Julian Paul Assange is an Australian activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published a series of leaks including the Collateral Murder video, the Afghanistan war logs, the Iraq war logs, and Cablegate. Following these leaks, the United States government launched a criminal investigation into WikiLeaks. In 2019, Assange’s asylum was withdrawn following a series of disputes with the Ecuadorian authorities, got arrested and was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison in the United Kingdom.
The United States government charged Assange with violating the Espionage Act of 1917; editors from many newspapers heavily criticized the government’s decision to charge Assange under the Espionage. Assange is incarcerated in HM Prison Belmarsh, reportedly in ill health.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, shares his findings and concerns about Julian Assange’s case, one of the most important cases of the century. https://www.republik.ch/2020/01/31/nils-melzer-about-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange
We will be analyzing Assange’s situation at our next Anarchist Reading Circle, scheduled for Tuesday March 17th – doors 6:50, discussion at 7:00pm. As always, we will meet at Camas Books (2620 Quadra) on unceded, occupied Lekwungen Territory.