Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen arrested in DC protesting Julian Assange prosecution
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen was arrested in Washington, DC Thursday during a protest in support of Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange.
Cohen, of the popular Vermont-based ice cream brand, decried the US’s prosecution of Assange as an attack on freedom of the press outside the Department of Justice building along with the feminist activist group CODEPINK.
Cohen and CODEPINK co-founder Jodie Evans were both arrested for blocking the entrance to the DOJ building as they sat in front of the pathway for nearly an hour in the pouring rain, video shows.
At the start of the protest, the ice cream executive lit a “Freedom of the Press” sign on fire as he said: “Freedom of the press is going up in smoke.”
“There’s no democracy without freedom of the press because the press is the only thing that can hold government accountable,” Cohen said in his remarks. “And there’s no freedom of the press as long as Assange is being prosecuted.”
Assange, 52, is currently being held at Belmarsh Prison, a high-security facility in southeast London, as he awaits extradition to the United States where he is wanted for alleged violations of the Espionage Act.
“It’s outrageous. Julian Assange is nonviolent. He is presumed innocent. And yet somehow or other, he has been imprisoned in solitary confinement for four years. That is torture,” Cohen said at the protest. “He revealed the truth, and for that, he is suffering and we need to do whatever we can to help him.”
The WikiLeaks founder has been indicted on 18 criminal counts after the site published thousands of pages of classified documents related to the Iraq war and Guantanamo Bay between 2010 and 2011.
Assange faces up to 175 years in prison if convicted.
Many journalists have denounced the prosecution of Assange as an attack on the press.
Cohen — who is known for his activism and has made headlines before for his liberal views — went to DC seemingly expecting to be arrested.
“If you’re trying to [fight] an issue of injustice, you can scream and yell, you can write but the ultimate thing you can do is get arrested for it — to disobey the unjust law,” Cohen told a reporter as he sat in the pathway to the DOJ building entrance. “So that’s what I’m doing and I feel good about it.”
Cohen later said that he and Evans were released from police custody after being held for about three hours in a tweet.
“It’s time for @POTUS to follow thru with his promise — Journalism is NOT a crime. #Dropthecharges and #FreeAssange,” he added.
Earlier this week, Ben & Jerry’s posted a bold Independence Day message stating that the US was founded on stolen land that the country should return on its social media accounts — sparking a flurry of arguments in the comments between those who agreed with its message and those who called for boycotts.
