Julian Assange: he’s not the messiah, he’s just my boy - The Drum

Humanity’s historical record may be long but there is no doubt that Julian Assange and his small team have already changed the world. Throughout history courageous people who have taken risks to challenge power and the injustices of its abuse have suffered terrible personal consequences, for there is nothing more terrifying for the power elite than an educated, questioning and unified populace.

Tonight Australian time Julian Assange will ask the English High Court for leave to appeal two points of law to the Supreme Court. The judges who dismissed his appeal to the High Court will decide whether or not to certify these points, which must be of public importance and go beyond the specific facts of his case. If he fails he will be extradited to Sweden within 10 days and incarcerated.

Tonight a mother faces the prospect of her son being extradited to a country that has authorised Interpol to make a public Red Notice for her son – its highest alert – in the first and only case of its kind, a country that has been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights for rendering people to the CIA in breach of international law, and that doesn’t have bail; of her son being held in Gothenburg Prison (which has been criticised by the European Commission against Torture for the way it treats its foreign prisoners), being tried in secret, without a jury, before a judge and two retired politicians from parties that have already criticised him, and ultimately being extradited to the United States at the behest of a government which has shown a thirst for revenge and has a long history of disregarding the rule of law and engaging, by its own hand or by proxy, in human rights abuses. 

I took the opportunity to catch up with Christine Assange last week.  In a lengthy interview I heard about Assange the man, the father, the brother and the son, told by his mother - a fierce supporter but also perhaps also his most honest critic - and not by a Palantir powerpoint presentation.

via abc.net.au

Read the rest at http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3713222.html

US targets WikiLeaks like no other organisation - World News - World - General - The Canberra Times

WIKILEAKS is the target of an ”unprecedented” US government criminal investigation, Australian diplomatic cables obtained by the Herald reveal.

The cables also show the Australian government wants to be forewarned about moves to extradite Julian Assange to the United States, but that Australian diplomats raised no concerns about him being pursued by prosecutors on charges of espionage and conspiracy.

The cables, released under freedom of information to the Herald this week, show Australian diplomats have been talking to the US Justice Department for more than a year about US criminal investigations of WikiLeaks and Mr Assange.

While the Justice Department has been reluctant to disclose details of the WikiLeaks probe, the Australian embassy in Washington reported in December 2010 that the investigation was ”unprecedented both in its scale and nature” and that media reports that a secret grand jury had been convened in Alexandria, Virginia, were ”likely true”.

Last week the Foreign Affairs Minister, Kevin Rudd, told Parliament the government was ”not aware of any current extradition request [for Mr Assange] by US authorities” and has ”no formal advice” on a US grand jury investigation directed at WikiLeaks.

On Monday, Mr Assange will learn whether he will be allowed a further legal appeal against his extradition from Britain to Sweden to be questioned about sexual molestation allegations.

Mr Rudd avoided a direct answer to a question about whether Mr Assange could be subject to a ”temporary surrender” mechanism that could allow him to be extradited from Sweden to the US. US Army Private Bradley Manning has been charged with ”aiding the enemy” by leaking hundreds of thousands of classified government documents, published by WikiLeaks since February 2010.

Newly released Department of Foreign Affairs documents show that on December 7 last year, the Australian embassy in Washington confirmed the US Justice Department was conducting an ”active and vigorous inquiry into whether Julian Assange can be charged under US law, most likely the 1917 Espionage Act”.

Australian diplomats called on the Assistant Attorney-General for National Security, David Kris, to request ”advance warning of any public announcement of the results of US investigations or proposed actions”. Mr Kris replied he would take that ”reasonable” request ”up the line”.

In a subsequent detailed assessment, the embassy observed that ”a central theme has been the question of whether WikiLeaks is a media organisation … The general view of expert commentators is that a prosecution could not be successful unless it showed in court that WikiLeaks was not a media organisation since the history of these cases has never seen a media outlet convicted for publication of leaked documents.”

Noting reports that the Justice Department was investigating alleged technical assistance provided to Private Manning, the embassy said: ”Evidence of such a conspiracy could assist prosecutors rebut claims that WikiLeaks was acting merely as a media organisation.”

via canberratimes.com.au

Fair Trial for Julian Assange? - Sweden vs. Assange

Criticism of Swedish justice system

Of all the signatories to the European Convention of Human Rights, Sweden has the highest per capita rate of cases brought to the European Court of Human Rights relating to article 6.1 (right to a fair trial). It also has the highest rate of adverse rulings when it comes to the fair trial.

Fair trial as a ground for challenging the EAW - February Hearing

In the February Hearing, Julian Assange’s lawyers argued that the UK should not extradite him because he would not face a fair trial in Sweden. If extradited, Assange will be:

- Held in prison in solitary confinement when he is returned, despite not having been charged (likely to spend up to a year in custody). There is no time limit to detention in Sweden.

- There is no bail system, so he would remain in detention indefinitely.

- If there is a charge and a trial, it will be held in secret.

- He will not be judged by an ’independent and impartial tribunal’, a fundamental requirement under the European Convention of Human Rights (article 6.1). Three out of the four judges are lay judges, who have been appointed by political parties and have no formal legal training (see Lay Judges).

- The Swedish prosecutor, Marianne Ny, has not given Julian Assange or his lawyers information on the allegations against him in writing, which violates the Swedish Code of Procedure (RB 23:18) and the European Convention of Human Rights (article 5), and the EU Fundamental Charter on Human Rights.

- There has been political interference with the Prime Minister’s statements to the Swedish Parliament during the trial (see Political Interference, and constant press attention has been given to the complainants’ lawyer (see Media climate in Sweden).

- The bilateral agreement between the United States and Sweden allows Julian Assange to be extradited to the US as soon as he arrives in Sweden (see section on US extradition). Under US custody, Julian Assange risks kidnapping, torture, and execution.

via swedenversusassange.com

Julian Assange says yes to Sydney Festival of Dangerous Ideas September 30

The festival is hoping that Assange will be able to travel to Australia to speak at the event on September 30 under the title WikiLeaks Has Not Gone Far Enough but, given that Assange has surrendered his passport as part of his bail conditions in Britain, organisers admit his presence will most likely remain virtual.
via theaustralian.com.au

Cable Cooking and the War on Assange » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

The latest chapter in the quest for open government finds our embattled knight holed up within the grey brick Georgian walls of Ellingham Hall while the dark forces outside attempt a disorderly checkmate. The British courts have long debated whether to pack Julian Assange off to the star spangled torture chambers of Guantanamo, but have finally settled on simply extraditing him to the man-eating Nordic Amazons of Sweden, pending appeal. Meanwhile the chessboard has become crowded with ex-employees, ex-lovers, and ex-friends who compete among themselves to cast mud upon his memory. The same newspapers he enriched with headline stories gleefully prepare his epitaph, for no good deed goes unpunished among the masters of discourse. This is a very lonely time for our trusting hero, as yesterday’s oaths are traded for cold cash, and intimate confidences are betrayed.
via counterpunch.org

Statement by Julian Assange on the reported destruction of WikiLeaks source material by Daniel Domscheit-Berg

Statement by Julian Assange on the reported destruction of WikiLeaks source material by Daniel Domscheit-Berg

Sat Aug 20 23:25:00 2011 GMT

WikiLeaks does not record or retain source identifying information, however the claimed destruction of documents entrusted to WikiLeaks between January 2010 and August 2010 demands the revelation of inside information so sources can make their own risk assessments.

Early in 2010, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, (then “Daniel Berg”, “Daniel Schmitt”) (born 1978), who was responsible for keeping selected WikiLeaks backups, met and entered into a relationship with Anke Domscheit-Berg (then, “Anke Domscheit”) (born 1968) who described her job title as “Director Government Relations” for Microsoft, Germany.

DDB told me that ADB’s role was to interface with the German government on behalf of Microsoft. He was proud that he had been to a party at the German ministry of the interior, as ADB’s consort, and that ADB was on intimate terms with senior figures in the German government and bureaucracy.

DDB told me that he had moved into ADBs house in Berlin, without any counter-intelligence cover, going so far as to place his legal name on a street visible mail box and the interior door and that he would work from this location.

At this point WikiLeaks issued a policy directive that DDB not be permitted contact with source material.

ADB and DDB officially married within a few weeks and changed their surnames to “Domscheit-Berg”.

DDB secretly, and in clear violation of WikiLeaks internal security directives, recorded internal WikiLeaks encrypted “chat” conversations. He initially publicly denied having done so, but attempted to place many of these recordings into his ghostwritten book, most of which were rejected by his publishers’ lawyers as violations of german privacy law. Others he secretly conveyed to hostile media, such as Wired magazine, which had been involved in the arrest and persecution of US intelligence analyst Bradley Manning.

His book, “Inside WikiLeaks”, contains many proven malicious libels and breaches of WikiLeaks security policies. The book is promoted throughout U.S. military book stores, by the U.S. military.

After DDB’s suspension in August 2010, he managed, through guile, to convince a German WikiLeaks system administrator, who was an old associate of DDB’s, to obtain the keys and data for a large quantity of then pending WikiLeaks whistleblower disclosures.

In the last year there has been publicly declared task forces or investigations into WikiLeaks by the CIA, the Pentagon, the FBI, the Department of State, the DoJ, ASIO, ASIS, and the AFP (the last has now been publicly cancelled, finding that no Australian laws have been broken). Many other agencies, such as the NSA have also been involved, but not publicly declared.

I have received a warning from a current Western intelligence officer that DDB has been in contact with the FBI, on more than one occasion, and that the information from this contact was “helpful”. I do not know if DDB was complicit with the reported contact.

David House, of the Bradley Manning Support Network, stated publicly, and repeatedly, that U.S. investigative authorities attempted to bribe him to become an informant and infiltrate WikiLeaks activities.

I have been told that the girlfriend of a Berlin-based Israeli intelligence officer attended the wedding of ADB and DDB. This may not be significant.

I have received intelligence from current Western intelligence officer, that Anke Domscheit Berg, personally, came into contact with the CIA during her time working for the McKinsey & Company consulting group. This was a direct, volunteered statement of fact and warning, and not a statement of speculation. I do not know if ADB was complicit in the reported
contact.

J. Assange http://tl.gd/chdoeo · Reply

via twitlonger.com

‪Julian Assange Splendour Forum Address 2011‬‏ - YouTube

via youtube.com

In his first-ever public address at a music festival, the Australian WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange has made an address to the SPLENDOUR FORUM audience as part of a discussion panel that lifts the lid on the powers struggling for control of the internet - and what they don’t want you to know.

WikiLeaks’ Assange addresses Splendour crowd - ABC News

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has used the internet to address a major music festival in south-east Queensland.

Mr Assange’s pre-recorded message was played during a panel discussion about internet control at the Splendour in the Grass festival in Woodford, north of Brisbane.

Speaking under house arrest in Britain, he reflected on his childhood in Byron Bay and talked about his generation becoming more aware.

“We are becoming the agents of perspective. This generation is burning the mass media to the ground, we are reclaiming our rights to all history,” he said.

“We are ripping open secret archives from Washington to Cairo.

“We are reclaiming our rights to share ourselves and our times together.”

The message was part of a daytime debate forum that also featured Mr Assange’s mother Christine, his Australian lawyer Grace Morgan, long-time colleague and co-author Dr Suelette Dreyfus.

Leading IT security analyst Patrick Gray and ABC TV’s Hungry Beast presenters Marc Fennell and Nick Hayden also took part in the forum.

via abc.net.au

London (DN! Tour Site)

Award-winning journalist Amy Goodman, host of the daily, grassroots, global, radio/TV news hour Democracy Now!, is on a national speaking tour to celebrate 15 years of DN!, now broadcasting on over 900 public television and radio stations around the world.

WHEN: 4 pm

WHERE: The Troxy, 490 Commercial Road, Shadwell, London, United Kingdom

DESCRIPTION: Amy Goodman will moderate a conversation with WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange and renowned Slovenian philosopher, Slavoj Žižek.

Last year, whistleblower website WikiLeaks released three of the biggest ever leaks of classified information in history: the Iraq War Logs, the Afghanistan War Logs and Cablegate. Since then, ambassadors have resigned amid scandals exposed by leaked cables; the UK government has ordered a review of computer security; and, a wave of protest has swept across the Middle East and North Africa — in part fueled, some believe, by WikiLeaks revelations.

Discussing the impact of WikiLeaks on the world and what it means for the future, as well as the ethics and philosophy behind their work, the talk will provide a rare opportunity to hear two of the world’s most prominent thinkers discuss some of the most pressing issues of our time. This event is presented by the Frontline Club.

TICKETS: To purchase tickets, please see below.

MORE INFO: Frontline Club

RSVP AND SHARE ON FACEBOOK: Democracy Now! Facebook Event Page

via tour.democracynow.org

Assange right to slam Swedish courts: lawyers - The Local

Nearly one third of lawyers in Sweden, including best-selling author and lawyer Jens Lapidus, believe that criticism directed at the country’s legal system by WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange is warranted, according to a new survey.

“He is partially right about the Swedish legal system,” writes Lapidus, a defence attorney and author of the best selling 2006 crime novel “Snabba Cash” (‘Easy Money’), along with prominent defence lawyer Johan Åkermark, in an article published on Thursday in the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper.

The authors reference a study published in Legally Yours, a trade publication for the legal profession in Sweden, which surveyed 9,000 lawyers.

The survey, known as the Juristbarometern, revealed that 31.9 percent of lawyers answered yes when asked if they agreed with Assange’s criticism of the Swedish legal system.

According to Lapidus and Åkermark, both of whom are partners in the same law firm as Assange’s Swedish attorney Björn Hurtig, the WikiLeaks’ founder is justified in taking issue with several aspects of the Swedish criminal justice system.

Writing in DN, the two lawyers explain that Assange is warranted in questioning Sweden’s rules on remanding suspects in custody, which often prevent defence attorneys from having a chance to review material used as the basis for remand decisions until minutes before prosecutors present the evidence to a judge.

“We’re of the opinion that remand in Sweden is used in a way that many other states governed by the rule of law would find unfamiliar,” they write.

Speaking to Legally Yours, Hurtig said the statistics cited by Lapidus and Åkermark show that “mistrust of our legal system is greater than many believe”.

“The system is built up so that, in principal, the suspect doesn’t have any insight into the preliminary investigation,” he said.

In addition, Lapidus and Åkermark share Assange’s concerns about having lay judges, many of whom are retired politicians rather than trained legal professionals, preside over trials in Swedish courtrooms.

Also problematic for Assange is the possibility that, were he ever to face trial in Sweden, it would likely be held behind closed doors, a common practices when it comes to sex crime cases in Sweden.

While Lapidus and Åkermark admitted they didn’t have any statistics on closed-door trials, “our impression is that proceedings are held behind closed doors more often in Sweden in many other states governed by the rule of law”.

The authors are quick to point out, however that “Sweden has is a well functioning state based on the rule of law and in many respects is a model internationally”.

Lapidus and Åkermark emphasise that, while they “don’t care specifically about Julian Assange” or the question of his innocence or guilt, they feel a responsibility to “remove the stains that exist in our system” which Assange’s criticism has highlighted.

In February, a London court ruled that Assange could be extradited to Sweden to face questioning over sex crimes allegations stemming an August 2010 visit to Sweden by the WikiLeaks founder.

Assange’s lawyers appealed the ruling in early March and his appeal is scheduled to be heard on July 12th.

The Local/dl (news@thelocal.se)

via thelocal.se