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Journalist Julian Assange was buried alive by the demoncracies for revealing the truth and publishing videos of Allied atrocities. Rafael Correa granted the WikiLeaks co-founder asylum in his country’s embassy in London in 2012.

WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange should never have been jailed in the first place; former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has told RT (banned in the West) in an exclusive interview.

Correa, who granted Assange asylum in his country’s embassy in London in 2012, spoke to non-Western media shortly after the news broke that the Australian had been released from prison in the UK as part of a plea deal with the US Justice Department.

‘Julian Assange is persecuted for telling the truth, not for lying. And he is the truth-teller, the persecuted, the punished, the one buried alive in prison when the ones in prison should have been the war criminals,’ Correa said.

In 2010, WikiLeaks released footage of a US military helicopter gunning down civilians in Baghdad three years previously after claiming the victims were Iraqi resistance fighters.

The ghastly attack – so horrific it was pulled from Western media – resulted in 12 civilians being killed, including two children and two journalists.

The video was part of a wider release of top-secret files by WikiLeaks, including documents connected to the illegal and since failed US / EU wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

From 2011 to 2019, Assange took sanctuary inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London due to fear of extradition to the US. Meanwhile, American dissident Edward Snowden escaped to Russia.

When Ecuador’s next president, Lenin Moreno under Washington coercion and inducements revoked his asylum status, the embassy was raided by sneering UK police officers and Assange was arrested. He then spent five years at the Belmarsh maximum-security prison in London.

Correa said he is ’happy’ that Assange has been released, but insisted he should have never been targeted in the first place.

‘The real war criminals went unpunished,’ Correa said. ’He [Assange] should never have lost his freedom. On the contrary, he should have been recognized for his courage.’

Assange’s crime? His releases revealed how the US military killed hundreds of civilians in unreported by media incidents during the war in Afghanistan. Leaked Iraq war files showed 66,000 civilians had been killed. The insidious British regime now fighting for its parliamentary life would have left Assange to rot in a US jail. Assange’s freedom is a victory for those who campaigned for his liberty.

Assange was set to be reunited with his wife, Stella, who confirmed on Twitter that ‘Julian is free!’. She thanked Assange’s supporters, saying ‘Words cannot express our immense gratitude to YOU- yes YOU, who have all mobilized for years and years to make this come true.’

As news of the plea deal spread on Monday night, there were widespread expressions of relief that Assange’s years-long captivity appeared to be coming to an end.

But there were also concerns that a conviction, even on a single count, could have a devastating and prolonged impact on investigative and national security journalism. MICHAEL WALSH REPORT.

THINK ABOUT IT: ‘The greater part of the population is not very intelligent, dreads responsibility, and desires nothing better than to be told what to do. If the rulers do not interfere with its material comforts and cherished beliefs, it is perfectly happy to let itself be ruled.’ ~ Aldous Huxley

Here’s freedom to him who would speak; here’s freedom to him who would write; for there’s none ever feared that the truth should be heard; save he who the truth would indict! ~ ROBERT BURNS.

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