The world needs truth-tellers. They need Courage.

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The Courage Foundation is an international organization that supports those who risk life or liberty to make significant contributions to the historical record. We fundraise for the legal and public defense of specific individuals who fit these criteria and are subject to serious prosecution or persecution. We also campaign for the protection of truthtellers and the public’s right to know generally. Read more →

In solidarity with journalists in Palestine

Reporters covering the ongoing assault of Gaza and Lebanon are under unprecedented attack. The Israeli military has killed more journalists in Palestine than in any previous war. Press freedom groups are speaking out.

The Courage Foundation has helped organize a coalition of news outlets, press freedom groups, and more than 100 journalists to coauthor a letter to the U.S. State Department, condemning U.S. complicity in the Israeli killing of Palestinian journalists covering the ongoing assault in Gaza and Lebanon. The U.S. must immediately cease sending weapons to Israel in light of the country’s widespread killing of Palestinian reporters and refusing entry to foreign press, a clear attempt to shield their actions from public scrutiny.

Read more about the coalition and our letter to U.S. Sec. Antony Blinken →

Julian Assange is free!

Finally, after 5 years of abusive conditions in a maximum security prison, and after a dozen total years of arbitrary detention of one kind or another, WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange is finally free.

Courage has campaigned against the persecution and prosecution of Assange since our inception, from our liveblog monitoring developments leading up to his arrest in 2019 to organizing and leading Assange Defense, the U.S. campaign to spread awareness about the danger Julian’s prosecution posed to the First Amendment and to help secure his release. 

After 5 grueling years of activists campaigning around the world, lawyers fighting for his rights in various jurisdictions, and Assange’s own personal fortitude surviving brutal conditions in prison, he is finally free, back in his home Australia.

Read more about Julian’s freedom here, the campaign victory here, and the full support site here→ 

News

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  CIA wins the Dismissal of a Lawsuit Against Alleged Spying On Assange VisitorsFebruary 18, 2025
  A United States judge dismissed a lawsuit against the CIA and former CIA director Mike Pompeo for their alleged role in spying on American attorneys and journalists who visited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during his asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Judge John Koeltl of the Southern District of New York ruled that “the… Read more: CIA wins the Dismissal of a Lawsuit Against Alleged Spying On Assange Visitors
• Author and journalist Ali Abunimah arrested in SwitzarlandJanuary 27, 2025
  Palestinian-American author and journalist Ali Abunimah was arrested by Swiss police in Zurich on January 25, where he was to hold a speaking tour. Co-founder and executive director of The Electronic Intifada, an independent not-for-profit media organization, Abunimah was flying to Switzerland to deliver a lecture at an event organized by the Palestine Committee of… Read more: Author and journalist Ali Abunimah arrested in Switzarland
• Multnomah County drops charge against Alissa AzarJanuary 24, 2025
  Trespass charges against journalist Alissa Azar have been dropped by the Multnomah County District Attorney. As we wrote yesterday, the charges were an affront to the First Amendment and capped more than a year of harassment by Oregon authorities on Azar’s right to cover pro-Palestine protests in Portland.  Thanks to those who took action writing… Read more: Multnomah County drops charge against Alissa Azar
• Senate fails to pass PRESS ActDecember 10, 2024
  The Protect Reporters from Exploitive State Spying Act would protect journalists against government surveillance and the forced disclosure of their confidential sources
• VIDEO: Gabriel Shipton on MSNBC, says Biden should pardon Assange to protect press freedomDecember 10, 2024
  Assange’s brother speaks to Ayman about what a pardon would mean for Julian personally and for press freedom more broadly
• Trump’s re-election and the war on journalismNovember 8, 2024
  Donald Trump is poised to return to the White House, and press freedom groups are sounding the alarm about what his election means for the state of journalism. Courage joins these groups in standing up for truthtellers, for journalists’ right to publish, and for your right to know, regardless of which party is in power.

More news →