A British judge has ordered the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States, where he faces a 175-year sentence. The final decision on Assange’s extradition will now be made by U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel. Amnesty International’s Simon Crowther spoke outside the courthouse prior to today’s ruling.
Simon Crowther: “Julian Assange is being prosecuted for espionage for publishing sensitive material that was classified. And if he is extradited to the U.S. for this, all journalists around the world are going to have to look over their shoulder, because within their own jurisdiction, if they publish something that the U.S. considers to be classified, they will face the risk of being extradited.”
The names that were in the warlogs were classified as “confidential” not “secret” or “top secret”. they were in SIPRnet where millions of ppl had access to it. If anyone endangered their sources, translators etc. it’s the US army itself.
It’s pure propaganda to say that Assange “endangered people” when he helped reveal the most important trove of documents that actually helped shift public opinion (and therefore slowing down) this war; while at the same time the US was killing and displacing 100.000s.
(+ it’s true that by helping the US army, those informants, sources, translators etc… were already taking a risk in a coutry at war…)