this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2024
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[–] Frank@hexbear.net 89 points 4 months ago

The democratic west out there engaging in one of the longest and most dramatic repressions of a journalist in history.

[–] FourteenEyes@hexbear.net 80 points 4 months ago

Amazing. He needs to move to a decent country and then write a book about the horror he experienced once he gets some psychological counseling for the PTSD. This man's a fucking hero.

[–] Frogmanfromlake@hexbear.net 80 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Absolutely disgusting how radlibs turned on him as soon as the media blamed Wikileaks for “aiding Russia”

[–] LGOrcStreetSamurai@hexbear.net 66 points 4 months ago

I'm glad he's free but goddamn I don't think he's going to be straight for awhile, dude is really going to need some time to heal. Solitary confinement is torture and it's crazy how the prison system uses it with such ease.

[–] Dirt_Owl@hexbear.net 59 points 4 months ago

floppy-owl

Fuck the US, seriously

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 58 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Incredible news.

I don't think it can be understated just how much damage this man did to US credibility through wikileaks. I have no idea if he has the skillset he once had or the connections that enabled it but they incredible damage to the US and they hunted him relentlessly for it to set an example. And it worked flawlessly. Other outlets became considerably more on the side of the US in the aftermath of crackdowns on Assange and police raids of any news org that was publishing anything the US didn't like, the UK Guardian being an obvious famous example of this when the authorities raided them for Snowden's harddrives and forced them to take angle grinders to the drives while GCHQ operatives observed.

I wonder what "negotiations" took place. Is he allowed to go back to journalism if he wanted to?

[–] WeedReference420@hexbear.net 48 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Huh, was kinda never expecting to see the day.

Obviously a very good thing he's free but it sucks he had to spend so long in such awful conditions, I imagine you'd never fully get over that sort of experience (real doomer hours from me tonight I guess).

[–] ComradePlatypus@hexbear.net 23 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I thought he was going to quietly break his hyoid bone at some point TBH.

[–] RION@hexbear.net 44 points 4 months ago

if I were him you would not catch my ass in any country with a US extradition treaty

[–] Alaskaball@hexbear.net 37 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

no fucking way he's free? holy shit he's free!

[–] AssortedBiscuits@hexbear.net 35 points 4 months ago

The dude needs to flee to Russia asap and never leave.

[–] Dingus_Khan@hexbear.net 34 points 4 months ago

Hell yes, good news for once

[–] principalkohoutek@hexbear.net 31 points 4 months ago

Sorry to hear about his impending accidental death

[–] frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml 28 points 4 months ago
[–] Yor@hexbear.net 25 points 4 months ago

holy shit, this is incredible news :D

[–] MusicOwl@hexbear.net 25 points 4 months ago

Wow! I never though that I would see the day. Death to America, and all its vassals.

[–] CliffordBigRedDog@hexbear.net 24 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Sentenced to transportation to Australia

[–] MolotovHalfEmpty@hexbear.net 22 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It sounds like the people around him are confident it's a done deal, with his time in Belmarsh acting as 'time served' for a more minor breach of thae espionage act.

But I'd still be worried the US pulls some shit as:

Assange is scheduled to appear in a federal court in the Northern Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth in the western Pacific, where he is expected to plead guilty to one charge under the Espionage Act of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defence information. The extradition request is expected to be dropped and Assange won’t face any other charges.

The hearing is taking place in the Northern Mariana Islands because of Assange’s opposition to travelling to the US mainland and the court’s proximity to Australia.

Prosecutors have agreed to a sentence of five years, but have said the time already served in a British prison will count towards this. This means that he will probably walk free after the sentencing.

The guilty plea must still be approved by a judge, but if it is, he is expected to return to Australia after the sentencing.

What if the judge says 'no' and gives him a much harsher sentence to be detained by the US?

What if they just straight up black bag him?

On a tiny Island with only one or two witnesses instead of a busy city with a (nominally) free and interested press.

I hope this is the end of the ordeal for him, I truly do, but I don't think I'd ever believe it until I was safely in a country I was sure would never extradite or collaborate with the US. Although right now it's clear he doesn't have much of a choice.

[–] plinky@hexbear.net 22 points 4 months ago
[–] RustyVenture@hexbear.net 16 points 4 months ago

Damn, this made an otherwise shit day actually feel better bloomer. Truly uplifting news and a big fat Death to AmeriKKKa and everyone else who targeted and tortured him for the crime of exposing their atrocities to the world.

[–] jackmarxist@hexbear.net 16 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Australia is even more subservient to the US than the UK. He should not be going to Australia.

[–] AOCapitulator@hexbear.net 5 points 4 months ago

Yeah I don't get that decision

[–] footfaults@hexbear.net 14 points 4 months ago

Holy shit. wow wow wow wow wow

[–] EllenKelly@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago (2 children)

If he comes back to australia and gets into politics, Im nervous hell unite a lot of the worst people and be some third way fascist, his fathers a chud whos been given a lot of attention about all of this, while also not hesitating to participate in panel discussions with fascists

the whole thing makes me sick to my stomach, there are so many people unjustly held in prison and this guys all a lot of people seem to care about

[–] SoyViking@hexbear.net 23 points 4 months ago

Assange might not be a good person but that is not the point, he did something objectively good by reporting on US war crimes and that is why he is being persecuted by the evil empire. We want reports like these to be made in the future as well and the release of Assange is a good thing as it somewhat detracts from the chilling effect the brutal treatment he has received has had on journalists.

He should still be ruthlessly denounced for any form of reactionary thought but the evil empire backing down from their persecution of him is good. It shows that they are afraid they can't even win in their own courts.

[–] Voidance@hexbear.net 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

He wasn’t raised by his father. Actually he spent part of his childhood in an infamous child abusing cult, so it’s really not fair to associate his family with his character.
He isn’t a fascist. The combination of the (likely politically motivated) rape allegations and leaking of Clinton’s emails meant he was abandoned by the left, so that his support base consists of crackpots, libertarians and PMC radlib types united only by free speech brainworms. Whenever I’ve heard Julian speak he’s sounded fundamentally left wing to me, albeit not in a Marxist sense obviously.
I doubt he’ll involve himself in electoral politics. Apart from likely being extremely burnt out an d traumatised, he already tried to start a Wikileaks party in Australia years ago and it never really went anywhere.
As for the allegations against him, (which is the only meaningful criticism against him that can be made), it’s worth bearing in mind that he always said he would willingly go to Sweden to fight them in court, so long as he received assurance that he wouldn’t be extradited to the US. An assurance Sweden always refused to give.

[–] StalinistApologist@hexbear.net 10 points 4 months ago

Go on boy boy

[–] Cowbee@hexbear.net 10 points 4 months ago

I had kind of assumed it would never happen. Incredible news.

[–] Des@hexbear.net 10 points 4 months ago

holy shit i'm really not used to good news these days i thought this was going to be like:

julian assange is free because he's dead

[–] Angel@hexbear.net 10 points 4 months ago

Not a prisoner; he's a freeman!

[–] asante@hexbear.net 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)