Community | December 16, 2010 | 80 comments

Julian Assange released, vows Wikileaks to fight on

source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/julian-assange-released-vows-wikileaks-to-fight-o...

Image
Vierotchka
JULIAN Assange strode to freedom on the steps of the High Court in London and vowed his Wikileaks website would fight on.

The 39-year-old Australian was released after nine days in the Victorian-era Wandsworth prison when the High Court said he should be granted bail while he resists extradition to Sweden on sex abuse allegations that he claims are a crude attempt to silence him.

After a day of uncertainty about his fate, Mr Assange and his legal team walked outside the court yesterday into a light snow storm on The Strand to address about 200 journalists from around the world.

"It's great to smell the fresh air of London again," he said.

"First, some thankyous. To all the people around the world who have had faith in me, who have supported my team while I have been away.

"To my lawyers, who have put up a brave and ultimately successful fight, to our sureties (bail guarantors) and people who have provided money in the face of great difficulty and aversion.

"And to members of the press who are not all taken in, and considered to look deeper in their work.

"And I guess finally, to the British justice system itself, where if justice is not always the outcome at least it is not dead yet.

"During my time in solitary confinement in the bottom of a Victorian prison I had time to reflect on the conditions of those people around the world also in solitary confinement, also on remand, in conditions that are more difficult than those faced by me.

"Those people also need your attention and support.

"And with that I hope to continue my work and continue to protest my innocence in this matter and to reveal, as we get it, which we have not yet, the evidence from these allegations."

Justice Duncan Ouseley rejected an appeal against Mr Assange's bail by Swedish authorities, who claimed if he was set free he might flee rather than face charges in Sweden that he allegedly committed four sex offences against two women in what began as consensual sexual encounters.

Justice Ouseley said one reason he believed Mr Assange was unlikely to abscond was that the allegations against him in Sweden did not seem to be "a cast iron case... so he has some prospects of success".

Evidence that one Swedish prosecutor felt there was no case against Mr Assange before another prosecutor disagreed and decided to pursue the matter suggested that the case "would be one that could be resisted by an innocent man," said Justice Ouseley.

Mr Assange denies the allegations of sexual abuse and insists the Swedish prosecution is a politically motivated attempt to stop his website from revealing US government secrets.

The internet publisher's release was delayed by a scramble to meet the court's demand for a £200,000 ($316,000) security payment and sureties from seven people who were prepared to stake their reputations and up to £20,000 of their own money on their confidence Mr Assange would not skip bail.

Mr Assange's legal team raced throughout the afternoon to meet those conditions before the close of business so their client would not be sent back for another night in solitary confinement, where he has been constantly monitored by infra-red cameras.

The providers of sureties included Australian journalist Phillip Knightley, publishing tycoon Felix Dennis, Nobel laureate for medicine Sir John Sulston, former British Labour spokesman on justice in the House of Lords Matthew Evans and academic Professor Patricia David.

The judge said he was worried that many of the people who had offered to back Mr Assange did not know him personally and were motivated by their support for his work with Wikileaks fighting for freedom of speech.

That raised the risk they might feel it would be "a righteous act" for Mr Assange to skip bail in order to continue his Wikileaks work, the judge said.

The judge's solution was to accept stringent bail conditions and a mix of sureties from the public figures who backed Mr Assange and from two personal friends, caterer Sarah Saunders and Vaughan Smith, a club owner in whose country estate Mr Assange will be obliged to live during his extradition hearings.

Mr Assange will have to wear an electronic tag and observe curfews of 12 hours each day while staying at Ellingham Hall, the mansion on Mr Smith's 600-acre property in Suffolk.

Mr Smith's home has ten bedrooms which are often rented out to visitors and members of hunting parties. Mr Assange will be paying for his lodgings and board, according to Mr Smith.

Mr Assange will have to report to police each day and he has surrendered his passport

The Obama Administration has made it clear it wants to take legal action against Mr Assange and his website, and it has been considering charges under the 1917 Espionage Act or other laws relating to his role in obtaining and publishing massive cashes of stolen US government cables.

Bradley Manning, a junior US military analyst, is in custody for having leaked the confidential cables and the Department of Justice is examining ways of linking Mr Assange to Mr Manning's alleged crimes.

The extradition case will resume on January 11 with two full days of hearings set down in early February. Legal experts say a European Arrest Warrant like that used against Mr Assange is highly likely to see him ultimately sent to Sweden but appeals could stretch the matter out for more than a year.
  1. groups:
    Community,   News and Politics,   Human Rights
  2. tags:
    UK,  Wikileaks,  Freedom of Speech,  Julian Assange,  4 more
  3. recommended by:
    Vierotchka,
    pjacobs51
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80 comments // Julian Assange released, vows Wikileaks to fight on

  • gerardange
    • +1
      gerardange  
    • Image

    • Okay now what?

      So now we all go back to sleep? Back to business as usual & doing nothing?

      Doing nothing is stupid!

      Doing something is courageous...

      WIKILEAKS IS A WAKE-UP CALL !!!

      Wikileaks is a global "Virus Protection Software" that has shown all of us that our systems are infected.... That there is a trojan virus running in the background - doing things against the interests of the People of the Country that the government is mandated to represent.

      This is a real wake-up call for people everywhere.... that Corporations have taken over all our government systems... Stealing all our freedoms and making us slaves of their corporate system.

      LEARN FROM HISTORY.....

      Mussolini quote: " Fascism should be appropriately called Corporatism because of a merger of State & Corporate Power."

      That is what is going on here...

      This is a wake-up call for everyone.. and

      Wikileaks is the Alarm Bell !!!

      Truth is courageous...

      ~

    • 1 year ago
  • ayipis
    • -1
      ayipis  

    • its funny that in a few months..there will be movie about this..

      this guy better act fast before the next season of "American Idol"...or else he would loose the interest of the american liberal public..

      LOL..

    • 1 year ago
  • ras_menelik
  • ColossalView
    • 0
      ColossalView  

    • "The Obama Administration has made it clear it wants to take legal action against Mr Assange and his website, and it has been considering charges under the 1917 Espionage Act or other laws relating to his role in obtaining and publishing massive cashes of stolen US government cables."

      ...Oh please.

    • 1 year ago
  • CalgarC
  • jonipitcock
  • ras_menelik
    • +1
      ras_menelik  

    • One of the problems with the WikiLeaks story is that there has been way too much conflating going on, as Katrin Verclas pointed out at the symposium. So some serious unconflating (disconflating?) is in order.

      I see four main aspects to the story. The first important aspect of the revelations is... the revelations.

      Too much of the coverage has been meta -- focusing on questions about whether the leaks were justified, while too little has dealt with the details of what has actually been revealed and what those revelations say about the wisdom of our ongoing effort in Afghanistan. There's a reason why the administration is so upset about these leaks.

      True, there hasn't been one smoking-gun, bombshell revelation -- but that's certainly not to say the cables haven't been revealing. What there has been instead is more of the consistent drip, drip, drip of damning details we keep getting about the war. Details that belie the upbeat talk the administration wants us to believe. The effect is cumulative -- not unlike mercury poisoning.

      It's notable that the latest leaks came out the same week President Obama went to Afghanistan for his surprise visit to the troops -- and made a speech about how we are "succeeding" and "making important progress" and bound to "prevail."

      The WikiLeaks cables present quite a different picture. What emerges is one reality (the real one) colliding with another (the official one). We see smart, good-faith diplomats and foreign service personnel trying to make the truth on the ground match up to the one the administration has proclaimed to the public. The cables show the widening disconnect. It's like a foreign policy Ponzi scheme -- this one fueled not by the public's money, but the public's acquiescence.

      The cables show that the administration has been cooking the books. And what's scandalous is not the actions of the diplomats doing their best to minimize the damage from our policies, but the policies themselves. Of course, we've known about them, but the cables provide another opportunity to see the truth behind the spin -- so it's no wonder the administration has reacted so hysterically to them.

      The second aspect of the story -- the one that was the focus of the symposium -- is the changing relationship to government that technology has made possible.

      Back in the year 2007, B.W. (Before WikiLeaks), Barack Obama waxed lyrical about government and the internet: "We have to use technology to open up our democracy. It's no coincidence that one of the most secretive administrations in our history has favored special interest and pursued policy that could not stand up to the sunlight."

      At that moment he was, of course, busy building an internet framework that would play an important part in his becoming the head of the next administration. Not long after the election, in announcing his "Transparency and Open Government" policy, the president proclaimed: "Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset."

      Cut to a few years later. Now that he's defending a reality that doesn't match up to, well, reality, he's suddenly not so keen on the people having a chance to access this "national asset."

      Even more wikironic are the statements by his Secretary of State who, less than a year ago, was lecturing other nations about the value of an unfettered and free internet. Given her description of the WikiLeaks as "an attack on America's foreign policy interests" that have put in danger "innocent people," her comments take on a whole different light. Some highlights:

      In authoritarian countries, information networks are helping people discover new facts and making governments more accountable... technologies with the potential to open up access to government and promote transparency can also be hijacked by governments to crush dissent and deny human rights... As in the dictatorships of the past, governments are targeting independent thinkers who use these tools.

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/the-media-gets-it-wrong-o_b_797...

    • 1 year ago
  • ii386
  • lifestudentno83
  • n537
    • +3
      n537  

    • :) and so the struggle continues. In any case, I think the real victory will be won when the people bring the information on wikileaks to the fore-front and make those responsible accountable for all the suffering they injected into the world. Knowing is a start.

    • 1 year ago
  • jubal
    • +13
      jubal  

    • I'm glad to see that Julian has been released on bail. How hypocritical of the Obama admin seeking to charge Julian when his administration continues war crimes begun under Bush.

    • 1 year ago
  • telcod
  • treewolf39
  • Dejan_Croatia
  • pjacobs51
    • +13
      pjacobs51  

    • "And to members of the press who are not all taken in, and considered to look deeper in their work."

      That needed to be said!

    • 1 year ago
  • Stoneyroad
    • +12
      Stoneyroad  

    • Fight the Power ! (become a public enemy)
      The revolution will not be televised (it will be POSTED)

      If the founding fathers were alive today,
      they would be blogging about Visa/Mastercard & Paypal denying purchases of Thomas Paine's 'Common Sense'

    • 1 year ago
  • tverdell
    • tverdell  
    • This comment was removed by its owner.
  • maasanova
  • telcod
    • +11
      telcod  

    • I am up for $50 for his defense fund come my first SS check 1/12. Probably have to route through Iceland. But that's alright by me. Let's keep this dude free and stirrin the shit.

    • 1 year ago
  • CalgarC
  • RojoGatto
  • CalgarC
  • CalgarC
  • ThatCrazyLibertarian
  • telcod
  • CalgarC
  • Stoneyroad
  • CalgarC
  • artemis6
    • +8
      artemis6  

    • Too bad Bradley Manning cannot be released as well . The good thing is , his profile has been raised to the point that , he is actually safer , now . The public will notice any untoward act against him .

    • 1 year ago
  • keithponder
    • +5
      keithponder  

    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvdsRNVCLZE&feature=player_embedded

      I'm glad that he made bail. I want to find out more about him and what he's being accused for myself. Enough of the smear campaign, and I don't see him as a hero. I just don't like seeing anyone getting railroaded without due process and a fair trail. Julian Assange would have never gotten a fair trail had he not made bail. Staying locked up and then extradited would have made it completely impossible for his attorneys to prepare for his defense. Impossible. The truth will destroy some of us and some will be set free. That's all the second coming really is, and there is no hiding place for none of us.

      Here's the deal. Are the leaks true or false ? The Viet Nam war was televised and it woke up the American public as what war really was about and how dirty and ugly politics really can be. After that, our government has sworn to keep us all submerged in everlasting ignorance by creating and recreating the news as oppose to reporting news and allowing us to judge for ourselves. Well those "we'll believe anything that you tell" us are over.

      Thank God for the internet.

    • 1 year ago
  • Vierotchka
  • keithponder
  • MoonLoon
  • keithponder
  • NiceN
    • +6
      NiceN  

    • Light up the darkness.... with military secrets, revealing corruption, and exposing the truth in times of lies.

    • 1 year ago
  • H3ADLINE
    • +6
      H3ADLINE  
    • Image

    • Keep up the fight for truth, Julian.

      You may not like him, what he believes, or how he does it, but anyone concerned about liberty and freedom of the press should stand up for his right to bring secrets into the light. It will not end with Julian, or WikiLeaks. They will take the rights we don't fight for. Don't wait until it's too late.

      (picture created and stylized by me from a photograph by the Guardian)

    • 1 year ago
  • MoonLoon
    • -9
      MoonLoon  
    • H3ADLINE:

      I think that he is a little worm, soon to be squashed. A fool, that let his ego blind him on how to handle the information that he was given. His ego convinced him that he could face off the strongest gov't. on the planet.

    • 1 year ago
  • H3ADLINE
    • +7
      H3ADLINE  
    • MoonLoon:

      Power-worshiping worms like yourself are free to infest the planet while journalists like Assange are vilified. You resent his courage as arrogance, as you would rather cower in ignorance. His example holds up a mirror to your surrender. We see you for what you are.

      Those who value liberty are prepared to fight for it. They are prepared to die for it. They sometimes do. Such is the price of speaking truth to power.

      However, it takes a truly evil person to wish for it, to applaud the silencing of truth and triumph of fear.

    • 1 year ago
  • MoonLoon
  • MoonLoon
    • -10
      MoonLoon  

    • Julian resides on a supporters estate, while Bradley resides in isolation in a military cell. Congratulations, Julian for fnuking over your contacts. You are a real stand up guy! And this should be a lesson to all tempted to reveal information to Wikileaks. This small boy will betray you! Because that is his nature. He is a hacker and, thus a criminal, to his core.

    • 1 year ago
  • a619ko
  • MoonLoon
    • -9
      MoonLoon  
    • a619ko:

      Do not post until you research. Julian was a renowned hacker before he he founded Wikileaks. Once a hacker, always a hacker, even I know this fact. It supports their pitiful attempt at manhood.

    • 1 year ago
  • MoonLoon
  • onemalefla
  • Vierotchka
  • MoonLoon
    • -10
      MoonLoon  
    • Vierotchka:

      Your personal insults are revolting and indicative of an unbalanced mindset. You are clearly incapable of responding in a civilised manner. Thus, I choose not to respond to you until your mental age matches your physical age. Which is unlikely to happen for a long, long, time.

    • 1 year ago
  • onemalefla
  • CalgarC
  • CalgarC
  • CalgarC
  • telcod
    • +4
      telcod  
    • MoonLoon:

      Do you mean Hacker or Cracker? Different definitions. Talk to any Hacker. In any case, as long as I can see or discuss anyone other than the media turds out there, I'm giddy. Just remember, OJ was innocent in the criminal court anyway. The lady with the blindfold is blind. Who paid for the blindfold? That's what I want to know.

    • 1 year ago
  • telcod
  • CalgarC
  • CalgarC
  • CalgarC
  • CalgarC
  • MoonLoon
  • MoonLoon
  • keithponder
    • +3
      keithponder  
    • Image
    • MoonLoon:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikileaks
      My research from Wikipedia states that Chinese journalist, not Julian Assange actually founded Wikileaks. The assume founder is, still today, on the advisory board and only the spokesperson for the organization.
      -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      History

      The wikileaks.org domain name was registered on 4 October 2006.[5] The website was unveiled, and published its first document in December 2006.[19][20] The site claims to have been "founded by Chinese dissidents, journalists, mathematicians and start-up company technologists, from the US, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa".[4]
      The creators of WikiLeaks have not been formally identified.[21] It has been represented in public since January 2007 by Julian Assange and others. Assange describes himself as a member of WikiLeaks' advisory board.[22] News reports in The Australian have called Assange the "founder of WikiLeaks".[23] According to Wired magazine, a volunteer said that Assange described himself in a private conversation as "the heart and soul of this organisation, its founder, philosopher, spokesperson, original coder, organiser, financier, and all the rest".[24] As of June 2009, the site had over 1,200 registered volunteers[4] and listed an advisory board comprising Assange, Phillip Adams, Wang Dan, C. J. Hinke, Ben Laurie, Tashi Namgyal Khamsitsang, Xiao Qiang, Chico Whitaker and Wang Youcai.[25] Despite appearing on the list, when contacted by Mother Jones magazine in 2010, Khamsitsang said that while he received an e-mail from WikiLeaks, he had never agreed to be an advisor.[26]
      WikiLeaks states that its "primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to people of all regions who wish to reveal unethical behaviour in their governments and corporations."[4][27]
      In January 2007, the website stated that it had over 1.2 million leaked documents that it was preparing to publish.[28] An article in The New Yorker said:
      One of the WikiLeaks activists owned a server that was being used as a node for the Tor network. Millions of secret transmissions passed through it. The activist noticed that hackers from China were using the network to gather foreign governments’ information, and began to record this traffic. Only a small fraction has ever been posted on WikiLeaks, but the initial tranche served as the site’s foundation, and Assange was able to say, "[w]e have received over one million documents from thirteen countries."[29][30]

    • 1 year ago
  • MoonLoon
  • MoonLoon
    • -1
      MoonLoon  
    • keithponder:

      Thanks Keith, for taking the time to research this issue. I am not an expert diplomat, however, I can smell corruption from a mile away. Your sense of honor and dignity is appreciated by me.

    • 1 year ago
  • MoonLoon
  • MoonLoon
  • CalgarC
  • CalgarC
  • MoonLoon
  • telcod
  • telcod
    • 0
      telcod  
    • MoonLoon:

      Ya know, I have not followed him lately. Interesting enough, I did a summer internship at Protero Hill Rec Center, SF, CA, in 1966 where he used to frequent as a youth. He never dropped by.

    • 1 year ago
  • Vierotchka
    • +2
      Vierotchka  
    • keithponder:

      At the bottom of that Wiki page it is written:

      "This page was last modified on 17 December 2010 at 01:31"

      Which means that the information has been tampered with, which means that it is unreliable.

    • 1 year ago
  • telcod
    • 0
      telcod  
    • MoonLoon:

      Probably need to institute a "Bitch Slap Free Zone." on Current. What do you think? People forget we have more in common, than we have in our differences. All goosed by the same machine.

    • 1 year ago
  • telcod
    • 0
      telcod  
    • onemalefla:

      Most people are still looking for the daddy that was never there raised by the mother that didn't know any better. Gender, race, religion, politics, all the same and all irrelevant.

    • 1 year ago
  • telcod
  • telcod
  • telcod
  • keithponder
  • telcod
  • CalgarC
  • CalgarC
  • CalgarC
  • MoonLoon
    • 0
      MoonLoon  
    • keithponder:

      "Keith", I must assume from this report that Julian is the frontman for Chinese attempts to access information on the U.S. and other gov'ts.? Could it be an overall plan for them to cover up their bribery operations in Africa and distract Global attention to U.S. diplomatic cables? Julian has been used by them and it is clear by your research results.

    • 1 year ago
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