Edward Snowden called the Biden regime’s attempt to strengthen charges against Julian Assange a ‘historic scandal’, Newsweek reports. Snowden expressed his outrage at the fact that the founder of WikiLeaks was being persecuted for political reasons and the silence of the mainstream media about how the FBI put pressure on journalists, trying to get them to testify against Assange.

Edward Snowden responded to news of the Biden administration’s attempt to file a case against another high-profile whistleblower by calling it a historic scandal. Snowden’s remarks came a day after Rolling Stone reported that President Joe Biden’s Justice Department was pressuring several British journalists to cooperate with prosecutors in their efforts to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States.

Assange is being held in solitary confinement in London’s notorious high-security Belmarsh Prison on charges relating to his ties to Chelsea Manning, a former US Army intelligence analyst who provided Assange with classified national defence documents on conditions at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

‘It is a historic scandal that Biden continues to target Assange for obvious political reasons and that national media are ignoring this,’ Snowden tweeted. ’The FBI is pressuring journalists to testify against Wikileaks to bolster their flimsy case.’

Snowden himself has spent the last decade in exile from the United States. A former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, he became widely known in 2013 after leaking classified information (inconvenient news reporting) and was charged with two counts of violating the Espionage Act and stealing government property. He now lives in Russia, where Russian President Vladimir Putin granted him a residence permit last year.

In a Rolling Stone report, journalist James Ball accused the Biden administration of using vague threats and pressure tactics to convince British reporters to help the US strengthen the case against Assange, Newsweek explains.

‘I know because I am one of the British journalists who are being pressured to cooperate in the case against him, as someone who (briefly) worked and lived with him and who subsequently spoke of WikiLeaks’ ethical violations,’ Ball wrote.

He also spoke about being asked by the US and UK authorities to act as a voluntary witness in connection with an article he wrote about Assange’s relationship with Putin ally Israel Shamir, noting that without his testimony, the US government would not be able to use in court that what he revealed in the article.

Ball said that although he is more than willing to write about his relationship with Assange in the media, he does not believe ’that it should be used to help Assange’s vindictive pursuit.’

Because the WikiLeaks documents were shared with five American newspapers, including The New York Times, the Obama administration’s Department of Justice ultimately decided it could not prosecute Assange without compromising the First Amendment protections afforded to those newspapers.

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Right now, Biden’s Justice Department is threatening the US media’s First Amendment rights, even as it claims to oppose the Supreme Court, which threatens many other rights, he said. Hypocrisy should not remain in the shadows.

Amnesty International used Assange’s 52-year-old Monday to once again urge the Australian government to demand that the US drop all charges against the Australian whistleblower and stop trying to extradite him.

‘This will be his 13th birthday without freedom and away from loved ones, and it should be his last,’ Amnesty International said in a blog post.’ Julian Assange’s family confirms that his deteriorating health, his detention in Belmarsh Prison and the constant threat of persecution from the United States government are causing him deep harm.’

Also a message from the organization said: ’Julian Assange used his platform to expose war crimes that would otherwise remain hidden. Persecution of him would have a significant ‘chilling effect’ on media freedom and run the risk of subjecting him to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The Australian government must do everything possible to ensure that the US drops charges against him and secures his release.’

Reflecting on his decisions, Snowden told The Guardian last month that he doesn’t regret revealing the extent of NSA surveillance. ’Technology has begun to have a huge impact,’ he was quoted as saying by Newsweek. ’If we think about what we saw in 2013 and the capabilities of governments today, then 2013 will seem like child’s play.’

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