Australians abroad
Julian Assange
On Thursday April 11 2019 WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange was arrested by police in London. MEAA recorded his arrest in the 2019 press freedom report The public’s right to know.[i]
Assange is currently an inmate of the Belmarsh Prison in England for offences unrelated to his work with WikiLeaks. He is currently fighting against his extradition to the United States where he faces 18 charges under the US Espionage Act.
MEAA wrote to the British and Australian governments urging them to oppose his extradition to the United States. In the letter, MEAA restated that WikiLeaks has played a crucial role in enabling whistleblowers to expose wrongdoing and many media outlets have collaborated in that work.
MEAA’s letter, addressed to the UK High Commissioner Vicki Treadell, and copied to Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and the Opposition Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs Penny Wong, said: “We write to convey concerns about the possible extradition to the United States of Julian Assange, the publisher of WikiLeaks, and urge the UK and Australian governments to oppose extradition to that country.
“Mr Assange is an Australian citizen and has been a member of MEAA’s Media Section — the trade union and professional association of Australian media workers — since 2007.
“MEAA is concerned that Mr Assange is facing possible extradition to the United States regarding WikiLeaks’ publication of US government files nine years ago. We believe a prosecution of WikiLeaks’ personnel will have a chilling effect on the public’s right to know what governments do in the name of their citizens.
“It is a principle of a free press that the media have a duty to scrutinise the powerful and to hold them to account. The media report legitimate news stories that are in the public interest.
“WikiLeaks was established in a way to allow whistleblowers seeking to publicly expose wrongdoing to upload material anonymously and with no possibility of being traced. This is common practice among media organisations around the world — using technology that allows whistleblowers to submit material to a media outlet anonymously and confidentially.
“On April 5 2010 WikiLeaks revealed US military gunsight video showing US military helicopters killing two Reuters war correspondents, Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen, in Iraq on July 12 2007.
“The publication of US diplomatic cables in November-December 2010 was done with the full collaboration of numerous media outlets in several countries including The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in Australia, The Guardian in the United Kingdom, The New York Times in the US, El Pais in Spain, Le Monde in France and Der Spiegel in Germany. None of these media outlets have been cited in any US government legal actions as a result of the publishing they have done in collaboration with WikiLeaks.
“In 2011 the WikiLeaks organisation was awarded the Walkley Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism — in recognition of the impact WikiLeaks’ actions had on public interest journalism by assisting whistleblowers to tell their stories. The judges said WikiLeaks applied new technology to “penetrate the inner workings of government to reveal an avalanche of inconvenient truths in a global publishing coup”.
“Extradition of Mr Assange and prosecution by the United States would set a disturbing global precedent for the suppression of press freedom.
“We welcome the provision of Australian consular assistance. We urge that he be provided with medical assistance if required. The Australian and UK governments should publicly oppose the extradition of Mr Assange to the United States.”[ii]
On May 23 2019, Assange was indicted by the US Justice Department with 17 additional charges for his role in receiving and publishing classified defence documents both on the WikiLeaks website and in collaboration with major publishers that had included The New York Times, and The Guardian.
On June 4 2019, MEAA once again wrote to Foreign Minister Payne and UK High Commissioner, renewing its calls for the Australian and United Kingdom governments to oppose moves to extradite Assange to the United States to face trial on the 18 espionage charges.
MEAA said: The charges “contain a real threat to press freedom for journalists and media outlets around the world”.
The new charges, under the US Espionage Act, went far beyond the initial single charge made against Assange in April 2019 that accused him of conspiring with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in a conspiracy to crack a Defence Department computer password.
“If Assange, who is currently in jail in the United Kingdom, is extradited to the US and found guilty, he faces up to 170 years in jail.
“The US Department of Justice charges against Assange relating to the alleged violation of the Espionage Act contain a real threat to press freedom for journalists and media outlets around the world. Respected leaders of the journalism profession have condemned the US indictment:
· Alan Rusbridger, former editor of The Guardian says: ‘… the attempt to lock [Assange] up under the Espionage Act is a deeply troubling move that should serve as a wake-up call to all journalists.’
· The Washington Post’s executive editor Martin Baron, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, says: ‘The [Trump] administration has gone from denigrating journalists as ‘enemies of the people’ to now criminalising common practices in journalism that have long served the public interest.’
· Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect journalists, says: ‘Equating the publication of classified information with espionage also strengthens the hand of repressive governments who routinely jail journalists for publishing information they wish to keep secret.’
· The International Federation of Journalists, representing more than 600,000 media professionals in more than 140 countries, says: ‘… this indictment would criminalise journalistic inquiry by setting a dangerous precedent that can be abused to prosecute journalists for their role in revealing information in the public interest. By following this logic, anyone who publishes information that the US government deems to be classified could be prosecuted for espionage.’
“As we said in our previous letter, the extradition of Assange and prosecution by the United States for what are widely considered to be acts of journalism would set a disturbing global precedent for the suppression of press freedom.
“We urge you as Foreign Minister to use all resources available to convince the UK Government to oppose the extradition of Assange to the United States in relation to his role as publisher of WikiLeaks and to publicly call on the US Government to refrain from this attack on global press freedom.”[iii]
MEAA then pushed for support from the International Federation of Journalists. At the IFJ’s 30th World Congress in Tunis, its affiliated unions unanimously supported MEAA’s resolution urging the British and Australian governments to resist the extradition of Assange to the US. “Regarding the indictments filed by the US Government against Julian Assange, the resolution said the charges ‘pose a threat to journalists and journalism around the world’.”
The resolution went on to say: “The indictments clearly seek to prosecute Assange for the receipt and the publication of vital information in the public interest, clearly at odds with previous decisions of the US Supreme Court to protect First Amendment rights. The [IFJ] congress supports the call of our affiliates for the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia to resist the application to extradite Assange to the United States. The congress asks the IFJ Executive Committee: to take the case to the UN Human Rights Council [and] to call on the European Parliament and the Council of Europe to respect freedom of opinion.”[iv]
During a visit to Australia, London-based Australian human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, legal adviser to Julian Assange, sat down with MEAA to explain the implications for all journalists of the US government indictment against him, and why it is important for MEAA members to campaign against his extradition on press freedom grounds..
At that time Assange was an inmate of the Belmarsh Prison in England for unrelated offences, and the US government was expected to begin extradition proceedings in 2020.
Robinson has been a legal adviser to Assange and Wikileaks since the start of this decade. Robinson said the indictment of Assange “sets a terrifying precedent” by “criminalising common journalistic practices which have been used towards the public interest for decades in the United States”.
“Julian is an Australian citizen, a member of the MEAA, who faces prosecution and extradition to the United States for publishing… truthful information about the United States,” she said. “That is a terrifying precedent and will impact on not just the US media but on journalists and news organisations around the world.” Robinson says the extradition hearing may be drawn out for several years and Assange was grateful for any support for his case from MEAA and its members in the Australian media community.[v]
In December 2019, the editor in chief and spokesman for WikiLeaks, Kristinn Hrfansson, visited Australia to lobby journalists and politicians to support Julian Assange in his fight against extradition to the US on espionage charges. Hrfansson explained why all journalists should be concerned about the Assange case.
Hrafnsson, who has been in regular contact with Assange in Belmarsh Prison, says it is important that journalists realise the case sets precedents that go well beyond an individual.
Originally from Iceland, Hrfansson has been involved in WikiLeaks for a decade, and took over as editor-in-chief in 2018, the sixth year of Assange’s exile in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, which only ended with his arrest in April last year.
Hrfansson said journalists should be gravely concerned about the case against Assange, whatever their personal feelings about WikiLeaks . “Of the 18 indictments he is facing, 17 are based on the [US] Espionage Act,” Hrafnsson explained. “They are equating journalistic practices with espionage. This has not happened in the 101 years since this law was passed in the United States and it’s now being used with extraterritorial reach. [The indictments] give out the signal that no journalist anywhere in the world is safe if he or she is publishing information that is of displeasure to the ‘empire’.
“People can understand that this is a grave attack on their work; the foundation and the basis of their work. Everybody can put himself in those shoes and foresee that at some point if this escalates and if this goes forth, he or she as a journalist could face the same circumstances.
“I can feel that in this country people are seeing that this is something that has to be fought vigorously because if Julian Assange is extradited to face death in a US prison, he is not going to be the last journalist to face that fate.”
The Australian Federal Police raids in the middle of 2019 on the Canberra home of a News Corp journalist and the Sydney offices of the ABC contributed to a sense that journalism and press freedom is under siege, with striking parallels to the pursuit of Julian Assange.
Hrafnsson believes this has been a factor in the changing mood among Australian journalist towards supporting Assange. “It can’t be a coincidence that after Julian was dragged in this indecent manner out of the embassy you have seen more and more raids on journalists in America. You’ve seen threats against journalists in Latin America. There is basically universally an attack on truth going on.
“And you’ve seen the evidence of this country. It is part of the same picture. And it should unify journalists all around the world, not just behind Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, but behind the right to publish. He is at the moment standing on the edge of the cliff, but all journalists are being slowly pushed slower and slower in the same direction.
“He himself told me in Belmarsh when I visited that the message that he wanted out — and what to say to journalists — basically is ‘this is not about me. This is about you’. And that is the core of the matter. I hope that will… unify journalists all around the world in that campaign.”[vi]
On March 26 2020 a British judge in Westminster Magistrates Court denied Assange bail after his lawyers argued that his release from England’s Belmarsh Prison would mitigate his “high risk” of catching COVID-19.
A report from AAP published by The Sydney Morning Herald said: “District Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that Assange had absconded before and said that Belmarsh prison was following government guidelines to protect detainees with no confirmed virus cases there yet. She accepted that government advice may change rapidly but for the time being she denied strict bail for the 48-year-old.
“‘As matters stand today this global pandemic does not, of itself, yet provide grounds for Mr Assange’s release,’ Judge Baraitser ruled.
“‘In my view there are substantial grounds to believe that if [released] … today he would not return to face his extradition hearing. There are no conditions that allay this concern and this application is therefore refused.’
“Defence lawyer Edward Fitzgerald QC…said Assange has prior chest and tooth infections, and osteoporosis, placing him at a higher risk from the virus. The QC described prisons as ‘epidemiological pumps’ where diseases spread rapidly and said the defence team had recently been denied entry to Belmarsh because 100 prison staff were self-isolating. ‘If he continues to be detained in prison… there is a real risk that his health and his life will be seriously endangered in circumstances from which he cannot escape.’”[vii]
Yang Hengjun
On April 9 2019, MEAA wrote to the Chinese Ambassador to Australia about Dr Yang Hengjun, a MEAA journalist member in good standing. Yang, an Australian citizen and a respected author and online journalist and blogger was detained while on a visit to China as he was boarding an internal domestic flight from Guanzhou to Shanghai on January 19 2019.
He was reportedly interrogated for 12 hours before disappearing into state custody at an, as yet, undisclosed “residential” location. His wife was also detained; she has since been released but is unable to return home to Australia.
“We are concerned that he is being deprived of his human rights. For almost three months now, he has been denied access to his family. He is being detained without trial or access to legal counsel and is being denied access to Australian consular officials.
“We believe this assault on an Australian citizen’s human rights, his interrogation and secret detention, casts a shadow over the working relationship of Australian journalists in China and calls into question their being able to perform their journalistic duties in safety and without harassment or intimidation from authorities.
“MEAA protests the continued detention of our journalist colleague and we urge you to release Mr Yang so that he may return with his wife to Australia.”[viii]
On July 19 2019 MEAA again wrote to the Chinese Ambassador to protest that Yang could soon face up to three years’ imprisonment on national security charges that may relate to his work.
Until July 18, Yang had been held under “residential” surveillance at a prison facility in southern Beijing. That afternoon — the day before the deadline for determining whether he would be released, charged or have his detention extended — his wife was advised that he had been relocated to a different “criminal” detention centre in Beijing with the expectation that he will be formally charged with “endangering state security”. On two occasions his wife, Australian resident Yuan Xiaoliang, has been briefly detained and questioned.
At no time during the previous six months have Yang’s family or Australian consular officials been told what Yang is alleged to have done.
MEAA also wrote to the Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne who had said she was “deeply disappointed” Yang had been transferred to criminal detention. “If he is being detained for his political views, then he should be released.”[ix]
MEAA warned that Yang’s detention casts a long shadow over the working relationship of Australian journalists in China and calls into question their being able to perform their journalistic duties in safety and without harassment or intimidation from Chinese authorities.
The International Federation of Journalists, the global body representing 660,000 journalists from 187 trade unions in more than 140,000 countries, has said: “… Yang Hengjun’s ongoing detention without charge is a serious violation of human rights and the longer it continues will create pressure for the Chinese authorities and China’s image abroad.”
MEAA has urged the Chinese Government to release Yang so that he and his wife may return to Australia.
On July 20 China’s Foreign Ministry responded to MEAA: “The Australian national Yang Jun is suspected of criminal activities endangering China’s national security. The Beijing State Security Bureau has taken compulsory measures on him and investigated him according to law. The Chinese national security authority will handle the case in strict accordance with the law and fully protect his legal rights.
“China deplores the statement by the Australian foreign minister, urges the Australian side to stop interfering in the handling of the case by the Chinese side, and [to] stop making irresponsible remarks.”[x]
On March 25 2020 it reported that the Chinese Government was preparing to formally charge Yang over the still unclear espionage allegation. Up to that point, Yang has been detained without charge for more than 400 days, with little access, if any, to lawyers, consular assistance or his family.[xi]
Philip Wen
On February 20 2020, MEAA wrote to China’s Ambassador to Australia to express its concern at the revoking by China of three Wall Street Journal foreign correspondents’ press credentials.
One of the three was Australian journalist Philip Wen who has worked in the Australian media for several years during which time he was a member of MEAA Media.
MEAA’s letter has been copied to the Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne.
MEAA wrote: “[The journalists’ expulsion] is particularly worrying because none of journalists were involved in the news article to which China has taken exception. Indeed, it appears that China is attacking three respected journalists who were not involved in either the opinion article or the particular headline that has offended China.
“MEAA is concerned that not only is the withdrawal of three’s press credentials an excessive and unnecessary action but it is also an assault on press freedom — particularly at a time when the world is looking at China for strength and leadership.
“The expulsion of three foreign journalists also casts a shadow over the goodwill that is being extended to China right now — it strains relationships and chills the foreign media as they carry out their duties in difficult conditions and under immense workloads.
“We sincerely urge the Chinese Government to reconsider our colleague Philip Wen’s expulsion and to restore his press credentials as a gesture of good faith. We also urge the Government to find a more constructive and cooperative approach to express its concerns about the opinion article that has caused offence. Both these actions would reassure the foreign media as they carry out their reporting responsibilities at this crucial time.”
The International Federation of Journalists’ United States affiliate, NWU said: “Ordering three journalists to leave China, in the midst of a health crisis where the world is following every development, reflects the heightened tensions between the US and China. We request these press credentials be restored as limits on press freedom do not serve the needs of a world in search of answers to this immediate crisis.”
The IFJ said: “This move shows the efforts the Chinese authorities are prepared to take in a bid to stem negative coverage of the coronavirus both in China and globally. Despite there being no direct link from the piece in question to the journalists, China has now ejected three senior journalists with no due cause. The end result can only be seen as an excuse to shut down all WSJ coverage and send a very intimidating message to any other foreign journalists in China and their media companies. The IFJ calls on the Chinese government to acknowledge the apology and statements made by the WSJ and allow the journalists to remain in China to provide vital reporting not only on the coronavirus but the other important reporting that sheds light on all aspects of China to the rest of the world.”[xii]
[i] “The public’s right to know: The MEAA Report into the State of Press Freedom in Australia in 2019” MEAA, May 3 2019 https://pressfreedom.org.au/whistleblower-protection-45859d1fafa8
[ii] “MEAA opposes US extradition of Assange” MEAA letter to Britsh and Australian governments, MEAA https://www.meaa.org/news/meaa-opposes-extradition-of-assange/
[iii] “New Assange charges pose a threat to press freedom” MEAA June 4 2019 https://www.meaa.org/news/new-assange-charges-pose-a-threat-to-press-freedom/
[iv] “MEAA resolutions on Assange and AFP raids passed by IFJ Congress” MEAA, June 14 2019 https://www.meaa.org/news/meaa-resolutions-on-assange-and-afp-raids-passed-by-ifj-congress/
[v] “Assange case “sets terrifying precedent”, says lawyer” MEAA September 10 2019 https://www.meaa.org/news/jennifer-robinson/
[vi] “Assange case ‘an attack on truth’: WikiLeaks editor” MEAA February 24 2020 https://www.meaa.org/news/assange-case-an-attack-on-truth-wikileaks-editor/
[vii] “Wikileaks founder Julian Assange denied bail amid coronavirus fears” Marty Silk, The Sydney Morning Herald March 26 2020 https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-denied-bail-amid-coronavirus-fears-20200326-p54dyt.html
[viii] “MEAA letter to China’s Ambassador regarding the detention of Yang Hengjun” MEAA April 9 2019 https://www.meaa.org/download/meaa-letter-to-the-chinas-ambassador-regarding-the-detention-of-yang-hengjun/
[ix] “China hits back at ‘irresponsible’ Marise Payne over Yang Hengjun comments” Colin Brinsden and Katina Curtis, The New Daily, July 20 2019 https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2019/07/20/marise-payne-irresponsible-yang-china/
[x] “MEAA calls on China to release Australian journalist” MEAA July 20 2019 https://www.meaa.org/news/meaa-calls-on-china-to-release-australian-journalist/
[xi] “Chinese Government moves to formally charge Australian Yang Hengjun over espionage allegations” Echo Hui and Dylan Welch, ABC March 25 2019 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-24/china-moves-to-charge-australian-yang-hengjun-with-espionage/12086308
[xii] “MEAA concerned at China’s expulsion of foreign correspondents” MEAA February 20 2020 https://www.meaa.org/mediaroom/meaa-concerned-at-chinas-expulsion-of-foreign-correspondents/
