On Thursday, April 11, Julian Assange was apprehended by Metropolitan Police in London under a warrant from the U.S. Government. Assange did not go peacefully as he was dragged forcefully out of the Ecuadorian embassy, screaming and shouting obscenities at police officers. Assange was granted asylum by the government of Ecuador in 2012, which was revoked 24 hours before his arrest. Assange self-exiled himself to the embassy for seven years, much to the embarrassment of British authorities. His presence at the embassy demanded ‘round the clock’ surveillance, costing British taxpayers millions of pounds. Later that same day, Assange appeared in Westminster Magistrates’ Court, where he was instantly found…
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Action Against Assange, and What It Could Mean for Free Press
In recent court filings in the Eastern District Court of Virginia, an oversight resulted in mentions of secret charges being filed against Julian Assange. He is the founder and editor of WikiLeaks, an organization that has garnered a significant degree of fame and notoriety over the past decade, due to its publishing of numerous classified documents, communications and more. The organization has come under new legal scrutiny since the 2016 presidential election, during which it published emails, obtained by convicted Russian hackers, between members of the Democratic National Committee, a move widely believed to have influenced the election in favor of now-President Donald Trump at the behest of the Russian…
