The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today again urged the U.S. Department of Justice to drop its efforts to extradite and prosecute Julian Assange for exposing war crimes committed by U.S. forces in Iraq.
That call by the Washington, D.C., based civil rights organization comes after a U.K. court ruled that Assange can appeal his extradition to the U.S. on espionage charges.
In a statement, CAIR Deputy Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“We again call on the Department of Justice to drop the prosecution of Julian Assange for helping to expose war crimes committed by our nation in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is the war criminals, not those who expose them, who should be prosecuted.”
He noted that CAIR previously call on the Biden administration to drop the charges against Assange.
BACKGROUNDER:
In 2010, WikiLeaks released government materials related to American military operations in the Middle East. The release included video showing American helicopter pilots in Iraq making jokes as they opened fire on a group of non-combatants that included civilians and journalists, as well as on Iraqis who came to their aid, killing numerous civilians and seriously wounding two children.
During the Obama Administration, the Justice Department did not pursue charges against Assange for his role in receiving and publishing the documents “on the grounds that what Assange and WikiLeaks did was too similar to journalistic activities protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”
According to Reuters, “Trump administration officials stepped up public criticism of Assange and WikiLeaks only weeks after taking office in January 2017 and subsequently filed a series of increasingly harsh criminal charges accusing Assange of participating in a hacking conspiracy.”
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La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com