We may not like Assange’s public demeanour, or WikiLeaks’ hi-tech approach to exposing wrongdoing on the open web, and on a scale and speed unknown heretofore. But confusing the persona – “Assange” – with the impact that this organization has had on news reporting, journalist practice, and any other sort of research, masks the chilling effect that his arrest, and possible extradition, can have on media freedoms and civil liberties. Whatever his personal flaws - accused of “narcissism” by the presiding judge on Thursday (as if this has any legal bearing on his right to due process, or asylum) – what happens next has implications for the healthy functioning of any democracy based on international – regional and national – human rights law offline and, increasingly, online; the right to freedom of information, to a fair trial, and to asylum to name but a few.
An attack on all of us
Moreover, however controversial “its philosophy of radical transparency, WikiLeaks is a publisher. Any charges now brought in connection with that material, or any attempt to extradite Mr Assange to the United States for prosecution under the deeply flawed cudgel of the Espionage Act 1917, is an attack on all of us” (CIJ, 11 April 2019).
If Assange is indeed extradited then his fears will have been well-founded, whether or not he can successfully contest this order as did another high-profile hacker/whistle-blower, Lauri Love, in 2018. Disapprove of the man if you will but remember that if the fundamental rights and freedoms of the one cannot be protected in this case, then those of the other are also under threat. To borrow from Martin Niemöller’s much-cited poem; one day they might come for you and there may well be no-one left to speak for you either; online or offline.
This piece was originally published on April 13 on Radio New Zealand.