24th Oct 2023

Reporters Without Borders launches global campaign highlighting danger of Julian Assange's prosecution

By Ed Newman

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has launched a new global communications campaign as part of its longstanding efforts for the release of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange.

Beginning on Wednesday, October 18th, media supporters around the world will run RSF content, in print and online, highlighting the danger posed to all media and to the public’s right to know by the US government’s prosecution of Assange.

Developed in partnership with the French advertising agency BETC, RSF’s new communications campaign features a depiction of Assange with his facial features made up of the logos of dozens of media organisations from around the world. These media are among those that initially ran stories based on the leaked classified documents published by WikiLeaks in 2010.

“As Julian Assange’s fate hangs in the balance, it is more crucial than ever for media organisations and journalists around the world to speak out in support of the principles at stake. If the US government succeeds in extraditing Assange and prosecuting him under the Espionage Act, anyone who publishes stories based on leaked classified information could be next - and the resulting impact will ultimately be on all of our right to know. It’s time for global solidarity in support of journalism and press freedom, before it’s too late.

The campaign tagline “Collateral Damage” refers to the danger that the U.S. government’s prosecution of Assange poses to media around the world, as well as the public’s right to information. It is also a reminder of the “Collateral Murder” video that was among the leaked materials published by WikiLeaks in 2010, exposing an air-to-ground attack by a US military Apache helicopter in a Baghdad suburb, which killed at least a dozen civilians, including two Reuters journalists.

The campaign is supported by Le Monde (France) and The Guardian (UK), who were among the original media partners that worked with WikiLeaks in 2010 on the “Cablegate” documents - a tranche of more than 250,000 leaked diplomatic cables. The campaign has also been supported by other media around the world.

RSF has launched this campaign less than a week before Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s state visit to Washington DC, from 23 to 26 October, where he will be hosted by US President Joe Biden. The two leaders have been urged to use this opportunity to find a diplomatic solution to the Assange case. RSF will also be launching a global tweetstorm targeting President Biden and Prime Minister Albanese the weekend leading up to the state visit, from 20 to 22 October. READ MORE: Air Force general predicts war with China in 2025

The campaign launch also takes place in the run-up to the final stage of legal proceedings in the UK, where a hearing is expected to be called at any point – a date being referred to as “Day X.” This hearing will mark the final stage of domestic proceedings, leaving only the possibility of an application to the European Court of Human Rights if the UK court rejects Assange’s appeal against the extradition order.

The U.S. and UK are respectively ranked 45th and 26th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2023 World Press Freedom Index.

Craig Murray, defender of Julian Assange, detained under Britain’s anti-terror laws

The human rights activist and former British diplomat was detained and questioned under the Prevention of Terrorism Act at Glasgow Airport on Monday.

Murray was returning from Iceland where he met with senior figures in the Julian Assange defence campaign. On Sunday, he joined a protest called by the Palestine Solidarity Committee outside the parliament in Reykjavik against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. READ MORE: No More Blood for Oil

Murray has campaigned prominently for the freedom of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, incarcerated without charge in London’s HMP Belmarsh maximum-security prison. Assange faces imminent extradition to the United States, under the Espionage Act, for his courageous exposure of US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. The charges against him by the US government carry a prison term of 175 years, effectively a death sentence.

Three unnamed counter-terrorism officers interrogated 65-year-old Murray for an hour, seizing his laptop and electronic devices.

Murray told Grayzone he was questioned intensively about his political beliefs, “First, they grilled me about the private Assange Campaign meeting… all the questions were financial,” including “whether I get money for my contributions to the Campaign, if I get paid by WikiLeaks, Don’t Extradite Assange, even Julian’s family.”

He answered “no” to each of these questions, telling reporter Kit Klarenberg, “My sources of income and where my money comes from were of particular interest to the officers.”

Klarenberg was himself detained under anti-terror laws in May after he wrote articles exposing British military operations targeting Russia’s Kerch Bridge. The bridge’s bombing last October was immediately pinned on Russian armed forces, and used to ratchet-up NATO’s war against Russia in the Crimea.

Grayzone reports that counter-terror officers also questioned Murray about his popular blog, demanding to know “whether anyone else had access to it or could publish content on the platform, and if anyone other than himself authored any of its posts.”

British authorities have targeted Murray over his vocal opposition to Israel’s assault on Gaza, armed and financed by the US and British governments. Officers demanded to know why Murray had attended the pro-Palestinian protest in Iceland and what the speakers on the platform had said. Murray explained he does not speak Icelandic.

On X/Twitter, Murray has exposed the complicity of the imperialist powers with Israel’s murderous siege. Responding to European Union President Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Israel on October 13, where she denounced Hamas as a terrorist organisation, Murray wrote, “You have turned up to give cover and support to genocide.”

He later wrote, “To be entirely plain. I have always viscerally opposed war. I have dedicated my life to conflict resolution and reconciliation. But in the coming Gaza genocide, every act of armed resistance by Hamas and Hezbollah will have my support. If that is a crime, send me back to jail.”

In July 2021, Murray received an unprecedented eight-month prison sentence over “jigsaw identification” of witnesses in the failed sexual assault trial of former Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond. Murray’s imprisonment was payback for his role in defending Assange.

On Monday, counter-terror police demanded to know whether Murray would attend future pro-Palestinian protests, to which he replied “probably”. He said they also asked him, “how do I judge whether to share a platform with someone or not?”

Murray’s interrogation has an unmistakable meaning: domestic opposition to Israel’s war of annihilation against the Palestinians in Gaza—backed to the hilt by the British government and the Labour Party—is being criminalised. His detention is part of preparations to ban protests, order mass arrests of workers and young people who oppose Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, and prosecute those posting and sharing information in defence of the Palestinians.

WikiLeaks editor in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson posted on X/Twitter on Tuesday, “I am horrified to learn of this abuse of the Terrorism Act against a friend and #Assange supporter that I invite to Iceland to discuss the campaign to save Julian and press freedom. This is a serious issue and examples of misuse of the Terrorism Act in recent months against artists, writers, journalists and activists are piling up.”

The British government is pressing into service the battery of anti-terror laws introduced after 9/11 to eviscerate democratic rights. Murray was detained under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act (2000). In April, British counter-terrorism officers detained and interrogated French publisher Ernest Moret for two days under the same schedule over his participation in mass protests against French President Macron. Klarenberg was detained in May, under Schedule 3, Section 4 of the Counter-Terrorism and Border Act (2019).

In recent months, the British government has adopted a raft of new laws, including the Public Order Act (2023), the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act (2022), the Online Safety Bill (2023) and the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act (2023) which hand sweeping powers to the state to ban protest, suppress free speech, enforce online censorship and outlaw industrial action in essential industries.

Craig Murray, defender of Julian Assange, detained under Britain’s anti-terror laws

Newsletter Signup