Julian Assange gets brief reprieve in the UK

On Tuesday, the British High Court delayed the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States.

Assange is facing prosecution under the Espionage Act for publishing classified information.

Among Assange’s most infamous releases was a video titled “Collateral Murder,” which showed the American military firing on innocent people, including journalists.

In 2018, this editorial board argued against the prosecution of Assange, warning that, “if officials have filed criminal charges against Assange for publishing what others obtained and gave to him, the government’s action will chill investigative reporting and set the stage for serious misconduct and violations of the law to be permanently concealed behind a curtain of national security secrecy.”

That indeed is what is going on, and it’s a concern shared by the British High Court, which has given the United States three weeks to make clear that Assange “is permitted to rely on the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (which protects free speech),” along with assurances that Assange won’t face the death penalty or be discriminated against on the basis of his nationality.

This editorial board continues to stand for the freedom of the press and on those grounds opposes the ongoing prosecution of Assange for the mere act of publishing information the government doesn’t want out.

“Democracy depends on a robust, wide-open free press,” argued longtime civil liberties lawyer Stephen Rohde in these pages last month. “It is shameful that the Biden administration has fully embraced Trump’s prosecution of Assange and is actively seeking to extradite him to the United States. Publishing information that exposes government wrongdoing is what the First Amendment is all about. The Assange prosecution tests whether we can remain true to that principle.  We dare not fail that test.”

We concur.

If the United States doesn’t sufficiently persuade the British High Court, Assange will be allowed a broader appeal in the United Kingdom. In other words, things are very much still in flux.

Either way, Assange doesn’t belong behind bars for doing what he did.