Saturday, December 11, 2010

Assange moved to isolation in jail as WikiLeaks continue

By Guy Jackson, Agence France-Presse December 10, 2010

LONDON - Police moved WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange to the segregation unit of a London jail for his safety, a lawyer said Friday as new cables showed the U.S. suspects Myanmar has a secret nuclear program.

The 39-year-old Australian has been transferred from the main section of Wandsworth prison to an isolation unit, said Jennifer Robinson, one of his legal team.

"The prison authorities are doing it for his own safety, presumably," she told AFP.

Assange is due to appear in a London court for a second time Tuesday after being arrested on a warrant issued by Sweden, where prosecutors want to question him about allegations of rape and sexual molestation made by two women.

Full Story Here

Assange Prosecution: A Brazen Effort to Kill Alternative Media

Kurt Nimmo
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Now that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is in custody, we can expect the U.S. government to request his extradition and prosecute the Australian for espionage. “Any such proceedings would set up a test of whether the First Amendment’s protection for a free press extends to a website with a worldwide audience,” notes McClatchy today.

In 1917 the United States enacted the Espionage Act, a law that has made it a crime to “willfully communicate” secret government information that could expose national secrets held by officialdom. Since the law was passed, however, the government has avoided prosecuting journalists for publishing classified information.

“The First Amendment’s freedom of speech and the press has protected journalists in the past, though it is not clear whether the courts would consider Assange a journalist,” writes McClatchy.

Assange’s “actions are not those of a responsible journalist that would enjoy the protection of the Constitution,” opines Jeffrey H. Smith, a former general counsel at the CIA. Government, of course, will decided what is responsible and irresponsible journalism and the high court will enshrine this in law.

The establishment – including its highest court – may eventually restrict the First Amendment and have its protection apply only to selected corporate media journalists and other propaganda functionaries of the elite.


Full Story Here

Hackers Strike Back to Support WikiLeaks….Patriot Act for Internet Ahead?

Russia Today: As a result of WikiLeaks, the Obama Administration may introduce a new bill that would allow government officials the ability to spy on Americans through the internet. Meanwhile, an army of hackers rally behind WikiLeaks by shutting down MasterCard and PayPal because they stopped all payments to WikiLeaks. Investigative journalist Wayne Madsen says we could see massive government surveillance of our personal computers, phones and surveillance of our internet activities.

Hackers Strike Back to Support WikiLeaks

CASSELL BRYAN-LOW in London And SVEN GRUNDBERG in Stockholm
WSJ
Wednesday, December 8, 2010

A growing list of organizations and individuals that have tangled with WikiLeaks and its detained founder, Julian Assange, have suffered online attacks, in what appears to be an effort by hackers bent on exacting revenge for the document-leaking website.

The attacks stepped up Wednesday, a day after Mr. Assange was arrested and denied bail in London in connection with sexual-misconduct accusations in Sweden. A range of organizations, including MasterCard Inc., Visa Inc., and the Swedish prosecutor’s office, reported technical difficulties with their websites that appear to stem from so-called denial of service attacks, in which computers flood a server to prevent it from displaying a Web page.

Full Story Here

Report: Assange accuser flees to Middle East, may not be cooperating with police

By Daniel Tencer Thursday, December 9th, 2010 -- 7:03 pm

Sweden withholding documentation on Assange probe: lawyer

One of the two Swedish women who have filed sex complaints against the founder of WikiLeaks has reportedly left Sweden and may no longer be cooperating with the criminal investigation.

According to a report at Australian news site Crikey.com, Anna Ardin has moved to the Palestinian territories to volunteer with a Christian group working to reconcile Arabs and Israelis.

Full Story Here

Assange Lawyers Prepare for U.S. Spying Indictment

JIM SCIUTTO and LEE FERRAN
ABC News
Friday, December 10, 2010

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the man behind the publication of more than a 250,000 classified U.S. diplomatic cables, could soon be facing spying charges in the U.S. related to the Espionage Act, Assange’s lawyer said today.

“Our position of course is that we don’t believe it applies to Mr. Assange and that in any event he’s entitled to First Amendment protection as publisher of Wikileaks and any prosecution under the Espionage Act would in my view be unconstitutional and puts at risk all media organizations in the U.S.,” Assange’s attorney Jennifer Robinson told ABC News.

Full Story Here

Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Supporters to Launch Protests

Written by James Swift on Saturday, December 11, 2010

There is a tremendous movement all over the world that is seeking to free Julian Assange, a man that supporters are calling a “political prisoner.” After last week’s massive cyber attacks and disrupted payment systems, the protests will take on a different feel, hoping to change the public opinion of the man that has leaked US government documents through his website for years.

Full Story Here

Protests In Latin American Cities Over Jailing Of Assange

It appears that Julian Assange has some friends in Latin America.

Demonstrations are planned Saturday to protest the detention of the founder of WikiLeaks and the closing of the secret-spilling website's Swiss bank account.

The Spanish-language website Free WikiLeaks says protests are to be held in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville and three other Spanish cities. It also says demonstrations are planned Saturday in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and in the capital cities of Colombia, Argentina, Mexico and Peru, as well as in Sao Paulo, Brazil.


Full Story Here

Did he or didn't he? The murky politics of sex and consent

IT WAS 2pm in central Westminster Magistrates Court No. 6, a modern chamber, done in blond wood, looking curiously Scandinavian in style, and the world's press were so focused on celebrities such as John Pilger and Jemima Khan crowded behind the defence desk, that few noticed Julian Assange slip into the room. Neatly dressed, more solid than he appears on screen, his white hair neatly clipped, he took his seat behind the semi-circular glass screen.

Full Story Here