Scott interviews Kevin Gosztola about the breaking news that a British judge has denied the request to extradite Julian Assange from England to the United States. The prosecutors will appeal, says Gosztola, but this ruling opens the possibility that Assange could be released within a few days. Although the decision is a big victory for Assange and his supporters, it is not necessarily a victory for press freedom. The problem with the judge’s ruling, Gosztola explains, is that it sides with Assange as an individual without addressing the precedent of charging journalists for doing the kind of work Assange did at Wikileaks. In other words, the extradition request was denied only because Assange was deemed a suicide risk in the inhumane American supermax prison conditions, and not because the judge believed the claims of his wrongdoing to be unfounded. In fact she seemed to agree with almost every point in the case the American prosecutors laid out. This could be a problem both for Assange’s appeal and for similar cases in the future.
Discussed on the show:
- “Assange Decision: British Judge Rejects US Extradition Request” (ShadowProof)
- State Department Cables
- Baghdad War Diary
- Afghan War Logs
- Collateral Murder
- Vault 7
- “UN expert says “collective persecution” of Julian Assange must end now” (OHCHR)
- “The Darkest Corner: Special Administrative Measures and Extreme Isolation in the Federal Bureau of Prisons” (Center for Constitutional Rights)
Kevin Gosztola is managing editor of Shadowproof. He also produces and co-hosts the weekly podcast, “Unauthorized Disclosure.” Follow him on Twitter @kgosztola.
This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; Zippix Toothpicks; and Listen and Think Audio.
Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.
Scott Horton is director of the Libertarian Institute, editorial director of Antiwar.com, host of Antiwar Radio on Pacifica, 90.7 FM KPFK in Los Angeles, California and podcasts the Scott Horton Show from this website. He’s the author of the 2017 book, Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan. Visit https://scotthorton.org