UK authorities, at the behest of the US, have released Julian Assange from Belmarsh prison. But that freedom comes at a price. To secure his release, the US forced Australian Assange to plead guilty to US espionage charges for receiving and publishing information in the public interest from a whistleblower – Chelsea Manning.
Still, people are rightly celebrating the icon’s freedom.
Assange: free, but at a price
Assange has faced 14 years of political persecution and detainment. According to the UN, Assange was under arbitrary detention from 2010 while he took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Then from 2019, he spent five years in Belmarsh where he was still “arbitrarily detained in the UK on politically-motivated charges”, in the words of Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard.
Assange’s wife Stella thanked the activists who campaigned for his release:
Julian is free!!!!
Words cannot express our immense gratitude to YOU- yes YOU, who have all mobilised for years and years to make this come true. THANK YOU. tHANK YOU. THANK YOU.
Follow @WikiLeaks for more info soon…pic.twitter.com/gW4UWCKP44
— Stella Assange #FreeAssangeNOW (@Stella_Assange) June 25, 2024
People also noted the war crimes Assange exposed such as US conduct in the illegal Iraq war:
Julian Assange is Free. This video is why he was imprisoned. For revealing the brutality of the American empire: pic.twitter.com/mAOILKgUaG
— ashok kumar 🇵🇸 (@broseph_stalin) June 25, 2024
Others pointed out the role the corporate media played in manufacturing consent for his persecution:
On this day, let’s never forget that corporate media outlets played a key role in keeping Assange in prison for so long. pic.twitter.com/vbUmi2mlia
— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) June 25, 2024
This includes the Guardian publishing a fake hit job in 2018 that claimed Donald Trump’s campaign manager had visited Assange. This was part of a longstanding smear campaign including over 40 articles attacking the WikiLeaks founder. That came after the Guardian initially published and celebrated his journalism.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, called Assange’s persecution “grotesque”:
Julian Assange is free.
Julian exposed the crimes of the powerful. His incarceration was — and always will be — a grotesque miscarriage of justice.
Never stop fighting for the truth. Never lose hope. Never, ever give up.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) June 25, 2024
Labour candidate Zarah Sultana described his work as a “public service”:
Julian Assange is finally free.
Imprisoned for exposing US war crimes in the Middle East and beyond, for years Julian was unjustly locked in Belmarsh prison.
Revealing the truth is a public service – not a crime – and so I’m thrilled he is finally walking free.
— Zarah Sultana (@zarahsultana) June 25, 2024
While it came at a price, Assange’s freedom is a beacon of hope for many.
Featured image via Stella Assange – X
