Julian Assange

WikiLeaks chose the the third anniversary of its founder鈥檚 stay in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on June 19 to release about Saudi Arabia. Among the revelations contained in the files, believed to have been leaked by a group calling itself the Yemen Cyber Army, are details about the country鈥檚 focus on its strategic rival, Iran, and the revolution in Egypt.
French president Francois Hollande called for an emergency meeting with his defence council on June 24, after showing the United States has been spying on all France's presidents since 2006. 鈥淭he French people have a right to know that their elected government is subject to hostile surveillance from a supposed ally,鈥 said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Julian Assange,鈥 鈥琭ounder and editor,鈥 鈥琽f WikiLeaks had been a refugee in the Ecuadorian鈥 鈥珽mbassy in London for three years as of June鈥 鈥19. The key issue in his extraordinary incarceration is justice.鈥 鈥琀e has been charged with no crime.鈥 鈥琓he first Swedish prosecutor dismissed the misconduct allegations regarding two women in Stockholm in鈥 鈥2010.鈥 鈥琓he second Swedish prosecutor's actions were and are demonstrably political. Until recently,鈥 鈥瑂he refused to come to London to interview Assange鈥 鈥-鈥 鈥瑃hen she said she was coming.鈥 鈥琓hen she cancelled her appointment.鈥
Stock graphic of confidential files.

United States politics is witnessing a new sorry spectacle 鈥 and one with real consequences for Australia, as well as other nations on the Pacific rim. US President Barack Obama is trying to drum up support from his party to implement the agenda of the huge corporations that sought to block his election and re-election via the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) 鈥渇ree trade鈥 deal involving 12 Pacific rim nations.

Julian Assange will stay in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London as long as the United States government continues its case against him for his work on whistleblowing website Wikileaks, his lawyers said on March 19. The recent development of the Swedish prosecutors agreeing to question Assange over two cases of sexual assault in 2010 within the embassy has led to speculation that he could leave the building, where he has taken refuge for over 1000 days, if the Swedish charges are dropped. Assange, who has never been charged, has always denied the sexual assault allegations.
The siege of Knightsbridge is a farce. For two years, an exaggerated, costly police presence around the Ecuadorean embassy in London has served no purpose other than to flaunt the power of the state. Their quarry is an Australian charged with no crime, a refugee from gross injustice whose only security is the room given to him by a brave South American country. His true crime is to have initiated a wave of truth-telling in an era of lies, cynicism and war. The persecution of WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange must end. Even the British government clearly believes it must end.
The statement below was on October 16 after it published a from the proposed TransPacific Partnership trade deal. The TPP is being negotiated behind closed doors by the United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Chile, Singapore, Peru, Vietnam, New Zealand and Brunei. ***
The crowd at the 'Moment of Truth' meeting, September 15.

Auckland Town Hall was packed to overflowing on September 15, with almost 2000 people. They heard US National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden present new evidence that the New Zealand government has been collaborating with US authorities to carry out wholesale surveillance and data collection on NZ citizens.

Alexa O'Brien has become known as a "one-woman court record system" for her extensive coverage of whistleblower Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning's trial. She has also covered the WikiLeaks release of US State Department Cables, the Guantanamo Files, the global "war on terror" and the Arab Spring. This is an edited extract from a speech she gave to a public forum called 鈥淒efending Dissent: from Manning to Occupy鈥 in Sydney on September 17. The full forum . ***
The US army whistleblower formerly known as Bradley Manning has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for releasing thousands of classified military documents to WikiLeaks. In a statement after the sentencing, Manning announced her decision to transition to life as a woman and requested to be called Chelsea. The Sydney Support Assange and WikiLeaks Coalition released this statement on August 22. ***
The WikiLeaks Party formally announced its Senate candidates on July 25. Three candidates will be standing for the Senate in Victoria, including WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, author and Monash University gender studies lecturer Leslie Cannold, and RMIT law lecturer Binoy Kampmark. Two candidates will stand in the Senate in NSW 鈥 human rights lawyer Kellie Tranter and former diplomat Alison Broinowski. Another two candidates, refugee activist Gerry Georgatos and president of the National Ethnic Disability Alliance Suresh Rajan, will run for the Senate in Western Australia.
The statement below was released by Socialist Alliance election candidate Margarita Windisch on July 5. Windisch is contesting the Victorian seat of Wills in the upcoming federal election. *** The Obama administration is now in overdrive trying to hunt down and extradite whistleblower Edward Snowden for revealing the extraordinary extent to which the United States鈥 PRISM spy program has carried out surveillance of citizens.