Twelve years ago today, on November 28, 2010, our five editorial offices, in collaboration with Wikileaks, published a series of investigative stories that made headlines around the world.
The diplomatic cables, a collection of 251,000 classified messages from the US State Department, exposed corruption, diplomatic scandals and espionage affairs on an international scale.
In the words of The New York Times, the documents "show unvarnished how the US government makes its most important decisions, decisions that cost the country many lives and a lot of money."
And journalists and historians are still publishing new revelations based on this unique treasure trove of documents.
However, for Julian Assange, the publisher of WikiLeaks, these publications and other related leaks had serious consequences.
On April 12, 2019, Assange was arrested in London on a US arrest warrant.
He has been in a British high-security prison for around three and a half years, which is otherwise used to incarcerate terrorists or members of organized crime.
He faces extradition to the United States and a prison sentence of up to 175 years in an American high-security prison.
Read more in SPIEGEL issue 30/2010
Our editors, who were then working with WikiLeaks, decided in 2011 to publicly criticize Assange's behavior when the original documents, without journalistic editing, were made public.
And some of us have noted with concern the indictment's allegations that Assange helped break into a computer with access to a secret database.
But today we speak out together because we are deeply concerned that Julian Assange is still being prosecuted for obtaining and publishing classified material.
The government of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, which was in office during the 2010 Wikileaks leaks, had declined to impeach Assange because then mainstream media journalists should have been indicted as well.
Her appreciation of freedom of the press prevailed, even in a case where the consequences were painful.
However, this attitude changed under Donald Trump.
The US Department of Justice used the old anti-espionage law of 1917, once intended to convict spies during World War I.
It has never before been used to bring an editor or journalist to justice.
Read more in SPIEGEL issue 50/2010
The indictment of Assange sets a dangerous precedent and an assault on press freedom.
One of the core tasks of journalists in democratic countries is to criticize government mistakes.
Obtaining and publishing sensitive information when this is in the public interest is part of our daily work.
Anyone who criminalizes this work weakens public discourse and thus democracy.
Twelve years after the embassy cables, it is time for the US government to end its prosecution of Julian Assange for publishing classified documents.
Because journalism is not a crime.
The editors-in-chief and publishers of:
»New York Times«
»Guardian«
»Le Monde«
SPIEGEL
»El País«
