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Less than a week ago, the whistleblower organization Wikileaks tweeted that their founder, Julian Assange, would be willing to extradite himself to the United States if President Barack Obama agreed to give clemency to former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning (formerly Bradley Manning).
If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case https://t.co/MZU30SlfGK
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 12, 2017
Many in the media at the time questioned the wholeheartedness of Wikileaks and Assange’s tweet, with many thinking of it as nothing more than a protest for Manning, with little potential for follow-through. However, in the hours following the Obama Administration’s announcement that they will indeed commute most of Manning’s 35 year prison sentence, Wikileaks put out a couple statements via Twitter on the situation.
The first messages, quoted from Assange, were “thank yous” to those who stood by Manning and campaigned for her release, as well as an applauding of the whistleblower’s “bravery.”
Assange: “Thank you to everyone who campaigned for Chelsea Manning’s clemency. Your courage & determination made the impossible possible.”
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 17, 2017
The next tweet seemed to address the outstanding question floating around the tweet promising extradition to the US. The comments, according to Wikileaks‘ official account, are attributed to Julian Assange’s lawyer, Melinda Taylor (@themtchair).
Assange lawyer @themtchair on Assange-Manning extradition ‘deal’: “Everything that he has said he’s standing by.”
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 18, 2017
It was quickly followed by a tweet which had a link to the defense fund for Assange, should he need one.
Does Julian Assange have a defense fund? Yes. You can find it here: https://t.co/7D5Y9ss28Z
— WikiLeaks Task Force (@WLTaskForce) January 18, 2017
Another similar tweet showed the organization’s confidence in their founder’s defense case.
Assange is confident of winning any fair trial in the US. Obama’s DoJ prevented public interest defense & fair jury. https://t.co/Mb6gXlz7QS
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 17, 2017
If the word of Taylor is good, it would appear that the guardian of the whistleblower organization will hold to his word and be extradited to the US, though some may wonder why Assange made no reference to his deal offered to the US in his address of the Manning clemency.
According to an article out of the Associated Press, who had a brief interview with Taylor, Assange’s legal team has yet to hear from the US or British authorities on whether the American government has requested Assange’s extradition to the United States.
Julian Assange has been holding refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in the United Kingdom for over four years, avoiding extradition to Sweden, where he has been accused of possible sex crimes. That accusation is one he has firmly denied multiple times. Interestingly however is the fact that it is not the sex crimes which hold him inside his small room at the Embassy, but rather the fear of Sweden turning him over to the US over his publishing of classified documents, including those given to his organization by Chelsea Manning.
“The Department of Justice should not pursue any charges against Mr. Assange based on his publication of truthful information and should close its criminal investigation of him immediately,” Pollack said according to the AP.
