About a thousand people rallied in Sydney on Saturday in support of wikileaks and Julian Assange. Assange is presently under house arrest in England fighting an extradition notice to Sweden over sexual assault allegations. Wikileaks continues publishing US diplomatic cables exposing the corruption of secret government policy and action, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Related: John Pilger's investigation into the war on WikiLeaks and his interview with Julian Assange | A Song for Bradley Manning | www.bradleymanning.org | www.wlcentral.org | WikiLeaks advisory board member Phillip Adams' statement on Wikileaks
Assange appeared in Belmarsh Court on January 13, for procedural matters with his extradition hearing set for 7-8 February 2011. London based Australian Barrister Geoffrey Robertson QC presented to the Belmarsh court that the Swedish authorities had engaged in "illegal" and "corrupt" behaviour, and if the extradition was granted the upshot might well be that Mr Assange could face illegal rendition to the US and a stint in Guantanamo Bay, possibly facing the death penalty. Read about Tweeting Assange's first day in court on ABC The Drum.
The skelton arguments (PDF) against extradition are published by Law firm Finers Stephens Innocent who have also established a Julian Assange Defence Fund to accept public donations for the legal costs.
Speakers at the rally included Marcus Strom from the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Antony Loewenstein Independent journalist and author, David Shoebridge NSW Greens MP, and Wendy Bacon Director of the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism.
Wendy Bacon spoke about current events in Tunisia and how #cablegate shows the US muting their public criticism of Ben Ali regime. (see 2011-01-15 What the US state cables on Tunisia said). Bacon also talked about the continued solitary confinement of Bradley Manning who is alledged to have leaked hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables, videos and other documents.
Antony Loewenstein talked about complicity of the mainstream media in keeping government secrets away from the public. (speaking notes)
Greens MP David Shoebridge told the crowd "The actions of WikiLeaks are not only lawful, they're essential for fostering free speech in the 21st century. That's why we're here to support those actions." according to an AP new report.
Gathering at Sydney Town Hall where a number of speeches were made, the protest moved down to the US Consulate before ending at Hyde Park. Chants included "What do we want Free Speech, When do we want it Now!" At the US embassy the crowd chanted "we demand free speech, hands off wikileaks!"
The protest also had it's lighter moments with several people attending with leeks in their hands, and a bubble gun blowing bubbles in Hyde Park. Protesters also collected donations for the Queensland flood relief.
The rally in Sydney was one of many in a global day of protest on January 15 and support for Wikileaks and it's founder Julian Assange. Protests in Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane were cancelled due to the Queensland floods.
Photos: http://hashalbum.com/wikisyd
Photo by Sofie - At Hyde park hearing about the governments plan to monitor and censor the Internet
Comments
Mr. Assange would be in danger just by appearing in a U.S. court
U.K. and Australian Citizens:
Please oppose strenuously the extradition of Juian Assange anywhere outside the United Kingdom.
Extradition to the United States would expose Mr. Assange to judicial execution for espionage. The U.S. has never rescinded the death penalty for espionage, even after the Ethel Rosenberg miscarriage of justice.
Even absent a judicial verdict, the political Right in America has other methods of violence available, as demonstrated in Arizona. Mr. Assange would be in danger just by appearing in a U.S. court.
Extradition to Sweden is also problematic, given the apparent cooperativeness of Swedish authorities with the anti-liberal element in US. politics.