U.S. Justice Department Files Second Superseding Indictment Against Assange
t-3 writes:
In what Shadowproofs Kevin Gosztola calls a not-so-subtle effort to criminalize the journalism of an adversarial media organization that the United States has spent the last decade working to destroy," WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been hit with another superseding indictment [PDF] by the US Department of Justice.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/wikileaks-founder-charged-superseding-indictment
The new indictment does not add additional counts to the prior 18-count superseding indictment returned against Assange in May 2019. It does, however, broaden the scope of the conspiracy surrounding alleged computer intrusions with which Assange was previously charged. According to the charging document, Assange and others at WikiLeaks recruited and agreed with hackers to commit computer intrusions to benefit WikiLeaks.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/06/25/assa-j25.html
Significantly, none of the events was held in the United States, but are cited as evidence of intent, or conspiracy, to violate American laws. This is in line with the unprecedented assertion of extraterritorial jurisdiction on which the entire indictment is based. The Justice Department is essentially arguing that domestic US laws apply to all individuals and gatherings in every part of the world.
Unlike the previous indictment, the latest US charge sheet condemns Assange over WikiLeaks' role in assisting Edward Snowden to travel from Hong Kong to Russia in 2013, where he successfully obtained political asylum. Snowden is a multi-award winning whistleblower, who exposed illegal global surveillance operations by the US National Security Agency.
The document complains that WikiLeaks publicised its role in defending Snowden to display its commitment to whistleblower protection. This alone brands the new indictment as a further assault on fundamental journalistic practices.
A substantial part of the new material in the indictment appears to be based on testimony and information provided by two acknowledged informants of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI): Sigurdur Siggi" Thordarson, named in the document as Teenager," and Hector Monsegur, known by the online pseudonym Sabu."
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