What would you define a "free country" as?

One that doesn't suspend all freedoms and human rights when the magical word "terrorism" is invoked.

Have an example of such a country?

I like ones with full suffrage for all citizens of age of majority, including criminals. Like Canada.

Canada has a rather restrictive version of freedom of speech.

Sure, but at least it doesn't allow slavery or disenfranchisement.

You used the term first, so probably you should define it, and then you can explain why it's "questionable" for threat of prosecution to ever be considered torture in such a place, and then you can explain why the country threatening to prosecute Assange meets that definition.

Among other things, one would certainly have to exclude any country which engages in the mass collection and permanent storage of all of its citizens' communications.

What if the population was ok with that / didn't care?

The whole population?

Freedom is freedom for minority rights and opinions to not be quashed by the majority. Thus the term "the tyranny of the majority"

A majority can "not care" about systematic racial injustice and other inequities. The consent of the majority doesn't make the system "free".

I guess China is a shining beacon of freedom for it's people too then.

Then I'd ask those same people to hand over their credentials to all their accounts since their data, privacy, and property, seem to matter little to them.

You could post this exact same question about operating concentration camps.

They would be wrong.

That's the risk of democracy.

The alternatives have proven to involve a great deal less freedom.

Maybe I wouldn't?

Have you ever stopped to think that there is no such thing as free?