Blueprint, WikiLeaks, Anderson, Palin Push Assange Pardon, But Not Australia
A groundswell of supporter seeking a pardon for Julian Assange has developed in the last days of President Donald Trump's administration to win freedom for the WikiLeaks founder after a British judged ruled out his extradition to the United States.
Assange is still in a London jail after the US appealed the decision in which Judge Vanessa Baraitser said his mental health was too fragile and feared he could commit suicide in an American prison.
He was looking at being charged under the rarely-invoked century-old Espionage Act for revealing classified documents showing US forces in an air strike in Iraq killed civilians and two Reuters journalists, disclosed in a graphic video.
Baraitser, however sided with US arguments he wasn't, as he and his supporters said, acting as a journalist, a mixed decision that didn't back media freedom.
That worried journalists who had come to rally his case, fearing they could face the same fate if using classified documents or sources in their reporting.
Blueprint for Free Speech led the charge for a pardon that has been backed by WikiLeaks, actress Pamela Anderson and Republican former Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin among others.
But the 49-year-old Australian is not being supported by the leader of his country, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who said he would not get involved nor ask Trump for the pardon, but that Assange would be welcome back in his homeland if cleared.
Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus said Labor wanted the Morrison government "to do what it can to draw a line under this matter and encourage the US government to bring this matter to a close,” said The Sydney Morning Herald.
"Given his ill health it is now time for this long drawn out case against Julian Assange to be brought to an end," Dreyfus said.
The New York Times noted Blueprint's call for a pardon, led by Executive Director Suelette Dreyfus, with whom Assange had worked, enlisting lobbyist Robert Stryk to seek the pardon from Trump as he was impeached a second time
With time running out fast as President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in at noon on January 20 and Trump distracted as he still refuses to concede and claims the election was stolen from him – without offering proof – WikiLeaks reached out as well.
Messages sent to reporters over Twitter said that Assange's partner, Stella Moris, had directed WikiLeaks to find sympathetic backers who could approach Trump.
"She was hoping that you may have ideas or contacts that could help convince Trump to pardon Assange," said one version of the message sent to multiple reporters.
Wikileaks did not respond to a request for comment, but Moris confirmed to CNN she did ask the organization to "reach out to some of its most influential followers."
Moris said some journalists, whom she did not name, responded by asking for interviews with Assange and she said his case has "major Constitutional implications" and it could essentially "turn investigative reporting into a criminal enterprise."
"I am not in touch with anyone in the White House, hence the effort to ask people who might have contacts to speak to them themselves, and make the principled case for a pardon," Moris said.
Pamela Anderson, a longtime supporter of Assange, told Fox News that it would be a "bold move on the part of President Trump" to grant a pardon.
"This is an urgent matter to many people in the world who care about the freedom of speech," she said.
"This pardon would be a shining light on what freedom should be; it would encourage a whole generation of activists to continue to do important work and not be silenced,” she added.
Sarah Palin, the former Alaska Governor whose leaked private messages were posted by Wikileaks after she was picked as John McCain’s running mate in 2008, came out in support of a pardon in a YouTube video.
“I made a mistake some years ago, not supporting Julian Assange - thinking that he was a bad guy, that he leaked material that perhaps he shouldn’t,” she said. “And I’ve learned a lot since then, and I think Julian did the right thing, and Julian did us all a favor in America. … He deserves a pardon,” she said, adding that Assange also should be recognized for what “he has done in the name of real journalism.”