2012-05-18 WikiLeaks News Update: Assange likely to win Senate seat; Other news




WikiLeaks has been financially blockaded without process for 532 days.
Julian Assange has been detained without charge for 529 days.
Bradley Manning has been imprisoned without trial for 726 days.
A secret Grand Jury has been active in the U.S. without transparency for 612 days.

WikiLeaks News:

  • WikiLeaks was faced with 3 days of DDoS attacks, but the website is now up and running.
  • Many papers reported that a WikiLeaks cable led to the hanging of an Iranian kick-boxer. This is blatantly false. WikiLeaks sent out a series of tweets on the issue:

    Murdoch's Times tries to smear WikiLeaks for Iranian hanging. Media morons run with it, without fact checking. The absolute contempt for the readers and the truth shows why there must be urgent reform. Let us consider the Iranian smear. We have: Wrong guy. This isn't the guy in the cable. Wrong publication. Spiegel, not WL, selected the cable, but anyway, it was redacted. Wrong country. Israel isn't even mentioned in the cable. In fact, there's no connection whatsoever with the story other than it mentions martial arts. And yet dozens of "press" outlets are running with it. Idiots! Wrong timeline. The guy (that the cable, as far as can be determined, has nothing to do with) was sentenced last August. Here is the Iranian Ninja cable the idiots are going on about:
    http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/09/09BAKU687.html
    Forbes' Andy Greenberg wrote an article debunking the claim, WL Central's analysis can be found here, and Scott Baker published an update today as well.

  • Khaled al-Masri, who was abducted and taken to a U.S. detention center in Afghanistan, will have his case heard by the European Court of Human Rights. WL Press has posted relevant WikiLeaks cables and articles.
  • Jennifer Robinson was on ABC Radio National Law Report discussing her work with WikiLeaks, being put on an inhibited list, and the other causes she works for.
  • Robert Parry wrote an in-depth analysis entitled, "How the US Press Lost its Way," which discusses how failures in mainstream media led to "the era of WikiLeaks."
  • Andrew Kreig authored an analysis on the Obama administration's war on leaks, commenting on how it extends far beyond WikiLeaks itself.


Julian Assange News:

  • A new poll shows that Julian Assange is likely to win a Senate seat, especially if he chooses to run in New South Wales. An analysis on the poll comments that if extradited to the US, his votes would likely increase.
  • Online Opinion published an analysis of jurisprudence in the case against Julian Assange, which discusses how his fate will be determined by theoretical issues about legal philosophies.


Bradley Manning News:

  • John Pilger wrote an article about how Obama's advocacy of gay marriage is a distraction, noting how Bradley Manning was attacked for being homosexual and declared guilty by Obama.
  • Daniel Ellsberg accepted Global Exchange's human rights award on behalf of Bradley Manning. Watch his acceptance speech below:

  • A promo video for the upcoming play "bradass87," staged in the back of the WikiLeaks Truck, has been released.

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Upcoming Dates & Events:

May 21: "Don't Shoot the Messenger" panel at University of Adelaide, 5PM.

May 23: Julian Assange to speak on the impact of increasing transparency at EIM 2012 in The Netherlands, 4:35PM.

May 26: Bradley Manning will have been imprisoned for two years without trial.

May 27: "Incident in New Baghdad" to air on The Documentary Channel, 8PM.

June 6-8: Bradley Manning motion hearings.

July 16-20: Bradley Manning motion hearings.

August 27-31: Bradley Manning motion hearings.

September 19-20: Bradley Manning motion hearings.

September 21-October 12: Bradley Manning's court martial.