Anna Ardin accused Julian Assange of sexual assault - but is pleased he has been freed from jail.

Swedish human rights activist Anna Ardin is glad Julian Assange is free.

But the claims she has made about him suggest she would have every reason not to wish him well.

Ardin is fiercely proud of Assange’s work for WikiLeaks, and insists that it should never have landed him behind bars.

“We have the right to know about the wars that are fought in our name,” she says.

Speaking to Ardin over Zoom in Stockholm, it quickly becomes clear that she has no problem keeping what she sees as the two Assanges apart in her head - the visionary activist and the man who she says does not treat women well.

She is at pains to describe him neither as a hero nor a monster, but a complicated man.

  • Optional@lemmy.worldEnglish
    922·
    4 months ago

    However, he spent the next five years in a British prison fighting extradition to the US, where he faced prosecution over massive leaks of confidential information.

    These include US army footage showing Iraqi civilians being killed, and documents suggesting the US military killed hundreds of Afghan civilians in unreported incidents.

    Fuck, BBC. Do you think you maybe forgot something there? Really? Can’t think of anything else? Just the . . uh . . the army footage? That’s it huh. No . . other . . possible . . . lets say, espionage? No? Well, BBC. This is a highly factual article. fOr Me To pOoP oN!!

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.worldEnglish
        9·
        4 months ago

        Probably still salty that Wikileaks publicized the DNC/Team Hillary emails discussing how they were rigging the 2016 primaries.

        Granted, the delay to after the primaries but before the general WAS sus as fuck, obviously, but the greater crime was still the election rigging, not revealing it at an inopportune time for the conspirators 🤷