DailyPost 2831
TRUTH IS NOW FREE IN JULIAN ASSANGE!
Truth finally prevails is far from being a truism that it is made out to be. What remains hidden or confidential for whatever reasons more often than not is false, untrue, not in consonance with moralistic goals professed or enshrined, deliberate acts being camouflaged and for endless other man made reasons. National security and that such facts would endanger others life, have long been cited as reasons to win legal battles, as the law itself is skewed and so is the process then. The real motive of the law never gets proven. The legalese is mostly interpreted in favour of governments. Law by its very nature is status-quoist and in favour of the establishment.
They make the law the process of its delivery. All that has been discussed so far, cannot be more evident than what transpired in the Julian Assange case. For people who have been following Julian Assange for at least one and half decades know what metal he is made of. You can call him the ultimate champion of unfettered information, a whiz kid hacker, civil rights messiah, a crusader against duplicity of public policy, and an ever battle ready warrior against the urge of nations to hide everything, the people deserve to know. He has been a journalist par excellence, without barely writing anything. Wikileaks could put the sum total of all journalistic output globally to shame in its heydays.
When he landed in Canberra airport after 14 years of incarceration, it was not only his freedom, but it was a freedom for truth. For the past 14 years he was forced to wage a legal battle with US officials for having leaked classified information. The standard legal emotional argument that it puts lives in danger. Even though remaining unproven, it is treated as legally validated. The Ecuadorian embassy and Belmarsh prison in London has been his home for all these years. The plea deal that set him free was to plead guilty to one charge of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information, compared to the original 18. Interesting legality.
The case is about the massive disclosure of Wikileaks in 2010 including a video from a US military helicopter which showed civilians being killed in Baghdad. Confidential documents leaked suggested that the US military killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents in the Afghanistan war. Julian’s case, Ecuadorian embassy confinement, number of charges, imprisonment in Belmarsh jail, extradition proceedings and finally the release in filmy style would go down as some of the most fascinating and complex legal battles of our times. It might redefine how we think and act, more so journalists and people who battle for the right to information and freedom of expression. His lawyer, Jen Robinson told media that the deal was “criminalisation of journalism” and set a “dangerous precedent.”
TRUTH DOES NOT HAVE ITS OWN LEGS, WE HAVE TO PROVIDE IT.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.