The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today welcomed a plea deal between WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the U.S. Justice Department that will free him from prison in the United Kingdom and allow him to return home to Australia.
In that deal, Assange will plead guilty to a felony charge in that will resolve a long-running legal battle over the publication classified documents exposing war crimes committed by U.S. forces in Iraq.
Earlier this year, CAIR repeated its request that the U.S. Department of Justice to drop its efforts to extradite and prosecute Julian Assange.
In a statement, CAIR Deputy Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“We welcome this long overdue agreement to set Julian Assange free. Mr. Assange should have never been threatened with prosecution for doing what any traditional journalist should have done: releasing information provided by Private Manning that exposed U.S. war crimes in Iraq and other nations during the so-called War on Terror. The soldiers caught on camera massacring innocent Iraqis should be dragged into court, not the whistleblowers, activists and journalists who exposed their crimes.”
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.”
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
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.
Become a Fan of CAIR on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational
Subscribe to CAIR’s Email List
https://action.cair.com/a/newsletters
Subscribe to CAIR’s Twitter Feed
http://twitter.com/cairnational
Subscribe to CAIR’s YouTube Channel
Follow CAIR on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/cair_national
Donate to CAIR
https://action.cair.com/a/donate
Do you like reading CAIR press releases and taking part in our action alerts? You can help contribute to CAIR’s work of defending civil rights and empowering American Muslims across the country by making a one-time contribution or becoming a monthly donor. Supporters like you make CAIR’s advocacy work possible and defeating Islamophobia an achievable goal. Click here to donate to CAIR.
You are receiving this email due to your interest selection from commercial media databases. If you would like to join CAIR’s media list, please sign up here: https://action.cair.com/a/newsletters — For more information, email: info@cair.com, CC ihooper@cair.com
END
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