GNV News – October 2, 2024
On October 1, 2024, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, issued his first statement since being released from Britain’s Belmarsh Prison in June 2024. On the grounds that seven years of detention by the UK government and other treatment amounted to human rights violations and torture, he was asked to provide testimony at a hearing by the Council of Europe’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.
After WikiLeaks, through whistleblowers, exposed human rights abuses, war crimes, and corruption by the governments of many countries, including the United States, Assange was indicted on suspicion of violating the U.S. Espionage Act. He eventually reached a plea deal with the U.S. government, which had sought his extradition from the United Kingdom, and was released. It was the first time in history that a journalist or publisher who disclosed information was convicted under the U.S. Espionage Act. Regarding the plea deal, Assange said he “chose freedom over justice,” and stated the following.
“I am not free today because the system worked. The reason I am free today, after years in prison, is because I pleaded guilty to the crime of journalism. I admitted to asking a source for information. I admitted to obtaining information from a source. And I admitted to informing the general public of that information. I admitted to nothing else. … Now that I am out of Belmarsh prison, it seems the truth is no longer discernible. How much the expression of truth has been compromised, attacked, weakened, and eroded. I see more impunity, more secrecy, more retaliation for telling the truth, and more self-censorship.”
Learn more about Assange’s plea deal → “Criminalizing Journalism (GNV Podcast 136)”
Learn more about WikiLeaks → “Criminalizing Journalism? The Persecution of WikiLeaks”
Learn more about journalism and leaks → “Information Leaks and Journalism”
Assange testifying (Photo: Consortium News / YouTube screenshot [Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)])
natoみたいな暴力装置が言論弾圧するのはある意味平常運転。自由より命が大事という理論武装。良いか悪いかは別として(私も迷う)。ただロシアのシベリア(アジア人)差別とか中東でのアメリカのアラブ差別や虐殺加担ははっきり邪悪。アサンジを弾圧したからパレスチナの子供が虐殺された。アメリカがアラブ人(等) 虐殺をやりまくった。仮に爆死5万人餓死5万人という常識的な推定すれば、すでに2024年には一万人の子供が殺されたもしくは死にかけたという赦しがたい犯罪。餓死人数に一切触れずガン無視する日本のマスコミやbbcも邪悪。