Director: Juan Passarelli
38 mins.
Journalists are under attack globally for doing their jobs.
Julian Assange is facing a 175 year sentence for publishing if extradited to the United States. The Trump administration has gone from denigrating journalists as 'enemies of the people' to now criminalizing common practices in journalism that have long served the public interest. WikiLeaks founder and Editor Julian Assange's extradition is being sought by the Trump administration for publishing US government documents which exposed war crimes and human rights abuses. He is being held in maximum security HMP Belmarsh in London and faces a 175 years sentence if extradited.
There is a war on journalism - Julian Assange is at the centre of that war. If this precedent is set then what happens to Assange can happen to any journalist.
“The Indictment of Julian Assange... is a threat to the press and the American People.” - Glenn Greenwald Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
"What Julian Assange is being targeted for is the same or similar as many journalists have done...it’s surprising to me that more people can’t see that this case has worrying implications for all journalists” - Alan Rusbridger former editor-in-chief of The Guardian
“Assange is charged with asking for information, with receiving information, and with publishing information. And I don’t mind saying that those are exactly the things that I do.” - Barton Gellman Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning journalist
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER:
Juan Passarelli is a journalist and film maker from Guatemala. He has worked for the BBC, Global Post, and AFP among others. His investigations have led him to many underreported corners of the world from the murky underworld of South Africa's sex trade to the bloody neighborhoods of El Salvador's street gangs.
Juan is Co. founder of Guerrilla Pictures and also works on his own news agency Features TV.
Follow him on Twitter - @jlpassarelli