Rashida Tlaib Is Right: The Attempt to Extradite Julian Assange Is a Huge Threat to Press Freedom
Rashida Tlaib is leading a group in Congress calling on Joe Biden to halt extradition proceedings against WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange. The prosecution of Assange should worry anyone who believes in freedom of the press.
Rashida Tlaib attends a House Financial Services Committee hearing on March 29, 2023. (Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
On Tuesday, a group of House members led by Michigan’s democratic socialist representative, Rashida Tlaib, put out a letter calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland to drop the Justice Department’s indictment of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange. Tlaib and her colleagues point out that the US effort to extradite a foreign journalist for publishing classified documents represents a serious threat to freedom of the press.
Anyone who cares about democracy should support their call to drop the charges.
The Core of the Issue
Many people who might otherwise care about press freedom are reluctant to defend Assange because of aspects of his politics or his history. Most seriously, in 2010, he was accused of sexual assault in Sweden. The charges were never proven, and the investigation was ultimately dropped, but I can understand why a question mark hangs over his head in the minds of many observers.
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