PUBLISHING the truth and revealing war crimes, atrocities, murders, and crimes against women and children and rights advocates are part of the onerous and sometimes dangerous work of people in the media, such as writers, publishers, editors and photographers. Many journalists are courageous, with some paying the ultimate price for revealing the truth about corruption and serious wrongdoing by the police, military, politicians and businessmen. There is often retribution for those with the courage to expose evil.
It is reported that 45 journalists around the world were murdered in 2023 alone. The worst was in 2012 when 147 writers and journalists were killed. In 2022, four journalists were murdered in the Philippines. This brings to 140 the number of Filipino journalists killed between 2000 and 2022. Clearly, the Philippines is one of the most dangerous places to be a writer or journalist.
Retaliation for reporting the truth is not uncommon. This past week, the drawn-out confrontation between United States prosecutors and Julian Assange came to an end. The 52-year-old publisher and free-speech and human rights advocate founded WikiLeaks, an online "drop box" that welcomes any sensitive secret information, which is then published on the internet for all to read and republish if they dare.
The biggest challenge to Assange came when WikiLeaks became overloaded with videos and hundreds of US secret documents on the war in Iraq. In April 2010, he uploaded the classified information that the US intelligence community kept from the world. It showed the shocking video of a US helicopter swooping down and opening fire on civilians, killing 11, including two journalists. Then, that same helicopter attacked a van that came to help the wounded. That and other alleged war crimes sparked outrage in the media.
The US military intelligence agencies were understandably outraged that their military could commit such atrocities; the camera didn't lie. Assange was blamed for making it public. In July 2010, WikiLeaks published as many as 91,000 secret US military documents on the war in Afghanistan. Its exposure showed how weak the security around these state secrets was. So, US prosecutors and intelligence agencies made Assange their No. 1 target. Then WikiLeaks released another 400,000 secret US documents, specifically diplomatic cables and the history of the war in Iraq, including alleged war crimes. That sparked a renewed effort to extradite and convict him and to deter others from doing something similar.
While in the United Kingdom, Assange was indicted on 17 counts of espionage and one count of computer fraud by US prosecutors. They wanted him extradited to the US to stand trial and face life in prison or the death penalty under the Espionage Act of 1917. He and his many supporters fought the extradition request, claiming that the US could protect national security secrets but not hide evidence of war crimes and atrocities by its troops. The public had a right to know the truth about the crimes committed in their name, they said.
Under the Espionage Act, criticism of the US government's involvement in World War I was considered a possible crime. That, many claimed, was a restriction of free speech under the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Assange and his lawyers challenged that law. Were noncitizens, visitors, asylum seekers and migrants protected by the First Amendment? That is the unresolved legal question today. Are constitutional rights only for US citizens?
Barry Pollack, one of Assange's leading lawyers, said: "The prosecution of Julian Assange is unprecedented ... In the 100 years of the Espionage Act, it has never been used by the United States to pursue a publisher, a journalist like Mr. Assange. Mr. Assange revealed truthful, important and newsworthy information, including revealing that the United States had committed war crimes, and he has suffered tremendously." They would argue all the way to the Supreme Court that Assange was and is protected as a noncitizen by the First Amendment. If not, no journalist is safe from extradition and trial for criticizing the US actions.
Besides, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese — elected in 2022 — demanded that Assange be freed. After more than a year of negotiations, a plea bargain was made. Assange would admit guilt in a US court in Saipan to a single charge of espionage. There, District Judge Ramona Manglona handed down a sentence of five years and two months in prison, which Assange had already served in a UK prison, so he was free to go home to Australia after spending almost 14 years fighting for justice.
How precious is the right to free speech, to do our duty to speak the truth and expose evil, to fight for justice on all fronts and never to give up in the face of persecution?
I was sent to the Philippine immigration court by local officials to stand trial after I wrote an article published by Jose Burgos, a brave Filipino newsman, in We Forum in 1983. I exposed the secret child sexual abuse of Filipino children as young as 9 years old by US servicemen in Olongapo City. I was acquitted and declared innocent of damaging the reputation of the city.
Only one US officer was charged, but not in the Philippines, as US officials would not allow him to be extradited. He escaped Philippine jurisdiction. Amid the public clamor for justice, he was put on trial in Guam for committing multiple sex acts against a 9-year-old. He was found guilty and given a light sentence, jail time not included.
Exposing the truth and promoting justice, whatever the cost, is the challenge that must be faced by all. The greatest secrets that need to be told are the acts of sexual abuse of children. When revealed, only then will the truth set them free.
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