James Ricketson

AN OPEN LETTER TO PETER GRESTE

Dear Peter, 

Do you still stand by your assertion, made in a Sydney Morning Herald opinion piece last April, that Julian Assange  “is not a journalist, and WikiLeaks is not a news organisation”? 

Assange has been a member of MEAA for the past 10 years, was awarded a Walkley for the ‘Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism’ in 2011, amongst many other journalism awards. In November 2011 the UK Hight Court described Assange as “…a journalist, well known through his operation of Wikileaks” and the US Army’s Counterintelligence Centre described WikiLeaks as a ‘news organisation’ and Assange as a ‘writer’ and ‘journalist’.

Even if it is still your contention that Assange is not a journalist, do you believe, on the basis of evidence available to you, that Assange, an Australian citizen, should be extradited to the United States to face espionage charges?  

When I was imprisoned in Cambodia, also charged with espionage, you showed your compassion and used your influence as a journalist, who had likewise been charged with espionage and spent 400 days in an Egyptian prison, to alert the Australian public to my plight. You told Fran Kelly:

“You really can’t conceive of that length of time in prison until you actually have to confront it in all its stark reality… The Australian Government insists that it’s a defender of the basic democratic principles in the region, including the rule of law, due process, basic human rights. And if it wants to be taken seriously and with respect then it needs to forcefully stand by those values in cases like James’. I think the Government clearly needs to do more.”

You also said: 

“In Egypt’s case, Australia had very few levers that it could pull. It’s got far more levers…in Cambodia’s case – diplomatic levers, economic levers and so on.”

When I was found guilty of espionage you wrote on twitter:

“Australian film-maker James Ricketson sentenced to six years jail in Cambodia. Outrageous affront to due process, freedom of the press and the rule of law.”

Along with Phillip Adams, Elizabeth Farrelly, John Pilger, Piers Akerman and other journalists who wrote or broadcast in relation to my case, you played an important role in generating public support for me. This, in turn, placed pressure on the Australian government to use all the diplomatic tools available to it to extricate me from prison. The government did eventually step up to the plate and, behind the scenes, make significant diplomatic efforts to help me. Three weeks after I received a 6 year jail sentence I was on a plane back to Australia.

Do you believe that Citizen Julian Assange is any less deserving of intervention on the part of the Morrison government than I was?

Do you believe that the Australian government is doing enough to protect Citizen Julian Assange’s basic human rights?

Do you believe that, as an Australian citizen, he is deserving of a 175 year jail sentence for doing nothing more, on the basis of the evidence available to us all in July 2019, than what a good investigative journalist/publisher does all the time?

Julian Assange turns 48 today. He has been locked up in an Embassy for 7 years – five times longer than you were locked up in Egypt and I in Cambodia Cambodia. We have both experienced what you refer to as the ‘stark reality’ of incarceration. I would not wish the experience on anyone ,and particularly not on a fellow journalist.

Again, Peter, thank you for the journalistic help you provided me in my time of extreme need. Please do the same for Julian Assange –  as both an Australian citizen andas a journalist. Please join with the growing number of journalists worldwide who fear the ramifications, if Assange is extradited, for freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the health of democracies such as Australia’s, at a time when President Donald Trump has declared we journalists to be enemies of the people.

cheers

James