henry Nicholls, Assange Organizations: WikiLeaks, Court, Credit, Reuters Locations: London, U.S, United States, Westminster

☆ Julian Assange’s Extradition and the Espionage Act Charges Against Him - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( James Kirchick | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Fourteen years ago, at a human rights conference in Oslo, I met Julian Assange. From the moment I encountered the wraithlike WikiLeaks founder, I sensed that he might be a morally dubious character. Though Mr. Assange insisted that his purpose was to expose American abuses, the leaks were also a boon to the Taliban and other authoritarian forces around the world. “Well, they’re informants,” Mr. Assange defiantly told them. In 2012, Mr. Assange hosted a talk show on RT (formerly Russia Today), the Kremlin-funded propaganda network that beams conspiracy theories and anti-Western narratives around the world.

Persons: I, Julian Assange, Assange, ” Mr, they’ve, Edward Snowden, Hillary Clinton Organizations: WikiLeaks, The Guardian, Russia Today, Kremlin, National Security Agency, Democratic Locations: Oslo, Israel, Iran, China, Russian, Russia, Moscow, Ukraine

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s House of Representatives has ramped up pressure on the United States and Britain to end the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange by passing a motion calling for the Australian citizen to be allowed to return to his home country. Independent lawmaker Andrew Wilkie moved the motion on Wednesday one week ahead of Britain’s High Court of Justice hearing Assange’s appeal against extradition to the United States on espionage charges. Leaders of both the government and the opposition have publicly stated that the United States’ pursuit of the 52-year-old had dragged on for too long. Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton on Thursday welcomed the lawmakers' vote, adding that his notorious sibling could potentially be extradited to the United States next week. Senior opposition lawmaker Dan Tehan said the motion did not reflect his party’s wish that the prosecution progress more quickly.

Persons: Julian Assange, Andrew Wilkie, Anthony Albanese, Assange, Gabriel Shipton, he’ll, ” Shipton, Wilkie, Albanese, Australia’s, Joe Biden, State Anthony Blinken, Dan Tehan, ” Tehan, Tehan, Chelsea Manning, Manning, Barack Obama Organizations: —, Independent, Australian, Ecuadorian Embassy, House, U.S, State, WikiLeaks, Army, Manning’s Locations: MELBOURNE, Australia, United States, Britain, Britain’s, Ecuadorian, London, Sweden

London CNN —A High Court judge in London has denied Julian Assange permission to appeal an order to extradite him to the United States, where he faces criminal charges under the Espionage Act. A London court issued a formal extradition order to send the Australian to the US in April last year; it was rubber-stamped by the UK government two months later. In January 2021, a UK judge rejected a request from the US to extradite Assange, ruling that such a move would be “oppressive” to his mental health. Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office described the latest court decision as “disappointing.” It said allowing the extradition “would set a dangerous precedent, threatening all our rights to freedom of expression” in a Twitter post. The reaction was similar from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) which said it was “deeply concerned” by the High Court decision against Assange which brings him “dangerously close” to being extradited.

Persons: Julian Assange, Justice Swift, Assange, Vanessa Baraitser, Mr, Assange’s, Stella, Julian, ”, Chelsea Manning, “, Rebecca Vincent, Biden, Dominique Pradalié Organizations: London CNN, CNN, WikiLeaks, High, U.S ., Twitter, London’s Metropolitan Police, Eastern, of, Army, Department, High Court, Amnesty, Office, International, European, of Journalists, British Locations: London, United States, Belmarsh, of Virginia, Guantanamo

☆ Fact Check-Image seemingly showing recent Julian Assange photograph in prison is AI-generated
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

An image purporting to show a leaked photograph of WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange in prison is generated by artificial intelligence (AI). Users shared the image seemingly showing a close-up photograph of Assange with his eyes closed and wearing a sullied off-white cloth, with some claiming that it shows a legitimate leaked image of Assange in prison. One tweet sharing the image read, “A latest picture of Julian Assange! In a comment to Reuters, the individual who created the image (@TheErrantFriend) said that he created the image “to evoke a visceral response” to Assange’s imprisonment. This image of Assange is AI-generated.

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