The Persecution of Julian Assange

On November 28, the editors and publishers of five international media outlets released a joint letter— under the title “Publishing is Not a Crime”—calling on the U.S. government to end its prosecution of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The date was significant. Twelve years prior, on November 28, 2010,the same five newspapers—The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, El Pais and DER SPIEGEL—each published revelations in cooperation with Wikileaks that made headlines around the globe.

LONDON — A tiny tip of the vast subterranean network of governmental and intelligence agencies from around the world dedicated to destroying WikiLeaks and arresting its founder, Julian Assange, appears outside the red-brick building on Hans Crescent Street that houses the Ecuadorean Embassy. Assange, the world’s best-known political refugee, has been in the embassy since he was offered sanctuary there last June. British police in black Kevlar vests are perched night and day on the steps leading up to the building, and others wait in the lobby directly in front of the embassy door. An officer stands on the corner of a side street facing the iconic department store Harrods, half a block away on Brompton Road. Another officer peers out the window of a neighboring building a few feet from Assange’s bedroom at the back of the embassy. Police sit round-the-clock in a communications van topped with an array of antennas that presumably captures all electronic forms of communication from Assange’s ground-floor suite.