Thread by @StellaMoris1

Good article by @JoshuaNevett for @BBCWorld. What he's missing is Ellsberg's potential prosecution is as publisher, not as leaker, due to time factor. Publication is the new crime. The #Assange precedent, the first ever prosecution of a publisher under the Act, set that precedent

https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/1401690460402376717

In fact, the #Assange precedent means @joshuanevett is also prosecutable under the Espionage Act. Just like with the diplomatic cables, where @WikiLeaks was not first to publish, republication is a crime. US says WikiLeaks great global reach justifies prosecution. Like @bbcworld

And then we have the fact that @JoshuaNevett, I assume, is not a US citizen. So we have the original publisher, US citizen Ellsberg, who published classified info from USA, and the republisher, a foreign journalist publishing legally from the UK without breaking UK law. (contd)

According to US gov's arguments in the #Assange extradition, because Assange is not a US citizen, he has no #FirstAmendment rights. So while Ellsberg can invoke the #FirstAmendment, probably unsuccessfully, @JoshuaNesbett wouldn't even be able to do that, as a foreign journalist

It's the exact mirror of the #Cablegate charges for publication. The first to publish the entire cables was US publisher John Young via US based @cryptomeorg, per his affidavit. Pirate Bay and countless others followed before @wikileaks. The chronology is accepted by US in court.

The craziest thing of all, is that the UK Magistrates Court has ruled that this is perfectly permissable in law. The US can extradite journalists from the UK for violating the incredibly broadly worded US Espionage Act for doing their job, and face a life sentence in US solitary.

#Assange's extradition is a threat to @joshuanevett and to every journalist working in UK. It's against Julian in name. The effect is criminalising journalism. @BBCnews and other media heavyweights have a duty to their own staff and press freedom to report #Assangecase properly