Assange’s case is a testimony to the deepening crisis of Western liberal democracy, writes Nozomi Hiyase. What has been revealed is a widespread breakdown of systems of accountability and a dangerous trend toward authoritarianism.
Assange supporters march on Parliament, February 2020. (Joe Lauria)
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition hearing is set to start on Monday, Sept. 7 at the Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court of London, and could last three or four weeks.
Assange has been indicted on 17 charges of espionage and one charge of conspiring with a source to violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for his reporting on the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the torture at Guantanamo Bay.
These charges against Assange are a part of a war on journalism. This is the first time that the Espionage Act of 1917 has been used to prosecute a journalist, in this case an Australian citizen publishing material from outside of the U.S.
The attack on the First Amendment became naked during the February phase of the U.K. hearing of the U.S. request for Assange’s extradition. On the first day of what unfolded as a grotesque show trial, Assange was subjected to strip searches twice, handcuffed 11 times, and his legal material was confiscated by prison officers. In the courtroom he was held behind a glass pane in the presence of private security officers, away from his lawyers, contrary to the accepted international standard.
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