Julian Assange is no martyr for press freedom. His dumping of information without redaction was the act of an anarchist, not a journalist
was asked whether he had in mind a title for his autobiography. “Ban This Book: From Swedish Whores to Pentagon Bores” was his flippant suggestion—a reference to rape allegations made against him in Stockholm and his publication of American secrets through WikiLeaks, his anti-secrecy organisation. Although he originally fled to the Ecuadorean embassy in London to evade the rape investigation, it is the Pentagon bores who have now caught up with him.
Mr Assange is no martyr for press freedom. His dumping of reams of sensitive information without redaction was the act of an anarchist, not a journalist. Worse still was his eagerness to work with suspected Russian spies to sway an election. Even so, it was never clear whether Mr Assange had broken the law. The Obama administration, after deliberating possible violations of the Espionage Act, decided he had not. But Donald Trump’s lawyers were more resourceful.
Mr Assange now faces two legal challenges, with a possible third to come. The first, for skipping bail in Britain, carries a one-year maximum sentence. The second is America’s extradition request, which is governed by a bilateral treaty that came into force in 2007. That agreement allows America to try people only for the offence for which they were extradited. A judicial bait-and-switch—extraditing Mr Assange for hacking, then hitting him with bigger charges on arrival—would be illegal.
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