[Peace] JFP alert: Block Extradition of Julian Assange for 1st Amendment-Protected Journalism

[Robert Naiman]

I shouldn't have to say this here, but *U.S. opponents of the U.S. Empire
need the First Amendment to be strong.*

Therefore, when the U.S. Empire is on one side, and the First Amendment and
the ACLU are on the other, *U.S. opponents of the U.S. Empire need to stand
strong with the ACLU.*

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Robert Reuel Naiman, Just Foreign Policy <info at justforeignpolicy.org>
Date: Fri, Apr 12, 2019 at 2:11 PM
Subject: Block Extradition of Julian Assange for 1st Amendment-Protected
Journalism
To: <naiman at justforeignpolicy.org>


[image: Just Foreign Policy]
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=U%2BDGm0b2%2Fho38HnBms3Z03NCcXfNMLDU>

*  Urge Congress to block the extradition & prosecution of Julian Assange
for actions protected in the U.S. by the First Amendment.*



* Sign the petition
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=iO0Wb9PqTUMH6CcW%2BkhMuXNCcXfNMLDU>
*

Dear Robert,

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been arrested in London and threatened
with extradition to the United States to stand trial on charges related to
publishing U.S. government documents that exposed U.S. government war
crimes.

In response to the arrest, the *ACLU* said
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=aT8zArUCZyhthtN3ilTRfHNCcXfNMLDU>
:

“*Any prosecution by the United States of Mr. Assange for Wikileaks’
publishing operations would be unprecedented and unconstitutional*, and
would open the door to *criminal investigations of other news organizations*.
Moreover, prosecuting a foreign publisher for violating U.S. secrecy laws
would set an *especially dangerous precedent for U.S. journalists*,
who *routinely
violate foreign secrecy laws to deliver information vital to the public's
interest*.

In response to the unsealed indictment, the *ACLU* said
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=JEU%2B%2B85Xs0HYzmLgW5iud3NCcXfNMLDU>
:

"*Criminally prosecuting a publisher for the publication of truthful
information would be a first in American history, and unconstitutional.* The
government did not cross that Rubicon with today’s indictment, but the
worst case scenario cannot yet be ruled out. *We have no assurance that
these are the only charges the government plans to bring against Mr.
Assange. *Further, while there is no First Amendment right to crack a
government password, *this indictment characterizes as ‘part of’ a criminal
conspiracy the routine and protected activities journalists often engage in
as part of their daily jobs, such as encouraging a source to provide more
information*. Given President Trump’s and his administration’s
well-documented attacks on the freedom of the press, such characterizations
are especially worrisome.”

All American journalists, publishers and editors need the protections of
the First Amendment to be strong in order to do their jobs. *All Americans
need the protections of the First Amendment to be strong*, not only to
protect our rights to speak and write, but to *protect our right to know*,
particularly to know about actions of U.S. government officials that U.S.
government officials might be hiding. Some secret U.S. government actions
might be against the interests of the majority of Americans. *Some secret
U.S. government actions might be unconstitutional or otherwise illegal.* This
is especially important with respect to *ending and preventing
unconstitutional wars*. There’s *no way* Americans can fulfill our
responsibilities to hold U.S. government officials accountable for what
they are doing in other people’s countries *if we can’t find out what the
U.S. government is doing*.

*The Pentagon lied for years to Congress and the American people about its
unconstitutional role in the Saudi war in Yemen.* It took opponents of the
war *three years* just to prove to the satisfaction of the majority of
Congress that *the Pentagon was lying* about its participation in the war. *If
we could have exposed the U.S. role in the war sooner, we could have ended
the war sooner.*

*This is why protecting the First Amendment is so important to opponents of
unconstitutional war* - and why the apologists for unconstitutional war
have the First Amendment in their crosshairs. They want to chill national
security reporting,* because they don’t want the American people to know
what they are doing.*

This is why the Congress that just voted to end unconstitutional U.S.
participation in the Saudi war in Yemen should vote to *prohibit the
Department of Justice from spending any of our tax dollars to extradite or
prosecute Julian Assange for alleged actions which would be protected by
the First Amendment if Julian Assange had been a U.S. journalist standing
on U.S. soil* when he performed the alleged action.

For example, the Department of Justice authorization or appropriation could
be amended thus:

*"No money in this bill shall be used for the extradition of Julian Assange
or any WikiLeaks employee or volunteer to the United States, nor for the
prosecution of Julian Assange or any WikiLeaks employee or volunteer in the
United States, for any alleged action which would be protected by the First
Amendment if performed by a U.S. citizen journalist, publisher, or editor
while standing on U.S. soil." *


*Urge Congress to block the Trump Administration’s attempts to leverage the
Assange case to undermine First Amendment protections for journalists,
publishers, editors, and the American people's right to know by signing our
petition
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=8Zq7xiWvRe6SA%2FNGctpdEHNCcXfNMLDU>.
*

Thanks for all you do to help U.S. foreign policy become a bit more just,

Hassan El-Tayyab, Sarah Burns, and Robert Reuel Naiman
Just Foreign Policy

*If you think our work is important, please support us with a donation.*
We hear that 18 is lucky.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=isYAHw4R05%2FuzgjZTyrxSHdz7%2BqUTXij>

[image: Please support our work. Donate for a Just Foreign Policy]
<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=k8q1UDNKnAZwuOr7XUkEEnNCcXfNMLDU>

© 2019 Just Foreign Policy
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace/attachments/20190412/dcff7cdd/attachment-0001.html>