Turning Point: The Coming Espionage Trial of Julian Assange and Its Potential Impact on Journalism

In 2010, Julian Assange was thrown into the spotlight after his Wikileaks website published classified materials obtained from soldier Chelsea Manning – including footage of a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad that killed at least 11 civilians. Indicted in the United States on 17 espionage charges that carry a maximum prison sentence of 175 years, he has emerged as a divisive figure. Once he came out of nearly seven years of hiding in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Assange was arrested and has now been cleared for extradition by the British authorities; but he has appealed that decision. Some say he is being unfairly punished for exposing war crimes, while others contend he damaged diplomacy and harmed U.S. national security.

How should the international community handle Assange? What are the global implications of prosecuting someone for unveiling uncomfortable truths? Is he criminally charged for doing what eminent correspondents around the world do every day?

Join us Tuesday, September 27, 2022 at 2:00 pm EDT / 7:00 pm BST for the next monthly program in the ongoing virtual series, Free Speech at the Crossroads: International Dialogues.

This event is co-sponsored by the Free Speech Project (Georgetown University) and the Future of the Humanities Project (Georgetown University and Blackfriars Hall and Campion Hall, Oxford).

Featured:

Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower, former RAND military analyst

Naomi Colvin, project director, Blueprint for Free Speech

Michael Scott (moderator), senior dean, Blackfriars Hall, Oxford.

Sanford J. Ungar (moderator), director, Free Speech Project, Georgetown University.

To register for this event, please click RSVP in the left hand column.