So Assange has avoided extradition

- for now.

I don't know whether this is going to work or not. The US will still be trying very hard to get him extradited. The authorities there are doubtless even more anxious now. They must have been hoping that the judge would not only come down on their side but that Assange's mental health would not be seen as an issue.

It is an issue. The one remaining American "supermax" prison is no place for anyone. This is almost certainly where Assange would be sent. As I understand it confinement in one amounts to solitary confinement with the added stress of almost no human contact. Assange is not violent but he would be treated as if he was an extremely dangerous individual. 

There are opposing views about Assange. Those who don't like him or what he did see him as a traitor and someone who put the lives of others at risk. He is seen as a thief, a liar, a rapist, vain, proud and egotistical. They don't have a good word to say about him. 

Those who do like him see as someone who has risked his own life to show the world how governments were, and still are, behaving badly. They have welcomed his exposure of information - even if it has placed lives at risk.  According to them he is courageous and he is being abominably treated.

Like another very high profile case there can be little doubt that others will go to great lengths to see him convicted. They want him locked up and the key thrown away. If he "commits suicide" then so much the better. That is their view. 

There is probably a middle road here. Assange is a whistleblower. The question is whether he was justified in what he did and how he did it, whether he is a "journalist" or something else. Claims are being made about "press freedom", "freedom of speech" and the "right to know".

If a democratically elected government is doing wrong then there is a need to know - so that those who represent us won't be elected again and those like them won't be elected in their place. Of course that is not what happens. Information is kept from us. Other information is fed to us. We are given "facts" which can be interpreted in other ways. Charisma or lack of it influences us. 

Sometimes it might be better not to pursue an issue. The high profile case here went to the High Court - and all seven judges came down on the side of the appellant. Despite that some still haven't given up. They are trying to get a "civil" case up where a "criminal" case didn't work. 

That won't happen where Assange is concerned. He is accused of criminal acts in more than one country. There must be many who are worried by what an actual trial might uncover. They will do their best to see it doesn't happen. 

If I was Assange I would still be desperately worried. I say that without commenting on his guilt or innocence.