The freed publisher will appear in person in Strasbourg on Oct. 1 to address the Council of Europe, WikiLeaks said today.
Assange discussing the plea deal with his lawyer Gareth Pierce in June. (WikiLeaks via X)
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, who was released from prison in June, will address the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France on Oct. 1 after he was granted Status as a Political Prisoner by a rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), WikiLeaks said today.
It will be the first time Assange will speak in public since his hearing in U.S. federal court on the North Mariana islands in June, at which he was granted his release after a plea deal.
Assange will give evidence before the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which will meet from 8.30am to 10am at the Palace of Europe, WikiLeaks said.
It follows the PACE inquiry report into Assange’s case, written by Rapporteur Thórhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir.
“The report focuses on the implications of his detention and its broader effects on human rights, in particular freedom of journalism,” WikiLeaks said in a press release published on X. “The report confirms that Assange qualifies as a political prisoner and calls on the UK [to] conduct an independent review into whether he was exposed to inhuman or degrading treatment.”
Ævarsdóttir called Assange’s case a “high profile example of transnational repression.” Her report “discusses how governments employ both legal and extralegal measures to suppress dissent across borders, which poses significant threats to press freedom and human rights,” said WikiLeaks.
Still Recovering
Assange is “still in recovery following his release from prison,” it said. He will travel to France because of “the exceptional nature of the invitation and to embrace the support received from PACE and its delegates over the past years”
While he was in prison PACE advocated “repeatedly” for his release, WikiLeaks said.
The hearing at which he will speak will also consider the findings that Assange’s imprisonment was “politically motivated,” it said.
The PACE committee said earlier this month in a statement that:
“… the failure of the competent US authorities to prosecute the alleged perpetrators of war crimes and human rights violations committed by US state agents, combined with the harsh treatment of Mr Assange and Ms [Chelsea] Manning, ‘creates a perception that the United States government’s purpose in prosecuting Mr Assange was to hide the wrongdoing of state agents rather than to protect national security.’ …
Assange’s harsh treatment, particularly his unprecedented conviction under the Espionage Act, also ‘creates a dangerous chilling effect and a climate of self-censorship affecting all journalists, publishers and others’, according to the committee, severely undermining the protection of journalists and whistleblowers around the world.
It urged the US, a Council of Europe observer state, to “urgently reform” the 1917 Espionage Act to exclude its application to publishers, journalists and whistleblowers who disclose classified information with the intent to raise public awareness about serious crimes.”
Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and other newspapers, including The Montreal Gazette, the London Daily Mail and The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for Bloomberg News and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for The New York Times. He is the author of two books, A Political Odyssey, with Sen. Mike Gravel, foreword by Daniel Ellsberg; and How I Lost By Hillary Clinton, foreword by Julian Assange.
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Sorry Jeff Harrison. Just a reminder, Democracies are elected by the people.( The winner usually promise the biggest tax cuts).So the majority dont give a ‘flaming flampini’ about their fellow human beings or anything else as long as they are OK.
As for principles, not much has changed since Diogenes ‘with a lighted candle in the daytime’ in Ancient Athens searched for a honest man.
Thank You Joe
Knew there’s a Reason I’ve been following CN for these Many Years, (& This’s It!)
Good news indeed .Julian must have a lot to say and hopefully he has not been muzzled. Also good news that Wau Holland Foundation stepped up to pay his flight costs .Many thanks to all for this information.
How can France be considered safe after what the French “intelligence” agency did to Pavel Durov? Is this another ploy to drill-and-drain resources from transparency advocates?
Please be very careful about re-entering Europe. Not that Australia is a lot better, but still, now that you are free, please think carefully about going back. Maybe talk to Durov, if that’s allowed under the terms of release for each of you? You know they don’t play fair.
If you want Freedom, its best to stay far away from The Free World.
This is a very promising development. If Julian speaks about his belief that the Espionage Act is in conflict with the First Amendment, the tricky and deceptive language in the plea bargain becomes transparent. Additional details from his answering questions will further display the cruelty in his situation. It seems this would be the first official recognition of the wrongdoing, via a government body on human rights, and a way of freeing him to speak further. He must remain safe, however, at all times.
Have not people been saying that the Espionage Act conflicts with the 1st Amendment ever since the Democrats passed and signed the dang thing?
Neither the law, nor the analysis of it are exactly new. The law is now over a century old. It just took first Nixon, and then Obama to begin trying to aggressively enforce it. Nixon tried to use it against the late, great Daniel Ellsberg, and of course it was Obama that decided to use it against Julian. But the law has been there ever since Woodrow Wilson (D) led America into the War to Save Democracy and then needed to crush the Socialists like any good Ivy Leaguer would do.
Sir Keir Starmer, as Director of Crown Prosecution Services, one of his main persecutors, should perhaps be sweating. We will hope for this and more.
The USA and the UK are alike in that only the privates and the sergeants need to be sweating over the crimes they have committed. Both countries are firm in the belief that the powerful always walk away with awards and honors, and that it is the privates, sergeants, and perhaps a Lieutenant that might worry about prosecution. But never anyone higher ranking than that.
It would take a whole lot of Change and even more Hope to reach a world where Sir Keir has to sweat about the things he did to earn that Sir.
“The hearing at which he will speak will also consider the findings that Assange’s imprisonment was “politically motivated,” it said.”
And criminally wrong.
BRAVO JULIAN.
It’d be great if the so-called ‘democracies’ stood up for the principles that they all (mostly) espouse. I wouldn’t hold my breath. They have a piss poor track record. I’m just glad that he’s not being tortured by the US and the UK any longer.
No taxation without representation!
Hey, I’m not being radical, just quoting history.
Huh. I figured the deal was he had to shut up for the rest of his life.
That was never the deal. His lawyer and his wife made it clear there was no gag.
Wow.
Well, thanks once again, and congratulations to Julian Assange.
The US government is a criminal enterprise. Appeals to any kind of human concern falls on deaf ears. This is a corporate captured state that has no interest in anything but profit above any other consideration. The sooner the world internalizes this understanding, the better off humanity and life in general will be.
So happy he’s recovering, but also very happy he’s still in the fight.
Same here.
Me 3…
And Thanks to Joe Lauria & CN for this welcomed actual journalism.(:->)
As Usual,
EA
On a related Assange matter, can anyone update the site’s readers on the $500,000 charge for his flight to freedom? Is his government covering it? Is he personally on the hook? If so, has anyone with deep pockets stepped up?
I thought that had been taken care of through donations at the time.
Wau Holland Foundation paid it, as they had agreed with the Australian Government beforehand:
hxxps://chaos.social/@wauland/112811965030478412
“The WHS has received an invoice from the Australian government and paid the flight costs for Julian Assange from London to Australia (~480.000 €).”
It’s been paid.
If you look up “AssangeDAO” you can follow the story and in the chat forum there is a link to the Wau Holland Foundation report into the money raised. They raised $56Million in crypto ethereum and bought an NFT from someone called “Pak” who then donated the money to Wau. They have spent it all except about $9.8Million.
Wau gave a guarantee to the Australian Government that they would cover the costs of the jet, but a large bitcoin donation of about $450,000 paid most of it and the full bill has been paid.
I hope neither he, nor anyone near him, will be carrying any electronic “communication” devices …
The world will soon be back to snail mail, but the powers that be have already reduced the postal services. They think of everything before it happens.