WikiLeaks co-author, Julian Assange, had 17 fresh charges waiting for him in US (Image via: CNN)

WikiLeaks Co-author to Face New Charges

There are 17 new charges for him. Julian Assange, the co-author on WikiLeaks, is about to face 17 additional charges under “Espionage Laws”. If he is proven guilty of the charges, he will have to spend his life in imprisonment.

WikiLeaks is a news website that publishes classified information, news that you will never get on an ordinary platform. It also spreads classified military and goverment information. In its 10 years of activities, it has leaked nearly 10 million secret documents online. In US history, this is the biggest leaks. He allegedly cooperated with Chelsea Manning, an ex-military unit, to obtain such information.

Assange currently is serving jail time in UK. UK Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, was pressed to not let Assange be sent to US by the organization behind Wikileaks, Sunshine Press.

Shockingly, more and more people go hand in hand to defend Assange from the charges. It is true that WikiLeaks gives classified information freely to all instances in all levels. However, instead of giving reckless information, WikiLeaks revealed some human rights abuse, war crimes, and all sort of controversial things that people have to see to wake them up.

Take example from Pamela Anderson, US actress, that defended Assange and stated that people should be proud of him. Why? Because he shed light onto the dark cases to people. If government should be transparent, they should let people know what is up, according to Assange’s vision.

Some people think that by charging Assange for what he has done, it is like making pure journalism into crime. It is evident that Espionage Law does not state anything about leaking information as crime, especially if it is public concern, and he/she got his/her hands on it. Publishing it will not be a crime.

By this incident, people start to question government’s reliability and transparency. Does government cover something from us? Or, is there something that we should know, but it is concealed from us? Or, is the government trying to manipulate journalist? The questions are buzzing around.