Julian Assange will get away with it like Martin Luther once did, says Martin Rupps. Assange is the Luther of the digital age.
Major leaker Julian Assange is fighting his extradition to the USA in a court in London. He faces up to 175 years in prison there. I wonder why the man is still busy with changing dishes and why his fate affects people around the globe.
How Amnesty International looks at the Assange case is explained by the human rights organization’s deputy secretary general, Christian Mihr, in an interview with SWR Aktuell presenter Marie Gediehn:
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For me, Julian Assange is a modern Martin Luther. Luther in the digital age. Luther and Assange have shaken the existing order – the monk with his theses against the papacy, the journalist as a “traitor” of secret US documents about military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. One opposes ecclesiastical authority, the other political authority. Their motives are idealistic. With increasing aggression they are fighting for a better, more open society.
The opinion of Martin Rupps SWR
Julian Assange will stand before the London High Court on Tuesday and Wednesday, just as Martin Luther stood before Emperor Charles V at the Reichstag in Worms on April 17 and 18, 1521. Each one meets an intermediary, not the main enemy himself. The main enemies, the Pope and the US administration, are eagerly awaiting their extradition. This is by no means a foregone conclusion. Because Martin Luther and Julian Assange not only mobilized opponents, but also supporters. Political, legal and moral arguments are mixed up.
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As is well known, Martin Luther was spared death as a heretic at the stake. He has to go underground for a while in the Wartburg and then he is a free man. And Julian Assange? My guess is that he will remain in British custody but will ultimately get away. Like Martin Luther. Julian Assange’s “Wartburg” is somewhere in distant Australia.
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