Julian Assange's extradition hearings are frankly terrifying, and if you care about the free press, you should be worried, irrespective of whether you like Assange or Wikileaks. As the old saying goes, "Hard cases make bad law."
And read how Amnesty International – which was permitted to observe trials in Gitmo, Bahrain, Ecuador and Turkey – had its request to observe Assange's trial denied.