Imperiled Free Press

Whistle-blowing journalist and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sits in solitary confinement in London‘s infamous Belmarsh prison. In August 2012, Ecuador granted him asylum due to fears of political persecution and possible extradition to the United States. Julian remained in the Embassy of Ecuador for almost seven years. The Trump administration seeks his extradition to Virginia to stand trial as a spy.

Margaret Kunstler and Tariq Ali have edited the recently published book, In Defense of Julian Assange. It demonstrates convincingly that what’s at stake is the future of free journalism, in the U.S. and abroad.

Julian faces a 175-year sentence under the century-old Espionage Act, passed during World War I to be used against spies. He is charged with conspiring with Chelsea Manning to publish the Iraq war logs, the Afghanistan war logs, and State Department cables.

Julian launched WikiLeaks in 2006, three years after George W. Bush and Dick Cheney commenced the illegal war against Iraq in 2003. Former CIA director and current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called WikiLeaks a “non-state intelligence service.“ Hillary Clinton wanted Julian assassinated by drone.

The United Nations special rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer recently visited Julian in prison and concluded that indeed he was being tortured. When he last appeared in court he was incoherent and couldn’t remember his name or date of birth. Margaret Kunstler is a civil rights attorney who has spent her career providing movement support and protecting the rights of activists. A powerful speaker on human rights issues, Kunstler is a consultant to the emerging voices of Occupy Wall Street protesters and Anonymous supporters. Her Hell No: Your Right to Dissent in Twenty-First Century America, co-authored with Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights, is a leading handbook for activists today.

Tariq Ali is a writer, journalist and film-maker, born in Lahore and educated at Oxford University. He writes regularly for a range of publications including The Guardian and The London Review of Books. He has written more than a dozen books including non-fiction as well as scripts for both stage and screen.