US Still Won't Comply With Spanish Investigation Into CIA-Backed Spying Operation That Targeted Assange

Image from the U.S. Justice Department and in the public domain

The following article was made possible by paid subscribers of The Dissenter. Become a subscriber with this special offer and support independent journalism on press freedom.

The United States government notified a Spanish criminal court that it still will not comply with requests from Spanish investigators, who are trying to uncover details about an espionage operation that targeted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

As the Spanish newspaper El País reported on July 29, Courtney E. Lee, a trial attorney in the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, claimed that providing information to Spain’s national high court would “interfere” with “ongoing U.S. litigation.” 

Assange was the target of an unprecedented political prosecution that was globally condemned as a threat to press freedom. The case ended in a plea deal in late June after U.S. prosecutors feared that Assange might win his appeal against extradition.

While prosecuting Assange, the CIA, former CIA director Mike Pompeo, Spanish security company U.C. Global, and U.C. Global director David Morales were sued by four Americans, who alleged that an espionage operation by U.C. Global had violated their privacy when the contents of their electronic devices were allegedly copied and shared with CIA agents. 

The four Americans who complained that their rights were violated, were Margaret Ratner Kunstler, a civil rights activist and human rights attorney; Deborah Hrbek, a media lawyer who represented Assange or WikiLeaks; journalist John Goetz, who worked for Der Spiegel when the German media organization first partnered with WikiLeaks; and journalist Charles Glass, who wrote articles on Assange for The Intercept.

Read the full article at The Dissenter