Rep. Thomas Massie Will Bring WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange’s Brother to Biden’s State of the Union Address
Shane Trejo
|
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) is bringing the brother of WikiLeaks Julian Assange to ‘President’ Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address that is scheduled for Thursday.
#FreeAssange President Biden will be looking at Julian Assange’s brother, Gabriel Shipton, in the House gallery Thursday night as Biden delivers the State of the Union. #SOTU https://t.co/CUtYjZwrPY pic.twitter.com/gnvuXUeP7E
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 5, 2024
“The US government’s ongoing effort to prosecute Julian Assange threatens the First Amendment rights of Americans and should be opposed,” Massie said to The Courier Journal.
“During his term in office, I asked President Trump to pardon Mr. Assange, and I was disappointed by his failure to do so. President Biden should stop seeking Assange’s extradition and should instead drop the criminal charges currently being pursued by the Department of Justice,” he added.
Big League Politics has reported on the incredible injustice faced by Assange as he rots away in a British prison facing extradition to the U.S. on bogus felony charges under the Espionage Act:
“Prominent civil liberties advocates and whistleblowers are decrying the news that WikiLeaks founder and information liberator Julian Assange will be extradited to the United States to stand trial for 17 felony charges under the Espionage Act.
Three co-chairs of the Assange Defense Committee – linguist and social critic Noam Chomsky, economist and “Pentagon Papers” leaker Daniel Ellsberg, and Angela Walker, a Pulitzer Prize winner – released a statement in response to news that UK Home Secretary Priti Patel is approving Assange’s extradition.
The full statement can be seen here:
“It’s a sad day for western democracy. The UK’s decision to extradite Julian Assange to the nation that plotted to assassinate him – the nation that wants to imprison him for 175 years for publishing truthful information in the public interest – is an abomination.
We expect the world’s most despised autocrats to persecute journalists, publishers, and whistleblowers. We expect totalitarian regimes to gaslight their people and crack down on those who challenge the government. Shouldn’t we expect western democracies to behave better?
The U.S. government argues that its venerated Constitution does not protect journalism the government dislikes, and that publishing truthful information in the public interest is a subversive, criminal act. This argument is a threat not only to journalism, but to democracy itself.
The UK has shown its complicity in this farce, by agreeing to extradite a foreigner based on politically motivated charges that collapse under the slightest scrutiny.”‘
Massie deserves a great deal of credit for arranging to bring Assange’s brother to the State of the Union in order to keep this issue in the public eye. Assange’s persecution should be gaining more public outrage.
Share: