Opinion | Assange appeal denied permission by top UK court: Can the First Amendment save him if extradited to the US?
By J.B.Browne
On Wednesday, Stella Moris's wedding to WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange took place at Belmarsh prison in south-east London. No pictures of Julian Assange from the day are available as prison authorities deemed images of the groom a "security risk."
Nevertheless, Moris, who has two children with Assange, looked jubilant alongside a photo of Julian and fellow attendees — a rare moment of celebration for a family mired in the most extraordinary authoritarian political persecution.
Assange faces a 175-year sentence for publishing truthful documents about US war crimes. Will he ever walk free to be with his family at home?
Unlikely.
The US Empire has him exactly where they want him.
Tarred and feathered for revealing the dark secrets of US imperialism, Assange stands at the wider precipice of a rapidly expanding neo-censorship era whereby a US-led single power structure pushes for ultimate world control. Assange's plight embodies a new world order where voices questioning the traditional model — that of the state, law, and secret police — will disintegrate into permanent silence like some freaky pages from 1984.
Yet he may still have one last legal card left if he stands a chance at not being extradited to the United States, which appears to be his primary want (for obvious reasons). However, given that Assange was denied permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court on March 15, this avenue of legal exploration seems futile. We can now expect the UK High Court to approve the US war crimes whistleblower to face trial on soil Americana. Without a doubt, this will be his last chance at freedom within his lifetime. But, and it's a big but, his extradition to the US may prove more fruitful towards this end than if he fought his ongoing battles on soil Britannia.
Let's recap.
In January last year, district judge Vanessa Baraitser blocked Assange's extradition because his life might be at risk due to inhumane US prison system conditions. The US then appealed, and the High Court reversed its decision after Baraitser was satisfied with US "assurances" that Assange would not suffer the US prison system. But whatever these "assurances" meant, it's safe to conclude they may be written in invisible ink. Nevertheless, permission has been granted for the lower courts to start preparing Assange's extradition. The British judiciary has coalesced around him like a boa constrictor, leaving him no room to breathe. Any subsequent appeal based on the political nature of his case will be rejected with his fate to the US all but signed and sealed.
Ironically, the only real chance Assange stands to win his case — and freedom — is from within the belly of the United States' legal system. More specifically, the United States Constitution's First Amendment — the right to free speech.
"Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press," it declares.
However, in 1917, Congress did pass such a law, the Espionage Act mentioned above, enacted to curtail the freedom to speak out against World War I.
In his 1915 State of the Union address, President Woodrow Wilson addressed Congress that American citizens "born under other flags but welcomed under our generous naturalization laws" were pouring "the poison of disloyalty into the very arteries of our national life," which necessitated this new law "by which we may be purged of their corrupt distempers."
He continued, "such creatures of passion, disloyalty, and anarchy must be crushed out. They are not many, but they are infinitely malignant, and the hand of our power should close over them at once."
Equipped with the Espionage Act of 1917, the Wilson administration immediately targeted two political activists, Charles Schenck and Elizabeth Baer, who had been mailing anti-war flyers to men facing conscription.
Freedom.
The question for Assange now is not if, but when he finds himself on US soil, what will ultimately transpire?
According to Cornell Law School's open access Legal Information Institue on the First Amendment —
"The right to freedom of speech allows individuals to express themselves without government interference or regulation. The Supreme Court requires the government to provide substantial justification for the interference with the right of free speech where it attempts to regulate the content of the speech."
Because of the First Amendment, Assange's case under the Espionage Act could well play to his benefit. The United States is home to a powerful legal community that understands the fundamentals of First Amendment issues. Assange's best bet at this juncture would be to attain the best possible legal representation in the United States; he will face courts and judges who are bound by the US constitution instead of their British counterparts who are not; he will get access to the mighty Supreme Court, which was founded to protect the tenets of the constitution; and he may even get a jury trial which he never had in Britain.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Assange's chances of justice by winning are in the 0.01% range, but it's still better than absolute zero, which would be the case with a British judicial system beholden to US pressure interests.
Whatever the eventual outcome, this prosecution is disastrous for humanity. The concept of self-agency and the essential characteristics of critical thinking are being threatened at every possible level. Should Assange lose, freedom of speech, free media, and the ability to conduct independent investigations will be irrevocably lost, not just in Britain and the United States, but in the entire world.
As a symbol of truth against the most significant unipolar power the world has ever known, Julian Assange is already a martyr in the eyes of journalism challenging the status quo.
When America becomes his last chance saloon, will it save him if it can't even save itself?
As he would refer himself, J.B. Browne is a half "foreign devil" living with anxiety relieved by purchase. HK-born Writer/Musician/Tinkerer.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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