Journalist group ‘concerned’ by Assange’s arrest

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed “deep concern” over the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in the U.K.

A statement issued by the CPJ said that it has “long raised concerns about the legal implications for a prosecution of Assange, primarily related to legal theories that he could be prosecuted under the Espionage Act”.

Assange was arrested on Thursday after the Ecuador’s Embassy in London decided to expel him from their building on Thursday.

British police said he was arrested for skipping his bail in 2012 and on behalf of the U.S. due to an extradition warrant.

Explaining the case, the CPJ statement said that Assange faces a single count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.

“The charge relates to Assange's interactions with Chelsea Manning, a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst who was convicted under the Espionage Act for leaking classified information to WikiLeaks and spent seven years in prison. According to the indictment, Assange allegedly offered to help Manning break a password to a secure government database,” it said.

The CPJ said that the indictment does not explicitly charge Assange for publication, “a move that would have wide-ranging press freedom implications”.

“But it does construe his interactions with Manning as part of a criminal conspiracy,” the statement added.

Founded in 2006 by the Sunshine Press in Iceland, WikiLeaks published secret information, news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources.

It claimed a database of 10 million documents in 10 years since its launch.

“The potential implications for press freedom of this allegation of conspiracy between publisher and source are deeply troubling," said Robert Mahoney, deputy director of the CPJ.

With this prosecution of Julian Assange, Mahoney added: “The U.S. government could set out broad legal arguments about journalists soliciting information or interacting with sources that could have chilling consequences for investigative reporting and the publication of information of public interest.”

“In 2010, CPJ wrote a letter urging the DOJ [U.S. department of justice] not to prosecute WikiLeaks under the Espionage Act for publishing activities. In 2018, CPJ published a blog arguing that conspiracy charges against Assange could set a dangerous precedent,” the CPJ statement said.