After being forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy Julian Assange is now in a high security prison in London where he faces extradition to the United States and imprisonment for the rest of his life. The charges Assange faces are a major threat to press freedom. James Goodale who represented the New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case commented The charge against Assange for conspiring with a source is the most dangerous I can think of with respect to the First Amendment in all my years representing media organizations. It is critical now to build support for Assange and prevent his delivery into the hands of the Trump administration. That is the urgent purpose of this book. A wide range of distinguished contributors many of them in original pieces here set out the story of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks the importance of their work and the dangers for us all in the persecution they face. In Defense of Julian Assange is a vivid vital intervention into one of the most important political issues of our day. Contributors Pamela Anderson Julian Assange Renata Avila Katrin Axelsson Franco Bifo Berardi Sally Burch Noam Chomsky Patrick Cockburn Naomi Colvin The Courage Foundation Mark Curtis Daniel Ellsberg Teresa Forcades i Vila Charles Glass Kevin Gosztola Serge Halimi Nozomi Hayase Chris Hedges Srecko Horvat Caitlin Johnstone Margaret Kimberley Geoffroy de Lagasnerie Lisa Longstaff Alan MacLeod Stefania Maurizi Craig Murray Fidel Narvez John C. ODay John Pilger Jesselyn Radack Michael Ratner Angela Richter Geoffrey Robertson Jennifer Robinson Matt Taibbi Natalia Viana Ai Weiwei Vivienne Westwood and Slavoj iek.