New US charges against Julian Assange could spell decades behind bars

Discussion in 'Law & Justice' started by alexa, May 23, 2019.

  1. alexa

    alexa Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The US has added 17 new charges onto Assange hoping to keep him in jail for the rest of his life - he faces a maximum sentence of 175 years.

    This clearly raises question about the freedom of the press and the hope has to be that the dramatic increase in charges and sentence, which we all knew would happen, will stop the UK courts from allowing extradition. However it may be that the reason the US is adding all these charges now rather than waiting till they get him to the US is because the first Judge who met Assange was clearly strongly prejudiced against him and that personal prejudice appears to have interfered with him acting in an balanced way and treating Assange as he would anyone else..

    Here is a taste from the Guardian article

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2...ting-the-espionage-act-in-18-count-indictment
     
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  2. Durandal

    Durandal Well-Known Member Donor

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    Certainly an interesting development. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out in the legal system. Is Assange a journalist or not? Is what he did excusable in his case if he was acting as a journalist? The charges are quite specific, focusing on harmful acts that a responsible journalist probably would not choose to perpetrate.

    ...
    In a briefing for reporters, Justice Department officials said they do not consider Assange a journalist, and they took pains to say they will not target journalists.

    “The department takes seriously the role of journalists in our democracy,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said.

    Demers and other officials said they only charged Assange with publishing a narrow subset of material that included the names of confidential sources, including people who risked their lives talking to the U.S. government.

    “Assange thereby is alleged to have created grave and imminent risk to their lives and liberty,” Demers said.
    ...​
    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...cted-new-charges-under-espionage-act-n1009441
     
  3. clg311

    clg311 Well-Known Member

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    RIP 1st Amendment

    "Julian Assange exposes Hillary Clinton’s role in arming head-chopping Al-Qaeda jihadists both in Libya and Syria faces up to 170 years in prison on 17 charges. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton roams free, does media, gets book deals and receives never-ending celebrity treatment."

    Sarah Abdallah

    Not to mention exposing Bush's war crimes.
     
  4. Kode

    Kode Well-Known Member

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    Make no mistake. This, following Trump's inexcusable lie that "the media is the enemy of the people" is carefully designed and orchestrated to eventually eliminate all media except for what Trump approves. This is the move of a despot. We are now headed down a deep, dark hole that we thought we ended forever in WWII. This is a major development. It's not a shot across the bow. Rather, it is a torpedo directly INTO the bow. It all unravels from here. Welcome to the Brave New Fascism.
     
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  5. billy the kid

    billy the kid Well-Known Member

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    I thought everyone in the US knew about the Bush crime family....
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2019
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  6. jdog

    jdog Banned

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    This is clearly and injustice, and can only be rectified by public outrage. Take the time to let your elected officials know their political life depends on their support for Assange.
     
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  7. Woogs

    Woogs Well-Known Member

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    At least one (maybe the only one) Senator spoke out against these charges:

    Response to the charges has been swift. ACLU exec Ben Wizner said in a statement that "This is an extraordinary escalation of the Trump administration's attacks on journalism, and a direct assault on the First Amendment. It establishes a dangerous precedent that can be used to target all news organizations that hold the government accountable by publishing its secrets. And it is equally dangerous for U.S. journalists who uncover the secrets of other nations."

    Senator Ron Wyden also commented: "This is not about Julian Assange. This is about the use of the Espionage Act to charge a recipient and publisher of classified information. I am extremely concerned about the precedent this may set and potential dangers to the work of journalists and the First Amendment.
     
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  8. zer0lis

    zer0lis Well-Known Member

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    Sad development but expected... And I believe he will not get a fair trial. This is a political trial similar to what happened to The Pirate Bay guys.
    TPB guys actually filmed their trial and released a documentary on a clearly political trial where US law was applied on Swedish soil and citizens.
    LINK
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2019
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  9. Thedimon

    Thedimon Well-Known Member

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    Relax, he won’t be given 175 years. He is like what, 50 now? Another 20-30 years will definitely shut him up. After that he will be thrown out of the US like a used condom.
     
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  10. Thedimon

    Thedimon Well-Known Member

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    I don’t know which shithole country you live in, but in the US elected officials can’t influence judges.
     
  11. alexa

    alexa Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Yes, they are trying to pretend he is different to any other investigative journalist - except investigative journalism is pretty much non existence nowadays about anything the government of the day does not want reported on. What they are trying to do is make a difference between the papers which reported his information and he himself and the reason for that is clear - they do not want the massive and obvious protest against freedom of the press which this would ensure. Nonetheless the argument is strong that if they intend on making these charges against Assange then they ought to also be charging the Guardian, New York Times, Aljazeera and others. As far as safety of US personnel I know either Assange or Snowden of both put the Guardian in charge of making sure their release of information did not put anyone in danger. This is just the beginning in the US itself. Several years ago Jeremy Scahill reported on how a reporter was held in jail in Yemen on the instructions of the Obama admin because they did not like what he was reporting. The US attack on the press hence has been going on for some years.

    I was interested yesterday to be led to a snip of an old interview with Bolton. In it he both states that those in charge of the US do not need to stick by the Constitution and that it is right for the US to treat foreign press in a manner which if done to business in the US would be totally unacceptable.


    Having Corporate media rather than free media and with the terror of the Internet where non corporate media get an opportunity of express themselves, the US is working to shut down opposing thought and with that the end of a free press. Georgia has apparently brought in a new list of 40 'ethical' rules which make freedom of the press a thing of the past.

    https://www.ajc.com/news/state--reg...urnalism-ethics-board/XuwvLwHYv2uxEgtazGCuHK/

    If your Government controls the Press, you do not have a free press. That is what they are trying to do in this instance by claiming someone who has done investigative journalism which certainly is something people who vote should know about is not a journalist.
     
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  12. Thingamabob

    Thingamabob Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The truth of the matter:

    Injustice.jpg
     
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  13. Thingamabob

    Thingamabob Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    :rip: This the worst joke I have seen in my 72 years on this earth.
     
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  14. modernpaladin

    modernpaladin Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    How did Assange endanger our national security?
     
  15. ibobbrob

    ibobbrob Well-Known Member

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    Trump is a liar and he will certainly use this in his latest effort to target our free press if successful.
     
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  16. FreshAir

    FreshAir Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    a jury will decide his fate, then again my guess is he takes a plea bargain
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2019
  17. FreshAir

    FreshAir Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange: Documents on 'thousands' of possible US war crimes in Afghanistan"

    https://www.nydailynews.com/news/po...sands-war-crimes-afghanistan-article-1.205349

    "U.S. forces fighting in Afghanistan could be investigated for "thousands" of possible war crimes allegedly committed when the Bush administration was running that war."

    "Iraq war logs: secret files show how US ignored torture"

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/22/iraq-war-logs-military-leaks

    "A grim picture of the US and Britain's legacy in Iraq has been revealed in a massive leak of American military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crimes."

    he not only leaked classified info, but embarrassed the government, he will do time
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2019
  18. alexa

    alexa Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    You believe that in a democracy Governments who ignore the rule of law while acting for the people should be kept hidden from the people and should be subject to no punishment while people who inform the people should be subject to life in jail? Assange will have already have been deprived of his liberty for 8 years if he is extradited which unless we have a favourable change of Government he most likely will be. Where do you see democracy in this? How do you imagine an uniformed democracy can make a legitimate vote?

    There has also been concern expressed that he may be put into Guantanamo. Given the extent to which the charges have already changed that possibly is something which should be considered seriously.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2019
  19. FreshAir

    FreshAir Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    never said that, just like all Trump's wrong doings should be out there, so should any presidents, either party

    but I think the government will punish him for what he did, just like the government punished the women that leaked on Trump - the government doesn't like to be embarrassed by leaks

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2019
  20. Thingamabob

    Thingamabob Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Uhhhhhh, wait a minute, I'll get back to you on that one. Well, you see the problem in Irak ... oh that's not "national" security. Oh yeah, what is happening in Afghanistan you see .... ooops, that's not "national" security either. OK, what about Libya? Syria? Venezuela?
     
  21. alexa

    alexa Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    and I never said you did but did question it as writing as you did suggested it. Freedom of Information is a cornerstone of democracy. Without that no democracy worth its name exists. The US arguably lost the Vietnam war due to the work of reporters bringing us the ugly truth, like Assange and others have over recent wars. Civilians in America as well as everywhere else did not find how the US was acting in Vietnam acceptable. That was democracy speaking. The US and other countries learned from that and now they take reporters into their team, they 'embed' them and tell them the news to report and what to film. Whereas in the Vietnam era it was the job of reporters to try and report accurately, since then they have fulfilled a role of providing the propaganda their country wants, with few exceptions. One of our Journalists chose not to be embedded with the military but to be independent in the Iraq war. He was killed in what was called an 'unlawful killing' by the American Military. The National Union of Journalists consider his killing a 'war crime'
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Lloyd

    Of course, like with Assange, Lloyd died as an example to others.
    You believe Prosecutors and Judges in the US answer to the President? Where in this is there any sign of Democracy? Can you not see that what you are describing is more a Totalitarian Regime than a Democracy?
     
    Last edited: May 24, 2019
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  22. FreshAir

    FreshAir Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I am just saying what i think will happen, guess we wait and see if I was right
     
  23. Thingamabob

    Thingamabob Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I already had a glimpse of what was coming way back in 1978. I was living in West Berlin, in the shadow of the Berlin Wall. I don't remember what it was that gave me the idea but I told my colleagues that we (in the west) were going to follow the way of the old USSR but that the new Soviet Union was going to lead the way forward into Democracy sometime in the future. It is bitter-sweetly necessary for me to note that the world is today slowly turning its' eyes to Russia and Vladmir Putin for truth and guidance. As the Americans say, "How about them apples!" :shocked:
     
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  24. Thedimon

    Thedimon Well-Known Member

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    Russia and Pootin for truth and guidance?

    Whatever you smoke must be really good!
     
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  25. Thedimon

    Thedimon Well-Known Member

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    I’m the leaks they didn’t redact the names, which put people who cooperated with the US in serious danger.
    This, in a way, made it more difficult to gather intel on the ground.
     

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