Julian Assange's Lawyers Fear U.S. Spy Charges

WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange is currently in jail in England awaiting further extradition hearings related to sexual assault charges in Sweden. He may also soon face spying charges in the U.S.

/ Lennart Preiss

As WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange sits in a British jail awaiting further extradition hearings related to charges in Sweden of sexual assault, his lawyers claim they are also preparing for an indictment in U.S. courts.

"Our position of course is that we don't believe it applies to Mr. Assange and that in any event he's entitled to First Amendment protection as publisher of Wikileaks and any prosecution under the Espionage Act would in my view be unconstitutional and puts at risk all media organizations in the U.S.," Assange's attorney Jennifer Robinson told ABC News.

Although Robinson told ABC News she believed a U.S. indictment of Assange was imminent, the Department of Justice has denied they are planning on prosecuting Assange soon. A Justice Department official told NBC News on Friday that legal action against Assange "is not imminent." The U.S. government is moving slowly because it wants to make sure the prosecution is on solid ground, officials said.

Speaking to CBS News on Thursday, one of Assange's other lawyers, Mark Stephens, said they are concerned about the close working relationship between U.S. and Swedish officials.

Stephens said: "Sweden and the United States have worked hand-in-glove for a number of years. There are also today (reports) in the national newspapers here in London that there are...secret talks going on as we speak, described as preliminary talks, between the United States officials and Sweden officials about handing Julian Assange over to the United States as soon as he gets to Sweden."

Assange had been transferred on Thursday to the segregation unit of Wandsworth prison where the authorities are planning to give him limited access to the internet, reports the Guardian.

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Assange is thought to have asked to be housed away from other prisoners, who had shown a high degree of interest in him after he arrived, the Guardian reports. A source said other inmates had been supportive of Assange.

Assange's legal team will attempt to secure bail for him from Westminster magistrates next Tuesday, the Guardian reports.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters earlier this week the Justice Department was "looking into" charges against WikiLeaks and Assange. He has provided no further public comment since then.

[lastdayf]

if freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to slaughter....GEORGE WASHINGTON.....

[samXXkiley]

coucou,
les USA, ont la plus grande part de responsabilit? concernant la publication de ces documents.
c'est une ?vidence, que les USA feignent d'ignorer.
ou encore d'avouer qu'? l'origine cette affaire est une trahison.
focaliser sur assange ne servira qu'a aggraver la situation,
l'apaisement est la meilleure des solutions.
*************************************************
the U.S. have the largest share of responsibility for the publication of these documents.
it is obvious that the U.S. pretend to ignore.
or to admit that initially this case is a betrayal.
focus on Assange will only aggravate the situation,
appeasement is the best solution au revoir

[wyodutch]

"Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell."
- United States Supreme Court in deciding that publican of the "Pentagon Papers" was the duty of a free press.

[wyodutch]

Which has resulted in the most deaths? Lying us into war, or the release of the WikiLeaks papers?

Why is Assange the target when it's the Government who couldn't protect its own information. And anyway, why the hell are we paying so much for intelligence gathering if this gossip and childish crap is what we are gathering?

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/watch-ron-paul-on-the-floor-of-the-house-lambasting-wikileaks-2010-12#ixzz17jNeWwNT- Ron Paul

[tsigili]

He would appear to guilty, of exactly that, in view of his lack of discretion, in what he published.