Difference between revisions of "Julian Assange"

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|image=Julian_Assange.jpg
 
|image=Julian_Assange.jpg
 
|wikipedia=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange
 
|wikipedia=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange
|ON_constitutes=hacktivist, whistleblower
+
|ON_constitutes=Hacktivist, Whistleblower
 
|description=A "[[hacktivist]]" of mysterious background, whose website, [[Wikileaks]], has been the conduit for a lot of [[whistleblowing]]. His pronounced ''dis''interest in [[9/11]] is particularly notable.
 
|description=A "[[hacktivist]]" of mysterious background, whose website, [[Wikileaks]], has been the conduit for a lot of [[whistleblowing]]. His pronounced ''dis''interest in [[9/11]] is particularly notable.
 
|alma_mater=Central Queensland University, University of Melbourne
 
|alma_mater=Central Queensland University, University of Melbourne
 
|nationality=Australian
 
|nationality=Australian
|constitutes=Publisher, hacker?, spook?
+
|constitutes=Publisher, Hacker?, Spook?
 
|parents=Christine Assange, John Shipton
 
|parents=Christine Assange, John Shipton
 
|historycommons=http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=julian_assange_1
 
|historycommons=http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=julian_assange_1
 
|sourcewatch=http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Julian_Assange
 
|sourcewatch=http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Julian_Assange
 
|wikiquote=http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julian_Assange
 
|wikiquote=http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julian_Assange
|spouses=Teresa Doe
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|spouses=Teresa Doe, (1989–1999), Sarah Harrison, (2009–2012), Stella Moris-Smith Robertson, (2015–present)
 
|birth_name=Julian Paul Hawkins
 
|birth_name=Julian Paul Hawkins
 
|political_parties=Independent, (since 2015), WikiLeaks, (2012—2015)
 
|political_parties=Independent, (since 2015), WikiLeaks, (2012—2015)
|children=4
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|children=Gabriel, Max
 
|keywiki=http://www.keywiki.org/Julian_Assange
 
|keywiki=http://www.keywiki.org/Julian_Assange
 
|employment={{job
 
|employment={{job
 +
|interests=wikileaks, whistleblower, CIA, NSA
 
|title=Editor-in-Chief
 
|title=Editor-in-Chief
 
|employer=WikiLeaks
 
|employer=WikiLeaks
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|end=23 July 2015}}
 
|end=23 July 2015}}
 
}}
 
}}
'''Julian Assange''', '''Julian Paul Hawkins''', is an [[Australian]] programmer. In 2006 he founded [[Wikileaks]].
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'''Julian Assange''', born '''Julian Paul Hawkins''', is an [[Australian]] programmer and [[Internet]] [[activist]]. In [[2006]] he founded [[Wikileaks]]. Facing arrest, Assange took refuge in June [[2012]] in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where the [[UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention]] (UNWGAD) reported he was being "arbitrarily detained". He was arrested in April 2019 and imprisoned in [[Belmarsh]]. In May [[2019]] allegations surfaced that he was being chemically tortured.<ref>''[[Document:Julian Assange Tortured with Psychotropic Drug]]''</ref><ref>https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/05/karen-kwiatkowski/pray-and-weep/ saved at [https://web.archive.org/web/20190507080230/https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/05/karen-kwiatkowski/pray-and-weep/ Archive.org] saved at [https://archive.is/WT3rm Archive.is]</ref><ref>https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/09/karen-kwiatkowski/why-is-julian-assange-being-tortured-to-death/ saved at [https://web.archive.org/web/20190918010425/https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/09/karen-kwiatkowski/why-is-julian-assange-being-tortured-to-death/ Archive.org] saved at [https://archive.is/UeVwT Archive.is]</ref>
 +
 
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[[Craig Murray]] observed at the time that:
 
{{SMWQ
 
{{SMWQ
|text=I'm constantly annoyed that people are distracted by [[false conspiracies]] such as [[9-11| 9/11]], when all around we provide evidence of real conspiracies, for [[war]] or mass [[financial fraud]].
+
|text=[...] the most lucid man I know is now not capable of having a rational conversation is extremely alarming.
|authors=Julian Assange
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|authors=Craig Murray
|source_URL=http://web.archive.org/web/20100720202218/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/features/wanted-by-the-cia-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-14880073.html
+
|source_URL=https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/05/the-unrelenting-state/comment-page-1/
|date=19 July 2010
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|date=31 May 2019
|subjects=9-11, 9-11/Official narrative
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|subjects=
|note=By 2019, the [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/features/wanted-by-the-cia-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-14880073.html original Belfast Telegraph page] was changed to hide the 9-11 quote to anyone who had not logged in. The citation uses an archived version.
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
Facing arrest, Assange took refuge in June 2012 in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where the [[UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention]] (UNWGAD) reported he was being "arbitrarily detained". He was arrested in April 2019 and imprisoned in [[Belmarsh]]. In May 2019 allegations surfaced that he was being chemically lobotomized.<ref>''[[Document:Julian Assange Tortured with Psychotropic Drug]]''</ref>
 
 
 
==Background==
 
==Background==
Julian Assange was born in [[Australia]] to [[Christine Assange|Christine Ann Hawkins]], a visual artist, and [[John Shipton]], an anti-war activist and builder, who separated before their son was born. His mother married Richard Brett Assange when Julian was a year old. Assange had a nomadic childhood, and had lived in over thirty Australian towns and cities by the time he reached his mid-teens, when he settled with his mother and half-brother in Melbourne, Victoria. His mother "became involved with Leif Meynell, also known as Leif Hamilton, a member of Australian [[cult]] The Family, with whom she had a son before the couple broke up in 1982." Assange’s hacker alias, which he used from the age of 16, was ''Mendax''<ref name=nowhere/>, (Latin for "lying").<ref>https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mendax#Latin</ref>
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Julian Assange was born in [[Australia]] to [[Christine Assange|Christine Ann Hawkins]], a visual artist, and [[John Shipton]], an anti-war activist and builder, who separated before their son was born. His mother married Richard Brett Assange when Julian was a year old. Assange had a nomadic childhood, and had lived in over thirty Australian towns and cities by the time he reached his mid-teens, when he settled with his mother and half-brother in Melbourne, Victoria. His mother "became involved with Leif Meynell, also known as Leif Hamilton, a member of Australian [[cult]] The Family, with whom she had a son before the couple broke up in [[1982]]."<ref>https://gawker.com/5551790/the-strange-upbringing-of-wikileaks-founder-jullian-assange</ref>
  
Assange was arrested for hacking in 1991, in 1996 he plead guilty and was sentenced leniently in light of his disrupted childhood<ref name=nowhere>https://nowhere.news/index.php/2019/04/14/reasons-not-to-take-the-julian-assange-story-at-face-value/</ref>
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==Career==
 +
===Hacking===
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Julian Assange’s hacker alias, which he used from the age of 16, was ''Mendax'',<ref name=nowhere/> (Latin for "lying").<ref>https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mendax#Latin</ref>
  
==Wikileaks==
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In 1986, he managed to hack into the Minerva system of mainframes operated by [[Australia]]'s Overseas Telecommunications Commission in Sydney, as the entrance test into the [[Australia]]n hacker community:<ref>''[https://web.archive.org/web/20220105203305/https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/wikileaks/wikileaks-gruender-assange-ein-superstar-der-sichtbarkeit-11079754.html?printPagedArticle=true "A visibility superstar"]''</ref>{{QB|Assange was determined to access Minerva, both for bragging rights and to exploit the mainframes' capabilities to run scanning and cracking programs or other netherworld adventures. But he needed a password.
{{FA|Wikileaks}}
 
[[image:WL Hour Glass.png|left|99px]]
 
In 2006, Assange set up [[Wikileaks]], a website intended to publish leaked information. This has published a ''lot'' of information. [[Webster Tarpley]], noting that Assanges's statement on the [[attacks of September 11th]], termed it a [[modified limited hangout]].
 
  
==Ecuadorian embassy siege==
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And the only way he knew to get one was through what hackers call "[[social engineering]]", simply calling up a human being and conning him or her into divulging secrets.
In June 2012 Julian Assange took refuge in the [[Ecuador]]ian embassy in London to avoid extradition to [[Sweden]] over sex assault claims, which he denies.<ref>''[http://thestandard.org.nz/marianne-ny-making-an-arse-of-swedish-law/ "Marianne Ny: Making an arse of Swedish law"]''</ref> Assange was effectively imprisoned in the Ecuadorian embassy as a result of [[establishment]] allegations of sexual offences. He is under a siege by the [[Metropolitan Police]] which has cost over £10million.<ref>''[https://wikileaks.org/Sweden-Tells-the-UN-that.html "Sweden Tells the UN that Indefinite Detention Without Charge is Fine"]''</ref> On 13 March 2015, it was reported that Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny had asked for Julian Assange to be interviewed in London about the rape and sexual assault allegations, despite previously insisting talks should be held in Stockholm. Assange's lawyer Per Samuelsson said:
 
:"I have spoken to him early this morning - I think I even woke him up - and he said 'this is a great victory for me' in the case. But simultaneously he was irritated that it took so long for the prosecutor to do her job properly...there is a mixture of feelings."<ref>''[http://www.thelocal.se/20150313/swedish-prosecutor-asks-to-quiz-assange-in-london "Swedish prosecutors to quiz Assange in London"]''</ref>
 
  
In 2014, Julian Assange complained to the [[UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention]] (UNWGAD) that he was being "arbitrarily detained" as he could not leave the embassy without being arrested.<ref>''[http://www.itv.com/news/2016-02-05/julian-assange-case-who-is-on-the-uns-expert-panel/ "Julian Assange case: Who is on the UN's expert panel?"]''</ref> The panel of legal experts, which has taken evidence from the UK and Sweden, was due to announce the findings of its investigation into the case on 5 February 2016 but the [[BBC]] leaked the result a day early under the headline "UN panel 'rules in Julian Assange's favour'".<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35490910 "UN panel 'rules in Julian Assange's favour'"]</ref> Commenting for the first time on the [[UNWGAD]] panel's ruling, Swedish prosecutor [[Marianne Ny]] said on 9 February 2016 she was "currently working on a renewed request to interview Julian Assange at Ecuador's embassy in London".<ref>''[http://www.thelocal.se/20160209/swedish-prosecutor-wont-drop-assange-probe "Will Swedish prosecutors question Assange in London?"]''</ref>
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Hence the noisy layers of Shakespearean tragedy that the altogether sane young man was producing. Assange's sound show was for the benefit of his cassette recorder, the better to simulate the background chaos of a busy office. A few minutes later, he had found a valid number within an OTC branch office in Perth. And using his uncannily deep sixteen-year-old's voice while the noise-tape played behind him, he became "John Teller", a trustworthy operator in the Sydney office trying to check a few data points corrupted by a crashed storage drive.
  
In a 2015 interview with ''Fairfax Media'', Assange said that while he does not expect to leave Ecuador's London embassy any time soon, [[WikiLeaks]] very much remains in the business of publishing the secrets of diplomats and spies:
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He dialled and a man picked up. Assange introduced himself and began the game. "The back up tape is two days old, so we want to check your information is up-to-date so your service is not interrupted," he casually told the man who answered, not missing a beat.
:"There'll be more publications – about large international so-called [[free trade deal]]s, and about an intelligence agency," Mr Assange said.<ref>''[http://www.smh.com.au/national/assange-more-leaks-to-come-20150501-1mxmqz.html "Assange: More leaks to come"]''</ref>
 
  
On 4 February 2016, Julian Assange tweeted:
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"Oh dear. Yes. Let's check it," Assange's mark responded in a concerned tone. Assange read out a list of easily accessible information for Minerva staff users that he had downloaded, carefully inserting an error into one user's fax number. The voice on the other end interrupted helpfully: "Oh no, that's wrong, our fax number is definitely wrong," he said.
:"Should the UN announce tomorrow that I have lost my case against the United Kingdom and Sweden I shall exit the embassy at noon on Friday to accept arrest by British police as there is no meaningful prospect of further appeal. However, should I prevail and the state parties be found to have acted unlawfully, I expect the immediate return of my passport and the termination of further attempts to arrest me. Julian Assange, Embassy of Ecuador, London (https://justice4assange.com/)."<ref>''[https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/695084493825273856 "Assange: I will accept arrest by British police on Friday if UN rules against me"]'' More info: https://justice4assange.com</ref>
 
  
On 28 November 2016, Assange said:
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So Assange tried to match his victim's worried tone and explained that they would need to confirm all the user's information. "Let's see. We have your account number, but we had better check your password...what was it?"
:“Today, marking the six-year anniversary of [[Cablegate]], WikiLeaks expands its [https://our.wikileaks.org/Public_Library_of_U.S._Diplomacy Public Library of US Diplomacy] (PLUSD) with more than half a million (531,525) diplomatic cables from 1979. If any year could be said to be the ‘year zero’ of our modern era, 1979 is it. (…) In 1979 it seemed as if the blood would never stop. Dozens of countries saw assassinations, coups, revolts, bombings, political kidnappings and wars of liberation.”
 
This, in turn, he said led to the [[9/11]] terror strikes, the invasion of [[Afghanistan]] and [[Iraq]] by the [[US]], and the creation of [[ISIS]].<ref>''[https://gosint.wordpress.com/2018/12/02/two-years-ago-julian-assange-1979-is-year-zero-of-our-modern-era/ "Julian Assange: '1979 Is Year Zero of Our Modern Era'”]''</ref>
 
{{YouTubeVideo
 
|code=stTMt1tLT4g
 
|align=right
 
|width=300px
 
|caption=[[Metropolitan Police]] arrest Julian Assange
 
}}
 
==="Free Julian Assange"===
 
On 1 March 2016, Britain and Sweden were called upon to respect the [[UNWGAD]] decision and free Julian Assange. The following statement, signed by more than 500 high profile signatories from more than 60 countries including [[William Blum]], [[Noam Chomsky]], [[John Goss]], [[Craig Murray]] and [[John Pilger]], was delivered to the Swedish and UK Permanent Representatives to the [[United Nations]] in [[Geneva]]:
 
:“We the undersigned, including legal and human rights organisations, academics, and policymakers condemn the reactions of the governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom to the finding by the [[United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention]] that Julian Assange is arbitrarily detained.
 
  
:"The governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom are setting a dangerous precedent that undermines the United Nations Human Rights system as a whole. We urge Sweden and the United Kingdom to respect the binding nature of the human rights covenants on which the decision is based, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; as well as the independence, integrity and authority of the Office of the [[High Commissioner on Human Rights]] and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
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"Yes, it's L-U-R-C-H–full stop." Lurch. Assange was in. He politely ended the conversation, gave his target a call back number that rang eternally busy, and hung up, victorious in the greatest hack of his young life.<ref>''[https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/13586738-this-machine-kills-secrets "This Machine Kills Secrets: How WikiLeakers, Cypherpunks, and Hacktivists Aim to Free the World's Information"]''</ref>}}
  
:"We therefore call on the governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom to comply without further delay with the Working Group’s findings and 'ensure the right of free movement of Mr. Assange and accord him an enforceable right to compensation, in accordance with article 9(5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights'.”<ref>''[http://diem25.org/urging-sweden-and-the-uk-to-free-julian-assange/ "Urging Sweden and the UK to free Julian Assange"]''</ref>
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Julian Assange was caught after a police raid in 1991, and charged in 1994 “with thirty-one counts of hacking and related crimes. In December 1996, he pleaded guilty to twenty-five charges (the other six were dropped), and was ordered to pay reparations of A$2,100 and released on a good behaviour bond. The perceived absence of malicious or mercenary intent and his disrupted childhood were cited to justify his lenient penalty.”<ref name=nowhere>''[https://nowhere.news/index.php/2019/04/14/reasons-not-to-take-the-julian-assange-story-at-face-value/ "Reasons not to take the Julian Assange story at face value"]''</ref>
  
===Assassination plot allegation===
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===Books===
[[Edward Fitzgerald]], barrister for Assange, said that since 2016 a Spanish company, acting on behalf of the US authorities, had planned an assassination inside London's Ecuadorean embassy which could have been presented as an "accident". The plot had reportedly been exposed by a [[whistleblower]].<ref>https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8041597/US-plotted-kill-Julian-Assange-make-look-like-accident.html</ref>
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Julian Assange is the author of [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16153182-cypherpunks "Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet", published in November 2012:]{{QB|The harassment of [[WikiLeaks]] and other [[Internet]] activists, together with attempts to introduce anti-file sharing legislation such as SOPA and ACTA, indicate that the politics of the [[Internet]] have reached a crossroads. In one direction lies a future that guarantees, in the watchwords of the cypherpunks, "privacy for the weak and transparency for the powerful"; in the other lies an [[Internet]] that allows government and large corporations to discover ever more about internet users while hiding their own activities. Assange and his co-discussants unpick the complex issues surrounding this crucial choice with clarity and engaging enthusiasm.<ref>''[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16153182-cypherpunks "Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet"]''</ref>}}
  
===Arrest===
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He is co-author with Suelette Dreyfus of [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/615952.Underground "Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness, and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier"], published 1997, which {{QB|tells the extraordinary true story of the computer underground, and the bizarre lives and crimes of an elite ring of international hackers who took on the [[establishment]]. Spanning three continents and a decade of high level infiltration, they created chaos amongst some of the world's biggest and most powerful organisations, including [[NASA]] and the [[US military]]. Brilliant and obsessed, many of them found themselves addicted to hacking and phreaking. Some descended into drugs and madness, others ended up in jail. As riveting as the finest detective novel and meticulously researched, "Underground" follows the hackers through their crimes, their betrayals, the hunt, raids and investigations. It is a gripping tale of the digital underground.<ref>''[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/615952.Underground "Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness, and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier"]''</ref>}}
A [[US Justice Department]] statement confirmed press reports that Assange was arrested in the [[United Kingdom]] on Thursday morning under the [[US]]/[[UK]] extradition agreement.<ref>''[https://www.lawfareblog.com/document-julian-assange-indictment "Document: Julian Assange Indictment"]''</ref> The full indictment is [https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5816933/Assange-Indictment.pdf here.]<ref>''[https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5816933/Assange-Indictment.pdf "United States of America v Julian Paul Assange"]''</ref>
 
  
On 11 April 2019, [[Craig Murray]] tweeted:
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===Nobel Peace Prize nomination===
:"Have to head back to London to help in light of Ecuadorian betrayal and Julian's sad arrest. The fight is now on whether a journalist should be imprisoned for publishing documents from a [[whistleblower]] on [[war crimes]]."<ref>''[https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1116289974725414912 "Julian Assange arrested"]''</ref>
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On 27 January 2022, ''[https://www.uniindia.com United News of India]'' reported that Julian Assange should be nominated for the [[Nobel Peace Prize]].<ref>''[https://www.uniindia.com/story/Assange-should-be-nominated-for-Nobel-Peace-Prize---Fiancee "Assange should be nominated for Nobel Peace Prize - Fiancee"]''</ref>
  
[[Wikileaks]] tweeted:
+
[[Stella Moris]] tweeted: "[[Nobel Peace Prize]] nomination deadline is 31 January 2022. Nominations are themselves protective, but a win would be so politically protective it would very likely secure Julian's freedom."<ref>''[https://twitter.com/StellaMoris1/status/1353021466045018113 "Nominations are themselves protective, but a win would be so politically protective it would very likely secure Julian's freedom"]''</ref>
:"[[Ecuador]] has illegally terminated Assange political asylum in violation of international law. He was arrested by the British police inside the Ecuadorian embassy minutes ago."<ref>''[https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1116273826621480960 "Ecuador has illegally terminated Assange political asylum"]''</ref>
 
  
Publishing a video of the arrest, [[RT]] reported:
+
[[Czech Republic]]'s [https://www.facebook.com/MEPGregorova/ Markéta Gregorová MEP responded:] "Hi Stella, I will be nominating Julian for the [[Nobel Peace Prize]], as a [[Member of the European Parliament]]. I plan on doing so tomorrow (28 January 2022), we are wrapping up the nomination text right now. I would be happy to coordinate together!"<ref>''[https://twitter.com/MarketkaG/status/1486744242559098892 "I will be nominating Julian for the Nobel Peace Prize, as a Member of the European Parliament"]''</ref>  
:"[[WikiLeaks]] founder Julian Assange has been evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he has spent the last six years. [[Ecuador]]'s president [[Lenin Moreno]] has announced that the country has withdrawn asylum from Assange."<ref>''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=stTMt1tLT4g "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he has spent the last six years"]''</ref>
 
{{YouTubeVideo
 
|code=Es6OT4VsQAo
 
|align=right
 
|width=300px
 
|caption=Journalist [[Gordon Dimmack]] receives letter from [[Belmarsh Prison]]
 
}}
 
  
===Imprisonment===
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==Wikileaks==
On the day of his arrest, Assange appeared at [[Westminster Magistrates' Court]] where District Judge [[Michael Snow]] remanded him to [[Belmarsh Prison]] until 2 May 2019,<ref>''[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/08/julian-assange-supporters-ordered-forfeit-bail "Julian Assange supporters ordered to forfeit £93,500 bail money"]''</ref> when he was sentenced by Judge [https://www.counselmagazine.co.uk/biography/her-honour-judge-deborah-taylor Deborah Taylor] at Southwark Crown Court to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions in 2012.<ref>''[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/may/01/julian-assange-jailed-for-50-weeks-for-breaching-bail-in-2012 "Julian Assange legal team begin 'big fight' over extradition"]''</ref>
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{{FA|Wikileaks}}
 +
[[image:WL Hour Glass.png|left|99px]]
 +
[[image:J Assange Economist New Media Award 2008.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Assange receiving the [[The Economist|Economist]] New Media Award at an Index on Censorship event in 2008,<ref>https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2008/03/awards-2008/</ref> the same year as the [[Julius Bär]] leak.<ref>https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2017/12/23/one-mans-fight-against-the-swiss-offshore-banking-system</ref>]]
 +
In 2006, Assange set up [[Wikileaks]], a website intended to publish leaked information. This has published a ''lot'' of information.
  
The [[UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention]] (UNWGAD) said it was deeply concerned by the “disproportionate sentence” imposed on Assange for violating the terms of his bail, which it described as a “minor violation”:
+
==Ecuadorian embassy siege, Arrest and Trial==
:“The working group is further concerned that Mr Assange has been detained since 11 April 2019 in [[Belmarsh Prison]], a high-security prison, as if he were convicted for a serious criminal offence. This treatment appears to contravene the principles of necessity and proportionality envisaged by the [[human rights]] standards.
+
{{FA|Julian Assange/Imprisonment}}
  
:“[[UNWGAD]] reiterates its recommendation to the government of the [[United Kingdom]], as expressed in its opinion 54/2015, and its 21 December 2018 statement, that the right of Mr Assange to personal liberty should be restored.”<ref>''[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/may/03/un-calls-for-julian-assanges-release-from-high-security-uk-jail "UN calls for Julian Assange's release from UK high-security jail"]''</ref>
+
==Views on 9/11==
 
+
{{FA|9-11}}
On 25 May 2019, Assange addressed a letter to journalist [[Gordon Dimmack]] describing the conditions in prison:
+
Since his organisation, [[Wikileaks]], focuses on releasing information to the public that is intended to show government wrongdoing, his view on [[9-11]] is particularly notable: 
:"I have been isolated from all ability to prepare to defend myself, no laptop, no internet, no computer, no library so far, but even if I do get access it will be just for half an hour with everyone else once a week. Just two visits a month and it takes weeks to get someone on the call list and the Catch-22 in getting their details to be security screened. Then all calls except lawyer are recorded and are a maximum 10 minutes and in a limited 30 minutes each day in which all prisoners compete for the phone."<ref>''[https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/05/25/assa-m25.html “'Truth ultimately is all we have': Julian Assange appeals for public support"]''</ref>
+
{{SMWQ
 
+
|text=I'm constantly annoyed that people are distracted by [[false conspiracies]] such as [[9-11| 9/11]], when all around we provide evidence of real conspiracies, for [[war]] or mass [[financial fraud]].
==Initial US Charge==
+
|authors=Julian Assange
{{YouTubeVideo
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|source_URL=http://web.archive.org/web/20100720202218/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/features/wanted-by-the-cia-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-14880073.html
|code=wX4RdK2wYfg
+
|date=19 July 2010
|align=right
+
|subjects=9-11, 9-11/Official narrative
|width=300px
+
|note=By 2019, the [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/features/wanted-by-the-cia-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-14880073.html original Belfast Telegraph page] was changed to hide the 9-11 quote to anyone who had not logged in. The citation uses an archived version.
|caption=Facing up to 175 years in prison?
 
}}
 
On Thursday 11th April 2019, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia unsealed a March 6, 2018 indictment charging Julian Assange, the founder head of [[WikiLeaks]], for conspiring to commit computer intrusions by assisting [[Chelsea Manning]] with breaking a US government password. The [[Grand Jury]] charged violations of U.S. Code - Unannotated Title 18. Crimes and Criminal Procedure § 371, 1030(a)(1), 1030(a)(2) and 1030(c)(2)(B)(ii), and if convicted "each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both."
 
 
 
===17 additional charges===
 
On 23 May 2019, the [[USDOJ]] unveiled a further 17 criminal charges against Julian Assange, saying he contravened the [[Espionage Act of 1917]] by publishing the names of classified sources and conspired with and assisted ex-Army intelligence analyst [[Chelsea Manning]] in obtaining access to classified information. Each charge carries a jail sentence of up to 10 years.
 
 
 
He now faces a total of 18 criminal counts, which could result in up to 175 years in prison if convicted:
 
:“These unprecedented charges demonstrate the gravity of the threat the criminal prosecution of Julian Assange poses to all journalists in their endeavour to inform the public about actions that have been taken by the US government,” said [[Barry Pollack]], an American attorney for Assange.
 
 
 
The [[USDOJ]]’s quick turnaround with the filing of a more substantial indictment against Assange is not surprising. Under extradition rules, the [[United States]] had only a 60-day window from the date of Assange’s arrest in London to add more charges. After that, foreign governments do not generally accept superseding charges.<ref>''[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-wikileaks-assange-usa/u-s-unveils-espionage-charges-against-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-idUSKCN1ST2L4 "US charges WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with espionage"]''</ref>
 
 
 
[[Kristinn Hrafnsson]] tweeted:
 
:"I find no satisfaction in saying ‘I told you so’ to those who for 9 years have scorned us for warning this moment would come. I care for journalism. If you share my feeling you take a stand NOW. Either you are a worthless coward or you defend Assange, [[WikiLeaks]] and [[Journalism]]."<ref>''[https://twitter.com/khrafnsson/status/1131663637687558146 "I told you so"]''</ref>
 
{{YouTubeVideo
 
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|align=right
 
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|caption=[[WCC]] [[extradition]] hearing (days 1-4)
 
 
}}
 
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===Extradition hearing===
+
[[Webster Tarpley]] is highly critical for his public support for the [[9-11/Official narrative]] and describes [[Wikileaks]] as a "[[modified limited hangout]]".<ref>http://www.unwelcomeguests.net/515</ref>
Julian Assange's four-day [[extradition]] hearing began at [[Woolwich Crown Court]] (WCC) on 24 February 2020 and was adjourned until 18 May 2020.<ref>''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXtpaWyNjKg "Julian Assange Extradition with Joe Lauria"]''</ref>
+
It is thinkable that he made the point (even if he wasn't pressed to do so) to make Wikileaks more acceptable to decisionmakers in the {{ccm}}, at a time when he (still) had to focus on relationship building.
  
[[Caitlin Johnstone]] summarised proceedings on 28 February 2020:
+
However, on April 20, 2019 [[Caitlin Johnstone]] disputes claim Assange is a CIA intelligence asset-limited hangout: "Debunking All the Assange Smears"<ref>https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/04/20/debunking-all-the-assange-smears/</ref> pointing out how can he possibly be a "CIA asset-limited hangout" and be imprisoned in Belmarsh, awaiting extradition to the U.S.? Note that Webster Tarpley stated Wikileaks is a modified limited hangout and not directly Julian Assange.
  
The first week of the Julian Assange extradition trial has concluded, to be resumed on May 18th. If you haven’t been following the proceedings closely, let me sum up what you missed:
+
Brendon O'Connell offers an alternative explanation on Jan 5, 2022, Episode 90: "Assange, Snowden Russia And Israel"- The Great Game.<ref>https://youtu.be/Nn98EauQC98</ref> According to O'Connell, Assange worked for KGB and Russian security services as an asset, offering a video history of his hacking, before Wikileaks.
  
The prosecution is working to extradite Assange to the US under a US-UK extradition treaty, a treaty whose contents the prosecution now says we should ignore because they explicitly forbid political extraditions. The prosecution says it doesn’t matter anyway because Assange is not a political actor, yet in 2010 the US government that’s trying to extradite him labelled him a political actor in those exact words. Assange’s trial is taking place in a maximum security prison for dangerous violent offenders because that’s where he’s being jailed for no stated reason and despite having no history of violence, which means he’s kept separate from the courtroom in a sound-resistant safety enclosure where he can’t hear or participate in his own trial. The magistrate judging the case, [[Vanessa Baraitser]], says he can’t be allowed out of the enclosure since he’s considered dangerous, because he’s been arbitrarily placed in a prison for dangerous violent offenders. The magistrate keeps telling Assange to stop speaking up during his trial and to speak through his lawyers, yet he’s being actively prevented from communicating with his lawyers.
 
 
Make sense?<ref>''[https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/02/28/this-assange-trial-is-a-self-contradictory-kafkaesque-nightmare/ "This Assange 'Trial' Is A Self-Contradictory Kafkaesque Nightmare"]''</ref>
 
 
==Opinions==
 
=== September 11th===
 
 
{{YouTubeVideo
 
{{YouTubeVideo
 
|code=XPMC_IVJDNo
 
|code=XPMC_IVJDNo
 
|align=right
 
|align=right
|width=300px
+
|width=360px
 
|caption="Following [[9-11|9/11]], the [[CIA]] paved the way for the creation of [[ISIS]]"  
 
|caption="Following [[9-11|9/11]], the [[CIA]] paved the way for the creation of [[ISIS]]"  
 
}}
 
}}
[[Webster Tarpley]] is highly critical of Julian Assange, describing [[Wikileaks]] as a "[[modified limited hangout]]". He cites Assange's public support for the [[9-11/Official narrative]].<ref>http://www.unwelcomeguests.net/515</ref>
 
  
===Tweets===
+
{{SMWDocs}}
On 6 October 2017, Assange tweeted:
 
:"The [[Nobel Peace Prize]] has finally been awarded to a group that fits the criteria: the [[International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons]].<ref>''[https://twitter.com/JulianAssange/status/916238191941898240 "The Nobel Peace prize has finally been awarded to a group that fits the criteria: the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons"]''</ref>
 
  
On 12 February 2018, he tweeted:
 
:My arrest warrant judgment is tomorrow 2pm (Feb 13), [[Westminster Magistrates' Court]], London.<ref>''[https://twitter.com/JulianAssange/status/962996567576899584 "My arrest warrant judgment is tomorrow 2pm (Feb 13), Westminster Magistrates Court, London"]''</ref>
 
 
And on 13 February 2018, he tweeted:
 
:[[Emma Arbuthnot|Judge]] refuses to withdraw Julian Assange arrest warrant.<ref>''[https://twitter.com/JulianAssange/status/963422943094214656 "Judge refuses to withdraw Julian Assange arrest warrant"]''</ref>
 
{{SMWDocs}}
 
 
==References==
 
==References==
 
{{reflist}}
 
{{reflist}}

Revision as of 19:11, 29 January 2022

"Hacktivist, Whistleblower"
Person.png Julian Assange   History Commons Keywiki Sourcewatch WikiquoteRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(Publisher, Hacker?, Spook?)
Julian Assange.jpg
BornJulian Paul Hawkins
1971-07-03
Townsville, Queensland, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Alma materCentral Queensland University, University of Melbourne
Parents • Christine Assange
• John Shipton
Children • Gabriel
• Max
Spouse • Teresa Doe
• (1989–1999)
• Sarah Harrison
• (2009–2012)
• Stella Moris-Smith Robertson
• (2015–present)
Founder ofWikileaks
Interest ofPolona Florijančič, Sarah Harrison, Taylor Hudak, John Jones (lawyer), Joe Lauria, Elizabeth Vos
PartyIndependent, (since 2015), WikiLeaks, (2012—2015)
SubpageJulian Assange/Imprisonment
A "hacktivist" of mysterious background, whose website, Wikileaks, has been the conduit for a lot of whistleblowing. His pronounced disinterest in 9/11 is particularly notable.

Employment.png Editor-in-Chief

In office
2006 - 26 September 2018
EmployerWikiLeaks
Succeeded byKristinn Hrafnsson

Employment.png Chairman of the WikiLeaks Party

In office
2 July 2013 - 23 July 2015

Julian Assange, born Julian Paul Hawkins, is an Australian programmer and Internet activist. In 2006 he founded Wikileaks. Facing arrest, Assange took refuge in June 2012 in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) reported he was being "arbitrarily detained". He was arrested in April 2019 and imprisoned in Belmarsh. In May 2019 allegations surfaced that he was being chemically tortured.[1][2][3]

Craig Murray observed at the time that:

“[...] the most lucid man I know is now not capable of having a rational conversation is extremely alarming.”
Craig Murray (31 May 2019)  [4]

Background

Julian Assange was born in Australia to Christine Ann Hawkins, a visual artist, and John Shipton, an anti-war activist and builder, who separated before their son was born. His mother married Richard Brett Assange when Julian was a year old. Assange had a nomadic childhood, and had lived in over thirty Australian towns and cities by the time he reached his mid-teens, when he settled with his mother and half-brother in Melbourne, Victoria. His mother "became involved with Leif Meynell, also known as Leif Hamilton, a member of Australian cult The Family, with whom she had a son before the couple broke up in 1982."[5]

Career

Hacking

Julian Assange’s hacker alias, which he used from the age of 16, was Mendax,[6] (Latin for "lying").[7]

In 1986, he managed to hack into the Minerva system of mainframes operated by Australia's Overseas Telecommunications Commission in Sydney, as the entrance test into the Australian hacker community:[8]

Assange was determined to access Minerva, both for bragging rights and to exploit the mainframes' capabilities to run scanning and cracking programs or other netherworld adventures. But he needed a password.

And the only way he knew to get one was through what hackers call "social engineering", simply calling up a human being and conning him or her into divulging secrets.

Hence the noisy layers of Shakespearean tragedy that the altogether sane young man was producing. Assange's sound show was for the benefit of his cassette recorder, the better to simulate the background chaos of a busy office. A few minutes later, he had found a valid number within an OTC branch office in Perth. And using his uncannily deep sixteen-year-old's voice while the noise-tape played behind him, he became "John Teller", a trustworthy operator in the Sydney office trying to check a few data points corrupted by a crashed storage drive.

He dialled and a man picked up. Assange introduced himself and began the game. "The back up tape is two days old, so we want to check your information is up-to-date so your service is not interrupted," he casually told the man who answered, not missing a beat.

"Oh dear. Yes. Let's check it," Assange's mark responded in a concerned tone. Assange read out a list of easily accessible information for Minerva staff users that he had downloaded, carefully inserting an error into one user's fax number. The voice on the other end interrupted helpfully: "Oh no, that's wrong, our fax number is definitely wrong," he said.

So Assange tried to match his victim's worried tone and explained that they would need to confirm all the user's information. "Let's see. We have your account number, but we had better check your password...what was it?"

"Yes, it's L-U-R-C-H–full stop." Lurch. Assange was in. He politely ended the conversation, gave his target a call back number that rang eternally busy, and hung up, victorious in the greatest hack of his young life.[9]

Julian Assange was caught after a police raid in 1991, and charged in 1994 “with thirty-one counts of hacking and related crimes. In December 1996, he pleaded guilty to twenty-five charges (the other six were dropped), and was ordered to pay reparations of A$2,100 and released on a good behaviour bond. The perceived absence of malicious or mercenary intent and his disrupted childhood were cited to justify his lenient penalty.”[6]

Books

Julian Assange is the author of "Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet", published in November 2012:

The harassment of WikiLeaks and other Internet activists, together with attempts to introduce anti-file sharing legislation such as SOPA and ACTA, indicate that the politics of the Internet have reached a crossroads. In one direction lies a future that guarantees, in the watchwords of the cypherpunks, "privacy for the weak and transparency for the powerful"; in the other lies an Internet that allows government and large corporations to discover ever more about internet users while hiding their own activities. Assange and his co-discussants unpick the complex issues surrounding this crucial choice with clarity and engaging enthusiasm.[10]

He is co-author with Suelette Dreyfus of "Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness, and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier", published 1997, which

tells the extraordinary true story of the computer underground, and the bizarre lives and crimes of an elite ring of international hackers who took on the establishment. Spanning three continents and a decade of high level infiltration, they created chaos amongst some of the world's biggest and most powerful organisations, including NASA and the US military. Brilliant and obsessed, many of them found themselves addicted to hacking and phreaking. Some descended into drugs and madness, others ended up in jail. As riveting as the finest detective novel and meticulously researched, "Underground" follows the hackers through their crimes, their betrayals, the hunt, raids and investigations. It is a gripping tale of the digital underground.[11]

Nobel Peace Prize nomination

On 27 January 2022, United News of India reported that Julian Assange should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.[12]

Stella Moris tweeted: "Nobel Peace Prize nomination deadline is 31 January 2022. Nominations are themselves protective, but a win would be so politically protective it would very likely secure Julian's freedom."[13]

Czech Republic's Markéta Gregorová MEP responded: "Hi Stella, I will be nominating Julian for the Nobel Peace Prize, as a Member of the European Parliament. I plan on doing so tomorrow (28 January 2022), we are wrapping up the nomination text right now. I would be happy to coordinate together!"[14]

Wikileaks

Full article: Wikileaks
WL Hour Glass.png
Assange receiving the Economist New Media Award at an Index on Censorship event in 2008,[15] the same year as the Julius Bär leak.[16]

In 2006, Assange set up Wikileaks, a website intended to publish leaked information. This has published a lot of information.

Ecuadorian embassy siege, Arrest and Trial

Full article: Julian Assange/Imprisonment

Views on 9/11

Full article: Rated 4/5 9-11

Since his organisation, Wikileaks, focuses on releasing information to the public that is intended to show government wrongdoing, his view on 9-11 is particularly notable:

“I'm constantly annoyed that people are distracted by false conspiracies such as 9/11, when all around we provide evidence of real conspiracies, for war or mass financial fraud.”
Julian Assange (19 July 2010)  [17]
By 2019, the original Belfast Telegraph page was changed to hide the 9-11 quote to anyone who had not logged in. The citation uses an archived version.

Webster Tarpley is highly critical for his public support for the 9-11/Official narrative and describes Wikileaks as a "modified limited hangout".[18] It is thinkable that he made the point (even if he wasn't pressed to do so) to make Wikileaks more acceptable to decisionmakers in the commercially-controlled media, at a time when he (still) had to focus on relationship building.

However, on April 20, 2019 Caitlin Johnstone disputes claim Assange is a CIA intelligence asset-limited hangout: "Debunking All the Assange Smears"[19] pointing out how can he possibly be a "CIA asset-limited hangout" and be imprisoned in Belmarsh, awaiting extradition to the U.S.? Note that Webster Tarpley stated Wikileaks is a modified limited hangout and not directly Julian Assange.

Brendon O'Connell offers an alternative explanation on Jan 5, 2022, Episode 90: "Assange, Snowden Russia And Israel"- The Great Game.[20] According to O'Connell, Assange worked for KGB and Russian security services as an asset, offering a video history of his hacking, before Wikileaks.

"Following 9/11, the CIA paved the way for the creation of ISIS"


 

Documents by Julian Assange

TitleDocument typePublication dateSubject(s)Description
Document:Assange Statement on the start of Bradley Manning trialstatement4 June 2013Chelsea Manning
Document:Freedom and the Future of the Internetbook introduction1 October 2012Surveillance State
Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet
Document:Google and the NSAarticle24 August 2013National Security Agency
Mass surveillance
Google
Document:Guantanamo SOP Confirms Psychological Torturearticle17 November 2007Torture
Guantanamo Bay detention camp
Standard operating procedures for military personnel running the Guatanamo Bay military prison confirm that the rules governing the treatment of its inmates amounts to systematic torture
Document:Julian Assange at Moment of TruthVideo transcript15 September 2014UKUSA
Mass surveillance
Speech by Julian Assange to the Moment of Truth event in New Zealand on 15 September 2014

 

Quotes by Julian Assange

PageQuoteDateSource
Australia“We should understand, Australia is part of the United States. It is part of this English-speaking empire, the center of gravity of which is the United States, the second center of which is the United Kingdom”...“Australia is a suburb in that arrangement. Our capital is Washington. The capital of Australia is DC. That’s the reality...That’s where the decisions are made.”
Mobile phone“A mobile phone is a tracking device that also makes calls”Cypherpunk Ethics: Radical Ethics for the Digital Age (2022) by Patrick D. Anderson
Donald Trump“My analysis is that Trump would not be permitted to win. Why do I say that? Because he has had every establishment off his side. Trump does not have one establishment, maybe with the exception of the Evangelicals, if you can call them an establishment. Banks, intelligence, arms companies, foreign money, etc. are all united behind Hillary Clinton. And the media as well. Media owners, and the journalists themselves.”November 2016Julian Assange

 

Related Quotations

PageQuoteAuthorDate
Ilham Aliyev“How do you assess what happened to Mr Assange? Is it a reflection of free media in your country?”Ilham Aliyev15 November 2020
COVID-19/Response“To minimize COVID-19] infection the UK is granting early release to all non-violent, non-Julian Assange prisoners.”Caitlin Johnstone4 April 2020
Prison“Should Assange die in a UK prison, as the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has warned, he will effectively have been tortured to death. Much of that torture will have taken place in a prison medical ward, on doctors' watch. The medical profession cannot afford to stand silently by, on the wrong side of torture and the wrong side of history, while such a travesty unfolds. In the interests of defending medical ethics, medical authority, and the human right to health, and taking a stand against torture, together we can challenge and raise awareness of the abuses detailed in our letters. Our appeals are simple: we are calling upon governments to end the torture of Assange and ensure his access to the best available health care before it is too late. Our request to others is this: please join us...”117 doctorsFebruary 2020
Yanis VaroufakisThe establishment, the Deep State, call it whatever you want, the oligarchy, they’ve become much, much better at character assassination than they used to be. Because back in the 1960s and 1970s, you know, they would accuse you of being a Communist. They would accuse me of being a Marxist. Well, I am a Marxist. I’m really not going to suffer that much if you accuse me of being a left-winger. I am a left-winger!

...

Now what they do is something far worse. They accuse you of something that really hurts you. Calling somebody like us a racist, a bigot, an antisemite, a rapist. This is what really hurts because if anybody calls me a rapist today, right, even if it’s complete baloney, I feel as a feminist I have the need to give the woman, implied or involved somehow in this accusation, the opportunity to speak against me. Because that is what we left-wingers do.”
Yanis Varoufakis6 January 2021

 

Related Documents

TitleTypePublication dateAuthor(s)Description
Document:Assange Final Appeal Day 2 – Your Man in the Public Galleryblog post29 February 2024Craig MurrayInitially US authorities were keen to downplay the possible sentence, but have radically changed tack and now emphasise 30 to 40 years as the norm, which is in effect a rest of life sentence. That shift, together with the refusal so far to rule out the death penalty, gives a measure of the ruthlessness with which the CIA is pursuing the extradition of Julian Assange.
Document:Assange Final Appeal – Your Man in the Public Galleryblog post21 February 2024Craig MurrayThe indictment describes Wikileaks as a “non-state hostile intelligence agency”. That was plainly an accusation of espionage. This is self-evidently a politically motivated prosecution for a political offence.
Document:Assange Judge is 40-year "good friend" of Minister who orchestrated his arrestArticle2 December 2021Mark Curtis
Matt Kennard
Julian Assange’s fate lies in the hands of an Appeal Judge who is a close friend of Sir Alan Duncan - the former Foreign Office minister who called Assange a “miserable little worm” in Parliament
Document:Beyond Wordsblog post8 April 2020Craig MurrayNobody cultivates her own anonymity more than Magistrate Vanessa Baraitser who has her existence carefully removed from the Internet almost entirely. Yet she seeks to destroy the peace and young lives of Julian Assange’s family.
Document:Chelsea Manning released, faces new imprisonment for refusing to testify against AssangeArticle10 May 2019Niles Niemuth“The idea I hold the keys to my own cell is an absurd one, as I face the prospect of suffering either way due to this unnecessary and punitive subpoena: I can either go to jail or betray my principles,” Manning explained. “The latter exists as a much worse prison than the government can construct.”
Document:Chelsea and Julian are in Jail. History Trembles.blog post12 April 2019Craig MurrayJulian Assange said nothing during the whole brief proceedings, other than to say “Not guilty” twice, and to ask a one sentence question about why the charges were changed midway through this sham “trial”. Yet Judge Michael Snow condemned Assange as “narcissistic”.
Document:Civil Liberty Vanishesblog post6 May 2020Craig Murray"Serious questions have to be asked about why the UK government has developed its own unique app, universally criticised for its permanent central data collection and ability to identify individuals from their unique codes. That this is overseen by NHSX CEO Matthew Gould who held all those secret meetings with Liam Fox and Adam Werritty, including with Mossad, frankly stinks."
Document:Council of Europe sides with Julian AssangeArticleSara ChessaThe attitude of European institutions is changing after years of silence which seemed to authorise or support the US and the United Kingdom’s behaviour in relation to an individual who is apparently deprived of the right to prepare his defence and deprived as well of his right to dignified psychophysical conditions. Now, the Council of Europe has decided to speak up on behalf of Julian Assange.
Document:Craig Murray’s jailing is the latest move in a battle to snuff out independent journalismblog post30 July 2021Jonathan CookAssange and Murray are not only telling us troubling truths we are not supposed to hear. The fact that they are being denied solidarity by those who are their colleagues, those who may be next in the firing line, tells us everything we need to know about the so-called mainstream media: that the role of corporate journalists is to serve establishment interests, not challenge them.
Document:Diane Abbott – 2019 Speech on Julian AssangeSpeech11 April 2019Diane AbbottWe only have to look at the treatment of Chelsea Manning to see what awaits Julian Assange if he is extradited to the US
Document:Eye Witness to the Agony of Julian AssangeArticle2 October 2020John PilgerIn the Assange trial, the defendant was caged behind thick glass, and had to crawl on his knees to a slit in the glass, overseen by his guard, to make contact with his lawyers. His message, whispered barely audibly through face masks, was then passed by post-it the length of the court to where his barristers were arguing the case against his extradition to an American hellhole.
Document:FBI Fabrication Against Assange Falls Apartblog post29 June 2021Craig MurrayThe revelation that Sigi Thordarson’s allegations are fabricated – which everyone knew already, Vanessa Baraitser just pretended she didn’t – is just one more illegality that the Establishment will shimmy over in its continued persecution of Julian Assange.
Document:Five questions for new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer about his UK and US national security establishment linksArticle5 June 2020Matt KennardKeir Starmer did not become leader to help Labour win, but to restore establishment control over the party and vanquish the heretics that dared defy its agenda. For the forces he truly represents, the project has been a smashing success.
Document:Former ambassador and Assange advocate Craig Murray detained under UK terror lawsArticle17 October 2023Kit KlarenbergWhen probed by counter-terror cops about the contents of his laptop, Craig Murray says he openly disclosed that the device contained copies of leaked private emails of Stewart McDonald, a hawkish, deep state-connected Scottish National Party MP: “I told the officers I pitied whichever poor bastard has to wade through McDonald’s emails,” he joked.
Document:Framing Russian meddling in the Catalan questionreportOctober 2017Integrity Initiative/Cluster/SpainAn example of Projection by the Integrity Initiative. The Moncloa operation shows that the group itself has been involved in subverting the Spanish political process. This document accuses Russia of involvment in the Catalonia independence question.
Document:Julian Assange Must be Freed, Not BetrayedArticle18 February 2020John PilgerSarah Ferguson's interview made no mention of a leaked document, revealed by WikiLeaks, called 'Libya Tick Tock', prepared for Hillary Clinton, which described her as the central figure driving the destruction of the Libyan state in 2011. This resulted in 40,000 deaths, the arrival of ISIS in North Africa and the European refugee and migrant crisis.
Document:Julian Assange Tortured with Psychotropic DrugArticle8 May 2019Kurt NimmoThe FBI, Pentagon, and CIA are “interviewing” Julian Assange in Belmarsh Prison. The CIA Director Gina Haspel (aka Chemical Gina) has her hands in this one, and we are being told that Assange is being “treated” with BZ (a powerful drug that produces hallucinations).
Document:Julian Assange exposed the crimes of powerful actors, including Israelblog post19 April 2019Alison WeirJulian Assange has recently been honoured with the 2019 Award for Journalists, Whistleblowers & Defenders of the Right to Information and Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire has nominated him for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.
Document:Julian Assange is a suspected Russian intelligence assetArticle24 February 2020Susie Boniface"If Assange was interested in avoiding extradition to the US, he'd have gone to Sweden to answer the charges that were unlikely to see a conviction, and where he had far less chance of being extradited. But if he really WERE a Russian intelligence asset... well, then it all makes sense." - except that what it really makes is nonsense.
Document:Julian Assange to make final appeal in extradition caseArticle9 June 2023Mark LoweAccording to RSF, the upcoming appeal represents Assange’s final opportunity to contest extradition within the UK, unless he decides to bring his case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Document:Keir Starmer is a Long-Time Servant of the British Security StateArticle2 March 2021Oliver EagletonKeir Starmer is sometimes praised for being an outsider in the world of politics (or mocked as too lawyerly and insufficiently political). But in reality, much of his work as Director of Public Prosecutions blurred the boundaries between prosecutor and politician – following the dictates of the Cameron coalition, negotiating with foreign officials on its behalf, and dropping or pursuing cases according to its interests.
Document:Media Freedom? Show me the MSM Journalist Opposing the Torture of Assangeblog post7 September 2020Craig MurrayAt a time when the government is mooting designating Extinction Rebellion as Serious Organised Crime, right wing bequiffed muppet Keir Starmer was piously condemning the group, stating: “The free press is the cornerstone of democracy and we must do all we can to protect it.”
Document:Media silent on dismissal of DNC suit against Julian AssangeArticle2 August 2019Oscar GrenfellJudge Koeltl further undermined the claims of the Trump administration, the Democrats and the media that Julian Assange is a “hacker,” undeserving of First Amendment protections. In other words, the attempt to extradite Assange to the US and prosecute him is a frontal assault on the US Constitution and press freedom.
Document:Muellergate and the Discreet Lies of the BourgeoisieBlog post1 April 2019Craig MurrayThe capacity of the mainstream media repeatedly to promote the myth that Russia caused Clinton’s defeat, while never mentioning what the information was that had been so damaging to Hillary, should be alarming to anybody under the illusion that we have a working “free media”.
Document:Murray Scottish Appeal Denied; Allowed to Try UK CourtArticle8 June 2021Joe LauriaCraig Murray may have been a Crown target for the contempt conviction because he was among few writers defending Alex Salmond and was vindicated by Salmond’s acquittal. Murray has been a fierce advocate for his friend Julian Assange, the imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher, whom the United States is trying to extradite from Britain.
Document:No fair hearing for Assange at the Guardianarticle5 February 2016Jonathan CookDemonstrates the Establishment-friendly double standards of the UK's flagship 'Left-wing' newspaper - The Guardian - through analysis of its coverage of a UN decision on the political asylum of Julian Assange
Document:On the Pavement with Wikileaksblog post7 April 2019Craig MurrayPretty well all of the Western media is going to want to focus on these false anti-Assange narratives, and they will be determined to give as little attention as possible to the fact he is a publisher facing trial for publishing leaked state documents which revealed state wrongdoing. It is a classic and fundamental issue of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Document:People Need to Reclaim the Internetblog post19 October 2020Craig MurrayThe development of social media gatekeeping of internet traffic is one of the key socio-political issues of our time. We need the original founders of the Internet to get together with figures like Richard Stallman and – vitally – Julian Assange – to find a way we break free from this.
Document:Publishing is not a CrimeLetter28 November 2022GNM press officeBelated crocodile tears spilt by elements of the corporate media over Julian Assange
Document:Revenge Is Mine Saith Washingtonarticle20 November 2018Paul Craig RobertsAn abridged article about the persecution of Julian Assange. It illustrates the depths to which elementary notions of justice have sunk in the West - and especially in the UK and USA - where perceived threats to Deep State interests are involved.
Document:Sex, Lies and Julian AssangeTranscript23 July 2012Andrew FowlerHe humiliated the most powerful country in the world. But his relationship with two Swedish women, and their claims of sexual assault, may yet destroy Julian Assange.
Document:So Where is the Swedish Warrant?blog post27 April 2019Craig MurrayAll those Blairite MPs who seek to dodge the glaring issue of freedom of the media to publish whistleblower material revealing government crimes, by hiding behind trumped-up sexual allegations, are left looking pretty stupid.
Document:The 7 years of lies about Assange won’t stop nowBlog post11 April 2019Jonathan CookA brief resume of the lies and deceptions promoted by The Establishment about Julian Assange during his asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy.
Document:The Assange Arrest is a Warning From HistoryArticle12 April 2019John PilgerLeni Riefenstahl, close friend of Adolf Hitler, whose films helped cast the Nazi spell over Germany told me that the message in her films, the propaganda, was dependent not on “orders from above” but on what she called the “submissive void” of the public: "When people no longer ask serious questions, they are submissive and malleable. Anything can happen.”
Document:The Assange Case Invalidates US Criticisms Of Russia: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative MatrixArticle14 April 2022Caitlin JohnstoneJust the fact that the US and UK are imprisoning a journalist for exposing the war crimes of a war criminal president — just that one fact by itself — completely invalidates all criticisms of Russia from Washington and its allies.
Document:The Broader View Reveals the Ugliest of Prospectsblog post17 June 2019Craig MurrayI find it hard to believe that I live in times where Julian Assange suffers as he does for telling the truth, where a dedicated anti-racist like Jeremy Corbyn is subjected to daily false accusations of racism and to US and security service backed efforts to thwart his democratic prospects, where the most laughable false flag is paraded to move us towards war with Iran, and where there is no semblance of a genuinely independent media.
Document:The CIA plot to kidnap or kill Julian Assange in London is a story that is being mistakenly ignoredArticle1 October 2021Patrick CockburnJulian Assange and Jamal Khashoggi were targeted because they fulfilled the primary duty of journalists – telling the public what governments want to keep secret
Document:The Unrelenting Stateblog post31 May 2019Craig MurrayJulian Assange: That the most lucid man I know is now not capable of having a rational conversation is extremely alarming.
Document:Trump, Assange, Bannon, Farage… bound together in an unholy allianceOp-ed29 October 2017Carole Cadwalladr(You got this? Farage visited Trump, then Assange, then Rohrabacher. Rohrabacher met Don Trump’s Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya. Then Assange. And is now trying to close the circle with Trump.)
Document:Whenever it truly matters, from Assange to Corbyn, George Monbiot cripples the leftArticle11 October 2022Jonathan CookGeorge Monbiot is treated by much of the left as a figurehead, one whose environmentalism earns him credibility and credit with the left on foreign policy issues, from Syria to Ukraine, in which he echoes the same talking points one hears from Keir Starmer to Liz Truss. While on matters at home, like Assange and Corbyn, he sucks the wind out of the left’s sails.
Document:Why I am Convinced that Anna Ardin is a Liarblog post11 September 2012Craig MurrayTo those useful idiots who claim that the way to test these matters is in court, I would say of course, you are right, we should trust the state always, fit-ups never happen, and we should absolutely condemn the disgraceful behaviour of those who campaigned for the Birmingham Six
Document:Wikileaks - Open Letter to the US Governmentopen letter14 July 2011RevolutionTruth
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References

  1. Document:Julian Assange Tortured with Psychotropic Drug
  2. https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/05/karen-kwiatkowski/pray-and-weep/ saved at Archive.org saved at Archive.is
  3. https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/09/karen-kwiatkowski/why-is-julian-assange-being-tortured-to-death/ saved at Archive.org saved at Archive.is
  4. https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/05/the-unrelenting-state/comment-page-1/
  5. https://gawker.com/5551790/the-strange-upbringing-of-wikileaks-founder-jullian-assange
  6. a b "Reasons not to take the Julian Assange story at face value"
  7. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mendax#Latin
  8. "A visibility superstar"
  9. "This Machine Kills Secrets: How WikiLeakers, Cypherpunks, and Hacktivists Aim to Free the World's Information"
  10. "Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet"
  11. "Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness, and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier"
  12. "Assange should be nominated for Nobel Peace Prize - Fiancee"
  13. "Nominations are themselves protective, but a win would be so politically protective it would very likely secure Julian's freedom"
  14. "I will be nominating Julian for the Nobel Peace Prize, as a Member of the European Parliament"
  15. https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2008/03/awards-2008/
  16. https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2017/12/23/one-mans-fight-against-the-swiss-offshore-banking-system
  17. http://web.archive.org/web/20100720202218/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/features/wanted-by-the-cia-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-14880073.html
  18. http://www.unwelcomeguests.net/515
  19. https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/04/20/debunking-all-the-assange-smears/
  20. https://youtu.be/Nn98EauQC98