Is the extradition of Julian Assange a threat to freedom of the press?

 

The investigative WikiLeaks journalist, Julian Assange, has spent the last 3 years incarcerated in Belmarsh Prison. For most of that time, Assange has been in solitary confinement. Assange has not been convicted or charged with any crime but he's challenging an attempt by the U.S. authorities, to extradite him to America, where he will be charged with espionage and put on trial.

Supporters of Assange say that he's an investigative journalist who published classified information, because it was in the public interest to do so. If he's convicted in the U.S. of spying, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

In the next few days, the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, will decide whether to approve the extradition of Julian Assange. In 2021, District Judge, Vanessa Baraitser, blocked the extradition over concerns about the mental health of Julian Assange and that he was at risk of committing suicide, if he was extradited to America. The U.S. authorities appealed against this judgement.

The journalist Peter Oborne, believes that extraditing Assange to the U.S. would be a gift to all secretive and oppressive regimes throughout the world. He also says that it would seriously impair investigate journalism and make journalist wary of publishing anything that might incur the wrath of the U.S. authorities, even if it was felt to be in the public interest.

Many people feel that Assange has been punished enough by spending years in prison and that it's now time to stop the extradition proceedings and the inhuman treatment and torture of Julian Assange.