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The Assange extradition raises 3 fundamental issues beyond freedom of the media which, IMO, every member of the public should be concerned about, if we want to secure democracies that defend the public interest against arbitrary state power. See next tweets.
1/In Assange extradition, Trump is asserting the US right to prosecute a *non-US* person, *not in the US*, under US laws. This is amazing. By the same argument, Russia or Saudi could prosecute a journalist (or blogger) in London, Washington or Canberra for revealing their crimes.
2/UK minister Alan Duncan called Assange a “miserable little worm”, judge called him “narcissistic” and he received a grossly disproportionate sentence on bail issue. Question: is Assange even going to receive a fair trial, does UK have indpt judiciary, does rule of law prevail?
3/Assange’s asylum status was revoked by Ecuador in deals with the UK/US and he risks being handed over to the persecuting state in relation to which he received asylum (US). This is against the international refugee rights system, whose most basic principle is non-refoulement.
4/ Corporate media are demonising Assange and preparing ground for UK/US persecution. It is a litmus test of where these media stand on state power and public interest. In reality, everyone has an interest in standing up for the principles that the Assange extradition challenges.
