{"id":275472,"date":"2024-09-30T12:01:49","date_gmt":"2024-09-30T11:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=275472"},"modified":"2024-09-29T07:14:18","modified_gmt":"2024-09-29T06:14:18","slug":"assange-to-testify-at-council-of-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/09\/assange-to-testify-at-council-of-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Assange to Testify at Council of Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Assange discussing the plea deal with his lawyer Gareth Pierce in Jun 2024.
(WikiLeaks via X)<\/p><\/div>\n

24 Sep 2024 – The freed publisher will appear in person in Strasbourg on 1 Oct to address the Council of Europe, <\/em>WikiLeaks said today.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

WikiLeaks<\/em> publisher Julian Assange, who\u00a0<\/span><\/span>was released from prison in June, will address the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France on Oct. 1 after he was granted\u00a0 Status as a Political Prisoner<\/span> by a rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), WikiLeaks<\/em> said<\/a> today.<\/span><\/p>\n

It will be the first time Assange will speak in public since his hearing in U.S. federal court on the North Mariana islands in June, at which he was granted his release after a plea deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Assange will give evidence before the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which will meet from 8.30am to 10am at the Palace of Europe, WikiLeaks<\/em> said.<\/span><\/p>\n

It follows the PACE inquiry report into Assange\u2019s case, written by Rapporteur Th\u00f3rhildur Sunna \u00c6varsd\u00f3ttir. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe report focuses on the implications of his detention and its broader effects on human rights, in particular freedom of journalism,\u201d WikiLeaks<\/em> said in a press release<\/a> published on X. \u201cThe report confirms that Assange qualifies as a political prisoner and calls on the UK [to] conduct an independent review into whether he was exposed to inhuman or degrading treatment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c6varsd\u00f3ttir called Assange\u2019s case a \u201chigh profile example of transnational repression.\u201d Her report \u201cdiscusses how governments employ both legal and extralegal measures to suppress dissent across borders, which poses significant threats to press freedom and human rights,\u201d said WikiLeaks.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Still Recovering<\/strong><\/p>\n

Assange is \u201cstill in recovery following his release from prison,\u201d it said. He will travel to France because of \u201c<\/span>the exceptional nature of the invitation and to embrace the support received from PACE and its delegates over the past years\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While he was in prison PACE advocated \u201crepeatedly\u201d for his release, WikiLeaks<\/em> said.<\/p>\n

The hearing at which he will speak will also consider the findings that Assange\u2019s imprisonment was \u201cpolitically motivated,\u201d it said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The PACE committee said<\/a> earlier this month in a statement that:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 the failure of the competent US authorities to prosecute the alleged perpetrators of war crimes and human rights violations committed by US state agents, combined with the harsh treatment of Mr Assange and Ms [Chelsea] Manning, \u2018creates a perception that the United States government\u2019s purpose in prosecuting Mr Assange was to hide the wrongdoing of state agents rather than to protect national security.\u2019 \u2026<\/p>\n

Assange\u2019s harsh treatment, particularly his unprecedented conviction under the Espionage Act, also \u2018creates a dangerous chilling effect and a climate of self-censorship affecting all journalists, publishers and others\u2019, according to the committee, severely undermining the protection of journalists and whistleblowers around the world.<\/p>\n

It urged the US, a Council of Europe observer state, to \u201curgently reform\u201d the 1917 Espionage Act to exclude its application to publishers, journalists and whistleblowers who disclose classified information with the intent to raise public awareness about serious crimes.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

____________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of <\/em>Consortium News and a former correspondent for\u00a0<\/em>The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe and numerous other newspapers<\/em>, including<\/em> The Montreal Gazette and <\/em>The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the <\/em>Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for <\/em>Bloomberg News and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for <\/em>The New York Times. Email:<\/em> joelauria@consortiumnews.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 consortiumnews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

24 Sep 2024 – The freed publisher will appear in person in Strasbourg on 1 Oct to address the Council of Europe, WikiLeaks said today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":275474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[918,1268,1678,921,113],"class_list":["post-275472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","tag-assange","tag-european-union","tag-investigative-journalism","tag-whistleblowing","tag-wikileaks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275472"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":275475,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275472\/revisions\/275475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}