It's nice to see that at least The Guardian was willing to print this op ed.
Miriam
The Extradition of Julian Assange Would Undermine Freedom of Speech
By Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Guardian UK
21 September 20
The Wikileaks founder is a champion of democracy the charges against him
affect journalists around the world
The British courts will soon be deciding the fate of the Australian
journalist Julian Assange, a man who has been unjustly charged as a
criminal. Assange committed no crime. He is a champion of the cause of
freedom.
The UK will say whether it will accept or deny the request for the
extradition of Assange to the US, where he will face 18 charges brought
against him by the government of that country. If he is extradited, Assange,
49, could be tried and sentenced to up to 175 years in prison, the
equivalent of a life sentence.
We must keep this outrage from happening. I call on all those committed to
the cause of freedom of speech in every corner of the world to join me in an
international effort to defend the innocence of Assange and demand his
immediate release.
This is the first time in the history of the US that a journalist has been
indicted under the Espionage Act for publishing truthful information. The
world knows, however, that Assange never spied on the US. What he did was
publish documents he received from Chelsea Manning, a US Army intelligence
analyst who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Manning was tried, convicted and
sentenced to seven years in prison. She has now served her sentence.
We all know why the US government wants to seek vengeance against Assange.
In partnership with the New York Times, El País, Le Monde, the Guardian and
Der Spiegel, Assange revealed the atrocities and war crimes committed by the
US during the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the torture to which
the prisoners in Guantánamo were subjected.
The world also remembers the terrifying video published by Assange, recorded
from a military helicopter, showing US soldiers strafing the streets of
Baghdad apparently for the pure pleasure of it and killing 12 unarmed
civilians, among them two journalists from the Reuters news agency.
In addition to all of these reasons, Brazilians owe an additional debt to
Assange. Files published on his WikiLeaks page revealed conversations that
took place in 2009 between those who would later be in the Temer
administration which in 2016 deposed the Dilma government and top
officials in the Department of State about questions related to the
privatisation of Brazils deepwater oil deposits.
It was through reading the documents revealed by Assange that Brazilians
learned of the relationship between the man who would later be minister of
foreign affairs in the Temer administration, José Serra, and executives in
the North American oil giants ExxonMobile and Chevron.
The charge adopted by the Trump administration to justify the allegations
against Assange that he attempted to help Manning hack into government
computers is both dangerous and false.
It is false because the only effort that Assange made was to try to protect
the identity of his source, which is both a right and an obligation for all
journalists. It is dangerous because to advise sources on how to avoid
arrest is something that every ethical investigative journalist does. To
criminalise this is to put journalists everywhere in danger.
When Jair Bolsonaro attempted to charge US journalist Glenn Greenwald, for
example, at the beginning of this year for exposing the corruption that led
to my illegal arrest and imprisonment, the Brazilian government was copying
this new and dangerous theory used by the US against Assange.
All people and institutions committed to freedom of speech, and not just the
mainstream media with which WikiLeaks shared Washingtons secrets, now have
an essential task: to demand the immediate release of Assange.
We know that the accusations against Assange represent a direct assault on
the first amendment rights guaranteed by the US constitution, which
guarantees freedom of the press and expression. We know that treaties
between the US and the UK prohibit the extradition of persons accused of
political crimes.
The risks that Assange will be extradited, however, are real. No one who
believes in democracy can allow someone who provided such an important
contribution to the cause of liberty to be punished for doing so. Assange, I
repeat, is a champion of democracy and should be released immediately.
