WikiLeaks founder Assange sues CIA, Pompeo in US
Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange are suing the US Central Intelligence Agency and former director Mike Pompeo in a suit filed in a New York district court on Monday, alleging the agency has hacked their conversations and copied data from their phones and computers.
The lawyers and two journalists who are joining the suit allege that the CIA has violated their US constitutional protections for confidential discussions with Assange, who is Australian.
The suit alleges that the CIA worked with a security firm contracted by the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where Assange was living, to spy on the founder of WikiLeaks, his lawyers, journalists and others he met.
Assange is accused of leaking US military and diplomatic files in 2010 related to Afghanistan and Iraq wars, which is charged with a violation of the US Espionage Act.
Robert Boyle, a New York attorney representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said that the alleged spying on Assange's attorneys means the WikiLeaks founder's right to a fair trial has now been tainted, and that there should be sanctions, even up to dismissal of those charges or withdrawal of an extradition request.
The suit was brought by attorneys Margaret Ratner Kunstler and Deborah Hrbek, and journalists Charles Glass and John Goetz.
They all visited Assange while he was living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London under political asylum since he was withdrawn.
The suit names the CIA, the former CIA director and former US secretary of state Pompeo, and the security firm Undercover Global.
The suit alleges that Undercover Global, which had a security contract with the embassy, swept information on their electronic devices, including communications with Assange, and provided it to the CIA.
The suit alleges that it placed microphones around the embassy and sent recordings, as well as footage from security cameras, to the CIA.
The attorneys claim that they have violated privacy protections for US citizens.
Assange is waiting for a decision on his appeal of the British extradition order to the US.
He faces a sentence of up to 175 years in prison, which could lead to a sentence of up to 175 years in prison.
The suit states that Undercover Global controlled security at the embassy, but each visitor had to leave their electronic devices with a guard before seeing Assange.
The information contained on the plaintiff's devices was copied and given to the CIA, it reads. The suit claims that defendant Pompeo was aware of and approved the copying of information contained on plaintiffs' mobile electronic devices and the surreptitious audio monitoring of their meetings with Assange.