Assange extradited to the US: “Press freedom dies”

This is very bad

Sep 30, 2022

Color picture of Julian Assange from behind the window of a car. He is a white male, appearing to be somewhere in his 50s, wearing black clothes, has white hair and a white beard, and is holding up two fingers in a V sign. In the reflection of the window you can see the London street with buildings, streetlight, and street signs. — Screenshot

I could write a long article for you to outline many points about exactly why this is such a bad thing. Or I could just share this video that says many of the points I’m thinking about.

Video content warning: Mention of suicide, torture, imprisonment, ableist language

My heart goes out to Assange, his family, and all genuine investigative journalists worldwide who risk their lives and liberty to expose war crimes, imperialism, human rights violations, and more. Assange’s extradition is a direct attack on everything the press is supposed to stand for. It’s a direct attack on freedom of speech.

One point not talked about in the video is that, in this case, the US has said that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to Assange because he’s not a US citizen. That is utter nonsense in and of itself because a law for human rights applies to all humans, regardless of citizenship, and journalists have freedom of the press regardless of citizenship. Meanwhile, the very same US government also argues that they need to try Assange for espionage because he’s a traitor. This is utter nonsense because how can he be a traitor when he’s not a US citizen? He’s Australian, being extradited from the UK. He’s never lived or worked in the US.

This is what happens when you’re a liar. Your arguments don’t make sense, you contradict yourself, and it’s obvious to anyone with even partial reasoning ability that you’re lying through your teeth.

Assange is being extradited and tortured because he embarrassed the US government when he exposed their war crimes. He showed them up for what they really are; imperialists, tyrants, human rights violators. His torture and extradition is a direct threat by the US government to any journalists worldwide from being real journalists. The US government is effectively telling them: “Don’t tell the truth about what the US government is or we will get you no matter where you are.”

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