Unfortunately the whole “isn’t a citizen” thing might work against him. IIRC courts have ruled the Bill of Rights applies to citizens, including freedom of the press.

The whole situation is absurd though.

[–] seSvxR3ull7LHaEZFIjM@feddit.de 4 points 8 months ago

Oh yeah, US courts justifying their continuous rights abuses of foreign detainees is absurd and should be legitimized by no international judgements.

One more reason to not extradite Assange. Let him sit trial for everything else he's allegedly done in countries with humane criminal justice systems, but do not subject him to either Manning's, or worse, as you say, non-citizen's torture in places like Guantanamo Bay.

[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Freedom of information? He was pretty selective about which bits he released back in 2016. That guy can rot in prison for all I care.

[–] Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

jfc we can't just let the state imprison journalists without pushback because we don't like the particular journalist

[–] Dkarma@lemmy.world -3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

"journalist"

You have got to be kidding me....

This dude is a Russian asset and pawn. Russia is our enemy

Do the math.

[–] Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 8 months ago

I don't care if you don't consider him a journalist. He is facing charges for doing journalism

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 3 points 8 months ago

that doesn't make every Russian suddenly not a human without rights or subject to extrajudicial punishment.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'd say since the first full year of him living in an embassy ended, we can't be justified to call him a scumbag.

Other than that - his sense of humor in the NetBSD fortune files and other traces in the Internet maybe sucks, but he's a better role model than Snowden (whose life is somehow much easier, which is suspicious really).

[–] moistclump@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Why would he be a better role model than Snowden?

[–] BolexForSoup@kbin.social 0 points 8 months ago (2 children)

His efforts for freedom of information that align with his political motives. He lost all credibility when it became clear he was picking and choosing. He certainly chooses interesting times to show restraint. And of course he swears the kremlin didn’t give wikileaks the DNC’s emails. And Trump totally didn’t offer him a pardon to say Russia had nothing to do with it.

I am pro transparency, and there was a time when I respected Assange and Wikileaks. But it has become clear he does what is good for him and his politics. That is not the job of a transparency-centric site. You publish everything after it’s vetted. Even if it’s bad for “your team.”

[–] FluffyPotato@lemm.ee 1 points 8 months ago

Not a single non US citizen should be extradited to the US. The US has the worst prison system and punishments outside of some really cruel regimes. They also refuse to work with international criminal courts.

Besides I'm pretty sure the guy only committed a crime in Sweden and not the US.

[–] Hubi@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Can you really blame the man for picking sides after all the US has done to him personally over the years?

[–] BolexForSoup@kbin.social -1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yes. Wikileaks is supposed to be a tool of transparency. Not a tool for his political revenge.

[–] Hubi@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm not saying I condone what he did, but I can understand it from his perspective. I'd probably do the same thing if there were a country responsible for ruining my life and health and I had the information to inflict some damage.

[–] BolexForSoup@kbin.social -1 points 8 months ago

I am not saying I condone what he did

I’m not sure what we are debating/discussing. If you’re going to claim you are a bastion of transparency and information for the general public, then no, you can’t weaponize your site and omit politically damaging information about political groups you agree with/are aligned with.

That’s not just revenge against the US. That’s failing to provide the transparency you claim to stand for. He chose to obscure information based on his own whims. How is that not an issue?

Wikileaks had their own leak and it was a very interesting read.