TOPIC – Endless ordealThe ruling by the High Court in London that Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange, currently in a British prison, can be
extradited to the U.S., where he is facing charges under the Espionage Act, is a blow to all those who believe in press freedom. A lower court had earlier this year rejected the U.S. request for extradition, citing his mental health. His lawyers and doctors had argued that he might be driven to suicide by American jail conditions. But the High Court, after receiving some assurances from the U.S. authorities that Mr. Assange would not be held in restrictive prison conditions (based on his conduct), decided to allow the extradition. The U.S. accuses him of
conspiring to hack into defense databases to get sensitive unclassified information. The leaks, the U.S. says, put lives at risk. If
convicted, Mr. Assange, 50, could face up to 175 years in jail. His legal team will now appeal and the legal process could drag on for years. But these cases have already put him in one or the other form of
confinement for years. He took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 while facing a probe on accusations of sexual assault in Sweden, which were later dropped. In 2019, after his arrest from the Embassy, he was jailed for 50 weeks in the U.K. for
breaching his bail conditions. He is now in London’s Belmarsh prison. The documents Wiki Leaks released on the Iraq and Afghan wars, which were published by almost all media houses, exposed official crimes and cover-ups. Any responsible, democratic government should have taken action against those who committed those crimes. Instead, the U.S. government went after the publisher. The Trump administration unsealed the
indictment against Mr. Assange for violating the Espionage Act, a First World War-era law, after his 2019 arrest. The U.S. government argued that he was not a journalist. But beyond the definition of journalism, what the U.S. tried to do was to use a
controversial law to punish someone who published unpleasant truths about powerful entities. If he is extradited and convicted, it would set a bad
precedent for press freedom and investigative journalism, raising questions about the protection the First Amendment offers to the press. It is ironic that the administration of President Joseph Biden, who convened a global “Summit for Democracy” last week and emphasized the role of free press, is following Mr. Trump’s policies in pursuing Mr. Assange. If the U.S. and the U.K., among the world’s oldest democracies, are serious about their
proclaimed commitment to press freedom, they should take steps to set Mr. Assange free. The
ordeal the “free world” has put this man in for exposing abuses of power has taken away years from his life and affected his health. This should not go on forever.
The Hindu Editorial Words with meanings, synonyms, and antonyms
Extradited (verb) – To deport an accused person to the foreign state in which the crime was committed
Synonyms – Expatriate, banish, ostracize, proscribe, bounce
Antonyms – Readmit, embrace, disenchant, repulse, hail
Conspiring (verb) – Make secret plans jointly to commit an unlawful or harmful act
Synonyms – Allying, federating, conniving, cohering, banding
Antonyms – Neglecting, separating, rebellion, defiance, ingenuous
Convicted (adjective) – Having been declared guilty of a criminal offence by the verdict of a jury or the decision of a judge
Synonyms – Condemned, doomed, rapped, indicted, prosecuted
Antonyms – Righteous, acquitted, sinless, irreproachable, blameless
Confinement (noun) – The action of confining or state of being confined
Synonyms – Internment, captivity, immurement, impoundment, duress
Antonyms – Mastery, acquittal, emancipation, extension, robustness
Breaching (verb) – To fail to conform to regulation or obligation
Synonyms – Flouting, infracting, traducing, defying, abjuring
Antonyms –Obeying, minding, honoring, observing
Indictment (noun) – A formal charge or accusation of a serious crime
Synonyms – Arraignment, citation, imputation, denunciation, insinuation
Antonyms – Exculpation, freeing, flattery, exoneration, ratification
Controversial (adjective) – Giving rise or likely to give rise to controversy or public disagreement
Synonyms –Disputatious, divisive, polemic, vexed, polemical
Antonyms –Uncontended, submissive, dominant, meek, apologetic
Precedent (noun) – An event or action that is regarded as an example or guide for subsequent circumstances
Synonyms –Paradigm, antecedent, archetype, gauge, embodiment
Antonyms –Ensuing, consequent, impending, pursuing, incumbent
Proclaimed (verb) – Announce officially or publicly.
Synonyms –Promulgate, trumpet, enunciate, placard, annunciate
Antonyms –Cloak, belie, mumble, shroud, redact
Ordeal (noun) – A very unpleasant and prolonged experience
Synonyms –Affliction, torment, agony, crucible, gantlet
Antonyms –Elation, euphoria, jubilation, rhapsody, swoon