Tag Archives | Julian Assange

United States Designates WikiLeaks As ‘Enemy Of The State’

By on September 29, 2012 in News 28

For Americans in the military, contacting WikiLeaks, or people sympathetic to WikiLeaks, now may be a crime punishable by death, the Sydney Morning Herald reports:

The US military has designated Julian Assange and WikiLeaks as enemies of the United States – the same legal category as the al-Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban insurgency.

Declassified US Air Force counter-intelligence documents, released under US freedom-of-information laws, reveal that military personnel who contact WikiLeaks or WikiLeaks supporters may be at risk of being charged with “communicating with the enemy”, a military crime that carries a maximum sentence of death.

The documents, some originally classified “Secret/NoForn” – not releasable to non-US nationals – record a probe by the air force’s Office of Special Investigations into a cyber systems analyst based in Britain who allegedly expressed support for WikiLeaks and attended pro-Assange demonstrations in London.

Mr Assange’s US attorney, Michael Ratner, said…”It appears that Julian Assange and WikiLeaks are the ‘enemy’.

… Read the rest

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Media Roots Radio: Assange and Whistleblowers, TrapWire, Brandon Raub

By on September 3, 2012 in News, Podcasts 1

Media Roots Radio – Assange, TrapWire, Brandon Raub by Media Roots

MEDIA ROOTS – Abby and Robbie Martin talk about Julian Assange’s asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy and the US’ war against whistleblowers. They also get into discussing Trapwire, Marine veteran Brandon Raub and Abby’s new show ‘Breaking the Set’ due to air on RT America September 4th, 2012.

The above timeline is interactive. Scroll through it to find out more about the show’s music and to resources mentioned during the broadcast. To see a larger version of the timeline with clickable resources go to the soundcloud link below the player.

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Officials Claim Ecuador Will Grant Julian Assange Asylum

By on August 15, 2012 in News 6

The Ecuadorian president has denied the rumors, saying that his government’s decision will not be cemented until the end of the week, but this seems like a positive development. The Guardian reports:

Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa, has agreed to grant Julian Assange asylum, officials within Ecuador’s government have said. The WikiLeaks founder has been holed up at Ecuador’s London embassy since 19 June, when he officially requested political asylum.

“Ecuador will grant asylum to Julian Assange,” said an official in the Ecuadorean capital, Quito, who is familiar with the government discussions.

On Monday, Correa told state-run ECTV that he would decide this week whether to grant asylum to Assange. Correa said a large amount of material about international law had to be examined to make a responsible, informed decision.

It remains unclear if Assange will be allowed to leave Britain and fly to Ecuador, or amounts to little more than a symbolic gesture.

… Read the rest

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Ecuador To Decide Whether To Grant Political Asylum To Julian Assange

By on June 21, 2012 in News 9

Julian Assange has spent the past two days hidden inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, with British authorities poised to arrest him the moment he steps out. Ecuador’s president may grant him refuge in South America, out of concern that Assange may be extradited to the United States and put to death. How will it all end?? Via the BBC:

Ecuador is examining the asylum case of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the country’s president has said. Mr Assange is at the country’s London embassy, where he is seeking diplomatic asylum to prevent him being sent to Sweden to answer accusations of rape and assault, which he denies. Ecuador’s government has said it will make a decision on Mr Assange shortly.

Mr Assange, 40, spent a second night at the embassy on Wednesday. Mr Assange fears if he is sent to Sweden it could lead to him being sent to the United States to face charges over Wikileaks, for which he could face the death penalty.

… Read the rest

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Julian Assange: The Price of Being A Western Dissident

By on June 16, 2012 in News 32

Julian Assange is doing humanity a favour by exposing through the US Embassy Cables that “Oil motivates U.S. policy more than fighting terrorists,” and that the killing and torturing of tens of thousands of civilians by the US and NATO forces in Iraq and Afghanistan through the Iraq War Logs and Afghanistan War Logs were evidence of war crimes.

However, to Assange’s dismay, as a western dissident, he does not enjoy the soft-power of being a Chinese dissident; the “free” world politicians not only fail to acknowledge the nobility of his work in exposing human rights violations and war crimes committed by NATO and the US, President Obama described his act as a “deplorable documents dump”; former House Speaker, Newt Gingrich believed that he should be “ treated as an enemy combatant”; Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell called him a “high-tech terrorist”; while Sarah Palin wanted him to be “hunted down like al-Qaeda”; Other politicians including some mainstream media “pundits openly calling for his death”.… Read the rest

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UK Supreme Court Agrees To Extradition Of Julian Assange Of WikiLeaks

By on May 30, 2012 in News 2
Julian Assange. Photo: Espen Moe (CC)

Julian Assange. Photo: Espen Moe (CC)

It’s looking likely that Julian Assange is on his way to Sweden. Report from AP via Google News:

Britain’s Supreme Court has endorsed the extradition of WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange to Sweden, bringing the secret-spilling Internet activist a big step closer to prosecution in a Scandinavian court.

But a question mark hung over the decision after Assange’s lawyer made the highly unusual suggestion that she would try to reopen the case, raising the prospect of more legal wrangling.

Assange, 40, has spent the better part of two years fighting attempts to send him to the Sweden, where he is wanted over sex crime allegations. He has yet to be charged.

The U.K. side of that struggle came to an uncertain end Wednesday, with the nation’s highest court ruling 5-2 that the warrant seeking his arrest was properly issued — and Assange’s lawyer saying she might contest the ruling.

… Read the rest

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WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange to Launch TV Show on RT (Russia Today)

By on April 14, 2012 in News 14

Reports Zarifmo Aslamshoyeva on CNN:

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to debut a talk show, “The World Tomorrow,” on Russia’s state-funded television network next week. Assange and RT, an English-language international satellite news channel, would not release the guest lineup in advance, but hinted that the first interview would be controversial.

WikiLeaks has asked followers on Twitter if they can guess the show’s first guest. “Any bets on who The World Tomorrow’s first mystery guest(s) are?” it tweeted. “You’ve been waiting and we’ve been teasing,” said RT’s website of the show, which will also be released online. The talk show set for launch Tuesday is creating a stir in global media circles.

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Julian Assange, Television Series Host

By on January 24, 2012 in News 5
Julian Assange. Photo: Espen Moe (CC)

Julian Assange. Photo: Espen Moe (CC)

Common Dreams reports:

Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, has announced plans for a new television series. The program will launch mid-March and will include ten weekly half-hour episodes featuring “in-depth conversations with key political players, thinkers and revolutionaries from around the world.”

Should things go accordingly for Assange, the show will “explore the possibilities for our future in conversations with those who are shaping it. Are we heading towards utopia, or dystopia and how we can set our paths? This is an exciting opportunity to discuss the vision of my guests in a new style of show that examines their philosophies and struggles in a deeper and clearer way than has been done before,” Assange states.

The theme of the show will be “the world tomorrow”. The Wikileaks press release adds:

Upheavals and revolutions in the Middle East have commenced an era of political change that is still unfolding.

… Read the rest

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Julian Assange: WikiLeaks Halts Publication In Order To Survive

By on October 25, 2011 in News 2

WikiLeaks DonateChristopher Hope reports in the Telegraph:

The whistleblowing website set up by Julian Assange said that it is temporarily suspending publication of leaks to fight a “blockade” by credit card companies.

The refusal to accept donations has cost the website “tens of millions of dollars” in lost funding, the website said.

Mr Assange was due to make the announcement at a press conference in London, and appeal for donations to help flight the blockade.

WikiLeaks said “in order to fight for its survival” it has decided temporarily to stop publishing secret state documents, while it battles the financial blockade through the courts.

In a statement, WikiLeaks said: “In order to ensure our future survival, WikiLeaks is now forced to temporarily suspend its publishing operations and aggressively fundraise in order to fight back against this blockade and its proponents.”

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