On Thursday, April 11, after being cornered for almost 7 years by the UK government, the British police forcedly removed the Australian Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Assange was jailed on the US extradition warrant, where he is expected to be charged with conspiracy (with Chelsea Manning) for committing computer intrusion. The truth is the US government has been salivating for Assange since 2010, when US military crimes were widely exposed, leaked by Chelsea Manning and published by Wikileaks.
The revoking of Assange's asylum by the Ecuadorian government, which triggered the arrest, was an evident part of a large international plot against Wikileaks' Editor-in-chief Julian Assange. The tide started turning after the Presidential elections in 2017 in Ecuador, which ended up replacing Rafael Correa for Lenin Moreno. On April 6, the American journalist Cassandra Fairbanks shared that a leaked court transcription from Assange shared light on US-backed Ecuadorian expulsion plans.
One day before the arrest, on April 10, Wikileaks declared that the Ecuadorian government was caught in a massive espionage operation against Julian Assange. On the same day, Assange’s lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, revealed that “the Spanish police uncovered videos, documents and photos, including of legal meetings with Assange, taken from inside the Ecuador embassy in an extortion sting operation, in Spain.”
Assange's arrest brings up to light the importance of protecting whistleblowers and media workers, particularly journalists and publishers.
Shortly after Julian’s detention, the barrister Geoffrey Robertson, one of Assange’s many lawyers said that “if they get away with extraditing Julian Assange they could extradite Alan Rusbridger, and the editors and journalists from the Guardian, and put them inside in America for a very long time.”
After the detention, Gleen Greenwald, Guardian's journalist during Snowden's revelations said that “Obama DOJ tried to concoct a theory to justify arresting Assange for more than merely publishing documents such as claiming he aided Manning in the the theft of documents. They found no evidence for it. Trump DOJ will likely manufacture some falsehood to claim it's more than publishing.” Back in 2010, Greenwald listed the major crimes, corruptions and abuses exposed by Wikileaks. This ought to be remembered as the number one reason for Assange's detention and not the DNC emails.
Shortly after Julian’s detention, the barrister Geoffrey Robertson, one of Assange’s many lawyers said that “if they get away with extraditing Julian Assange they could extradite Alan Rusbridger, and the editors and journalists from the Guardian, and put them inside in America for a very long time.”
After the detention, Gleen Greenwald, Guardian's journalist during Snowden's revelations said that “Obama DOJ tried to concoct a theory to justify arresting Assange for more than merely publishing documents such as claiming he aided Manning in the the theft of documents. They found no evidence for it. Trump DOJ will likely manufacture some falsehood to claim it's more than publishing.” Back in 2010, Greenwald listed the major crimes, corruptions and abuses exposed by Wikileaks. This ought to be remembered as the number one reason for Assange's detention and not the DNC emails.
The end of the Fourth Estate
Assange's removal from the Ecuador embassy in London was brewing and it will greatly impact freedom of expression and our right to know. Meanwhile, the Australian media, decided to mock Julian Assange rather than address the real issues at stake. On April 7, the TV program from Channel 10, “The Project”, broadcasted so-called journalists sniggering at the political persecution, torture and suffering of Julian Assange. Lisa Wilkinson, Hamish Macdonald, Tim Blackwell and Susie Youssef proved to be unprofessional and unscrupulous, spreading misinformation, not once mentioning why Assange was gagged in the first place.
It was in 2010 when Wikileaks denounced the US military were killing civilians and journalists in Afghanistan and Iraq, amongst many shocking revelations pointing to the lack of government transparency. Nine years have passed and it's appalling to witness how media outlets chose to blatantly deviate from the real source of the news. It's only logical that Julian Assange was gagged for sharing evidence on state wrongdoing, GITMO, war crimes, corruption and many other shocking government secrets such as the revelation of mass surveillance programs.
This was obviously not supposed to fall under the public eye. Assange became the enemy number one and had to be silenced.
“Most of the big leaks WikiLeaks has published meet a reasonable definition of public interest journalism, the kind that resulted in the publication of the Pentagon Papers or The Washington Post’s reporting on Watergate,” wrote Leonid Bershidsky in the Japan Times, three days prior to the arrest.
On April 9, the Guardian’s Editorial came forward expressing that “it would be wrong to extradite him [Julian Assange]”. “When the call comes from Washington, it requires a firm and principled no. It would neither be safe nor right for the UK to extradite Mr Assange to Mr Donald Trump’s America,” reads the communicate. In 2017, Wikileaks sued the UK-based newspaper on allegations of a fabricated story claiming Paul Manafort, former Trump’s campaign chairman, had met Julian Assange. These claims have helped building up the strong smear campaign against Assange, claiming he was a Russian agent.
It was in 2010 when Wikileaks denounced the US military were killing civilians and journalists in Afghanistan and Iraq, amongst many shocking revelations pointing to the lack of government transparency. Nine years have passed and it's appalling to witness how media outlets chose to blatantly deviate from the real source of the news. It's only logical that Julian Assange was gagged for sharing evidence on state wrongdoing, GITMO, war crimes, corruption and many other shocking government secrets such as the revelation of mass surveillance programs.
This was obviously not supposed to fall under the public eye. Assange became the enemy number one and had to be silenced.
“Most of the big leaks WikiLeaks has published meet a reasonable definition of public interest journalism, the kind that resulted in the publication of the Pentagon Papers or The Washington Post’s reporting on Watergate,” wrote Leonid Bershidsky in the Japan Times, three days prior to the arrest.
On April 9, the Guardian’s Editorial came forward expressing that “it would be wrong to extradite him [Julian Assange]”. “When the call comes from Washington, it requires a firm and principled no. It would neither be safe nor right for the UK to extradite Mr Assange to Mr Donald Trump’s America,” reads the communicate. In 2017, Wikileaks sued the UK-based newspaper on allegations of a fabricated story claiming Paul Manafort, former Trump’s campaign chairman, had met Julian Assange. These claims have helped building up the strong smear campaign against Assange, claiming he was a Russian agent.
Wikileaks reacted on Twitter saying that: “If the US can apply laws to publishers in the UK then any state can and it is an extradition free for all.”
Another rather coincidently and timely move from the UK government was the launch of the “Media Freedom” bogus initiative, presented by UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Amal Clooney. The choice of Amal Clooney to “Ambassador” of Media Freedom was not innocent. International and Human Rights lawyer and married to Hollywood movie star George Clooney, she seemed to be the perfect combination for a likely more influential and socially acceptable PR coup.
On April 7, the independent journalist Patrick Henningsen penned an article to the 21st Century Wire stating: “amid a media symphony, he [Jeremy Hunt] announced an attention-grabbing campaign, while staying completely silent on his government’s treatment of WikiLeaks founder Assange which is by now widely recognised as a direct attack on press freedom.” Moreover, it was kept in total silence that Amal Clooney has represented Assange in the past. Let’s not talk about the elephant in the room?
It seems evident that Twitter has become incredibly politicised. More than a social media channel, often Twitter has become the primary channel chosen by politicians to convey positions and communicates. This "new" digital form of making politics brings some strings attached. As it seems, Twitter has been labeled by several members a "censorship machine". I personally saw a nasty tweet I was typing being deleted three times in front of my eyes. It was directed to Senator Chuck Shumer who congratulated Assange's arrest and called him a Kremlin agent, for there is no evidence whatsoever. It was the second time that Twitter deleted a tweet I was writing and other members shared the same concern.
The censorship does not seem to stop with Twitter. Youtube video platform, Google owned, is also well-known for withdrawing links from the platform as they please. There is a particular concern when those actions happen during sensitive times such as Assange's arrest, as divulged by Wikileaks on April 11.
The censorship does not seem to stop with Twitter. Youtube video platform, Google owned, is also well-known for withdrawing links from the platform as they please. There is a particular concern when those actions happen during sensitive times such as Assange's arrest, as divulged by Wikileaks on April 11.
The
whole scenario leads inevitably to question mass control and surveillance practices within the
media and social media world.
The article published in SAGE Journals, “Reluctant activists?
The impact of legislative and structural attempts of surveillance on
investigative journalism” (2016), sheds a light on the pressure felt by
journalists and publishers, particularly investigative journalists
who tend to focus on a particular niche. The paper reveals that "one of the
documents released by Edward Snowden in 2013 - destined for army intelligence -
warned that ‘journalists and reporters representing all types of news media
represent a potential threat to security’, adding: ‘Of specific concern are
“investigative journalists” who specialise in defence-related exposés either
for profit or what they deem to be of the public interest’".
Luke
Harding, journalist for the Guardian during Snowden’s revelations, divulged
that when he was writing his book about the Snowden affair, “the noticeable
surveillance took a bizarre turn: ‘At certain points in the text … someone
would start remotely deleting the text.’”
In the investigative paper, Harding recalled the covert surveillance during the reporting
period of Snowden’s revelations. “Janine Gibson [then-US-editor of The
Guardian], her chats with Glenn Greenwald kept on falling through, there was
someone trying to get a “man in the middle” [interception hack] on her laptop.”
“If you work in this field you
can be sure that your phone numbers, your email address and so on will end up
on some selectors list of the National Security Agency or Government
Communications Headquarter - GCHQ,’” added Michael Sontheimer from Der Spiegel,
which learned from the Snowden leaks that half a year after it covered the
WikiLeaks cables in 2010, its research was monitored and phone calls
surveilled.
Please sign the petition to stop Assange’s extradition.
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