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takyon writes:

Assange Indicted Under Espionage Act, Raising First Amendment Issues

Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks leader, has been indicted on 17 new counts of violating the Espionage Act for his role in publishing classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010, the Justice Department announced on Thursday — a novel case that raises profound First Amendment issues.

The new charges were part of a superseding indictment obtained by the Trump administration that significantly expanded the legal case against Mr. Assange, who is already fighting extradition proceedings in London based on an earlier hacking-related count brought by federal prosecutors in Northern Virginia.

[...] On its face, the Espionage Act could also be used to prosecute reporters who publish government secrets. But many legal scholars believe that prosecuting people for acts related to receiving and publishing information would violate the First Amendment.

That notion has never been tested in court, however, because until now the government has never brought such charges. The closest it came was indicting two lobbyists for a pro-Israel group in 2005 who received classified information about American policy toward Iran and passed it on. But that case fell apart after several skeptical pretrial rulings by a judge, and the charges were dropped.

Though he is not a conventional journalist, much of what Mr. Assange does at WikiLeaks is difficult to distinguish in a legally meaningful way from what traditional news organizations like The New York Times do: seek and publish information that officials want to be secret, including classified national security matters, and take steps to protect the confidentiality of sources.

Also at BBC, CNBC, USA Today, and Reuters

Previously: Inadvertent Court Filing Suggests that the U.S. DoJ is Preparing to Indict Julian Assange
U.S. Ramping Up Probe Against Julian Assange, WikiLeaks Says
Wikileaks Co-Founder Julian Assange Arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London
Julian Assange Sentenced to 50 Weeks in Prison for Bail Breach
Swedish Prosecutor to Reopen Julian Assange Investigation

Original Submission

1. "takyon" - https://soylentnews.org/~takyon/
2. "Assange Indicted Under Espionage Act, Raising First Amendment Issues" - https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/us/politics/assange-indictment.html
3. "new charges" - https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/1037-julian-assange-espionage-act-indictment/426b4e534ab60553ba6c/optimized/full.pdf#page=1
4. "an earlier hacking-related count" - https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/11/world/europe/julian-assange-wikileaks-ecuador-embassy.html
5. "BBC" - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48391266
6. "CNBC" - https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/23/wikileaks-co-founder-julian-assange-charged-with-17-new-criminal-counts.html
7. "USA Today" - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/05/23/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-indicted-leaks-conspiracy-manning/1207119001/
8. "Reuters" - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-wikileaks-assange-usa/u-s-unveils-espionage-charges-against-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-idUSKCN1ST2L4
9. "Inadvertent Court Filing Suggests that the U.S. DoJ is Preparing to Indict Julian Assange" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/11/16/1415222
10. "U.S. Ramping Up Probe Against Julian Assange, WikiLeaks Says" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/01/24/0145209
11. "Wikileaks Co-Founder Julian Assange Arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London" - https://soylentnews.org/breakingnews/article.pl?sid=19/04/11/1029234
12. "Julian Assange Sentenced to 50 Weeks in Prison for Bail Breach" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/05/01/190205
13. "Swedish Prosecutor to Reopen Julian Assange Investigation" - https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/05/14/0319201
14. "Original Submission" - https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=33957

printed from SoylentNews, Julian Assange Charged with U.S. Espionage Act Violations on 2024-07-27 13:59:17