After five years of incarceration in Belmarsh high-security prison, having already spent seven years in political asylum—what was tantamount to house arrest in the Ecuadorian embassy—Julian Assange was finally permitted by the British government to return to his homeland of Australia. The deal Assange made with the U.S. government to end its extradition quest and thereby secure his release can be viewed in one of two ways. On its face, the deal required that Assange “confess” to a felony which he did not commit, accepting a sentence of prison time already served. The second way of...















