Journalists and lawyers accuse the agency and a Spanish firm of violating constitutional rights during their visits to the WikiLeaks founder.
A group of US journalists and lawyers who visited Julian Assange has filed a lawsuit against the CIA and its former director, Michael Pompeo, for allegedly spying on their communications during their visits to the WikiLeaks founder. The lawsuit also targets the Spanish security company Undercover Global and its ex-CEO, David R Morales Guillen, for violating their constitutional rights.
Assange, who has been detained at London’s Belmarsh prison since 2019, is fighting extradition to the United States. He was arrested after being removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have repeatedly called for his release.
The legal action, filed in New York’s Southern District, accuses Pompeo of overseeing an illegal surveillance operation targeting Assange’s visitors within the Ecuadorian embassy. Richard A Roth, the plaintiffs’ lead counsel, explained that American citizens are protected from government surveillance by the US Constitution, even when activities occur abroad.
He emphasised that visitors, including lawyers, journalists, and medical professionals, carry confidential information on their devices and had a reasonable expectation of privacy while inside the embassy, which they believed was not compromised by US government agents.
Stella Moris Assange, Julian’s wife, expressed her distress over the treatment of her husband and the impact on their children. “Julian’s young boys miss their father deeply. The vicious attacks against him and the illegal actions taken against him are beyond anything I could have imagined.”
