US PRESIDENT Donald Trump wanted Julian Assange’s “head on a pike,” the WikiLeaks founder’s defence said yesterday as his extradition hearing began.
The decision to “ramp up the charges” against Mr Assange was intended to make him an example, Edward Fitzgerald QC said on behalf of the imprisoned journalist.
A knot of protesters gathered outside Woolwich Crown Court in south-east London, with their songs and chants audible in the courtroom throughout.
US Justice Department says the ‘reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are’. But media freedom advocates warn that Trump's ‘war on the press is looking for another victim’
International solidarity can ensure that Trump and his machine cannot prevail without a level of political and economic cost that he will not want to pay, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE



