The WikiLeaks story (233)
Freedom of speech, the right to public information about government workings, or dangerous secrets best kept in the dark? You decide.
WikiLeaks suspect loses bid to get key charge dropped
27 April 2012
PFC Bradley Manning (C) is escorted by military police as he enters the courtroom at Fort Meade, Maryland for his court martial hearing on April 25.
AFP - A US military judge ruled Thursday that WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning can be tried for "aiding the enemy" over allegedly leaking documents to the site -- a charge that carries a potential life sentence.
The decision was another setback for Manning, whose attorneys had argued for the espionage charge to be tossed out unless the government was prepared to prove the US Army private had intended to help Al-Qaeda when he allegedly passed files to WikiLeaks.
The 24-year-old could be jailed for life if convicted of "aiding the enemy," one of 22 criminal charges that judge Colonel Denise Lind let stand at pre-trial hearings this week at Fort Meade in Maryland. Lind said she would issue instructions on the espionage count to make clear what prosecutors will have to prove against Manning when his trial starts on September 21. The government will have to show that Manning "knowingly" and without permission passed classified information to the enemy "through indirect means," she said. Defense lawyers insisted the government's case implies any soldier could be prosecuted for espionage if they inadvertently divulged secrets online or discussed sensitive information with news reporters.
WikiLeaks' Assange to run for Australian Senate
17 March 2012
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (pictured in February) is planning to run for election to the Australian Senate, the organisation announced on Twitter.
AFP - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is planning to run for election to the Australian Senate, the organisation announced on Twitter.
Assange, an Australian citizen, is on bail awaiting a British court decision on his appeal against extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations. He strongly denies the claims, saying they are politically motivated and linked to the activities of WikiLeaks, which has published thousands of confidential documents on the Internet.
Secret Assad emails lift lid on life of leader's inner circle
by Robert Booth, Mona Mahmood and Luke Harding
Wednesday 14 March 2012 
Bashar al-Assad apparently made light of reforms he had promised in an attempt to defuse the Syrian crisis. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Bashar al-Assad took advice from Iran on how to handle the uprising against his rule, according to a cache of what appear to be several thousand emails received and sent by the Syrian leader and his wife.
The Syrian leader was also briefed in detail about the presence of western journalists in the Baba Amr district of Homs and urged to "tighten the security grip" on the opposition-held city in November.
The revelations are contained in more than 3,000 documents that activists say are emails downloaded from private accounts belonging to Assad and his wife Asma. The messages, which have been obtained by the Guardian, are said to have been intercepted by members of the opposition Supreme Council of the Revolution group between June and early February.
Bradley Manning's treatment was cruel and inhuman, UN torture chief rules
UN special rapporteur on torture's findings likely to reignite criticism of US government's treatment of WikiLeaks suspect
by Ed Pilkington
Monday 12 March 2012
Bradley Manning has been charged on 22 counts, including aiding the enemy. Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
The UN special rapporteur on torture has formally accused the US government of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment towards Bradley Manning, the US soldier who was held in solitary confinement for almost a year on suspicion of being the WikiLeaks source.
WikiLeaks targets global risk company Stratfor
27 February 2012
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks at a news conference in London, February 27, 2012. REUTERS-Finbarr O'Reilly
(Reuters) - The anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks began publishing on Monday more than 5 million emails from a U.S.-based global security analysis company that has been likened to a shadow CIA.
The emails, snatched by hackers, could unmask sensitive sources and throw light on the murky world of intelligence-gathering by the company known as Stratfor, which counts Fortune 500 corporations among its subscribers.
Julian Assange to guest star on "The Simpsons"
30 January 2012
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrives at the High Court in London December 5, 2011. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth
(Reuters) - Controversial WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be a guest character and voice on animated TV comedy "The Simpsons," playing a neighbor of the family after they move from their home in fictional Springfield.
Assange's "brief" guest starring role will be on the show's February 19 program, which marks the 500th episode of "The Simpsons," said Antonia Coffman, a spokeswoman for the show airing on the Fox television network in the United States.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's TV show to be aired on Russian channel
State-run Russia Today buys rights to broadcast 10-part series of interviews with 'political players, thinkers and revolutionaries'
by Miriam Elder
Wednesday 25 January 2012
Julian Assange's television chat show is due to begin airing on Russia Today from March. Photograph: David Levenson/Getty Images
It's the television channel that has given voice to a thousand anti-western conspiracy theories, while avoiding criticism of the hand that feeds it. Now state-run Russia Today, the Kremlin's English-language propaganda arm, has forged an unlikely partnership – with the self-proclaimed defender of truth and freedom Julian Assange.
WikiLeaks: rights to Julian Assange chat show bought by Russian TV
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has chosen a Kremlin-bankrolled satellite TV channel known for its relentless anti-Western propaganda to broadcast his new talk show.
Julian Assange is fighting extradition to Sweden Photo: REUTERS
By Andrew Osborn
25 January 2012
RT, a Moscow-based channel formerly known as Russia Today, said on Wednesday it had secured exclusive first broadcast rights for Mr Assange’s new 10-part interview show ‘The World Tomorrow.’ “Details of the episodes and the guests featured are secret for now,” RT said in a statement, adding it was proud to be associated with the WikiLeaks founder.
WikiLeaks warns of "surveillance state" through phone monitoring
1 December 2011
Julian Assange
London - Leading Western countries are exporting 'mass surveillance systems' around the world by selling programmes which facilitate the interception of mobile phones and computers, according to WikiLeaks.
'The reality is, intelligence contractors are selling right now to countries across the world mass surveillance systems for all those products,' said Julian Assange, the founder of the whistleblowing website, in London. The interception, although lawful, was leading towards a 'totalitarian surveillance state,' he said.
WikiLeaks soldier Manning had gender issues: Defense
18 December 2011
Protesters carry signs in front of Fort Meade, in support of US soldier Bradley Manning, who is facing a pre-trial hearing inside the base for being the source of a leak of classified documents to Wikileaks.
AFP - Bradley Manning struggled with gender issues and emotional problems while deployed in Iraq, his lawyers said, as the US soldier accused of a massive intelligence breach spent his 24th birthday in court.
In cross-examination of US Army investigators and one of Manning's former superior officers, the defense team sought to establish that he was suffering from mental health problems and that his commanders failed to take action or revoke his security clearance. Manning is accused of downloading 260,000 US diplomatic cables, videos of US air strikes and US military reports from Afghanistan and Iraq while serving as a low-ranking intelligence analyst in Iraq and providing them to WikiLeaks.
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