Julian Assange continues to rot in a cell in Belmarsh Prison for revealing US war crimes. He faces extradition to the states and ultimately death in a Hi-Max prison, not for crimes he committed, but for revealing crimes of the state.

But it’s not just him. Following a theme, France has now been accused of yet another attack on press freedom, on Tuesday, when a reporter was arrested for leaking documents alleging French intelligence was being used to target civilians in Egypt. The website “Disclose” has been leaking documents in a similar fashion to Wikileaks.

A French counter-intelligence operation, codenamed "Sirli", was allegedly used by the Egyptian state for "a campaign of arbitrary killings" against smugglers operating along its border with Libya. Not justice through the proper channels, but summary execution.

Following an investigation into the disclosures, journalist Ariane Lavrilleux's home was searched, and she was then arrested for questioning by agents of the DGSI, France's domestic intelligence agency and part of the Interior Ministry, Disclose announced on X (Twitter). The Disclose revelations implicated French forces in at least 19 bombings targetting smugglers between 2016 and 2018.

In the continuing fight to free Assange, Freedom of the Press Foundation (an American publication) explained “It’s nothing short of a national embarrassment that foreign officials have to explain to our government that prosecuting a publisher for work that helped expose war crimes is a threat to the First Amendment.

“Yet that’s where we find ourselves, with Assange set to be extradited to face trial, possibly within weeks. He’s indicted under the Espionage Act, but the charges have nothing to do with spying — rather, he’s accused of obtaining and publishing secret documents from a source, just like investigative reporters do all the time.”

The UK has a mantra of “Innocent until proven guilty”. Holding Assange without trial is an embarrassment to our nation. France, the US and UK are setting precedents here. How long before China or Russia demand the right to extradite journalists from other nations for the crime of journalism?

The Libertarian Party continues to be the ONLY political party to support the release of Julian Assange and others who expose crimes of the state.