Dr. John Mohan Razu
An extraordinary story started unfolding – a long protracted legal battle of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, came to an end. Assange though pointed to the contradictions of the American espionage laws, he however pleaded guilty for having violated. Assange freed from captivity on the 26th of June, 2024, as he was accused for violating American espionage law. In a deal between American government and Australian government, it was decided to set Assange free after a 14-year British legal odyssey Assange returned to Australia. He was to be sentenced to 62 months that he already served at a hearing in the US territory of Saipan in the Pacific. In a deal brokered by the government of Australia, Assange, 52, agreed to plead guilty to one criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents.
The deal marks the end of 14-years of legal saga that pushed Assange to spend more than five years in a British high-security jail and seven years of staying in the Ecuadorean embassy in London as he fought accusations of kinds facing extradition to the United States, where he faced 18 criminal charges. Julian Assange’s release after 14-years of captivity, many may wonder what were the crimes he committed and why did he go through such ordeals and harrowing times. As the editor-in-chief and spokesperson of WikiLeaks, became a household name symbolizing a fight or a tussle against the most powerful countries till the end for radical transparency.
Apar Gupta elaborates that “Assange and WikiLeaks have fundamentally altered the dynamics between the press and the powerful, pioneering a bold vision of the digital fourth estate. While some view this as a beacon of progress, others see it as teetering on the edge of anarchy and challenging traditional norms of journalist.” If this is so, his actions by all means should be appreciated as they are monumental and daring. WikiLeaks to start with focused on the United States, the world’s most powerful country by releasing the “Collateral Murder” video that showed UP Apache helicopters killing twelve individuals in Iraq that includes two Reuters employees.
Then on, WikiLeaks opened the Pandora box by publically disclosing all kinds’ of wars and conflicts that the American government got involved. WikiLeaks was forced to publicize since the American government denied the access to Reuters. The disclosures covered Afghan and Iraq war that showed authenticity and veracity, since the sources were from US army analyst PFC Bradley Manning endorsed the use of state torture. Adding substance to it, Apar Gupta says “This was only a prelude to “Cablegate” when in Nov 2010; WikiLeaks began releasing 251,287 classified diplomatic cables sent to the US state department by 274 of its consulates, embassies, and diplomatic mission worldwide. This media maelstrom provided direct insight not only into the imperial instincts of US govt but also the motivations of our own power elite.”
He adds that “It laid bare unvarnished commentary on Modi and Rahul, India’s foreign relations, and reports on Interactions with our politicians, including their candid assessments on issues of Hindu nationalism, Naxalism, and terrorism. Given their sensitivity, WikiLeaks collaborated with major news organizations like EL Pais, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, The Guardian, and The New York Times to ensure careful analysis and redaction.” Disclosures of classified files that involved the nefarious designs and actions of the governments obviously lead to risks.
Publications of WikiLeaks especially on the American government’s involvement in countries that United States wanted to decimate had infuriated the American policy makers and others termed Assange as “Public Enemy No.1”. There were some political commentators who joined others saying Assange subverted traditional norms of journalism premised on issues of accuracy and verifiability though WikiLeaks published materials carried objectivity and truth. The most daring moves of a whistleblower who exposed the games play with those who are vulnerable and weak and so he brought to the world by ripping open the lives of those who abuse power and authority living in cozy settings and functioning in self-serving coalition.
Assange’s protracted saga against all odds at last has starkly exposed the hypocrisy of the world we live-in and thus stamps the relevance of the whistleblowers. Despite numerous charges, Assange consistently maintained that the actions of those powerful nexus by all means had failed in morality, transparency, and accountability. Having failed to break the nerve of Assange, the American government has offered a plea after five years of imprisonment in a high-security prison in south London. From Assange’s freedom, we as Indians do learn lots of lessons. First and the foremost, we need to watchful of the government’s data and analysis. Second, for every policy made questions such as how, why, and what be raised. Thirdly, citizens should be vigilant asking critical questions to thwart the brutish nature of the government. Lastly, Julian Assange, a publisher and a journalist revealed to the world war crimes. Free speech and free press should not be charged under ‘espionage act’.
