Under then-director Mike Pompeo, the CIA allegedly violated the privacy rights of American journalists and lawyers, in violation of the constitution, said Richard Roth, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs. Data from their phones and computers are said to have been copied by a security company hired by Ecuador and passed on to the intelligence service.
The US justice wants to try the 51-year-old Assange for publishing military secret documents and espionage, for which he could be sentenced to 175 years in prison. The Australian could, among other things, be responsible for the deaths of informants from the American armed forces. Assange was holed up in the embassy of Ecuador in London for a long time. The British government agreed to his extradition to the US earlier this year. Assange has appealed to the Supreme Court in London to prevent that.
The CIA, which declined to comment on the lawsuit filed in New York, is not allowed by law to collect intelligence about US citizens. A fair trial in the US is no longer possible, according to lawyer Roth. He suggested that the extradition request should be withdrawn.