Julian Assange: Is this the end of press freedom – and the rule of law?
JVL Introduction
Julian Assange’s treatment has been appalling and the impact on his health and mental well-being hard to imagine. What faces him, if his appeals fail, is extradition to the US, trial in a Court that, we understand, has never found anyone innocent of the charges he faces and then a 175 year (!) sentence in a maximum security prison.
It is important to remember the impact on this human being when reading this article that summarises the lack of due process that has marked the prosecution of Assange. As we must focus more and more on the attacks on free speech, we must continue to object to what us being done to Assange if there is ever to be any hope that the Press might hold the powerful to account.
(LL)
This article was originally published by Counterpunch on Fri 30 Jun 2023. Read the original here.
The Struggle Against Assange’s Extradition Continue
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Read *The Trial of Julian Assange: A Story of Persecution* by Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture – https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2907-the-trial-of-julian-assange – to get a complete background and analysis of the machinations of the states complicit in his imprisonment without charge.
I agree, it is clear and very moving. And even more powerful because he acknowledged that at the beginning he had sort of bought into the myth that Assange was a pretty horrible person.
A lot of the mainstream media that maliciously traduced Julian Assange, rather than doing the investigative work, like Nils Melzer, and informing the public of the truth in their papers and broadcasts, seem only recently to have woken up to the attack on press freedom that Assange’s prosecution represents.
“Journalism is not a crime” Joe Biden said at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner – what irony!
Julian Assange deserves all the support we can give him. Unless his extradition is prevented and he is released, there will be far more than the life of a decent publisher that will be lost.