In a joint letter, the newspapers said, “This indictment sets a dangerous precedent, and threatens to undermine America’s First Amendment and the freedom of the press.” The letter ends with the words “Publishing is not a crime.” Assange, who is jailed in Britain, faces up to 175 years in a U.S. prison on espionage and hacking charges for exposing U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.“The prosecution of Assange … would set a clear and devastating precedent in the United States that could be applied to any of these organizations’ journalists, going forward,” says Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.More from this InterviewTranscriptAMY GOODMAN: Finally, Carrie DeCell, we just have a minute, but I wanted to ask you about Julian Assange.The New York Times and four major European newspapers — The Guardian in Britain, Le Monde in France, Der Spiegel in Germany, El País in Spain — all have urged the Biden administration to drop all charges against the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange.In a joint letter, they said, “This indictment sets a dangerous precedent, and threatens to undermine America’s First Amendment and the freedom of the press.” The letter ends with the words “Publishing is not a crime.” For those who don’t know, Julian Assange faces 175 years in a U.S. prison on espionage and hacking charges for exposing U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, if he’s extradited from Britain."