Treatment of Assange was a shameful stain on our First Amendment

Julian Assange’s release on Tuesday 14 years of imprisonment On humanitarian grounds, we should celebrate his return, but as we celebrate his return to his wife and children, let us also reflect on how a country that was once a global champion of press freedom came to persecute this brave journalist.

There’s a reason our Founding Fathers enshrined a free press in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: it’s essential for a functioning democracy. Democracy requires transparency. Without transparency, government cannot be accountable to its people. A vibrant free press makes government activities visible and brings into sharp focus those things that government tries to hide.

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President John F. Kennedy understood well that secrecy is antithetical to democracy. Speech to American newspapers in 1961He stated: “The very word ‘secrecy’ is anathema in a free and open society, and we as a people are inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, oaths of secrecy, and secret procedures. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unjustified concealment of relevant facts far outweigh the dangers that could be cited to justify it.”

In JFK’s time, it was the Soviet bloc that jailed journalists and dissidents. It was the Soviet bloc that used the imprisoned press to spread government propaganda. It was the Soviet bloc that used the justice system as an instrument of political repression. The Julian Assange case shows that we are in danger of becoming the very kind of authoritarian society that previous generations of Americans tried so hard to overcome.

The pretext for the legal and diplomatic attack against Julian Assange was that he had stolen US military secrets, thereby endangering national security and the lives of US military personnel. In fact, WikiLeaks redacted its publications to protect individuals. Was a reporter The Guardian published the password to access the unredacted files. Either way, the real reason Assange was persecuted was because he had published information that was deeply embarrassing to the US government, and they needed to stop him from revealing further secrets about war crimes, corruption, torture programs and cover-ups.

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Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. believes Julian Assange’s long imprisonment was an embarrassment for the United States. (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)

In other words, Julian Assange was struck down as a warning to journalists around the world. He was imprisoned for 14 years, including Five years in Britain’s tough Belmarsh prison and Seven years trapped in the Ecuadorian embassy He had been convicted before that, but before his release in a plea deal on Tuesday, the only crime he had been convicted of was a misdemeanor for jumping bail.

Apparently, his five years 23 hours of solitary confinement per day His execution in a maximum security prison was not an act of justice, but an act of intimidation — not of Mr Assange himself, but of all journalists who seek to expose embarrassing secrets of the US government.

The fact that liberals and conservatives have come together to push for Assange’s persecution is significant. Initially, the left cheered on Assange for exposing war crimes during the Bush administration, but quickly turned against him when it became clear that WikiLeaks was also trying to embarrass the Obama administration. Presidents Obama, Trump and Biden all supported the brutal destruction of this brave journalist’s life.

Their unanimity indicates the extent to which America has abandoned its founding principles. Far from embracing a free press, our leaders have destroyed it. The mainstream media has become an instrument of government propaganda, amplifying its messages. Journalists who dare challenge government pronouncements, and the media that gives them a platform, suffer censorship and attacks from weaponized government agencies. Corporate advertisers collude with government patronage and avoid a platform that strays from the official script.

The next president must set things right before it’s too late. He must end the war on journalism, end censorship, secrecy and surveillance, and resist the temptation to use government power to destroy political opponents. The campaign against Julian Assange was not an isolated incident. It was a sign of the times.

A screenshot from Julian Assange’s WikiLeaksX account following his release on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. WikiLeaks founder Assange arrives in Saipan ahead of his expected guilty plea in a deal with the US Department of Justice that will allow him to return to Australia. (@WikiLeaks via The Associated Press)

But times may change. We don’t just need a new president to change the times. But if I were president, I would do everything I can to reverse authoritarian practices. What’s needed is for people to stop tolerating the infringement of important rights and freedoms. It will take the courage of journalists to defy warnings of Assange’s persecution.

Fortunately, Assange’s release bodes well for the possible restoration of democracy. His release was not the result of a whim from President Biden. Rather, we should be grateful for the tireless efforts of his family and close supporters, the journalists who brought his case to the public’s attention, and the millions of citizens around the world, especially in Australia, who refused to be silent until justice was achieved.

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The fight is not over. Assange deserves more than a plea bargain. He deserves a full pardon and compensation for his unjust punishment. And the American people deserve a government that respects freedom of press, freedom of speech, and a fair rule of law. We must not rest until we achieve this.