Assange is a lying piece of shit who helped spread disinformation that for Trump elected. He isnt a journalist, he's a propagandist who deserves everything bad that's happened to him and more.
Assange worked with the Trump campaign to selectively release information that would harm the Clinton campaign but not Trump's. He doesn't deserve your sympathy.
A week after Guccifer 2.0 appeared online, WikiLeaks sent the persona a message saying to "send any new material here for us to review and it will have a much higher impact than what you are doing." After not receiving a reply, on July 6, 2016 WikiLeaks sent another message that said "if you have anything hillary related we want it in the next tweo [sic] days prefable [sic] because the DNC is approaching and she will solidify bernie supporters behind her after." Guccifer 2.0 responded "ok ... i see," and WikiLeaks added "we think trump has only a 25% chance of winning against hillary ... so conflict between bernie and hillary is interesting." On July 14, 2016 Guccifer 2.0 sent WikiLeaks an email with an encrypted attachment labeled "wk dnc link1.txt.gpg." According to the indictment, the email explained that "the encrypted file contained instructions on how to access an online archive of stolen DNC documents."
Four days later, WikiLeaks responded that it had received "the 1Gb or so archive" and would release the files that week. The DNC emails were released several days later.
Hardly an unbiased source, WikiLeaks was targeting Clinton for the benefit of Trump.
If it weren't for WikiLeaks, Snowden would have been rotting in a US gaol for the past 10 years with no end in sight. WikiLeaks' Sarah Harrison accompanied Snowden from Hong Kong to safety. They were the only journalists to reach out to help Snowden.
Countries really shouldn't have extradition treaties with the US considering the US refuses to work with the international criminal court and they'll have like the worst anti whistle-blower laws combined with some of the worst prisons.
Assange should be charged with whatever crimes he committed in his country not in the US.
Timely reminder that the indictment Assange faces has nothing to do with any 2016 releases and everything to do with the Trump administration's war on journalism as he is charged with publishing Afghanistan war logs, Iraq war logs, Iraq Rules of Engagement (needed to contextualise the Collateral Murder video they published at the same time), Guantanamo detainee briefs, and most embarrassingly US State Department cables. These files hold evidence of war crimes, corruption and torture, perpetrated not only by the US. Looks like the movement demanding the charges to be dropped has reached the upper echelons of US democracy which is good not only for Julian and his young family, but also for journalists world-wide and for everyone's ability to speak truth.