In this timely German public TV documentary, directors Elena Kuch and Robert Holm lift the lid on the extraordinary lengths the US is going to put #Wikileaks founder #Julian Assange# behind bars.
Tracing the course of the controversial Australian journalist, publisher, free-information advocate and – some say – computer hacker – over the past decade, the ARD documentary concludes that the US Department of Justice is determined to see Assange extradited to the US, tried, found guilty and sentenced to up to 175 years solely in order to send a warning to other would-be whistleblowers.
With exclusive access to Assange’s fiancé, lawyer Stella Morris – with whom he fathered two children during his time in refuge at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London – and others involved, including his father John Shipton, National Security Agency whistleblower #Edward Snowden#, and former CIA director Leon Panetta, this is a powerful and timely piece of thorough investigative #journalism released both on German TV and worldwide via YouTube at the very time that Assange is undergoing an extradition hearing in London.
Middle men
The film’s central allegations – that Assange was subjected to thorough, detailed, and illicit #surveillance while at the embassy by a Spanish contractor UC Global it alleges was working for US intelligence services via a billionaire middle man and key Trump donor, #Sheldon Adelson#, should be enough to put this on the front pages of newspapers worldwide.
Whether the Spanish court case against UC Global will be enough to give British judges in the extradition hearing pause for thought – in a country in the grip not only of the #COVID-19 pandemic but a deep Europhobia driven by an extreme right-wing government that increasingly acts like a rabid junta bent on #Brexit at any cost, including breaking its international treaty and legal obligations – remains to be seen.
Assange insists that he acts as any other responsible news organisation would do in publishing information in the public interest – even if that had been deemed «secret» by governments.
Extradition hearing
In his extradition hearing, which opened in London on September 7 and is likely to run through early October, Assange has insisted he took care to redact any information published by Wikileaks that could put individuals in danger.
In the latest twist in the case, the London court was told September 18 that two US political figures claiming to represent President #Donald Trump#, say Assange was offered a deal to avoid extradition if he disclosed who leaked Democratic party emails to his site in order to help clear up allegations they had been supplied by Russian hackers to help Trump’s election in 2016.
The White House has dismissed the allegations as nonsense and a «hoax».
The US is seeking to extradite Assange over the publication of hundreds of top-secret military reports and diplomatic cables between 2010-2011.
Kuch and Holm’s documentary deftly traces the history of those leaks, opening with the shocking «Collateral Damage» footage showing the deaths of a group of Iraqi civilians in 2010 including news agency Reuters journalists who were fired on by an American helicopter.
The shocking footage launched Assange and Wikileaks on the world and he soon became feted internationally for exposing the casual way in which America dealt death around the world.
The White House has dismissed the allegations as nonsense and a «hoax».
His downfall was sparked by rape allegations from Swedish authorities after he allegedly slept with two women without using a condom. The film demonstrates that although Assange’s reputation suffered a major blow, it was five weeks after the allegations had been made – plenty of time for the Swedes to thoroughly investigate the case – before he left for London.
Only when Swedish prosecutors demanded he return to Stockholm for further questioning and refused to offer him immunity from extradition, did he seek refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he was to spend the next seven years.
Swedish prosecutors dropped the charges «for lack of evidence» the moment Assange was arrested in London in April 2019 after a new Ecuadorian government lifted his diplomatic protection.
Take him out
The revelation that Assange was spied on by an embassy security contractor apparently also working for US intelligence, is at the heart of Wikileaks: The US Against Julian Assange, and really ought to be enough to have any extradition case thrown out.
The fact that is unlikely is summed up not only by the low bar the British set for extradition to the US – reasonable suspicion of having committed a crime is enough and no proof need be presented – but also by such revealing titbits at the fact that #Hillary Clinton#, when US Secretary of State, is said to have once wondered aloud «can’t we just take [Assange] out with a drone?»
The final word is left to the chillingly placid statement by former #CIA chief Panetta on US motivation: «All you can do is hope that you can ultimately take action against those that were involved in revealing that information so that you can send a message to others not to do the same thing.»
Wikileaks: The US against Julian Assange can be viewed on YouTube.
