WikiLeaks co founder Julian Assange arrested
Channel: 3BH NEWS
Date: 2019-05-24

#audio #breaking #news #politics #3bhnews  #wikileaks #julian #julianassange #assange #onlyaudio #world  #arrested
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is hit with 17 new charges in America under the Espionage Act for conspiring with Chelsea Manning to disclose national defense information - and now faces 170 YEARS in prison
• Assange was hit with 18 counts on Thursday by a grand jury in Virginia
• Seventeen are new and are violations of the Espionage Act which is ordinarily reserved for government officials 
• They indictment alleges he and Manning conspired to disseminate classified information in 2009 and 2010 
• They used her access to defense department computers to harvest the information and publish it  
• He has always argued he was right to publish it on WikiLeaks as a 'journalist' 
• It's the first time in history that anyone operating in a journalistic capacity has been charged under the Espionage Act 
• WikiLeaks on Twitter called Assange's prosecution 'the end of national security journalism and the First Amendment' 
• US authorities now have until June 11 to submit their extradition case to the UK
• Assange is in London, completing a 50 week jail term, for violating the conditions of his bail from a 2012 sex assault arrest in Sweden 
• He was arrested in April after being thrown out of the Ecuadorian embassy
• He spent seven years hiding there from both US and Swedish authorities 

ulian Assange has been charged in the US with 17 violations of the Espionage Act for conspiring with Chelsea Manning. 
A federal grand jury returned the indictment against him in Virginia on Thursday afternoon. Now, the 47-year-old WikiLeaks founder faces 170 years behind bars. 
Seventeen of the 18 charges are violations of the Espionage Act. 
They are; one count of conspiracy to receive national defense information, eight counts of obtaining national defense information, eight counts of disclosure of national defense information. 


The 18th charge is conspiracy to commit computer intrusion which he was hit with in April.  
It's the first time in history that anyone operating in a journalistic capacity has been charged under the Espionage Act and raises concerns about First Amendment limits and protections for publishing classified information.
WikiLeaks on Twitter called Assange's prosecution 'the end of national security journalism and the First Amendment'.
WikiLeaks on Twitter called Assange's prosecution 'the end of national security journalism and the First Amendment' 
THE CHARGES
x 1 conspiracy to receive national defense information - (Espionage Act)
x 8 obtaining national defense information - (Espionage Act)
x 8 disclosure of national defense information - (Espionage Act) 
x 1 conspiracy to commit computer intrusion 
Maximum sentence: 170 years
FIRST AMENDMENT 
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said in a tweet: 'I find no satisfaction in saying "I told you so" to those who for 9 years have scorned us for warning this moment would come.
'I care for journalism. If you share my feeling you take a stand NOW. Either you are a worthless coward or you defend Assange, WikiLeaks and Journalism.'
The US has until June 11 to submit its case to the UK for it to extradite Assange. 
Then, the process could take months or even years. Sweden is also appealing for him to return there to face sexual assault allegations. 
After announcing the charges on Thursday, John Demers, the head of the Justice Department's National Security Division, told reporters: 'Assange is no journalist'. 
Assange is in London, fighting extradition to the US, after being expelled from the Ecuadorian embassy. 
Assange fled to London, taking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy, in 2012. 
Together, US prosecutors say he revealed the names of intelligence sources in Afghanistan, China, Iran, Iraq and Syria among other breaches by uploading a haul of information to WikiLeaks that Manning had access to. 
In its announcement on Thursday, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said: 'In late 2009, Assange and WikiLeaks actively solicited United States classified information, including by publishing a list of "Most Wanted Leaks" that sought, among other things, classified documents.
'Manning responded to Assange's solicitations by using access granted to her as an intelligence analyst to search for United States classified documents, and provided to Assange and WikiLeaks databases containing approximately 90,000 Afghanistan war-related significant activity reports, 400,000 Iraq war-related significant activities reports, 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs, and 250,000 US Department of State cables'.