5/26/2019 The Guardian view on Julian Assange: send him to Sweden | Editorial | Opinion | The Guardian

The Guardian view on Julian Assange: send him

to Sweden
Editorial
The founder of WikiLeaks faces charges of espionage in the US and rape in Sweden. He should
stand trial for rape
Fri 24 May 2019 17.50 BST

T
he US government has brought further charges against Julian Assange now that he is
prison in London. These charges, under the Espionage Act, cover his dealings with
Chelsea Manning in 2010 and 2011, when Ms Manning was still serving in the US
army. After she had sent him some files for her own reasons, Mr Assange, according
to the indictment, urged Ms Manning to get hold of and pass over further classified
documents, which WikiLeaks published almost unredacted. The Guardian disapproved of the
mass publication of unredacted documents at the time, and broke with Mr Assange over the
issue. But whether or not the documents should have been published, their publication should
not be punished by the American justice system, which could impose a cumulative sentence of
180 years on the latest charges.

Mr Assange is an unattractive character who has quarrelled with almost all his former
supporters. Few will be enthusiastic about defending him. Yet he must be defended against

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5/26/2019 The Guardian view on Julian Assange: send him to Sweden | Editorial | Opinion | The Guardian

this extradition request because the indictments against him threaten to damage freedom and
democracy in both Britain and the US.

From a US perspective, the Espionage Act is quite the wrong instrument to use against
journalists or even their sources. The Obama administration considered deploying it against
Mr Assange but decided against it on the grounds that it would bring to a point a dangerous
and perfectly avoidable conflict between the first amendment, which guarantees freedom of
the press, and the Espionage Act, passed in a fever of xenophobia in 1917.

From a British perspective, the extradition request raises another difficulty. It seems certain
that Mr Assange’s treatment in the American penal system would be more cruel than anything
he might encounter even in our shameful prisons.

Ms Manning, a much more sympathetic character, was held in solitary confinement for years
and is now once more imprisoned and threatened with ruinous fines for refusing to testify
before a grand jury. Ms Manning has started a hunger strike in protest against her treatment
and says she is prepared to continue it to death if necessary.

The case of Lauri Love, a British hacker charged with breaking into American systems,
provides a helpful precedent here: the judge there ruled that he should stand trial in Britain, in
part because of the risk of suicide in the US.

Then there is the rape charge that Mr Assange faced in Sweden and which led him to seek
refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in the first place. This is serious and deserves a proper trial,
which will never happen if he is sent to America.

Ultimately, the decision on his future will lie with the home secretary, who may well still be
Sajid Javid by the time it must be made. Mr Javid should defend the principle at stake and send
Mr Assange to Sweden at the end of his sentence here.

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Topics
Julian Assange
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5/26/2019 The Guardian view on Julian Assange: send him to Sweden | Editorial | Opinion | The Guardian

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