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The extradition of Julian Assange is taking an extremely long time. Even if he made mistakes: torture through attrition is not worthy of a democracy.
Julian Assange has been in prison for almost five years. Under extreme conditions, alone for many hours a day, and above all: without judgment. Assange is in poor health and suffers from depression. For humanitarian reasons, the US authorities should drop the charges. It is enough.
Instead, we are witnessing how the extradition of Julian Assange is once again delayed and drawn out, and the legal process is turning into a farce. The impression comes to mind: There is no need for a trial – it is enough for the extradition to drag on for an agonizingly long time to show every potential whistleblower: the long arm of the US authorities will get hold of you at some point if you pass on secret information.
That is fatal. The documents, which were published on the Wikileaks internet platform in 2010 and 2011, apparently prove that US forces committed war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. That shouldn’t be the case, a legal investigation would be so important.
Assange also made mistakes
But the Wikileaks case – or Assange – is complicated. Assange also made mistakes: When hundreds of thousands of documents were published on the Internet platform, the names of numerous informants were also openly visible to the US military. Assange was accused of betraying state secrets and endangering people who had not even committed war crimes. This accusation is justified.
The US authorities therefore argue that Assange is not a journalist at all and that the media would have acted differently in this situation and would have blacked out the names. It follows that, from the USA’s perspective, Assange should not be protected like a media representative. Excluding him from freedom of the press because of this is wrong.
Journalism has changed
What the US authorities are neglecting is that journalism is changing. Editorial departments are increasingly confronted with huge data packets. Many people have to help with the evaluation, sometimes also technology. That can’t be a justification for publishing names unredacted, but it can be an explanation. It is still extremely important to protect informants and innocent people. That’s what many editorial teams learned from the Assange case.
What we are now seeing, that the extradition is taking an extremely long time, that Assange is still threatened with a trial in the USA and that he has to go through all of this – despite his illness – is torture through attrition. And not worthy of a democracy. Release Julian Assange.
Christoph Prössl, ARD London, tagesschau, March 26, 2024 5:08 p.m
Editorial note
Comments generally reflect the opinion of the respective author and not that of the editorial team.