That of creating Wikileaks in 2006 to allow as many people as possible to have free access to information about actions carried out in their names?
That of revealing war crimes by the American army in Iraq and Afghanistan?
That of endangering the United States of America by revealing its hidden crimes?
These are crimes only in the eyes of the American administration and their British allies.
Who are you Julian Assange?
To some you are a computer scientist and cyber activist, viewed by many as whistleblower. In reality you are an Australian journalist, with cards to prove it from your union and from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) that represents some 600,000 journalists.
You have been imprisoned for four years as a terrorist in a high security prison near London, without conviction or the ability to prove your innocence.
The British authorities are holding you in HMP Belmarsh so that they can deliver you to their American allies as quickly as possible.
You are a ‘man of the year’ turned pariah.
In 2010, thanks to a famous US Army defector Chelsea Manning, you revealed to the world, more than 150,000 classified US internal documents. The video you uncovered showing a US helicopter machine gunning civilians and journalists near Bagdad left a deep impression.
Le Monde is one of the five major Western newspapers - along with The New York Times, The Guardian, El Pais and Der Spiegel - that joined forces with WikiLeaks to publish material that you had unearthed.
Journalists and media around the world relayed this information.
Julian Assange, you were a hero then, hailed as ‘man of the year’ by readers of the Time website in 2010 and crowned ‘man of the year’ by Le Monde.
From hero to pariah!
Then the machine for discrediting, smearing and killing the ‘enemies’ of the American administration was set in motion – with some success. Even today people talk about you in ‘grey areas’. Serious investigations, however, have dismantled the mechanisms of this campaign to discredit you.
You have been demonised!
You have become an outcast!
Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture accuses the UK and US of colluding to publicly destroy the founder of WikiLeaks – and thereby deter others from reporting their crimes.
Melzer also describes your situation as that of a political prisoner subjected to torture and inhuman and degrading conditions of detention.
You are, moreover, a victim, according to him, of ‘non-compliance with basic legal procedures’.
Parliaments, politicians, writers, academics, major artists from around the world have risen to denounce your situation and demand your release.
Journalists, through their unions, federations and associations, have highlighted the risks to them of attacking their sources and investigative journalism.
Le Monde, and other international media, in an open letter in November 2022, under the title ‘Publishing is not a crime’, echoed the sentiment that journalism is not a crime and demanded your release. They noted that for years to come "journalists and historians continue to publish new revelations using the unique treasure of these documents”.
Those publications especially warned against using espionage charges against you, because: “This indictment sets a dangerous precedent and threatens to undermine the American First Amendment and the freedom of the press”.
Indeed, if an Australian journalist, having published in Europe, were to be brought before an American court, and held subject to US law, who, in this world, would then dare to publicly displease the US administration?
Julian, you must be released, rehabilitated, fulfilled with your rights and returned to your wife and two young children.
Dominique Pradalié
Journalist
President of the International Federation of Journalists