My Take | Just imagine if Julian Assange was Chinese
- As pointed out by at least one British pundit, the founder of WikiLeaks would have been celebrated and hailed as a hero by the West, instead of facing extradition to the US. Unfortunately, he exposed Western, especially American crimes, rather than Chinese ones
“Worldwide, more than 350 journalists are currently imprisoned for their work – including American journalist Austin Tice, who is detained in Syria,” Blinken wrote. “We must be relentless in shining a spotlight on attacks on journalists, demand accountability, & work to return the unjustly detained.”
But not Assange, the greatest citizen journalist ever who faces a maximum of 175 years in jail for espionage. That’s some kind of espionage, exposing such things as US war crimes!
If Assange had been a Chinese journalist-hacker, for sure he would be languishing in a Chinese jail. But he would have been celebrated all around the West, and headlined the democracy summit just held in Washington. As I write these words, though, I realise I have been beaten to this analogy by George Galloway, former British member of parliament and now provocateur extraordinaire.
It’s just as well, because my outrage doesn’t quite match Galloway’s eloquence. He should speak. First, though, let’s remember why Assange is being extradited to the US.