On April 11, 2019, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was abducted from the Ecuadorian embassy, where he had sought asylum, and taken to a British high-security prison. British courts will now decide on an extradition request from the US, which accuses Assange of conspiring with Chelsea Manning to hack into Pentagon computers. If extradited, he could face further charges under the Espionage Act and the death penalty. And not because he committed any crimes, but because he exposed them—in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.
The outcome of Julian Assange’s trial will show whether things have truly come to this and whether freedom of the press and expression is truly at an end.
