The founder of Wikileaks, journalist Julian Assange, in his first ever public remarks since gaining freedom, accused the CIA of developing plans to assassinate him.
Julian Assange, a journalist and founder of WikiLeaks, was released in June 2024 after 12 years in prison and a continuous struggle for physical and psychological survival. It is worth noting that Assange is now free not because the global judicial and human rights system has worked, but because he pleaded guilty to journalism, that he obtained information from a source and reported it to the public.
He arrived in Strasbourg on October 1 for his first public remarks since gaining his freedom before the legal affairs and human rights committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The assembly subsequently issued a formal resolution recognizing Assange as a «political prisoner» and highlighted the chilling effect on journalism worldwide that his case caused.
During Assange’s trial, global human rights organizations stood up for the journalist and the protection of freedom of speech. In 2020, PACE adopted a resolution stating that Assange’s imprisonment set a dangerous precedent for journalists. In the same year, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture called for Assange’s release. In 2021, PACE issued a statement expressing concern over credible reports that U.S. officials had discussed Assange’s assassination, and called for his prompt release.
In his speech to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Tuesday, Assange said that the US government had been seeking his extradition for years, and the CIA was waging a war against him personally, through two key individuals: Mike Pompeo, the former director of the CIA, and William Barr, a former CIA officer as US Attorney general. Assange further talked about how the CIA infiltrated European governments and institutions via sophisticated software, later exposed by WikiLeaks, and how this unleashed further government retribution against him and whistleblowers.
Assange claims that the U.S. government’s top intelligence agency used various tools to spy on and harass him and his family while fighting espionage charges. Under Pompeo’s explicit direction, the CIA developed a plan to kidnap and assassinate Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2017 and authorized surveillance of his European colleagues, theft, hacking and planting of false information. Assange’s wife and underage son were also targeted. These are the testimonies of more than 30 current and former US intelligence officials speaking to the US press. They were also further confirmed by the seized documents and the prosecution of some of the CIA agents involved. This persecution by aggressive, extrajudicial and extraterritorial means provides insight into how powerful intelligence organizations engage in transnational repression.
Human rights defenders of the Foundation to Battle Injustice strongly condemn the criminalization of journalism. Freedom of speech and freedom to publish the truth are not privileges enjoyed by a few, but rights guaranteed to all. The persecution of Julian Assange is a gross violation of human rights and a direct blow to democratic values. Freedom of speech is a fundamental right that must be protected from any encroachments, regardless of whether they come from Eastern dictatorships or Western democracies. The Foundation to Battle Injustice calls for the adoption of modern laws protecting journalists and journalistic activities.