For everyone The Lowdown: Assange and the risks of truth-telling
If you’ve been listening to the news lately, you’ve likely been hearing quite a bit about Australian journalist and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Having endured five years in Britain’s notorious Belmarsh Prison, following almost seven years seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Assange is finally free after agreeing to plead guilty to violating the US Espionage Act.
But how did a 53-year-old Australian journalist end up on America’s most-wanted list in the first place?
It all started back in 2010 and 2011, when WikiLeaks caused a diplomatic storm after publishing a huge cache of secret US military files. The site published hundreds of thousands of documents and diplomatic cables leaked to them by Chelsea Manning, a former US military intelligence analyst. These revealed that 66,000 civilians were killed by the US military during the Iraq War – many more than officially reported. The leaks also included a video showing soldiers aboard a US military helicopter gunning down Iraqi civilians, including two journalists, in Baghdad three years earlier.
Assange no doubt embarrassed Uncle Sam over its handling of the so-called ‘War on Terror’, and Washington sought to put him on trial for the leaks it claims damaged its national security. Effectively, the documents implicated the US in the sort of war crimes that deserved international outrage and condemnation at a moment when the Obama administration was working to repair its global standing.
Even at the distance of a decade and a half, that means Assange was facing a possible sentence of 170 years in prison. The US government argued that the leaking of this sensitive material led to the death of American citizens, although they have been unable to provide any evidence for this claim. It is more likely that the charges represent a concern that the internet age means government secrets are more vulnerable than ever before – and more easily disseminated once leaked.
At the heart of the Assange case lies the question: does the US still believe in the freedom of the press?
Last year, the AEU condemned the persecution of Assange for his exposure of US war crimes, passing a resolution that stated: Teachers and educators are among those owing a debt to the WikiLeaks editor. Many of the highest ideals of a democratic public education system relate to the people’s right to access accurate and relevant information. As educators, we want the young people we teach to be critical thinkers but this cannot happen when governments hide what they are doing and information is systematically censored.
For Julian Assange, the decision to accept the US plea deal is the conclusion to an extraordinary legal and personal saga. His wife, lawyer Stella Assange, believed that he had become so frail that he would die if left in prison.
Ultimately, the Biden administration may have felt there was little political benefit in a weighty sentence, given the impending election. However, it has not only been Assange’s future at stake, but the future of press freedom overall.
At the heart of the Assange case lies the question: does America still believe in freedom of the press? The attempt by the US to extradite a foreign citizen for leaking sensitive materials is unprecedented, despite a long history of whistleblowers exposing similar injustices by Americans. It’s hard to ignore the hypocrisy when journalists exposing the wrongdoings of foreign powers – such as Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, imprisoned by Russia’s foreign ministry – are feted.
As executive director of the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom, award-winning Australian journalist Peter Greste (himself jailed in Egypt for ‘terrorism offences’ when working as East Africa correspondent for Al Jazeera and eventually released under intense international pressure) has pointed out, WikiLeaks was arguably doing exactly what the US Constitution’s First Amendment was designed to achieve. It guarantees freedom of speech and press freedom, including the right to speak out against abuses of government authority.
The Committee to Protect Journalists and the Freedom of the Press Foundation have both issued warnings about the “harmful” legal precedent set by the US government’s pursuit of Assange, which opens the way for journalists to be tried under the Espionage Act if they receive classified material from whistleblowers or publish government secrets.
Either we uphold our belief in the freedom of the press as an essential pillar of a democratic society – or we risk losing that vital watchdog on power. The determined pursuit of Assange should leave nobody in doubt as to which option most of those in power would prefer.
