(I’m not a prosecutor) From the US perspective Assange is being charged with crimes that he willfully assisted and encouraged Manning by providing her with guid

(I’m not a prosecutor) From the US perspective Assange is being charged with crimes that he willfully assisted and encouraged Manning by providing her with guidance on how to cover her tracks, etc. — basically charges related to abetting of a criminal act. Publishing that information is then not an act of journalist but that of a criminal who illegally aided in the gathering that information and then recklessly and illegal published the names of classified personnel. So basically the charges seem to be pretty much predicated on the idea that Assange was a participant in the illegal obtaining of this information. From the indictment statement [1]: > The superseding indictment alleges that beginning in late 2009, Assange and WikiLeaks actively solicited United States classified information, including by publishing a list of “Most Wanted Leaks” that sought, among other things, classified documents. Manning responded to Assange’s solicitations by using access granted to her as an intelligence analyst to search for United States classified documents, and provided to Assange and WikiLeaks databases containing approximately 90,000 Afghanistan war-related significant activity reports, 400,000 Iraq war-related significant activities reports, 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs, and 250,000 U.S. Department of State cables. > The superseding indictment alleges that Manning and Assange engaged in real-time discussions regarding Manning’s transmission of classified records to Assange. The discussions also reflect that Assange actively encouraged Manning to provide more information and agreed to crack a password hash stored on U.S. Department of Defense computers connected to the Secret Internet Protocol Network (SIPRNet), a United States government network used for classified documents and communications. Assange is also charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for agreeing to crack that password hash. Additionally, the claim that he would not get a for trial in the US is utterly farcical. The claim that you would wind up with a rigged jury is provided without any evidence whatsoever. [1] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-charged-18-count-superseding-indictment https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/wikileaks-founder-julian-assa...