April Washington Memo
A key Congressman calls to target Palestine protesters with mass surveillance authorities, the UK inches closer to Assange extradition, and McCarthyite hysteria about TikTok rises.
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As the month of April is somehow already here, it is worth recounting what a tumultuous month March was for your right to know and freedom to act.
Just last week, we got unexpected news. With less than 24 hours notice, the UK High Court announced it had reached a decision on whether Julian Assange could appeal the US’s extradition request. I had been in London in February for the hearings, but the fast turn around caught me by surprise. And left me bracing for the worst.
The High Court did not reach the worst possible decision, that Assange could be extradited to the US. Instead, they granted Assange three narrow appeal grounds. The grounds stem from comments from US prosecutor Gordon Kromberg that the US may try to argue that as a foreign national, Assange has no First Amendment rights, as well as the lack of death penalty assurances. As a result, they ruled Assange could appeal on the grounds he would face prejudice as a foreign national, his free expression rights may be violated, and of the lack of death penalty assurances. Disturbingly, the Courts gave a road map to the US government to abort the appeal by providing assurances that Assange would not face prejudice on account of his nationality, that he can rely on the First Amendment, and that he would not face the death penalty.