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Assange arrest shows press freedom does not exist in West: Analyst

Don DeBar speaking to Press TV

The arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange by the UK government shows that there was no respect for the freedom of press in Western countries like Britain and the United States, says an American journalist and political analyst who is based in New York.

“The freedom of press does not exist in the US or in the EU. If you publish materials exposing criminal activity by the powerful, the publisher, and not the criminal who has been exposed, would be criminally prosecuted,” Don DeBar said in an interview with the Press TV on Thursday.

DeBar, who hosts a daily radio newscast in the US, said Assange was going to be prosecuted simply because he had exposed crimes committed by the US government and military.

“Assange’s big sin is that he exposed big criminal activities by the US government. Let’s be honest about it,” he said.

The expert said the arrest of the whistleblower earlier in the day inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, which came after seven years of refuge in the facility, highlights the farcical nature of the Western judicial system.

He said neither Sweden, where Assange has been previously wanted for alleged sexual offenses, nor the US could come up with a tangible reason over the years why they were pursing Assange.  

DeBar said that Assange’s arrest also exposed the lies about democratic nature of elections in countries like Ecuador.

He said the current president Lenín Moreno came to power on promises of fighting corruption and campaigning for transparency but he finally ended up being a puppet and a stooge of the US by allowing Assange to be evacuated from Ecuador’s embassy in London.


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