The ruling served as a face-saving exercise for all the governments involved and it’s likely that nobody will be held accountable, said the UN UN Special Rapporteur on torture, adding the “message of intimidation is upheld and maintained,” even as Assange is protected for the time being from vanishing into a US supermax prison for the rest of his life.

‘The Whistleblowers’ has been described as ‘the book every South African who cares about democracy should read’.