Green Party’s Jill Stein Praises WikiLeaks, Calls Julian Assange a Hero

Jill Stein’s campaign is on a roll. Last week, the Green Party presidential nominee made history when she and running mate Ajamu Baraka held a town hall on CNN. Just a day later, the duo sat down for a radio interview with Fox News’ Alan Colmes. Stein’s appearances on mainstream media come after months of criticism that the media was biased in its campaign coverage.

It seems that Stein is determined to continue to make headlines. In an exclusive op-ed published on The Hill on Tuesday, Stein outlines her reasons for supporting WikiLeaks and other whistleblowers who “bring us the truth.” She writes:

George Orwell said, “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” Thanks to WikiLeaks, we know that powerful institutions have been abusing their power and lying to the public. For example, redacted State Department communications published by WikiLeaks revealed that Secretary Clinton identified Saudi Arabia as a leading funding source for terrorist groups around the time she approved a whopping $29 billion arms deal with the Saudi dictatorship. …

WikiLeaks’ stunning revelations of how top Democratic National Committee officials conspired to sabotage Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, in collusion with the media, shattered the illusion of a fair electoral process and confirmed what millions Americans already knew in their gut: we live under a rigged political system.

What WikiLeaks actually does—to political parties, the military, and other powerful entities—is pull back the curtain of censorship, spin, and deception to show the public what’s really going on. Unlike pundits in the mainstream media, WikiLeaks doesn’t tell us what to think. They invite us to read the emails, watch the footage, and decide for ourselves.

Stein discusses whistleblower Chelsea Manning, outlining how her recent suicide attempt is a reflection of the type of treatment she has received by the U.S. government. Just like it did to Manning, “[t]he security state would like to make an example of [WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Julian] Assange,” Stein writes.

She then addresses a main criticism of the Green Party: If it supports feminism, how can it support Assange, who has been accused of rape? Stein responds:

While countless media reports highlight the allegations against Assange, most people have never heard that an official UN report has declared the case against Assange to be unfounded. Three investigations have been dropped without charges ever having been filed. And the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has stated that Assange has been unlawfully detained and should be released. In light of these facts, it appears the allegations against Assange were a false pretext used by those who want to give him the Chelsea Manning treatment—or worse.

As the Presidential candidate of a party that has maintained principled criticism of powerful political, military and corporate institutions, I’ve gotten a first-hand look at how the establishment attacks people who challenge the status quo. These attacks are intended to brand their targets as pariahs and stigmatize anyone who dares to challenge this narrative. The truth is a frequent casualty to political vendettas.

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention did state that Assange had been “subjected to different forms of deprivation of liberty.” But according to the BBC News website, “Swedish prosecutors dropped their investigation into an allegation of sexual molestation and an accusation of unlawful coercion against Mr Assange” in August 2015 “because they ran out of time to question him.” The BBC continues:

An additional alleged incident of sexual molestation will be “time barred”—that is, time will run out to question Mr Assange—on 18 August.

The Swedish statement also said an allegation of rape was due to expire on 17 August 2020, but that investigation would continue.

The United Nations News Centre wrote of Assange’s detention earlier this year:

Mr. Assange, detained first in prison then under house arrest, took refuge in Ecuador’s London embassy in 2012 after losing his appeal to the UK’s Supreme Court against extradition to Sweden, where a judicial investigation was initiated against him in connection with allegations of sexual misconduct. However, he was not formally charged.

The BBC explains that, under “Swedish law, charges cannot be laid without interviewing the suspect.” Assange reportedly granted Swedish investigators permission to interview him in Ecuador’s London embassy in 2015, but three of the charges expired before they could do so.

After briefly addressing this complicated legal trouble surrounding Assange, Stein calls out journalists for lambasting WikiLeaks when it’s doing what reporters are supposed to be doing: “reveal the unvarnished truth to the public” by “shining a light into the dark corners of power where corruption and wrongdoing fester.”

She ends the op-ed by praising WikiLeaks for mobilizing people “against corruption and wrongdoing at the highest levels.”

“[F]or that,” she writes, “Julian Assange is a hero in my book.”

Read the entire piece here.

—Posted by Emma Niles

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