https://www.lawinsider.

in/columns/julian-assange-law-and-
democracy
 Julian Assange, Law and Democracy
By Barkha Singh

Introduction
Julian Assange extradition has become a cause celebre for free speech and freedom of press.
But why? Who is Julian Assange? And why should the world be concerned about Assange?
This article delves into WikiLeaks, the extradition proceedings and legal ramifications of the
charges imposed on Assange. It is an attempt to bring out the fallacies of the present
international legal systems in vogue and how they are being exploited by a conglomerate of
oppressive political systems. The possible conviction of Julian Assange will set a dangerous
precedent for free speech and democracy.
Julian Assange, the man with a vision of free society, the social crusader who exposed war
crimes, the civilian massacres, the tyranny of bureaucratic criminals and the rampant corruption
worldwide. He exposed covert intelligence operations, assassination of world leaders,
destruction of entire economies of the world and his revelations almost shook the entire world!
He, who fought for us, for our freedom to know, so that we are not treated like pawns in the
game of power politics. Imagine! What we have come to! the man should have been crowned
the prince of the free world, today he is on the verge of being sentenced to 175 years in prison,
by none other, than the world’s oldest “claimed democracy” the United States of America.

Why should the World be Concerned?

What happens to Julian Assange concerns all humanity! Free media is the foundation brick of
a civilization, for it gives wings to every perception and ideology, ensures justice, equality,
liberty and most importantly, as absolute power corrupts absolutely, it prevents the dominance
of bureaucracy. Envisage a future, where only a few power-hungry mongrels, using force and
abomination as their weapons of subjugation would be dominating the so-called democratic
society of the world! Frankly speaking, one can already feel the blood of humanity being
sacrificed to the altar of power, corruption and malversation today! Otherwise, Julian would
have been a free man!
This is the saga of Julian Assange, the man who single handedly dared to fight the oppressive
and draconian system of lies used to manipulate truth. December 10, 2021 the black day in the
history of democracy, when Britain’s Court of Appeal passed the big adios, Assange, to be
extradited to US, obviously to be ruthlessly eliminated!
The U.K court was hearing U.S.A. appeal, concerning an earlier decision by a lower court that
denied Assange’s extradition, citing his poor mental health. His legal team and doctors had
argued that he might be driven to suicide by American Jail conditions. Assange has been
incarcerated in Belmarsh maximum security prison in London since April 2019 and like Nelson
Mandela, he has been suffering in confinement of some form or the other since the past 11
years.
U.S.A. called by some of the liberal thinkers, as the greatest rogue nation of the world, the
government that declares itself as the ‘beacon of democracy’, an advocate of freedom of
speech, has ironically indicted Assange for exercising his right to free speech and responsibility
as a journalist, on 18 charges relating to Wikileaks and release of 5,00,000 secret files. These
files have shown the true colors of so called the country of free will and speech! they exposed
its intelligence organization C.I.A.’s covert operations and war crimes and crimes against
humanity in conflict areas like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Wikileaks?
Julian Paul Assange an Australian journalist, publisher and activist founded Wikileaks in 2006.
This saint in human form has risked his life on several occasions by using his computing skills
to prosecute individuals responsible for publishing child pornography. He has been
instrumental in starting one of the first public internet service in Australia.
Under Julian Assange, Wikileaks which is a crowdsourced platform dealing with exposing
classified documents revealed information that shook countries around the world. From 2007
to 2010 Wikileaks published confidential government documents, internet censorship lists and
classified media from anonymous sources. These publications disclosed controversial tactics
used against detainees by U.S.A. at Guantanamo Bay camp, proofs of American involvement
in Iraq war and drone strikes in Yemen. The leaks spanned across continents, from corruption
across Arab world to Tibetan unrest fueled by China. It also revealed US involvement in Natanz
nuclear facility accident that was allegedly a result of cyber-attack carried out by Stuxnet
computer worm.
Wikileaks received came on radar of the U.S.A. government after it received international
recognition in 2010 for its publication of a series of leaks provided by rogue U.S.A. Army
intelligence analyst Chelesa Manning. Wikileaks released Iraq War logs and the collateral
murder video which turned out to be a testament to human rights abused caused due to Iraqi-
western coalitions. Subsequently it also released Afghanistan war logs and published a quarter
of a million U.S.A. diplomatic cables known as ‘cablegate files’. The ‘cablegate files’ showed
United States espionage against U.N. and other world leaders, corruptions across countries.
These leaks showed how United States and its allies had orchestrated world events like the
Arab spring.
Between 2012 and 2016 it released Syrian files which showed the nexus between politicians
and companies and Saudi Arabian government documents that brought corruption into
limelight. It also released Yemen Files which showed United States involvement in providing
weapons and ammunition in war and deep involvement in the conduct of the war itself.
In 2017, Wikileaks released “Vault-7” the largest leak of C.I.A. documents in history. The
leaks exposed C.I.A.’s hacking capabilities from smartphones to other internet-connected
devices. Subsequently it also released “Spy Files Russia” how a Russian company called Peter-
Service helped Russia operate a national system online surveillance.

Supporters of Assange?
After Wikileaks leaked Manning files, U.S.A. authorities began a covert investigation to
prosecute Julian Assange under Espionage Act of 1917. In November 2010, leaked documents
revealed the investigation being undertaken by federal grand jury in Virginia. It was argued by
free speech advocates and organizations around the world that indictment of Assange for
publishing classified documents would be unreasonable and not possible because then the
Justice Department of U.S.A. would also have to prosecute the news organizations and writers
who published classified material. Snowden documents published in 2014 showed that
Assange was on U.S.A. government’s “manhunting timeline” of 2010 and that the U.SA. had
also urged its allies to open criminal investigations into Assange.
A country known for its ties with U.S.A., was the first to back stab Assange. With a conspiracy
to arrest him and hand him over to USA and to demeane his character, Assange was falsely
implicated (no evidence could be proved subsequently) on sexual assault charges by Sweden.
On account of the same charges, Sweden issued international arrest warrant in November 2010.
He surrendered in December 2010 to British police and attended his first extradition hearing.
The supreme court of U.K. had ruled in favor of extradition of Assange to Sweden but by the
time the legal ramifications could be set in place, the state of limitations had expired on all
three of the less serious allegations. In Nov 2019 the case was closed due to weakened evidence
over prolonged duration of time.
Assange is an Australian citizen but the Australian attorney-general Nicola Roxon had refused
to seek any kind of involvement in any international exchanges about Assange’s future. A
country for which Assange had gone beyond the call of his duty as a citizen, under the pressure
of U.S.A., abandoned him

Is Ecuador with Assange?

Assange applied for political asylum in Ecuadorian embassy in London because of the possible
extradition to Sweden which would have ultimately led to extradition to United States. United
Kingdom refused to recognize the principle of diplomatic asylum. Subsequently Assange
breached his bail conditions when he did not appear in court and faced arrest if he left. Citing
Vienna conventions, Ecuador argued that U.K. government cannot enter the embassy and arrest
Assange. From 2012 to 2015, several overt and covert tactics were used to make him leave the
embassy and arrest him by police.
In August 2012 under the leadership of leftist President Rafael Correa, Ecuador granted
political asylum to Assange because of the threat represented by US secret investigation against
him.
In 2018, Ecuador blocked Assange’s internet connection after his leaks put the country’s
relations with European nations at risk. Subsequently Assange raised the issue with the
Ecuadorian government for violating his fundamental rights and freedoms by threatening to
remove his protection and cut off access to the outside world. In 2019, it was revealed that a
Spanish organization UC Global was helping Ecuador and C.I.A. operate extensive
surveillance against him from within the embassy. Subsequently, Ecuador revoked Assange’s
asylum, it is interesting to note here, that exactly a month back Ecuador had been sanctioned
loans by IMF and World Bank.

Legal Ramifications of Extradition

International extradition is a legal process by which one country (the requesting country) may
seek from another country (the requested country) the surrender of a person who is wanted for
prosecution, or to serve a sentence following conviction, for a criminal offense. Extradition is
governed by treaties that is legal agreements between nations and subject to specific laws
within each country. The concerned treaties and local laws set out the circumstances and rules
for extradition.
The treaty that operates between the two nations is the U.K.-US Extradition Treaty of 2003
which is also often claimed to be lopsided. The most common objection to the 2003 Treaty is
that U.K. is required to meet a higher evidential threshold than the U.S.A. before extradition
will be ordered.

Recent Developments
In April 2019, after Wikileaks reported a corruption investigation against then Ecuador
President Moreno, Assange’s asylum was revoked. Thereupon, U.K. metropolitan police
arrested Assange on the basis of a U.S.A. extradition warrant. He was charged with breaching
Bail conditions and found guilty. Assange was remanded to Belmarsh Prison in May 2019 and
was sentenced to 50 weeks of imprisonment. Many press freedom organizations and the United
Nations working group on Arbitrary Detention argued that the verdict contravened “principles
of necessity and proportionality” for what was a minor violation.
In May 2019 Assange was indicted on 18 charges under the Espionage act of 1917 and
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. It needs to be noted that in June 2021, Sigurdur Ingi
Thordarson , the witness in Assange’s case , known by the name “ teenager”, admitted to
fabricating allegations used in the US indictment , in return for FBI cooperation.
In October 2019, Assange appeared before the lower court, when Judge Baraitser ruled that
Assange could not be extradited to U.S.A. on the grounds of his disturbed mental health and
the risk of suicide in a US prison. Although it needs to be highlighted that she sided with the
U.S.A. on every other point on commission of offences and rights.
In July 2021, Biden administration assured the Crown Prosecution Services that Assange will
not be subjected to Special Administrative measures or imprisoned at ADX Florence, unless
any of his subsequent actions merit it. The United States also assured that it "will consent to
Assange being transferred to Australia to serve any custodial sentence imposed on him. On
December 10, 2021 the High Court in U.K. ruled in favor of extraditing Assange to United
States on the basis of the above assurances by the U.S.A. government.
U.S.A. won its appeal to extradite Assange due to "four assurances" sent in a Diplomatic Note
These assurances were that Assange would not be made the subject of "special administrative
measures “nor would he be held at a maximum-security prison before or after trial. It has also
been assured that, the U.S.A. would "consent" to an application by Assange to be transferred
to Australia to serve his sentence, if convicted. And while in custody in the U.S.A., Assange
would receive "appropriate clinical and psychological treatment."
The High Court of UK has directed a lower court judge to send the extradition request to the
home secretary for review. The Indian-origin home secretary Priti Patel, who oversees law
enforcement in the U.K., will make the final decision on whether to extradite Assange.
Assange's lawyers said in a statement that they would appeal the decision based on the
assurances at the U.K.'s Supreme Court.

Orwellian Rule and Freedom of Press

“The only security of all is in a free press”
- Thomas Jefferson
In an Orwellian society, a world that is supposed to be perfect is actually horrendous and
corrupt. Assange committed an empire’s greatest sin, he exposed it as a criminal enterprise. He
substantiated its lies, bestial disregard for human life, rampant corruption and innumerable war
crimes. For Julian Assange, Republican or Democrat, conservative or Labor, capitalist or
socialist, it did not matter! The goons who oversee the empire sing from the same demoniacal
book. Whether you are Lal Bahadur Shastri, or John F. Kennedy, if you cannot be bought, if
you will not be intimidated into silence, you will be killed”.
None of the “assurances” offered by U.S.A. are worth the paper they are written on. All come
with escape clauses. None are legally binding. Should Assange do “something subsequent to
the offering of these assurances that meets the tests for the imposition of SAMs or designation
to ADX” he will be subject to these coercive measures. If Australia, which has ignored the
existence of his own citizen in lockstep with the U.S.A does not agree to Julian’s transfer, he
will remain for the rest of his life in a U.S.A. prison. And even if that were not the case, it
would take Assange ten to fifteen years to appeal his sentence up to the Supreme Court, more
than enough time for the state assassins to finish him off.
Assange is indicted under 17 counts of the Espionage Act and one count of hacking into a
government computer. The charges cause him to be sentenced to 175 years in prison, even
though he is not a U.S.A. citizen and WikiLeaks is not a U.S.A.-based publication.
If Julian is convicted it will effectively criminalize investigative journalism as it will set a
dangerous precedent for who possess classified documents to shine a light on the inner
workings of power. This mortal assault on the press will have been orchestrated, we must not
forget, by a Democratic administration.
No public interest defense is permissible under the Espionage Act, a World War-I era law.
Campaigners in the U.S.A. have warned that its use is a direct assault on the first amendment.
United States has ignored and violated innumerable treaties, agreements, deals, promises and
“assurances” made around the globe.

Conclusion
Julian Assange revealed the true picture of human rights exploitation and rampant abuses by
US and other governments which would have stayed buried in the sands of time! Ironically,
the world is more interested in crucifying Assange, then in castigating the people responsible
for releasing the “dogs of war” on humanity!
Assange, at tremendous personal cost, warned us. He gave us the truth. The ruling class is
crucifying him for this truth. With his crucifixion, the dim lights of democracy go dark all
around the world. The bleakness of assurances by the U.S.A. and the complicity of U.K.
authorities strikes at the very core of freedom of press. As rightly said by George Orwell
“Freedom of Press if it means anything at all, means the freedom to criticize and oppose”.
The result of Assange’s appeal in the coming months is yet to be seen. United Stated has an
opportunity to set an example and lead other democracies across the globe or to set a dangerous
precedent for all.

About The Author

Barkha Singh is a second-year student pursuing BA.LLB(Hons) from NALSAR University of
Law, Hyderabad. She is an avid reader and has an analytical mind. She has keen interest in
corporate law and international relations.

References
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