 After months of delays the extradition hearing for Julian Assange is finally taking place at the central criminal court in London and this is Really important. This is a big moment for journalism in the United States because if they actually agree to Extradite Julian Assange the US for prosecution This is going to set a really really dangerous precedent So this is something that everyone should be paying attention to it just started on Wednesday So, you know, we don't have all of the details about the case yet We do know according to the New York Times that you know, this was delayed a lot due to COVID-19 And also, you know, it was a digital hearing in a way I don't know if all of it was digital but parts of it were digital and it was riddled with errors and whatnot But in spite of that there are still people showing up. There are protesters outside Calling on them to not extradite Julian Assange to the US and what's really startling about this case is Last year Julian Assange was in such poor health that doctors actually warned that he could die in jail Now, I don't know if his health conditions have improved But this is There's a lot going on that's all I'll say and a lot of people just instinctively they have this like knee-jerk reaction whenever they hear Julian Assange because they think oh Russia 2016 What we're talking about here is the United States government trying to prosecute him under the espionage act for the Chelsea Manning leaks Now the Chelsea Manning leaks Exposed war crimes Julian Assange and WikiLeaks Published what Chelsea Manning exposed and that's why they want to prosecute him That's why they're trying to get him extradited to the United States Because they don't want journalists exposing the crimes of our government So if they do this then this sends a message to other publications Don't publish our war crimes. Otherwise, we're gonna come after you now Thankfully someone who has a lot of credibility and legitimacy when it comes to whistle-blowing Daniel Ellsberg is speaking out on behalf of Julian Assange and he penned the letter defending Julian Assange So as Brett Wilkins of Common Dreams reports Daniel Ellsberg who famously leaked the Pentagon papers Exposing US lies and crimes in Southeast Asia told a British court on Tuesday that the US government is seeking both revenge Against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and to crush future whistle-blowers with its extradition attempt Ellsberg's eight-page written statement to the London court considering a US request to extradite Assange Was an incisive statement of support for the 49 year old Australian who has been jailed in the UK since 2019 For avoiding a 2010 international arrest warrant from Sweden for alleged sex offenses Assange's imprisonment followed a nearly seven-year period of political asylum granted by Ecuador which agreed He could face political persecution if extradited to Sweden or the US spent entirely in the South American nation's London Embassy last year Nils Melzer the United Nations special rapporteur on Torture repeatedly called the cumulative effects of the US Britain and Sweden ganging up on Assange a form of Psychological torture the Trump administration last year formally requested Britain's extradition of Assange under the 1917 espionage act and the computer fraud and abuse act US authorities accused him of conspiring to hack government computers and illegally disclosing classified and sensitive national defense information Critics from both sides of the mainstream political aisle have called Assange's actions reckless at the height of WikiLeaks revelations some leading Republicans and Donald Trump called for his execution However, Ellsberg refuted claims that Assange acted in such a manner Asserting in the court statement that his approach was the exact opposite of reckless and that Assange would not willfully expose others to harm Ellsberg also noted that very frequently the claim for national security has been erected to obscure Illegality and deceit often on a major scale and argued that the closest similarities between his and Assange's cases include The manner in which the exposure of illegality and criminal acts Institutionally and by individuals was intended to be crushed by the administration carrying out those illegalities This Ellsberg argued is in part in revenge for revealing wrongdoing as well as an attempt to crush all such future exposure of the truth I have closely observed the actions of the US government its military and its intelligence agency the CIA and that the actions in Question were never intended to be revealed including rendition and torture the use of black sites and crimes against humanity wrote Ellsberg Among the most important documents shared by WikiLeaks were the Afghanistan and Iraq war logs which revealed war crimes including mass killing of civilians extrajudicial killing Torture corruption and other crimes and abuses committed by the US and coalition forces and the governments of Afghanistan and Iraq So this is a really important Statement that Daniel Ellsberg released and I'm really thankful that he did just that because someone like him has credibility Someone like him is needed his voice is crucial here because what he did wasn't easy What he did was very difficult and risky But now we can look back Having hindsight and see that Daniel Ellsberg was correct to release the Pentagon papers So you know for him to say this about Julian Assange and how maybe we need more foresight with regard to this case Maybe we're gonna make the same mistake and demonize him when in actuality what he did was noble in publishing those those leaks You know, it's important. It's needed and politicians on both sides of the aisle as the article pointed out or Ellsberg's letter pointed out They kind of seem to be in agreement like I went to a town hall With Jeff Merkley one of the most progressive senators in the United States and I asked him about this I asked him what he could do to stop Donald Trump from prosecuting Julian Assange under the espionage act because I was worried about the impact that this would have on Journalism and the First Amendment in this country and when I made that statement like when I asked him this question People were like audibly sighing when they heard me say Julian Assange because liberals are so like programmed To hate Julian Assange because they link him to WikiLeaks and link WikiLeaks to Russia more specifically that like it was it was heresy To bring up how this is important And there's a broader issue that could set a really dangerous precedent going forward and Jeff Merkley's response was dog shit Basically, he just said a little you know, I'll look into that. I basically got an answer, right? So even the progressives, they're not necessarily speaking up about this issue And that's really really frustrating because if nobody in power is speaking up Then people who aren't aware of this case taking place because they have a lot of other things going on I mean hurricanes wildfires COVID-19 like they're not going to pay attention so you have to draw attention to this So it's really important that lawmakers speak up because this could set a dangerous precedent like if he's extradited to the United States And he's prosecuted under the espionage act. I Mean imagine what the government will get away with This sends a message to everyone else and whenever some other whistleblower wants to come forward Exposing the government's war crimes a publication is not going to want to publish this Because they saw what the US government did to Julian Assange if they in fact Followed through with this if he gets extradited and they're just gonna think it's too risky So then we won't know what abuses of power our government is committing either At home or abroad So I really really hope that he's not extradited I hope that his health improves But we'll just have to really follow this case closely. It's super important So if you weren't aware of this taking place this week, and you know, I don't necessarily blame you since it's been delayed a lot Definitely pay attention to this because there is a lot at stake here