It doesn't matter whether we agree with Assange's politics or not. What matters is whether the 'system' is allowed to torture one of us to death. If it can torture one of us to death, regardless of politics, it can torture any of us to death when our politics make us vulnerable to that system's antipathy.

We need - all of us - to protect ourselves from the threat of being tortured to death, and that means we need to protect Assange from being tortured to death now.