Assange’s Mystery

However, the media are considering his treatment as very influential in forming of the future of freedom of expression.

Founder of WikiLeaks site has been one of the most influential media figures of the past decade, with particular attention from the general public for accessing and disseminating certain information, especially on White House policies. His arrest at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, after years of silence, has again brought him back to the media homepage.

Although the Australian citizen was originally known as a hacker of cyberspace, it gradually expanded its activities to security domains in cyberspace and media. Since 2005, with the launch of the WikiLeaks website, he has published documents that were mostly political and confidential.

With the release of this secret information, Assange has been able to capture the attention of the media and public opinion in the world. The culmination of his revealing activities was the release of special news from the White House's decisions in various international affairs, especially the images of the crimes of American soldiers in Iraq.

In 2010, American media revealed the name of a soldier as Assange's main source of intelligence. It was said that Bradley Manning provided Assange with secret documents related to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with some secret letters and images of the military strikes.

On the other hand, Assange was arrested in London the same year for allegedly harassing two women in Sweden. Of course he was later released on a heavy bail. Assange, who always denied these allegations, fled to the Ecuadorian embassy in London after a long period of increased pressure (from 2012) and seeked asylum from the country. Since then, London police have been trying to arrest him for allegedly violating the bail laws.

The British police had been arraigning him in round the clock in front of the embassy in Ecuador until the announcement of the embassy's officials, on April 22, that Assange immunity was lifted and his arrest warrant was issued and enforced.

The unknown nature of WikiLeaks since the launch of WikiLeaks, various analyzes have been made of the information provided along with the underlying reasons behind it. Some have described this process as a leakage in the US Army, others have evaluated it as intentional and directional move.

WikiLeaks and its secret news may be considered a mystery to the point where its true nature will never be clear. Although Assange released a seemingly confidential information from the US government and the White House policies, he did not mention a lot of details about the developments or only the least significant part of it.

Although Assange was criticized by some American officials, he was praised by others. According to the Washington Post, in April 2010, what increased the focus on Assange was the release of images of the killing of several Iraqi citizens and several journalists, which, of course, these images are not easily accessible.

Though these images were about three years earlier, they were able to bring Assange and WikiLeaks far beyond the previous era to the public, the film was featured on YouTube for millions of times.

That made Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell describe Assange a high-tech terrorist, and even Hillary Clinton interpreted his act as an invasion of the world.

But on the opposite side, the ABC News reported that Donald Trump was the individual who, after reaching the presidency, praised Assange more than 140 times in his speeches or in virtual network messages. As an example, Trump told reporters in October 2016, 'I love Wikileaks.”

He called the WikiLeaks in the November of that year as a valuable treasure that could expose unreliable media lies. According to the report, however, Trump got silent after entering the White House's Oval Office, and did not even react to the news of his arrest. All this evidence provokes serious doubts about the nature and objectives of Assange and WikiLeaks.

** Assange's vague future

The focus of many media outlets in the world is the future of this past revealer. There are now various media reports about the extradition of Assange to the United States or Sweden and even imprisonment in the UK. The Guardian wrote in a report that extraditing the founder of WikiLeaks to Washington was a disaster for freedom of expression.

Assange denied all moral claims against him as a conspiracy by the CIA, but in any case, the kind of treating him could create a threat to journalism and newspapers.

After Assange’s arrest by the London police, the United States has charged him with plotting and violating the rules of cyberspace in partnership with Manning. That's why Washington called for extradition of Assange and continuation of his trial in the United States.

On the other hand, if the Swedish courts are to pursue his case again, this is Britain who must decide what country to hand over Assange. According to the Guardian, handing over Assange to the White House, has devastating effects on freedom of expression in the world.

However, it's clear that the popularity of Assange has declined sharply in recent years. Global conditions and developments have not only severely cut down Assange's and WikiLeaks activities, but even marginalized them. The Washington Post spoke about a process that changed perspectives on Assange and his actions that he departed from the main and important figure that has shown freedom of speech; he is not a champion for public opinion.

According to this analysis, Assange, who once spoke of the unification of the world against the elite, gradually diminished his value to the level of a partisan. In the eyes of public opinion, Assange's behavior gradually became unjustified, and this made him out of public opinion.

His behavior went so far out of his usual custom that even the Ecuadorian embassy refrained from hosting it. The embassy in London handed him over to London police because of Assange's inappropriate behavior and ethics, along with some security and espionage issues.

He appeared to be extremely unusual in his personal life, as the Ecuadorian embassy was tired of him and accused Assange of repeatedly violating international conventions and ignoring the principles of daily life.

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