After six years confinement: WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange in great danger
By Mike Head
21 June 2018
WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange is still trapped inside Ecuador’s London embassy, cut off from all communication with the outside world, and in failing health, despite vigils and rallies held internationally this week to demand his freedom.
Demonstrations organised on Tuesday marked the sixth anniversary of him entering the embassy. There he remains an effective political prisoner, with the British government denying him even the right to seek medical treatment.
The Australian government of Malcolm Turnbull is still refusing to publicly intervene, with the full weight of its diplomatic powers and legal discretion, to demand that Britain unconditionally release Assange, an Australian citizen, from what was denounced by the UN as a “deprivation of liberty” and violation of his human rights.
Among workers, youth and principled journalists and intellectuals, there is a growing recognition that the defence of Assange and WikiLeaks is critical to the wider fight against Internet censorship and government attacks on free speech.
In large measure, this is a result of the campaign initiated by the WSWS and the Socialist Equality Parties.
A June 19 editorial in the Irish Examiner, an Irish national daily, said Assange had been “relentlessly targeted.” It noted that Hillary Clinton had contributed to this process, because “Assange highlighted the Clintons’ links with Saudi Arabia and the multimillion donations that kingdom made to their foundation, after she, as secretary of state, sanctioned an $80 billion Saudi arms deal.”
The editorial concluded: “Assange remains, despite illegal efforts to revoke it, an Australian citizen, but he has not enjoyed the support a person who has not been charged with anything, much less convicted of anything, might expect from a democracy.
Writing in Daily Review, an Australian news website that covers arts and entertainment, journalist Helen Razer explained: “Julian Assange is not a criminal. Julian Assange is a journalist. Julian Assange is an Australian who has been, in the judgement of the United Nations, arbitrarily detained for six years.”
Criticising journalists who have lined up against Assange, Razer concluded: “And if you’ve found a way to celebrate, excuse or explain this to yourself, perhaps you have what it takes to serve the delusions of Australian journalism.”
