“Enough is enough”.
“I fail to see what purpose is being served by the ongoing incarceration of Julian Assange. A heavy price has been paid.”
Anthony Albanese MP before he became Prime Minister of Australia
MEAA letter to PM and Foreign Minister
re: Julian Assange extradition
The Hon Anthony Albanese MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
A.Albanese.MP@aph.gov.au
Senator the Hon Penny Wong
Minister for Foreign Affairs
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
foreign.minister@dfat.gov.au
20 June 2022
Dear Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs,
The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance urgently asks you to intervene on behalf of Julian Assange after the UK Home Secretary determined the United States could extradite Assange to face charges of espionage. If convicted he could be jailed for up to 175 years.
The WikiLeaks publisher has been a journalist member of MEAA since 2007. He carries an International Federation of Journalists’ press card.
The decision to uphold extradition to the US imperils journalism everywhere. We urge the Australian government to call on our nation’s traditionally close relationship with the US to advocate that the charges be dropped, which would allow Assange to be released from prison and reunited with his family.
It’s important to note that media outlets around the world worked with WikiLeaks to publish the same material for which he is being punished.
In November 2010, Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, The Guardian in the UK, The New
York Times in the US, El Pais in Spain, Le Monde in France and Der Spiegel inGermany collaborated with WikiLeaks in the name of public interest journalism, to expose what governments were doing on behalf of their citizens.
None of these media outlets, their publishers or editors, are being pursued by the US government; Assange alone is being pursued.
If Assange is extradited under the US Department of Justice charges, it would be a dangerous step; a frightening assault on the public’s right to know. It would mean that any journalist, anywhere in the world, could be charged and extradited for handling any information that the US government classifies as “secret”.
Prime Minister, Australia must intervene to prevent an Australian citizen from dying in a US prison for revealing information in the public interest.
A precedent has already been established when former President Obama commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning, the original source of the material published by Wikileaks in 2010.
We urge you to engage with President Biden to end this pursuit of Julian Assange and allow him to be released to join his wife and children.
Yours sincerely,
Karen Percy
Federal President
MEAA Media Section
Published as MEAA letter to PM and Foreign Minister re Julian Assange extradition, 20 June 2022
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Assange extradition a dangerous assault on international journalism
17 June, 2022 – The UK Government’s decision to uphold the application by the US Department of Justice to extradite Australian publisher Julian Assange imperils journalists everywhere, says the union for Australia’s journalists.
The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance calls on the Australian Government to take urgent steps to
lobby the US and UK Governments to drop all charges against Assange and to allow him to be with
his wife and children.
Assange, a MEAA member since 2007, may only have a slim chance of challenging extradition to face espionage charges for releasing US government records that revealed the US military committed war crimes against civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq, including the killing of two Reuters journalists.
If found guilty, Assange faces a jail term of up to 175 years.
MEAA Media section Federal President Karen Percy said: “We urge the new Australian government to act on Julian Assange’s behalf and lobby for his release.
“The actions of the US are a warning sign to journalists and whistleblowers everywhere and
undermine the importance of uncovering wrongdoing.
“Our thoughts are with Julian and his family at this difficult time.”
In 2011 WikiLeaks was awarded the Walkley Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism in recognition of the impact WikiLeaks’ actions had on public interest journalism by assisting whistleblowers to tell their stories.
At the time the Walkley judges said WikiLeaks applied new technology to ‘penetrate the inner workings of government to reveal an avalanche of inconvenient truths in a global publishing coup’.
This type of publishing partnership has been repeated by other media outlets since, utilising whistleblowers’ leaks to expose global tax avoidance schemes, among other stories. In the WikiLeaks example, only Assange has been charged.
None of WikiLeaks media partners have been cited in any US government legal actions because of their collaboration with Assange.
Published as Assange extradition a dangerous assault on international journalism, 17 June, 2022
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Three years in prison is too long; Assange must come home
11 April, 2022 – Australia must step up diplomatic efforts to encourage the US government to drop its bid to extradite Julian Assange who has now been imprisoned for three years.
Today marks the third anniversary of Assange’s arrest when he wa 2 s dragged from the Ecuador Embassy in London on April 11, 2019 to face extradition proceedings for espionage charges laid by the US.
The WikiLeaks founder and publisher has been held at Belmarsh Prison near London ever since, where his mental and physical health has deteriorated significantly.
On this day, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance calls on the Biden Administration to dro p the charges against Assange, which pose a threat to press freedom worldwide. The scope of the US charges imperils any journalist anywhere who writes about the US government.
MEAA Media Federal President Karen Percy urged the Australian Government to use its close ties to both the US and the UK to end the court proceedings against him and have the charges dropped to allow Assange to return home to Australia, if that is his wish.
Assange won his initial extradition hearing in January last year, but subseque Government have dragged out his detention at Belmarsh.
“Julian Assange’s work with WikiLeaks was important and in the public interest: exposing evidence of war crimes and other shameful actions by US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Ms Percy said.
“The stories published by WikiLeaks and its mainstream media partners more than a decade ago were picked up by news outlets around the world.
“The charges against Assange are an affront to journalists everywhere and a threat to press freed om.”
The US government has not produced convincing evidence that the publishing of the leaked material endangered any lives or jeopardised military operations, but their lasting impact has been to embarrass and shame the United States.
“Yet Assange faces t he prospect of jail for the rest of his life if convicted of espionage charges laid by the US Department of Justice,” Ms Percy said.
“The case against Assange is intended to curtail free speech, criminalise journalism and frighten off any future whistleblo wers and publishers with the message that they too will be punished if they step out of line.
“The US Government must see reason and drop these charges, and the Australian Government should be doing all it can to represent the interests of an Australian citizen.”
Assange has been a member of the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance since 2009 and in 2011, In 2011 the WikiLeaks organisation was awarded the Walkley Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism.
Published as Three years in prison is too long; Assange must come home, 11 April, 2022
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Disclosure: The publisher of the 1EarthMedia website in a member of MEAA, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance.
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