Today Julian Assange faces court again to appeal the order to extradite him to Sweden. If his appeal fails he will face court in Sweden within a fortnight.
This is Assanges tenth court appearance since his arrest for questioning in relation to sex crimes in Sweden, over a year ago. Assange has maintained that the charges are politically motivated by Wikileaks release of secret US government documents and video, particularly that that show US military engaged in war crimes.
Assange won a prestigious Walkley award for journalism in November 2011. http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/49627 In his acceptance speech he said, "They say that telling the truth is no way to win friends. They say that the Australian people don’t care for the truth. Well, they’re wrong. The Australian people want to know the truth about war. They want to know who they can trust. They want to know how the world is shaped around them. They want to find a way through complexity and lies."
Australian Greens Senators are attending court for a last minute appeal on his behalf, something the Australian government has failed to do thus far for Assange, an Australian Citizen. Yesterday Greens Senator Scott Ludlam made a FOI request for any secret Assanage documents held by the government. Last week Ludlam presented a number of questions to PM Gillard about the treatement of Assange by his government, including asking her if she brought the matter up with Obama on his recent visit, and whether any secrets deals or continued spying by the Australian government is occurring in relation to Wikileaks. Ludlam told the ABC, "Of course we haven't heard anything from the Prime Minister or the Attorney-General since they both pronounced him a criminal last year [for] having committed illegal acts, which was later completely contradicted by the Federal Police."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-03/greens-ask-for-any-secret-assange-...
http://greensmps.org.au/content/media-release/assange-questions-delivere...
Assanges lawyers have set up a website to keep the public informed of the facts of the charges here: http://www.swedenversusassange.com/
Also today the UK parliament will take an historic vote as to whether they will support changes to their treaty with the US which offers little protection for UK citizens. (Link here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8924012/Parliament-to-have-hist...)
A rally will be held outside the offices of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 295 Ann Street, crn Creek St, Brisbane at 6pm today, December 5th.
Details of the Brisbane rally today are here: http://www.facebook.com/events/277997662245758/
Comments
LONDON REPORT - from outside the British High Court
LONDON REPORT - from outside the British High Court
http://indymedia.org.au/2011/12/06/london-british-high-court-rules-that-...
Has indy been taken over by Fairfax or some other conglomerate?
Do people at indy actually support him & his wikileaks or has indy been taken over by Fairfax or some other media conglomerate.
Of course Indy supports wikileaks
Of course Indy supports wikileaks, where do you get your idea otherwise from?
Anthony
Bradley Manning and Julian Assange are true heroes
Assange is supporting the anti-fascist tradition of solidarity towards a free world press, and a profession of truthfull journalism. He is exposing the lying propaganda of the U.S. Imperialist Officials who are waging and unjust war, and illegal occupation of a sovereign independent country. In this both Bradley Manning and Julian Assange are true heroes and must be set free for justice to be proven in their cases. Workers of the world, unite!!
Many of us think that Asange should be punished in Sweden
Many of us thinks that Asange should be punished in Sweden since the crime was made in Sweden. Well, to be honest, yes he should be. However fair trial should be implemented and the appeal should be analyze first before they deny it. There should be proper trial court for the appeal and not just throwing the case outside the window.