In the upcoming days, it will be decided whether Julian Assange should be extradited from Great Britain to the United States. If the court decides to extradite him, Assange faces up to 175 years in prison under US espionage laws.

Julian Assange is ill and in poor condition, according to all reports from inside the prison, the high-security Belmarsh facility in London. Our macronational neighbor, Sweden, has a special relationship with Julian Assange after the rape allegations against him and how he evaded Swedish justice. Many are skeptical of the Wikileaks founder. Regardless of this, he does not deserve the unlawful and inhumane treatment he was subjected to and is being subjected to.

However, this is also about something bigger than Assange’s person. The reason the US is requesting his extradition is that they want to punish him for his journalistic act. Because, among other things, he published material that proves American war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. And for revelations about how prisoners are treated at Guantánamo prison.

Assange is not a citizen of the United States and has not committed a crime in the United States. He has made hugely important international revelations, and his extradition to the United States signals to all media and journalists that anyone who scrutinizes power may be locked up, even in countries that claim to protect freedom of expression.