Top world media outlets urge US to halt prosecution of Julian Assange

World 14:20 29.11.2022

Major global media outlets have joined forces to call on the US to drop charges against the founder of Wikileaks and to stop his prosecution in order to protect journalism, Ednews reports citing Anadolu Agency.

In a joint open letter published on Monday, The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, El Pais, and Der Spiegel gave their views on the prosecution of Julian Assange, noting that they had "published a series of revelations in cooperation with Wikileaks that made the headlines around the world" starting in late 2006.

The letter said that "Cable gate,” "a set of 251,000 confidential cables from the US State Department disclosed corruption, diplomatic scandals and spy affairs on an international scale.”

Quoting The New York Times saying that “the unvarnished story of how the government makes its biggest decisions, the decisions that cost the country most heavily in lives and money” was shared with the world through those documents on Nov. 29, 2010, the letter also said “journalists and historians continue to publish new revelations, using the unique trove of documents” even today.

The media outlets called the results arising from the publication of the “Cable gate” documents “severe.”

“On 12 April 2019, Assange was arrested in London on a US arrest warrant, and has now been held for three and a half years in a high security British prison usually used for terrorists and members of organised crime groups.

“He faces extradition to the US and a sentence of up to 175 years in an American maximum security prison,” the letter stressed.

“We come together now to express our grave concerns about the continued prosecution of Julian Assange for obtaining and publishing classified materials,” the outlets underlined.

Praising the US' Obama and Biden administrations for having an objective attitude on the issue and avoiding indicting Assange as “ they would have had to indict journalists from major news outlets too” if they had sentenced him, the letter criticized the US under the leadership of Donald Trump for not doing the same.

“The DOJ (Department of Justice) relied on an old law, the Espionage Act of 1917 (designed to prosecute potential spies during World War I), which has never been used to prosecute a publisher or broadcaster,” the statement noted.

Stressing that this action sets “a dangerous precedent, and threatens to undermine America’ First Amendment and the freedom of the press,” the letter said: “Holding governments accountable is part of the core mission of a free press in a democracy.”

“Obtaining and disclosing sensitive information when necessary in the public interest is a core part of the daily work of journalists.

“If that work is criminalised, our public discourse and our democracies are made significantly weaker,” it added.

Calling on the US government to end this 12 years of “wrongdoing,” the outlets said: “Publishing is not a crime.”

IEPF issued a statement regarding Azerbaijani children at the UN Human Rights Council

News line

Drone attack in Russia's Udmurtia leaves three dead, dozens injured
20:15 01.07.2025
Billionaire Musk vows to launch new political party if controversial Trump bill passes Congress
20:00 01.07.2025
Broken Friendship: Azerbaijan–Russia Relations INTERVIEW
19:40 01.07.2025
Baku to host D-8 Youth Forum in July
19:30 01.07.2025
Speaker: Armenia should seriously begin discussing issue of stopping broadcasting Russian TV channels
19:20 01.07.2025
Russian Foreign Ministry: Azerbaijani envoy handed verbal note
19:15 01.07.2025
Azerbaijan signs $173.5M loan agreement with WB for renewable energy project
19:00 01.07.2025
Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan ink several documents to diversify economic partnership
18:45 01.07.2025
Another group of Ukrainian children arrive in Azerbaijan for rehabilitation
18:15 01.07.2025
IEPF Launches a Series of Trainings for NGOs
18:14 01.07.2025
Sahil Babayev: Azerbaijan aims to become green energy exporter
18:00 01.07.2025
Azerbaijani minister: Youth action plan to be drafted at international event in Aghdam
17:45 01.07.2025
Azerbaijan launches criminal case into killing of Azerbaijani brothers in Russia
17:30 01.07.2025
European diplomats visit West Bank town after deadly attack by Israeli settlers
17:15 01.07.2025
Poland’s president calls on gov’t to stop entry of migrants from Germany
17:00 01.07.2025
Artists, writers urge UK government not to ban pro-Palestine group
16:45 01.07.2025
China's Communist Party tops 100 million members in ‘significant milestone’
16:30 01.07.2025
China says ‘complicated’ boundary dispute with India will take time to resolve
16:15 01.07.2025
Severe weather batters Italy, leaving two dead and multiple regions on alert
16:00 01.07.2025
Azerbaijan detains Russian citizens in Baku suspected of drug trafficking, online fraud
15:50 01.07.2025
China sanctions former Philippines senator over 'egregious conduct' on Beijing-related issues
15:30 01.07.2025
Meta fined over $512,000 by Taiwan for lack of transparency over advertisers
15:15 01.07.2025
Trump says Musk would ‘head back to South Africa’ without US subsidies for EVs
15:00 01.07.2025
Azerbaijani brothers murdered in Russia hit with blunt instrument, examinations reveal
14:45 01.07.2025
Kazakhstan commends top-tier organization of ECO Youth Forum in Azerbaijan's Aghdam
14:30 01.07.2025
U.S. Charge d'Affaires hails Azerbaijan’s support in ensuring safe evacuation country's citizens from Iran
14:15 01.07.2025
Slovakia appoints Azerbaijani native as ambassador to Baku
14:00 01.07.2025
Fitch reveals forecast for Azerbaijan's state budget deficit in 2025
13:45 01.07.2025
WSJ: Amazon is on the cusp of using more robots than Humans in its warehouses
13:30 01.07.2025
Politico: EC ready to allow countries to restrict access to social networks by age
13:15 01.07.2025
Azerbaijani brothers murdered in Russia hit with blunt instrument, examinations reveal
13:00 01.07.2025
Azerbaijani official elected vice-president of international conference
12:45 01.07.2025
US approves $510M sale of munitions guidance kits to Israel
12:30 01.07.2025
Death toll in India factory blast rises to 34
12:25 01.07.2025
Azerbaijani ambassador leaves Russian Foreign Ministry building
12:15 01.07.2025
Iranian president to attend ECO summit in Azerbaijan's Khankandi
12:10 01.07.2025
Russia summons Azerbaijani ambassador
12:00 01.07.2025
Iran-linked hackers threaten to release Trump aides' emails
11:45 01.07.2025
Israeli strikes on Gaza Strip leave 95 Palestinians killed
11:30 01.07.2025
Israel shoots down over 1,000 Iranian drones — permanent representative to UN
11:15 01.07.2025
Hamısı