Reps McGovern, Massie urge Biden to pardon Julian Assange to 'send a clear message' on press freedom

U.S. Reps. James McGovern, D-Mass., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., wrote a missive to President Biden calling connected him to pardon WikiLeaks laminitis Julian Assange to "send a wide message" that his medication volition not people journalistic activity.

Assange, an Australian publisher, pleaded blameworthy successful June and was sentenced to clip served arsenic portion of a woody helium reached with the U.S. Justice Department to extremity his imprisonment successful London implicit charges for publishing classified U.S. subject documents leaked to him by a source. Assange had spent years attempting to debar extradition from the U.K. to the U.S.

"We write, first, to explicit our appreciation for your administration's determination past outpouring to facilitate a solution of the transgression lawsuit against steadfast Julian Assange and to retreat the related extradition petition that had been pending successful the United Kingdom," the lawmakers wrote to Biden. "This brought an extremity to Mr. Assange's protracted detention and allowed him to reunite with his household and instrumentality to his location state of Australia."

Before his plea deal, Assange, 53, was facing 17 counts nether the Espionage Act for allegedly receiving, possessing and communicating classified accusation to the public, arsenic good arsenic 1 complaint alleging conspiracy to perpetrate machine intrusion. The statement helped him debar the imaginable of spending up to 175 years successful an American maximum information prison.

WIKILEAKS' JULIAN ASSANGE SAYS HE PLEADED 'GUILTY TO JOURNALISM' IN ORDER TO BE FREED

Wikileaks laminitis Julian Assange, center, his woman Stella Assange, right, and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks Kristinn Hrafnsson rise their fists arsenic they get astatine the Council of Europe, successful Strasbourg, eastbound France, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024.  (AP Photo/Pascal Bastien)

The charges were brought by the Trump administration's Justice Department implicit WikiLeaks' 2010 work of cables leaked by U.S. Army quality expert Chelsea Manning, and the Biden medication had continued to prosecute prosecution until the plea deal. The cables elaborate alleged warfare crimes committed by the U.S. authorities successful Iraq, Afghanistan and the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp, arsenic good arsenic instances of the CIA engaging successful torture and rendition.

WikiLeaks' "Collateral Murder" video showing the U.S. subject gunning down civilians successful Iraq, including 2 Reuters journalists, was besides published 14 years ago.

The lawmakers told Biden, who is acceptable to permission bureau successful January, that they are "deeply acrophobic that the statement that ended the lawsuit required Mr. Assange to plead blameworthy to felony charges nether conception 793 of the Espionage Act," highlighting that the determination to prosecute Assange nether the Espionage Act "set disconnected alarms" among members of Congress, arsenic good arsenic advocates for state of look and state of the press.

In 2013, the Obama medication decided not to indict Assange implicit WikiLeaks' 2010 work of classified cables due to the fact that it would person had to besides indict journalists from large quality outlets who published the aforesaid materials.

President Obama also commuted Manning’s 35-year sentence for violations of the Espionage Act and different offenses to 7 years successful January 2017, and Manning, who had been imprisoned since 2010, was released aboriginal that year.

"Put simply, determination is simply a long-standing and well-grounded interest that conception 793, which criminalizes the obtaining, retaining, oregon disclosing of delicate information, could beryllium utilized against journalists and quality organizations engaged successful their mean activities, peculiarly those who screen nationalist information topics. This hazard reportedly informed the Obama administration's determination not to prosecute Mr. Assange," McGovern and Massie wrote.

JULIAN ASSANGE SECURES FREEDOM FOLLOWING PLEA DEAL WITH US, SENTENCED TO TIME SERVED

WikiLeaks laminitis Julian Assange, center, arrives astatine the United States courthouse to participate a plea woody successful Saipan, Mariana Islands, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP)

Assange had been held astatine London's high-security Belmarsh Prison since being removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy connected April 11, 2019, for breaching bail conditions. He had sought asylum astatine the embassy since 2012 to debar being sent to Sweden implicit allegations helium raped 2 women due to the fact that Sweden would not supply assurances it would support him from extradition to the U.S. The investigations into the intersexual battle allegations were yet dropped implicit deficiency of evidence.

He was the archetypal writer to beryllium charged nether the Espionage Act.

"The presumption of Mr. Assange's plea statement person present acceptable a precedent that greatly deepens our concern," the missive reads. "A reappraisal of prosecutions nether the Espionage Act makes wide that Mr. Assange's lawsuit is the archetypal clip the Act has been deployed against a publisher."

The congressmen said they stock the presumption of Jodie Ginsberg, the main enforcement of the Committee to Protect Journalists, who reacted to the plea statement by saying: "While we invited the extremity of his detention, the US’s pursuit of Assange has acceptable a harmful ineligible precedent by opening the mode for journalists to beryllium tried nether the Espionage Act if they person classified worldly from whistleblowers."

"We truthful impulse you to see issuing a pardon for Mr. Assange," the lawmakers wrote. "A pardon would region the precedent acceptable by the plea and nonstop a wide connection that the U.S. authorities nether your enactment volition not people oregon analyse journalists and media outlets simply for doing their jobs."

Last year, arsenic Assange was inactive successful situation successful London warring extradition to the U.S., McGovern and Massie led a letter to Biden signed by a bipartisan radical of legislature colleagues urging the president to driblet the lawsuit against Assange.

Assange's brother, Gabriel Shipton, is returning to Washington, D.C., successful January arsenic portion of a run calling connected Biden to pardon the WikiLeaks laminitis earlier leaving office.

JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS FOUNDER, REACHES PLEA DEAL TO AVOID PRISON IN US

WikiLeaks laminitis Julian Assange, left, is escorted arsenic helium arrives astatine the United States courthouse to participate a plea deal, successful Saipan, Mariana Islands, Wednesday, June 26 2024. (AP)

Shipton and Assange's wife, Stella, person asked Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who earlier the plea woody had called for an extremity to Assange's prosecution and said helium had raised the lawsuit with Biden, to impulse the president to contented a pardon successful his farewell telephone telephone with the outgoing commandant successful chief.

As a information of his plea, Assange was required to destruct classified accusation provided to WikiLeaks.

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During his sentencing proceeding successful June successful national tribunal successful Saipan, the superior of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth successful the Pacific, U.S. District Judge Ramona Manglona noted that the U.S. authorities admitted that determination is nary grounds that WikiLeaks' publications enactment anyone successful harms way.

"The authorities has indicated determination is nary idiosyncratic unfortunate here. That tells maine the dissemination of this accusation did not effect successful immoderate known carnal injury," the justice said astatine the time. "These 2 facts are precise relevant. I would accidental if this was inactive chartless and person to [2012] I would not beryllium truthful inclined to judge this plea statement earlier me. But it's the twelvemonth 2024."