The lawyer of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange sues Former United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, ex-CIA head, and the CIA’s contracted security firm for stealing lawyer-client privileged communications.

Julian #Assange’s US lawyers have had enough.
They’re suing Mike Pompeo, ex-CIA head, and the CIA’s contracted security firm for stealing lawyer-client privileged communications.
About time someone took on the illegal actions of a rogue CIA. https://t.co/RbWiqxWqxA

— Peter Cronau (@PeterCronau) August 13, 2022

In June, Mike has been summoned by a Spanish court to explain an alleged US government plot to assassinate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, ABC Spain reports.

Yahoo News in September reveals the alleged plot first, which reported that senior CIA and Trump administration officials discussed possibly abducting or killing Assange after being angered by Wikileaks’ publication of sensitive CIA hacking tools.

The discussions had taken place at the highest levels of the Trump administration, a former senior counterintelligence official told the outlet, with officials even requesting sketches or options for how to assassinate Assange.

Mike was summoned to appear in the Spanish court in relation to an investigation into whether Spanish security firm UC Global had spied on Assange while providing security for the Ecuadorian embassy in London, sources close to the case told ABC Spain.

Spanish National High Court Judge Santiago Pedraz summoned Mike and former US counterintelligence official William Evanina as witnesses to explain the alleged assassination plot and whether the security firm provided them with the information.

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WikiLeaks’ editor Kristinn Hrafnsson stated on Tuesday that the extradition case against Julian Assange is a highly political matter that poses a serious threat to the future of journalism.

Hrafnsson called WikiLeaks co-founder Assange a “political prisoner” during a special press conference hosted by the Foreign Press Association.

He remarked, “It is a highly political case. It was political in 2010 when the U.S. government wanted to take down the WikiLeaks. It was political when people were calling the assassination of Assange.”

When then-CIA Director and now-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described WikiLeaks as a “non-state hostile intelligence service” or when US Vice President Mike Pence travelled to Ecuador twice to persuade the Latin American country’s leaders to agree to extradite Assange in exchange for a $10 billion debt write-off from the IMF and the World Bank, the case became political, according to Hrafnsson.

He added, “I say repeatedly that Julian Assange is a political prisoner… and therefore we need to rely on politicians to turn this around,” adding that he “would not be worried at all” if it was a normal case “but this is a political case and what’s at stake is not just life of Julian Assange who faces 175 years of in prison if extradited; it is the future of journalism.”

“This is the greatest attack on journalism… in the world,” he stated emphatically.

WikiLeaks’ editor also stated that he last visited Assange about ten days ago and that his position has improved since his years of seclusion ended, but that “he is trying to get ready for the most important case of his life in absurd circumstances.”

Andrew Wilki, an independent Australian MP who spoke at the press conference, stated that extraditing Assange would create a dangerous precedent.

“This will establish a precedent that if you are a journalist who does anything that offends any government in the world, then you face the very real prospect of being extradited to that country,” he said.

Wilki agreed with Hrafnsson that the issue is “about the future of journalism.”

Another Australian Liberal Nationals MP, George Christensen, spoke at the conference, expressing his wish that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson “withdraws this matter that is before the courts.”

“I support [US President Donald] Trump and I support Bojo [Boris Johnson], but I’ll tell you what I value more: freedom of speech,” he remarked.

According to Christensen, Johnson recently stated that he considered the extradition arrangement with the United States was rather lopsided in favour of the United Kingdom.

One of the most significant extradition cases to be heard in British courts is set to begin next week.

The press conference took place on the same day as 117 doctors and psychologists from 18 nations signed a petition urging the British government to end Julian Assange’s “psychological abuse and medical negligence.”

According to a letter published earlier on Tuesday in the medical journal the Lancet, Assange would have “essentially been tortured to death” if he died in a British prison.

“Much of that abuse will have taken place in a prison medical facility, under the supervision of doctors,” it stated. The medical profession cannot afford to remain silent while such a farce unfolds on the wrong side of history and on the wrong side of torture.”

Julian Assange’s father, John Shipton, told the BBC on Tuesday morning: “The relentless anxiety that Julian has been under for now ten years, it has had a profoundly harmful effect.”

“I can’t speculate on his state of mind,” he added, “but I believe he’ll be very concerned because being transported to the United States is a death sentence.”

If Assange is extradited to the United States, he will face 18 counts of hacking US government systems and breaking espionage laws, as well as a possible long jail sentence.

Last year, he was pulled out of Ecuador’s embassy building in London, where he had been hiding for more than seven years.

He was arrested in 2012 for failing to pay his bond and on behalf of the United States due to an extradition demand, according to British police.

After failing to submit to security services, he was found guilty of breaking his bail terms in 2012 and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison by the Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Assange was supposed to be released on September 22 of last year, but he’s being kept on “serious grounds” that he’ll flee.

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Edward Snowden has finally broken his silence over the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. He made a tweet in support of Julian and said Julian Assange is a political prisoner.

Julian Assange is a political prisoner. pic.twitter.com/wnTbFPXRIR

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) June 20, 2022

Julian Assange has finally been given a green signal to be extradited to the USA by the Uk home office. This came as a sudden shock to everyone who supported the free press. While many have already started a campaign in support of Julian on Twitter.

What is the latest update on Julian Assange?

On June 17, the British authorities ordered Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, to be extradited to the United States to face spying charges. Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, signed the order authorising Assange’s extradition to the United States, where he faces up to 175 years in prison if proven guilty by a US court.

The case against Assange stems from the 2010 leak of hundreds of thousands of sensitive papers, as well as diplomatic cables, revealing Western atrocities and excesses in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, including a video depicting the merciless death of innocent civilians.

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The wife of Julian Assange pledges to fight in every possible way after British Home Secretary Priti Patel approved the WikiLeaks’ founder’s extradition.

The British Home Secretary Priti Patel approved its extradition to the United States to face criminal charges.

Additionally, Assange is wanted in U.S authorities on 18 purposes including a spying charge, related to WikiLeaks’ large release of sensitive and confidential U.S. military records along with diplomatic cables which has put life in danger, according to Washington.

His supporters recall him as an anti-establishment hero and claim that he’s victimized because he exposed U.S. wrongdoing amid conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Moreover, his performance is politically improved assault on Journalism and free speech.

The official talks –

However, his wife Stella claims Assange will appeal after the Home Office approved extradition.

She said, ‘We’re going to fight this. We’re going to use every appeal avenue.

I’m going to spend every waking hour fighting for Julian until he is free, until justice is served’, she told reporters, claiming the decision a ‘travesty’.

Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton said that, appeal would include new information not previously taken to the courts, including claims made in a report last year of plans to assassinate him, to Reuters.

Originally, a British judge ruled Assange saying, that his mental health will at risk of suicide if convicted and held in maximum security prison.

However, the Home Office said the court’s had not found that extradition would be incompatible with his human right.

It included his right to a fair trial and freedom of expression, and that he would be treated appropriately.

Moreover, Assange has been involved in a legal fight in Britain for more than a decade and it could continue for more years.

Ultimately, he has 14 days to take his case to the United Kingdom Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights.

‘We’re not at the end of the road here, dark day for press freedom and for British democracy’, Stella Assange said on Patel’s decision.

The former head of extradition at Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service Nick Vamos said verdicts were regularly overturned by the High Court.

Assange would be able to claim again it was politically motivated and use new evidence, such as his allegations the CIA had plotted to assassinate him.’

However, the CIA declined to comment on his claims.

‘I think he might get some traction,’ Vamos told Reuters.

Some initial stage work –

WikiLeaks came into light when it published a U.S. military video back in 2010 showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people including 2 Reuters news staff.

After this action, U.S. prosecutors and officials referred Assange as a reckless enemy who leaked states credentials.

Later, he and his supporters argued amid his punishment.

‘Allowing Julian Assange to be extradited to the U.S. would put him at great risk and send a chilling message to journalists the world over,’ said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general.

However, the Australian government told Washington and London to bring a close to this case.

The past story –

The case began in later 2010 when Sweden persuaded Assange’s extradition from Britain over allegations of sex crimes.

In April 2019, he was imprisoned for breaching British bail conditions although the Swedish case against him had been dropped.

He fathered two children with his current wife to whom he married in tight security in prison in London, March which was attended by two officials and two guards.

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The Home Office stated that Mr. Assange has 14 days to appeal the ruling.

According to the statement, the judges determined that extradition would not be “incompatible with his human rights” and that “he will be treated appropriately” while in the US.

Because of papers that were disclosed in 2010 and 2011, Mr. Assange is sought by American authorities.

Since Ecuador cancelled his refugee status in 2019 and he was taken out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London and apprehended by British police, he has been imprisoned.

Wikileaks declared in response to the directive that it was a “sad day for press freedom and British democracy.”

Wikileaks stated on Twitter that it would appeal the ruling and that it was “not the end of the fight.”

The US justice department filed 17 accusations against Mr. Assange for violating the Espionage Act in May 2019, while he was serving a jail term in the UK for violating bail. They claimed that the information gathered by Wikileaks endangered lives.

According to Mr. Assange’s legal team, the classified documents released by Wikileaks about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan showed US wrongdoing and served the general welfare.

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The long-standing precedent of not using the Espionage Act against journalistic operations has suddenly been broken. Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, was charged with seventeen fresh counts yesterday. These new allegations make it plain that he is being punished for basic journalistic activities like as being open to receiving leaked documents, showing an interest in publishing information about otherwise secret government actions, and then releasing newsworthy info to the public. The government has now abandoned its pretense that this case is solely about hacking or assisting in hacking. Whether or not Assange is considered a “journalist,” the indictment focuses on standard journalistic techniques.

The accusation, however, is a test of fundamental principles of free expression. According to the Supreme Court, everyone has the right to distribute honest information about topics of public concern, even if that information was obtained illegally by someone else. The indictment tries to get around this protection by claiming that Assange simply “encouraged” his contacts to provide him information. This puts a fundamental right to free speech on shaky and confusing ground.

A Challenge to the Press

Make no mistake: this is a challenge to all journalists and the public interest, not just Assange and Wikileaks. The press serves as a substitute for the public in holding the government accountable, and the Assange allegations jeopardize that vital function. The allegations send a strong message to reporters that they might be prosecuted with espionage just for performing their jobs if they communicate with and deliberately collect material of public importance from sources and whistleblowers, or publish such information. They also threaten anyone who wants to educate the public about government operations and reveal government malfeasance, whether they are professional journalists or not.

After the indictment, Assistant Attorney General John Demers, the chief of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, told media that the department “takes seriously the role of journalists in our democracy and we thank you for it,” and that it is not the government’s policy to track them for reporting. However, it’s difficult to distinguish the Assange indictment from President Trump’s constant attacks on the press, which include comments on Twitter, at White House briefings, and in appearances that the media is “the enemy of the people,” “dishonest,” “out of control,” and “fake news.” Demers’ statement was quite limited, condemning “targeting” of journalists but not prosecuting them as part of a broader effort to target their sources. And, contrary to the administration’s public assertions, the actual content of the Assange Indictment creates a dangerous precedent; using the same logic as it does here, the administration might accuse any other media organization it dislikes for engaging in ordinary journalistic procedures.

Most seriously, the indictment claims that anybody who “counsels, commands, urges” a source to get or attempt to gain secret material violates the Espionage Act, 18 USC 793. (b). This covers practically “everything associated with the national defense,” as long as there is a “intent or cause to believe that the data is to be used to the detriment of the United States, or to the benefit of any foreign nation,” according to the statute’s text. The indictment makes many claims that Assange “encouraged” his sources to release documents to Wikileaks, despite the fact that he knew the contents contained national security secrets.

However, customary journalistic methods, particularly among national security reporters, include promoting sources and knowingly obtaining papers containing secret information. A journalist has never been obliged by law or custom to be a completely passive, unexpected, or unaware recipient of a leaked document. In the EFF’s lawsuit and elsewhere, the US government has consistently asserted that practically any publication of secret information harms the US while benefiting foreign countries.

As a result, the indictment raises issues about whether precise actions of “encouragement” the DOJ feels break the fine line between First Amendment-protected newsgathering and criminal activity. If a journalist, such as Trump at the time, had said: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the [classified] emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press,” would that be a chargeable crime?

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WikiLeaks is a news organisation that focuses on analysing and publishing censored or otherwise restricted material. It distributes original documents obtained from unnamed sources. Whistleblowers and leaks from other outlets are common sources for these documents, which are normally classified.

Julian Assange, the publisher of WikiLeaks, started the organisation in 2006. WikiLeaks has published over 10 million documents and related analyses since its start.

Asylum provided outside the state’s borders is known as extraterritoriality.

The Espionage Act of 1917 makes spying or assisting an adversary of the United States illegal. The Act, in Assange’s case, punishes anyone who, without authority, divulges or shares secret government information.

He was granted asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where he stayed for the next seven years until his asylum was cancelled by the Ecuadorean authorities. He was instantly detained, and he has been in Belmarsh Prison ever since, resisting extradition to the United States.

The Westminster Magistrates’ Court had previously refused his extradition, however, the court changed its ruling on April 20, 2022. Priti Patel, the UK Home Secretary, will now make the ultimate decision.

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Emma Best is an American investigative reporter who rose to prominence as a result of her work for Wikileaks and activist Julian Assange.

Emma Best is well-known for filing numerous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests on behalf of MuckRock, as well as co-founding the whistleblower website Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets), which led to Best being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security and temporarily barred from filing FOIA requests.

Best co-founded Distributed Denial of Secrets with another member of The Architect’s group.

Before DDoSecrets, Best was a member of a small group of Wikileaks contributors before criticising Julian Assange for, among other things, lying about the source of the DNC email leak and the incomplete nature of its archive of John Podesta’s emails. Best has published a number of documents obtained from Wikileaks.

Wikileaks published 294,548 emails from Turkey’s ruling party on July 19, 2016, in response to the Turkish government’s purges. The leak was most likely caused by Phineas Fisher, according to most experts. Guccifer 2.0 expressed interest in offering a trove of Democratic e-mails to Wikileaks in mid-August 2016. Assange urged Best to decline, claiming that releasing the material first would have a greater impact.

Best has filed over 5,000 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests since 2016, including numerous requests to US intelligence services and over 1,600 with the FBI, as well as hundreds of articles.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated and considered prosecuting Best for their use of FOIA in 2016.

Best was instrumental in bringing the CIA database of 13 million pages of declassified files online in 2017.

In 2019, Best and former NSA hacker Emily Crose launched “Hacking History,” a project that uses FOIA to obtain documents on historical hacking incidents.

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Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is disappointed by the UK Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the appeal in the extradition case against Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange.

Reporters Without Borders calls on Home Office to block Assange extradition

"We call on the Home Office to act in the interest of journalism and press freedom by refusing extradition and releasing #Assange from prison without further delay" @RSF_inter https://t.co/2quvAtQXKr

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 17, 2022

After more than two years of extradition proceedings, the case will now be returned to the Home Office for a political decision.

RSF urges the Home Office to act in the best interests of journalism and press freedom by refusing extradition and releasing Assange immediately.

On March 14, Assange’s lawyers issued a statement announcing that the Supreme Court had denied Assange’s request to appeal on the grounds that “the application does not raise an arguable point of law.”

The case has now been returned to the Home Secretary for a decision on whether to approve or reject extradition, nearly three years after the same office approved the US government’s extradition request in the first place.

The UK’s Supreme Court has overturned a decision by the High Court to allow Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to appeal against extradition to the United States over his publication of classified military and diplomatic documents.

Assange faces a prison sentence of up to 175 years if extradited to the U.S., where he could face prosecution for publishing the documents.

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The United Kingdom High Court granted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange permission to continue his legal battle against extradition to the Supreme Court. However, while the London court allowed him to appeal, it is up to the Supreme Court to accept the case.

Assange faces trial on a series of charges related to WikiLeaks’ publication of classified content. The material was posted more than ten years ago, nonetheless, U.S authorities wish to extradite Assange. The founder is currently in jail, as he attempts to avoid trial for the same.

Top-secret U.S military records and diplomatic documents were released into the public domain, a move which endangered lives, according the U.S government. Previously, a lower court ruled that Assange shouldn’t be put through extradition on account of his poor mental health. Risk of suicide was cited as one of the reasons. Albeit, the High Court overturned the ruling in December. It also refused direct appeal to the Supreme Court but stated that his case raised a matter of legal concern. 

Assange is accused of committing 18 offences, 17 being espionage and the other being technological misuse. These crimes carry a sentence of maximum 175 years in prison. His lawyers, however, deny committing any wrong. They declare that under the First Amendment, Assange had the right to freedom of the press protections. The documents, in their opinion, outlined the wrong doings of the U.S government in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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