Replies to post #121424 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

The interview comes highly recommended and fulfills all expectation, with
Frost at his considered best, and Assange, quiet, serious and forthright.

The interview certainly fulfills the recommendation, with
insights and information not read in any article i've seen.

Towards "a more just civilization." The exchange is a beaut!

Go Julian! Thank you.

[fuagf]

Julian Assange loses extradition case – live coverage

• WikiLeaks founder given 14 days to decide whether to ask supreme court to reopen the case
• Read a summary of key events
• Read more: Assange given 14 days to challenge ruling

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Gareth Peirce, a lawyer representing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, addresses
the media outside the supreme court this morning. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

2.02pm: Julian Assange's lawyer Gareth Peirce is quoted in this story by Owen Bowcott and Esther Addley:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/may/30/julian-assange-challenge-extradition

The majority of the judges believe that parliament was seriously misled when it approved the European arrest warrant system. Parliament thought a "judicial authority" meant a judge or court but the majority of supreme court judges based their decision on what is the practice in Europe and decided it on the basis of the Vienna convention, which was never argued before the court.

Veteran Australian journalist John Pilger, a supporter of Assange's, was also quoted. He was putting a brave face on today's events:

I don't think this judgment is a blow. We are disappointed but it came so close. Three of the judges [who found against Assange] were tipping in our favour.

There was a consensus [on the bench] that parliament had been misled on this law. The court has now agreed to allow Julian Assange's legal team to go back and reconsider this. This case moves in mysterious ways and we are about to move into another mysterious stage of this whole unnecessary process.

12.40pm: Joshua Rozenberg has the inside story on how Dinah Rose's "quick legal footwork" ensured Julian Assange a two-week stay of extradition this morning.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/may/30/assange-extradition-halted

The judges had been warned that Dinah Rose QC, his fearless counsel, wanted to address the court. But they were not prepared for what she had to say.

That was largely their own fault. Normally, draft judgments are circulated to counsel up to a week before delivery. That enables the lawyers to point out minor errors: a name mistyped, a date wrong and so on. It's something of a safeguard for the judges. But since it was the WikiLeaks man whose appeal they were hearing, the supreme court justices were taking no chances. To avoid leaks, lawyers were not shown the judgments until 8.30 this morning.

That was just enough time for Rose to work out that the court had based its reasoning on a point that had never been argued at the two-day hearing in February. Assange, who didn't turn up for the judgment, knew nothing of what was being done on his behalf.

He also gives a rough summary of what might happen when Assange's team asks the supreme court to reopen the case:

In the end, the judges may decide that they were entitled to take the Vienna convention into account. In that event, they would presumably confirm the decision they delivered today. But given two weeks to prepare her case, Rose could well come up with other arguments. In the meantime, Assange can stay in the UK.

more .. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2012/may/30/julian-assange-extradition-verdict-live-coverage

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Assange work could be targeted: union

21:08 AEDT Wed May 30 2012

The head of the journalists' union in Australia fears a UK Supreme Court decision allowing Julian Assange to be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault could open the door for the WikiLeaks founder to be charged over his journalism.

Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) federal secretary Chris Warren told AAP the Queensland man could now be a step closer to extradition to the US.

"Our concern is not so much the possibility of him facing charges in Sweden," he said on Wednesday.

"Our concern has always been that he could (ultimately) face serious charges for the journalistic work that he has done through WikiLeaks."

He said Assange had been a member of the MEAA for 10 years and that the organisation he founded should be treated as a media outlet.

"This is an organisation that has really changed the way we think about journalism," he said.

In 2011, the union's Walkley Foundation awarded WikiLeaks the prize for most outstanding contribution to journalism.

Swedish prosecutors have sought Assange's extradition from the UK so he can be questioned about claims by two women that he sexually assaulted them in Stockholm in August 2010.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8475965/assange-work-could-be-targeted-union

[fuagf]

WikiLeaks releases 2.4 million Syria emails

Updated July 05, 2012 22:39:45


Photo: Julian Assange says the material is embarrassing to Syria,
as well as to Syria's opponents. (Stefan Wermuth : REUTERS)

WikiLeaks has begun publishing more than 2 million emails from Syrian political figures that
it says will shed light on the regime's crackdown on dissent and embarrass Syria's opponents.

The emails date back to 2006 but also cover the past 16 months, in which thousands have been killed in a bloody crackdown by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's forces.

The whistleblowing website says the files will give an insight into how the Assad government operates, and also reveal Western countries and businesses which continue to support Syria.

"They also reveal how the West and Western companies say one thing and do another," the organisation said.

Read the Syria files. .. http://www.wikileaks.org/syria-files/

WikiLeaks says the emails came from Syrian ministries including foreign affairs, finance and presidential affairs, but it will not comment on the material until stories derived from the files are published.

But Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says the material is embarrassing to Syria, as well as to Syria's opponents.

"It helps us not merely to criticise one group or another, but to understand their interests, actions and thoughts," he said in a statement.

"It is only through understanding this conflict that we can hope to resolve it."

Altogether, the site says it will publish 2,434,899 emails from 680 domains, which it is "statistically confident" are accurate and authentic.

It says there are 678,752 different email addresses involved, and 1,082,447 different recipients.

There are around 400,000 emails in Arabic but also 68,000 emails in Russian.

It is not the first time Syrian emails have been leaked.

In March, Britain's Guardian newspaper published emails which claimed Mr Assad's wife Asma .. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-20/asma-al-assad-profile/3900816 .. was spending tens of thousands of pounds on jewellery and fancy furniture amid the bloodshed.

WikiLeaks' publication comes amid continued wrangling between world powers about how the bloody conflict in Syria should be tackled.

The revolt, which started with peaceful pro-democracy protests, has turned into a something approaching a civil war as the government's crackdown triggered an armed uprising.

Rights groups as many as 16,500 people have been killed in the 16-month uprising, while Mr Assad blames the deaths on "terrorist gangs".

Meanwhile, Mr Assange remains currently holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London seeking political asylum.

He is seeking to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning on sex abuse allegations.

WikiLeaks enraged Washington by releasing a flood of classified information and diplomatic cables in 2010, and Mr Assange says America wants to try him for leaking the documents. .. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-22/julian-assange-in-his-own-words/4086402

Mr Assange fears that once he is in Sweden, the US will seek his extradition.

Even if he is granted asylum in Ecuador, British police say they will arrest him for being in breach of his bail conditions as soon as he sets foot outside the embassy.

Mr Assange was on $315,000 bail, which included the condition he spend nights at home.

ABC/wires

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-05/wikileaks-releases-syria-files/4113284