A British court’s ruling against an appeal by Julian Assange brings him one step closer to his extradition to Sweden, and from then onwards possible transfer to the United States.

That, in essence, is the real fear of Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks website, and his millions of supporters worldwide who are convinced that his travails are due to a witchhunt launched by several Western governments.

The leak of confidential government documents on WikiLeaks angered the US authorities, who saw him as a renegade, but many others felt his self-proclaimed mission would bring more transparency to official decision-making. Certainly, many of the documents demonstrate the doublespeak of governments which say one thing in public and another in private.

Assange has seen the effect of bringing down the wrath of powerful officialdom. His sources of finance dried up once financial portals like Visa and Mastercard stopped accepting donations through their channels.

He has openly said the charges of rape and sexual assault against him in Sweden are politically motivated. That may or may not be true, but it is apparent that the legal systems of two countries, Britain and Sweden, have worked with gusto to bring him to book. Even Australia, whose citizen he is, has not shown any great desire to help him, despite his mother’s fervent pleas.

The Internet is supposed to be a democratic medium encouraging openness. But the Assange case will have a chilling effect on anyone else who might want to use that openness against governments everywhere.