Biden faces growing pressure to drop charges against Julian Assange

Biden faces a renewed push, domestically and internationally, to drop charges against Assange, who is languishing in a UK jail

Many of Julian Assange’s supporters believe his case has reached a turning point that could lead to his freedom.

The Biden administration has been saying all the right things lately about respecting a free and vigorous press, after four years of relentless media-bashing and legal assaults under Donald Trump.

The attorney general, Merrick Garland, has even put in place expanded protections for journalists this fall, saying that “a free and independent press is vital to the functioning of our democracy”.

But the biggest test of Biden’s commitment remains imprisoned in a jail cell in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been held since 2019 while facing prosecution in the United States under the Espionage Act, a century-old statute that has never been used before for publishing classified information.

Source and more info: theguardian 12/12/2022