People have been demonstrating for the release of whistleblower Julian Assange for years. The case is currently before the Supreme Court in London. (picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS / Frank Augstein)
He exposed war crimes and has been in British custody for almost 4 years: Julian Assange. The Wikileaks founder and whistleblower is accused of espionage by the USA. They are demanding Assange’s extradition. The High Court in London is now hearing the case. After that, the legal process in Great Britain has been exhausted. Assange’s only option would then be to go to the European Court of Justice. An overview of the case:
The USA wanted to withhold these images from the world: US attack helicopters attacking civilians in the Iraqi capital Baghdad in the summer of 2007. At least 12 people die, including two employees of the Reuters news agency. After the incident, the US Army spoke of a “firefight with insurgents.” Reuters contradicted this account and called for an investigation into the case at the time. That came – but three years later. In 2010, the US denied any wrongdoing.
Then came the surprise in April 2010: the whistleblower platform “Wikileaks,” founded four years earlier, published the video from the on-board camera. The information was released by Chelsea Manning, a soldier and IT specialist in the US military at the time. In addition to the video, Manning also leaked thousands of other confidential documents to Wikileaks. For this, the United States sentenced her to 35 years in prison in 2013. In 2017, US President Barack Obama remitted a large part of her prison sentence.
Since the publications on Wikileaks, the USA has been investigating Julian Assange. There was also a Swedish arrest warrant on suspicion of a sexual offense. Assange then fled to the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012, also to avoid possible extradition to the USA. The Swedish arrest warrant was later dropped.
In 2018, charges were brought against him in the USA, including for conspiracy and publication of sensitive US defense data. However, around nine years after the video release from Baghdad and a change of government in Ecuador, the Wikileaks founder lost his asylum status and was arrested in London. Since then he has been sitting in a six square meter cell in the maximum security prison Belmarsh, where he is alone for 21 hours a day.
The High Court in London is currently deciding on his extradition. Assange had appealed a decision in 2021 that approved his extradition to the United States. If his application is rejected, he will face imminent extradition to the USA. Only going to the European Court of Justice could prevent this step.
His wife Stella Assange warns that her husband is getting worse mentally and physically in prison and that he could face death if he is extradited. Stella Assange repeatedly refers to research published in 2021 Yahoo Newsaccording to which the US secret service CIA was considering kidnapping Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy and murdering him.
While the US sees Julian Assange as a spy and enemy of the state who threatens internal security, his supporters describe him as a journalist and fighter for press freedom. At the start of the negotiations at the High Court, human rights organizations and journalist associations around the world, such as Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and the Digital Society Association, called for protests:
Sees little chance of success in the appeal process Zeit journalist Holger Stark on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. Although the facts speak for Assange, the case is highly politicized. The judges responsible would have to have a lot of courage to take a stand against their own and US government – despite human rights violations and Assange’s role as a journalist. Stark has worked with Assange and other media outlets in the past to publish leaked information from secret US files. On Deutschlandfunk, human rights lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck assumes that Julian Assange will face an “unfair trial” in the USA: “Actually, the British should not extradite him (editor’s note: Assange) because it is a political crime.” However, defense is only possible to a very limited extent under the Espionage Act. Kaleck also believes that the threat of imprisonment for 175 years, as well as solitary confinement and special measures against people, make those keeping secrets unworthy of a constitutional state. The European Court of Human Rights must recognize this at the latest. In 2023, celebrities such as former Foreign Ministers Gerhart Baum (FDP) and Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) called for one open letter Help for Julian Assange from Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. Also the German Journalists Association has criticized the federal government’s stance in the Assange case: “Annalena Baerbock seems to have lost her political compass. She should finally remember her campaign promises. Before it is too late for Julian Assange.” DJV federal chairman Mika Beuster emphasizes: “Wikileaks played a significant role in ensuring that the world public learned about the dirty side of US war operations.” For this he deserves an award and not imprisonment.
The writers’ association PEN Berlin also shows solidarity with the Wikileaks founder: “The Assange case is an act of judicial arbitrariness and is already a serious defeat for liberal democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Despite all the global protests, despite the admissions of leading politicians like Annalena Baerbock, despite all his awards and honorary memberships, Julian Assange’s fate seems to be unfolding before everyone’s eyes like a natural disaster.”
According to his lawyer, Julian Assange himself cannot take part in the hearing for health reasons. The Australian Parliament has spoken out in favor of releasing their citizen. It calls on the USA and Great Britain to end the prosecution of Assange. However, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has so far rejected such demands.
At the appeal hearing, Assange’s lawyers argue that US authorities are punishing Assange for Wikileaks’ exposure of government crimes. They do not fear a fair trial for their client in the USA. There is a prison sentence of up to 175 years.
The opposing side says Wikileaks’ publications have “created a serious and imminent threat” to U.S. security that could affect innocent people. Assange has done much more than a journalist gathering information.
Defend journalistic principles
Throughout his life, Assange was many things, said SZ editor Georg Mascolo on Deutschlandfunk: “He was certainly an activist at times, he also aspired to a political career at times.” What is more important, however, is what the US government currently wants to put Julian Assange on trial for: “This is for the publication of these secret documents,” which is particularly explosive because such a procedure could threaten any journalist who also provides explosive information wanted to publish in the future.
You are defending a principle and not a person in this process. Although journalist Mascolo considers many developments at Wikileaks after 2010 to be problematic, the charges of espionage should still be assessed critically. It is also undisputed that published data, such as the board camera video, have documented possible war crimes and human rights violations that need to be examined.