First
Called ‘US Enemy of State’, Now Julian Assange Makes UN Appearance
27
September 2012
Source:
The
2012 Scenario - Stephen Cook, 9/26/12
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
addresses the UN via videolink from Ecuador’s London embassy. Photo: AP
First Called ‘US Enemy of State’, Now Julian Assange Makes UN
Appearance
First this morning, my time in Australia, he has
been called an ‘enemy of the state’ by the US (see second story below)
and now he’s at the UN!
There is so much more – much, much more – to the
whole Julian Assange saga than many of us realise… as we will soon know.
sage’s post on Sergio di Modigliani’s blogpost
which explained a lot of the real background to the Assange story is
here:
***************************************
Julian
Assange Makes UN Appearance
By AAP, Sydney Morning Herald – September 27,
2012
Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was
beamed live by satellite from within the Ecuadorean embassy in London to
Wednesday’s United Nations forum, when he called on the United States
government to end its pursuit of his whistleblower website.
“It is time for the US to cease its persecution
of WikiLeaks, to cease its persecution of our people, and to cease its
persecution of our alleged sources,” Mr Assange told the Strengthening Human
Rights meeting.
“It is time for President [Barack] Obama to do
the right thing … not in fine words, but in fine deeds.”
Mr Assange sought asylum in Ecuador after
failing to appeal against orders by British courts that he be extradited to
Sweden for questioning over sexual assault allegations.
Mr Assange denies the claims and fears his
extradition will lead to his transportation to the US where he will be
prosecuted for publishing a cache of confidential US diplomatic cables and
documents on his website.
Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr on
Wednesday said the position of Mr Assange had not been discussed during any of
his meetings with international delegates while in New York. Nor does he have
any intention of meeting Ecuadorian officials on the issue.
Ecuador request to Britain
Ecuador’s Foreign Minister will ask British authorities
to give Mr Assange safe passage out of Britain in a bid to end the stand-off
between the countries.
Ricardo Patino told a human rights forum at the
United Nations headquarters in New York on Wednesday that he planned to meet
British Foreign Secretary William Hague in the city on Thursday.
It will be the first talks between the two
countries since the Latin American nation granted the Australian WikiLeaks
founder diplomatic asylum in August.
“What we are going to ask is that they will
grant him safe passage so his asylum can be effective,” Mr Patino said through
a translator.
“We see this as a way not only to resolve the
deadlock between our two countries, but also to protect the human rights of Mr
Assange.
“The other question that’s in the air is: what
if they don’t grant him safe conduct? Do we want to keep him 10 years in our
embassy? Mr Assange would have to live there for 10 years without having the
right to his life, his personal life, intimacy, the right to mobility.”
Mr Patino said Ecuador will “not back down” from
its commitment to Mr Assange’s human rights
****************************************************
Julian Assange … “enemy of the state”. Photo:
AFP
US Calls Assange ‘Enemy of State’
US Calls Assange ‘Enemy of State’
By Philip Dorling, Sydney Morining Herald –
September 27, 2012
THE US military has designated Julian Assange
and WikiLeaks as enemies of the United States – the same legal category as the
al-Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban insurgency.
Declassified US Air Force counter-intelligence
documents, released under US freedom-of-information laws, reveal that military
personnel who contact WikiLeaks or WikiLeaks supporters may be at risk of being
charged with “communicating with the enemy”, a military crime that carries a
maximum sentence of death.
The documents, some originally classified
“Secret/NoForn” – not releasable to non-US nationals – record a probe by the
air force’s Office of Special Investigations into a cyber systems analyst based
in Britain who allegedly expressed support for WikiLeaks and attended
pro-Assange demonstrations in London.
The counter-intelligence investigation focused
on whether the analyst, who had a top-secret security clearance and access to
the US military’s Secret Internet Protocol Router network, had disclosed
classified or sensitive information to WikiLeaks supporters, described as an
“anti-US and/or anti-military group”.
The suspected offence was “communicating with
the enemy, 104-D”, an article in the US Uniform Code of Military Justice that
prohibits military personnel from “communicating, corresponding or holding
intercourse with the enemy”.
The analyst’s access to classified information
was suspended. However, the investigators closed the case without laying
charges. The analyst denied leaking information.
Mr Assange remains holed up in Ecuador’s embassy
in London. He was granted diplomatic asylum on the grounds that if extradited
to Sweden to be questioned about sexual assault allegations, he would be at
risk of extradition to the US to face espionage or conspiracy charges arising
from the leaking of hundreds of thousands of secret US military and diplomatic
reports.
US Vice-President Joe Biden labelled Mr Assange
a “high-tech terrorist” in December 2010 and US congressional leaders have
called for him to be charged with espionage.
Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee – both once
involved in presidential campaigns – have both urged that Mr Assange be “hunted
down”.
Mr Assange’s US attorney, Michael Ratner, said
the designation of WikiLeaks as an “enemy” had serious implications for the
WikiLeaks publisher if he were to be extradited to the US, including possible
military detention.
US Army private Bradley Manning faces a court
martial charged with aiding the enemy – identified as al-Qaeda – by
transmitting information that, published by WikiLeaks, became available to the
enemy.
Mr Ratner said that under US law it would most
likely have been considered criminal for the US Air Force analyst to
communicate classified material to journalists and publishers, but those
journalists and publishers would not have been considered the enemy or
prosecuted.
“However, in the FOI documents there is no
allegation of any actual communication for publication that would aid an enemy
of the United States such as al-Qaeda, nor are there allegations that WikiLeaks
published such information,” he said.
“Almost the entire set of documents is concerned
with the analyst’s communications with people close to and supporters of Julian
Assange and WikiLeaks, with the worry that she would disclose classified
documents to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.
“It appears that Julian Assange and WikiLeaks
are the ‘enemy’. An enemy is dealt with under the laws of war, which could
include killing, capturing, detaining without trial, etc.”
The Australian government has repeatedly denied
knowledge of any US intention to charge Mr Assange or seek his extradition.
However, Australian diplomatic cables released
to Fairfax Media under freedom-of-information laws over the past 18 months have
confirmed the continuation of an “unprecedented” US Justice Department
espionage investigation targeting Mr Assange and WikiLeaks.
The Australian diplomatic reports canvassed the
possibility that the US may eventually seek Mr Assange’s extradition on
conspiracy or information-theft-related offences to avoid extradition problems
arising from the nature of espionage as a political offence and the free-speech
protections in the US constitution.
Mr Assange is scheduled this morning to speak by
video link to a meeting on his asylum case on the margins of the United Nations
General Assembly in New York. The meeting will be attended by Ecuadorean
Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino.
In a separate FOI decision yesterday, the Department
of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the release of Australian diplomatic cables
about WikiLeaks and Mr Assange had been the subject of extensive consultation
with the US.
http://soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/content/first-called-%E2%80%98us-enemy-state%E2%80%99-now-julian-assange-makes-un-appearance
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