US to Pursue Extradition of Julian Assange
Press Freedom Groups Warn of Dangerous Precedent
HAVANA TIMES . The State Department said Tuesday the US will continue to push for the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from Britain. Last month, a UK judge blocked Assange’s extradition, citing serious mental health concerns. Assange was indicted for violations of the Espionage Act related to the publication of classified documents exposing US war crimes. He faces up to 175 years in prison if brought to the U.S.
On Monday, a coalition of prominent international rights groups called on the Biden administration to drop charges against Assange. “We are deeply concerned about the way that a precedent created by prosecuting Assange could be leveraged — perhaps by a future administration — against publishers and journalists of all stripes,” they wrote.
No, there is no bad precedent for prosecuting someone for hacking into computers that don’t belong to them.
Would have been interesting to see the reaction if Assange had hacked into the computers of some reporters and published the contents. Names of confidential sources, for example.