A mobile advertising board with a "Don't Extradite Assange" message outside the Old Bailey, London
THE US is wrong to charge Julian Assange for publishing unredacted classified documents because they had already appeared online beforehand, the extradition hearing for the Wikileaks founder heard today.
Computer scientist Professor Christian Grothoff said that Wikileaks was not the first to release 251,000 diplomatic cables when they appeared on its website on September 2 2011.
Mr Assange, 49, is fighting extradition to the US, where he faces an 18-count indictment alleging a plot to hack computers and conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information.
![[Pic: Andrew Wiard]](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/desktop/public/2026-01/19860330_a_wiard_0001JPG.jpg.webp?itok=nkzZbinE)
As advertising drains away, newsrooms shrink and local papers disappear, MIKE WAYNE argues that the market model for news is broken – and that public-interest alternatives, rooted in democratic accountability, are more necessary than ever
ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review The Six Billion Dollar Man, Avatar: Fire and Ash, Goodbye June, and Super Elfkins
