“In Defense of Julian Assange”: Why WikiLeaks Founder’s Case Threatens Press Freedom

Julian has been locked up in a top-security prison, Belmarsh, the liberal newspaper The Guardian has finally come out and defended him, using the fact that the charges have been dropped by the Swedes and said he should not be extradited, that it would be an outrage if he was. All he did was publish information which The Guardian published in its pages, The New York Times published, El País published, Repubblica published in Italy. So it would be a severe attack on civil liberties. So at long last, something is beginning to move on the mainstream front to defend Julian.

Now, basically, he should not be imprisoned at all. He was given a maximum sentence for not complying with the bail legalities. It’s very rare for anyone who has done that to serve a full sentence. Anyway, that sentence was served ages ago. So why is he still being kept in a maximum security prison? It is a vindictive punishment by the English judicial system on the authority of the government, which obviously wants this, to satisfy and appease the United States, and to punish Julian. They want him to be in this state that he is, has been described by the United Nations rapporteur a few minutes ago on this program. And they want to demoralize and destroy him. Otherwise, he showed even if he has to be imprisoned, which I don’t accept for a minute, he could be in an open prison where conditions are very different.

Watch the interview or read the transcript here.