The persecution of Julian Assange is a concerted effort to punish him for his role in exposing the corruption and criminality of state actors, in particular the US government and its ruling elite. We now know the FBI used perjured testimony to accuse Assange of computer hacking, and the CIA spied on him after he was granted political asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. They even planned to assassinate him and eventually kidnapped him from the embassy after convincing the Ecuadorian government to revoke its grant of asylum to Assange.
But his ongoing torture and indefinite detention in Belmarsh prison at the behest of the US government is about more than just punishing Julian, it’s also meant to send a message. It’s meant to discourage and deter others from following Julian’s example. It’s meant to silence critics and crush dissent. It also sends another message, about the system of government we live under, which is not a freedom loving democracy that respects the rule of law, but rather a system based on lies, riddled with corruption and ruled by vicious sociopaths.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
