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'Kangaroo Court': Joe Rogan Says Wrong to Prosecute Assange For 'Horrific Crimes' He Exposed

© REUTERS / HENRY NICHOLLSWikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's father John Shipton is seen outside the Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court ahead of a hearing to decide whether Assange should be extradited to the United States, in London, Britain September 8, 2020.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's father John Shipton is seen outside the Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court ahead of a hearing to decide whether Assange should be extradited to the United States, in London, Britain September 8, 2020. - Sputnik International
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The United States has indicted Assange on a total of 18 counts, related mostly to violations under the Espionage Act for disclosing classified information that revealed US war crimes and included the 2016 hacked e-mails of Hillary Clinton.

On his latest podcast, former UFC commentator Joe Rogan has shared his thoughts on the Julian Assange case, saying that it was wrong to prosecute him for the things he had exposed to the American people.

Rogan took to criticise Assange' treatment in prison, saying that he's been locked up for years with no exposure to daylight.

"He looks like he is going crazy there, and now he's in jail and on trial. The whole thing [...] it's so disturbing", Rogan said.

​Rogan wondered what Assange did that is actually illegal and if he did anything "that people disagree with, in terms of citizens". 

"Well, he exposed horrific crimes, he exposed things that [...] the US citizens were deeply opposed to", he said.

He then slammed the government, which wants to "kick [Assange] out of the embassy" and "drag him to the United States, saying that it is against the rights of freedom of speech and the rights of the press.

"It seems that we're talking about some kangaroo court, it seems [...] we're talking about some dictatorship, where you have no protection of freedom of speech, no protection under the First Amendement, no protection of the rights of the press", Rogan concluded.

WikiLeaks founder Assange's most impressive revelations contained documents that exposed war crimes committed by US personnel mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan, including killing innocent civilians and the systematic torture of prisoners.

Wikileaks also published a batch of 2016 emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) leadership and Clinton's campaign leadership, revealing how they rigged the primary elections in her favour and obtained debate questions for the candidate before her televised arguments with Trump.

Clinton has blasted Assange as an "instrument of Russian intelligence", supporting allegations that the emails were "hacked by Russians". As she lost the election, the former secretary of state claimed her presidential bid has been "stolen" from her due to the compromising leaks.

Assange said back in 2016 that the documents still pending publication ''would be enough to indict Clinton".

If extradited, the journalist could face up to 175 years in US prison. At the same time, lawyers and doctors have repeatedly stressed that his health has seriously deteriorated in prison, while he has not been provided medical help.

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