Julian Assange Still Languishing In Embassy With No Internet Connection, But Will Trump Pardon Him?

In a cruel twist of fate, the U.S. presidential election has come and gone, yet Ecuador has yet to restore Julian Assange’s internet connection. The official reason given for switching off the internet was that Ecuador was worried about being seen as influencing the election by letting Julian continue his work there with WikiLeaks. This was something that Julian said he disagreed with, but understood. Now, however, Julian Assange continues languishing at the Ecuadorian Embassy with no internet connection, which makes many wonder if there is actually something more sinister going on.

Ecuador’s foreign minister originally made a statement to say that Assange’s access to communications would only be “temporarily restricted,” and that their goal was not to “impede” upon the organization’s “journalistic activities.” Yet, just yesterday staff at WikiLeaks supplied a news update on Reddit questioning Julian’s continued lack of internet connection and explained that while they had the necessary contingency plans in place to allow them to keep publishing, they were still going to be monitoring the situation closely.

A MUST (short) READ–> Where Is Julian Assange? We Are All Seriously Concerned Now, Wikileaks https://t.co/kuqEKDXbUx #wikileaks #ecuador

— FREE ASSANGE (@AssangeFreedom) October 24, 2016

Whenever I think of Julian Assange trapped inside his small room in London, held there as punishment for what should be the right of free speech, I can’t help but think of the similarity between his situation and that of Leigh Hunt. Leigh Hunt and his brother ran a popular political journal in the 1800s known as the Examiner. But as Hunt was perceived to be giving support to radicals and encouraging people to actually research and think for themselves, he found himself arrested and cast into prison for two years at Surrey Gaol.

While Leigh made the best out of his situation as he could, decorating his cell with paintings and receiving visitors so he could continue his political journalism work while imprisoned, he was never quite the same afterwards. Being trapped in one room for so long had taken its toll on him and when he was released from prison he became rather agoraphobic, preferring to have friends and others in his sphere of work visit him in the one room of his house that he worked out of. This room, incidentally, was decorated exactly as his prison cell had been, so used to it had he become.

While I don’t expect Julian Assange to emerge from his predicament in quite the same way, I do think there are some striking similarities between these two men. Hunt fought long and hard for the right to speak to the people in honest terms that they could understand and Assange continues to fight this battle. But with no internet connection, this makes his work with WikiLeaks increasingly difficult.

While many of us who support WikiLeaks are extremely concerned with Assange’s continued fight for justice, especially as an interview looms next week over false rape allegations, there may yet be light at the end of the tunnel.

Even though Assange had predicted Donald Trump would never win the presidential election, won it he has, and some of Trump’s supporters are now calling on Donald to pardon Julian. This isn’t as far-fetched as it may seem. A Change.org petition has been set up to be delivered to Trump that asks him to grant a full presidential pardon and clear Julian Assange of all crimes that have been alleged against him.

“Julian Assange has been persecuted and harried by the very people he has sought to expose for their lies and deceptions against the people of the world. Mr. Assange has shone a bright light on the corruption of those who presume to rule us. We believe Mr. Assange must be granted a presidential pardon absolving him of any crimes alleged against him. He is a hero and must be honoured as such.”

“I love @wikileaks!” – @realDonaldTrump #FreeJulian pic.twitter.com/jtt9iSm6zV

— Stefan Molyneux (@StefanMolyneux) October 17, 2016

For those who are interested in learning more about the work of WikiLeaks and investigating their extensive archives themselves, I recommend the excellent book The WikiLeaks Files: The World According to US Empire, and in particular Chapter 4, written by Sarah Harrison. Sarah does an excellent job of guiding readers through the particulars of PlusD, or The Public Library of US Diplomacy, which is an astonishingly large collection of internal documents that have been published by Assange and WikiLeaks. Harrison explains how to read the cables and interpret the data contained in them, and you may find yourself very interested in investigative citizen journalism once you begin your journey here.

But getting back to a presidential pardon. Could it happen that Trump would pardon Julian Assange? If there is any justice in this world, the answer to that question is a resounding yes. Now please turn on Assange’s internet connection, Ecuador.

[Featured Image by Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Images]