None of that is true - nor, more significantly, is it relevant to the case the US, aided by the UK government, is advancing against Assange through the British courts to lock him up for the rest of his life.
For Assange, the West's much vaunted principle of free speech is nothing more than a hollow joke, a doctrine weaponized against him - paradoxically, to destroy him and the free speech values he champions, including transparency and accountability from our leaders.
There is a reason why our energies are so heavily invested in worrying about a supposed menace from Islam rather than the menace on our doorstep, from our rulers; why Rushdie makes headlines, while Assange is forgotten; why Assange deserves his punishment, and Rushdie does not.
That reason has nothing to do with protecting free speech, and everything to do with protecting the power of unaccountable elites who fear free speech.
Protest the stabbing of Salman Rushdie by all means. But don't forget to protest even more loudly the silencing and disappearing of Julian Assange.
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