[meowface]

It depends. Countries like the US are ruthless to those whom they consider enemies of the state or traitors, but let's be honest, the qualifications to be an enemy of the state are much higher in the US than they are in a country like Tunisia, Pakistan, or Iran. The FBI is not going to plant malware on your computer just because you say "fuck Obama" or are planning a protest, but this could very well happen in many oppressive countries.

The US treats certain people very unethically, including Assange, but in these cases it's more a sense of vengeance for having our top secret dirty laundry aired, compared to simply disagreeing with or disliking the government. We still have a long way to go to, but the freedom to express yourself is simply a lot higher in most Western European and North American countries.