Det skamligaste i den pågående Wikileaks-skandalen, är att inte journalister ställer sig upp gemensamt och försvarar sitt kall att granska makten, när förment demokratiska rättstater försöker censurera, fånga och eventuellt avrätta en som gör just detta. Men reportrar utan gränser talar i alla fall klarspråk.

This is the first time we have seen an attempt at the international community level to censor a website dedicated to the principle of transparency. We are shocked to find countries such as France and the United States suddenly bringing their policies on freedom of expression into line with those of China. We point out that in France and the United States, it is up to the courts, not politicians, to decide whether or not a website should be closed.

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Reporters Without Borders can only condemn this determination to hound Assange and reiterates its conviction that WikiLeaks has a right under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment to publish these documents and is even playing a useful role by making them available to journalists and the greater public.

We stress that any restriction on the freedom to disseminate this body of documents will affect the entire press, which has given detailed coverage to the information made available by WikiLeaks, with five leading international newspapers actively cooperating in preparing it for publication.