Not exactly new news — this came out in February of this year, but I must have missed it, so just to refresh our memory »
Amnesty International is calling for the US to drop charges against Julian Assange:
that relate to his publishing activities as part of his work with Wikileaks.
Their stated rationale is :
Assange’s publication of disclosed documents as part of his work with Wikileaks should not be punishable as this activity mirrors conduct that investigative journalists undertake regularly in their professional capacity. Prosecuting Julian Assange on these charges could have a chilling effect on the right to freedom of expression, leading journalists to self-censor from fear of prosecution.
Until now, I’ve held Amnesty International in fairly high regard, but this one really gives me pause.
I’m not an expert on the law surrounding all this & the language in their petition is couched in seemingly cautious language focusing their statement on “that relate to his publishing activities..”
It’s unclear to me if this is really what the charges against him are about, or if his coordination in terms of timing with the Russian government & the GOP/Trump 2016 campaign , go well beyond assertions of journalistic freedom of the press etc.
In either case, this has drastically diminished my respect for Amnesty International, kind of like when the ACLU comes out for protecting the “free speech” of Nazis & white supremacists.
I’d be most grateful for any additional perspective on this from folks in the DKos community who are undoubtedly smarter & more well versed in the ins & outs of this than me. I couldn’t find any earlier diaries on this, but if there were please link them in the comments
www.amnesty.org/...