MELBOURNE, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange called on the Australian government to assure his safety home in advance of his extradition hearing on sexual assault charges.

Assange is expected in a London court Monday to begin the extradition to Sweden to face possible sexual assault charges, The Age in Melbourne, Assange's hometown, reported Tuesday.

Defense attorney Rob Stary, a member of Assange's Melbourne legal team, said the Wikileaks founder recorded a 10-minute tape in which he thanked Australians supporters. Assange's address is expected to be played Friday during a free speech forum in Melbourne, The Age said.

"He wants to return to Australia, he wants to return safely here, knowing he'll have the support of the government. He insists that the government intervene to protect him," Stary said.

I agree with Christine Gus.

Julia Gillard is absolutely appalling ....

Quite apart from the fact that she has the leadership qualities of a cadaver, the woman possesses about as much in the way of critical thinking ability as a roadside sign & is a whole lot less interesting.

Today the genius told the media that "she cannot & will not make Julian Assange's legal problems go away. They are charges & they've got to be worked through proper process."

Well, no dummy, they're not.

Julian Assange has not been charged with anything - zero, zip, nada, nothing.

There is an extradition application that has been made on behalf of Swedish Prosecutors presently wending its way through the British Courts which, if successful, would see Assange handed-over to Swedish authorities & thereafter charges might be laid against him. But there are currently no charges ... lots of accusations; lots of allegations; lots of loose talk, including the loud noises made by our stupid politicians, with Gillard the dopiest of them all.

Back in December when the fur was really flying, dopey publicly claimed that Assange was 'grossly irresponsible' & that 'the publication of the cables on Wikileaks was illegal'.

Not true Julia. The publication of the leaked diplomatic cables has not breached any law. And, for that matter, no evidence has been produced by any government in any country that supports the allegation that Assange was involved in stealing the material or had conspired with others to steal it. Moreover, the fact that Wikileaks had published material on a website in another country seemed to have escaped Gillard's attention (the fact that the content of the published cables was embarrassing to both the American & Australian governments, demonstrating how both cynically lie & deceive their respective citizenry on a daily basis, was of no moment to Gillard & the rest of the rats that make up her corrupt government. The only thing that was important was to discredit Assange & our Prime Minister was prepared to make loud dishonest & defamatory allegations to achieve that. What a scumbag the woman is.).

At the same time that Gillard was fulminating with her nonsense, the Labour dolt masquerading as Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, announced that the AFP & 'a whole of government taskforce' had been instructed to investigate whether Assange & Wikileaks had breached any Australian laws ... the witchhunt was on. And, almost as if he was determined to demonstrate that he was a complete fool, McClelland publicly suggested that the Australian government might cancel Assange's passport. What breathtaking arrogance: the man is a national disgrace. As for the AFP, well, this is the mob that gave us the Haneef fiasco; the mob who routinely conspire to tamper with & conceal evidence; the mob who conspire to perpetrate miscarriages of justice; the gang that can't shoot straight & who can't lie straight in bed.

But back to Julia.

She has learned nothing since December.

Today she again clumsily sought to malign Assange, claiming that the actions of Daniel Ellsberg in leaking the Pentagon Papers bore the 'moral force' of a whistleblower but that the action of Wikileaks in making public hundreds of thousands of classified US documents was something-else: irresponsible. With mind-boggling logic such as this, little wonder we are in so much trouble.

Assange's mother has rightly lashed out at Gillard, labelling her a sycophant of America. If the Wikileaks cables have demonstrated nothing else, they have shown the truth of that statement.

Australia is in a terrible situation right now. Our electorate is stuck in a situation where it is constantly being squeezed to choose between the lesser of two evils: the mad monk Abbott & an incompetent & amoral phoney by the name of Julia Gillard.

The consistent refusal of generations of Australians to demand better government & a better class of politicians has brought us to this low place. As we look down our noses at the Chinese & the Arabs, we could do worse than consider the risks that they are willing to take to achieve the rights & privileges that we so casually take for granted.

How sad ....

That's why I placed quote marks on "safe in julia's hands..."... I agree with Christine too...

Julia's position in this affair is crook. She does — like a predecessors — blindly work on behalf of the US administration. Her only saving grace is that Phoney Tony is so awful, he makes her bad stints appear like essence of quint — whatever it is — a hypothetical form of dark energy that explains the accelerating universe towards nothingness, while Tony is negative energy with his roof blown off.

I try from time to time — like Julian — to give Julia a pole to hang onto...

The Sydney Peace Foundation has put the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange up alongside the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela.

The Sydney Peace Foundation has put the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange up alongside the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela. The University of Sydney not-for-profit-organisation has awarded Assange its gold medal for peace and justice - distinct from the annual Sydney Peace Prize - citing his ''exceptional courage and initiative in pursuit of human rights''. Previous recipients in the foundation's 14-year history include the Tibetan and South African leaders and the Japanese lay Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda. The foundation's director, Stuart Rees, said Assange's work challenged the old order of power in politics and journalism. ''Peace from our point of view is really about justice, fairness and the attainment of human rights,'' he said. Assange is on bail in Britain and under house arrest awaiting a court decision on whether he should be extradited to Sweden to face sexual assault allegations. The award will presented in Sydney in mid-May or at a ceremony in London later in the year, depending if Assange is spending or doing time.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-diary/assange-joins-the-peace-gang-20110202-1adw5.html

(OSLO, Norway) — A Norwegian lawmaker has nominated WikiLeaks for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, saying Wednesday that its disclosures of classified documents promote world peace by holding governments accountable for their actions.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee keeps candidates secret for 50 years, but those with nomination rights sometimes make their picks known.

Snorre Valen, a 26-year-old legislator from Norway's Socialist Left Party, told The Associated Press he handed in his nomination in person on Tuesday, the last day to put forth candidates. "I think it is important to raise a debate about freedom of expression and that truth is always the first casualty in war," Valen said. "WikiLeaks wants to make governments accountable for their actions and that contributes to peace."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2045839,00.html#ixzz1Cqa8mDiO

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has called on the Federal Government to help him return to Australia.

Mr Assange is due to appear in a London court next week where he faces extradition to Sweden on possible sexual assault charges.

In a pre-recorded video played at a forum in Melbourne this evening, Mr Assange thanked his supporters and said WikiLeaks would continue to publish secret documents.

But he said the Australian Government should be supporting him.

"There has been outrageous and illegal calls to have me and my staff killed, clear cases of incitement to violence," he said.

"Yet the Australian Government has condoned this behaviour by its diplomatic silence."

He also called on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to assist him.

"Julia Gillard should be taking active steps to bring me home and to protect our people," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/04/3130514.htm

By avoiding national secrecy laws, WikiLeaks has begun a publishing trend that no regime can stop

WikiLeaks affects one of the key tensions in democracies: the government needs to be able to keep secrets, but citizens need to know what is being done in our name. These requirements are fundamental and incompatible; like the trade-offs between privacy and security, or liberty and equality, different countries in different eras find different ways to negotiate those competing needs.

In the case of state secrets v citizen oversight, however, there is one constant risk: since deciding what is a secret is itself a secret, there is always a risk that the government will simply hide an increasing amount of material of public concern. One response to this risk is the leaker, someone who believes that key elements of political life are being wrongly kept from public view, and who circulates that material on his or her own.

Because this tension between governments and leakers is so important, and because WikiLeaks so dramatically helps leakers, it isn't just a new entrant in the existing media landscape. Its arrival creates a new landscape.

This transformation is under-appreciated. The press often covers WikiLeaks as a series of unfortunate events, one crisis or scandal after another. And Julian Assange, of course, is catnip – brilliant, opinionated, a monocle and a Persian cat away from looking like a Bond villain. The press has covered him as dutifully as any movie star, while paying too little attention to what his invention means about the wider world.

To understand the system WikiLeaks is disrupting, it helps to focus on a key moment of its formation. In 1946, the English-speaking Allies – the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand – decided that the pooling of their intelligence efforts set up during the conflict was too useful to end, even though the war had. The result, the blandly named UKUSA Agreement, was in the main a way for those governments to share foreign intelligence with each other.

The pact, however, did have one important domestic effect. It was illegal for those governments to spy on their own citizens. It was not, however, illegal for them to spy on each other's citizens. The agreement provided means for sharing the resulting observations without violating domestic laws.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/04/wikileaks-created-new-media-landscape

The mother of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has released an open letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd demanding he take up her son's case or resign.

Swedish authorities are trying to extradite Mr Assange from the United Kingdom so he can be interviewed over complaints of sexual misconduct.

Christine Assange read from the letter outside Mr Rudd's parliamentary office in Brisbane this evening.

She demanded he make strong and urgent representations to Sweden to drop the extradition attempt, saying it violates international standards of fairness.

"If you do not act I can only conclude one of two possibilities - that you have been gagged or intimidated, possibly by the very person who deposed you from your prime ministership eight months ago," she said.

"Alternatively you have not been gagged or intimidated but are choosing freely to be derelict from your duties as Australian Foreign Minister."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/11/3136905.htm

see toon at top...

Claims Julian Assange would face a "secret trial" on sexual assault charges in Sweden are inaccurate, a UK extradition hearing has been told.

Clare Montgomery QC, for the Swedish authorities, said evidence from a trial would be heard in private but the arguments would be made in public.

The Wikileaks founder's lawyer said his client might not have a fair trial.

Sweden wants Mr Assange to face sexual assault claims, which he denies. The case was adjourned to 24 February.

At Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in south-east London, Geoffrey Robertson QC, representing the Wikileaks founder, said rape trials in Sweden were "secret" and heard behind closed doors - a claim that was denied by representatives of the Swedish authorities.

In addition to this, he said, criticism of Mr Assange by Sweden's prime minister could damage his chance of a fair trial.

Fredrik Reinfeldt's remarks had shown "complete contempt for the presumption of innocence", he said.

Mr Robertson told the hearing that the prime minister's comments this week had created a "toxic atmosphere" in Sweden.

================

Gus: I beg your pardon? Evidence presented in private (secret) while debate is "public"??? What a crock!!!

Julian Assange will today learn if he is to be extradited to Sweden to face rape and sexual assault allegations. The WikiLeaks founder's legal team has said it is already preparing an appeal in anticipation of the judge's decision going against him. Mr Assange will learn his fate shortly after 10am today at Belmarsh Magistrates' Court when Chief Magistrate Howard Riddle delivers his judgment. Mark Stephens, Mr Assange's solicitor, said last night that his team was already preparing for the worst. "Both sides, the prosecution and the defence, have told the judge that they are going to appeal if they lose, so we are already working on that principle," he said. Mr Stephens's comments came after a barrister with specialist knowledge of extradition law said it was "very likely" that the senior district judge will order Mr Assange's extradition. Julian Knowles, a barrister from Matrix, the same chambers as Clare Montgomery, who is prosecuting on behalf of the Swedish authorities in the Assange hearing, told BBC Radio 4's Law in Action: "From what I have read and heard about the Assange extradition hearing, it is very likely that the Swedish prosecutor will prevail and extradition will be ordered."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/nations-braced-for-hacklash-as-assange-verdict-looms-2223934.html

This is a statement from Australian broadcaster [ABC radio] Phillip Adams. It was read at a WikiLeaks support rally in Sydney on January 15, 2011. Mr Adams is an Advisory Board member of WikiLeaks and a highly respected Australian media presenter.

"First right-wing bloggers called for Assange's assasination. Now voices in Washington want 'the death penalty on the table' if they can get him into a US court. I'm proposing we put him up for sainthood - but after Wikileaks leaks on the Vatican that may be out of the question.

Thirteen years ago we decided that Late Night Live (ABC Radio - heard around Australia and the world), needed a 'cyber-space' correspondent to tell us what was going on in that parallel universe. So the well-informed Suellete Dreyfus came on board as a regular commentator. That year she introduced me to a young hacker called, yes, Julian Assange - a leading member of what she described as 'the underground'.

Now, that's a term with very proud associations - particularly with those in France who bravely fought the Nazi occupiers - and this seemed a bit of a stretch between blowing up railway tracks and hacking into computers.. Nonetheless even I could see the potential of this new era of subversion - to fight the mighty powers and monoliths in politics, finance, media and even religion.

So when Julian contacted me a few years back - to outline his ideas for Wikileaks - I was delighted to join his advisory board. As I've been pointing out to the CIA (and others in the spook trade) while Julian hasn't been asking me for advice I'm happy to maintain my unswerving support for what he and Wikileaks have done to embarrass our masters. The big game has been changed forever - the mighty will always be looking over their shoulders and find it harder to lie. Or at least find new ways to do it. Democracy is being democratised, tyrannies exposed and millions who've been fed bullshit for generations are now able to confirm their suspicions. Any attempt to hand over Assange to the US - or any other country seeking to silence Wikileaks. - must be resisted. Australian governmental attacks on Wikileaks? A disgrace".

Phillip Adams AO

This Statement was issued to, and read at, the WikiLeaks support rally in Sydney, Australia on January 15, 2011.

http://www.indymedia.org.au/2011/01/18/wikileaks-advisory-board-member-phillip-adams-statement-on-wikileaks

see also:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/born-under-the-bomb/story-e6frg7fx-1226015841897

MALCOLM TURNBULL has likened Julia Gillard's handling of the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, to Margaret Thatcher's ''over the top'' reaction to the Spycatcher author, Peter Wright, saying the Prime Minister has given Mr Assange a hero status and kudos he does not deserve.

Mr Turnbull also berated Ms Gillard for saying Mr Assange had broken the law, and for failing to defend the Australian citizen against calls for his death from the Republican presidential prospect Sarah Palin and others in the US.

''At the time he was being described as breaking the law by Ms Gillard, prominent American politicians and journalists were describing him as a terrorist and, in some cases, calling for him to be assassinated,'' he said.

''Julia Gillard could have quite properly deplored his publishing of confidential information, sympathised with our embarrassed American allies, but at the same time registered our profound unhappiness that an Australian citizen is being threatened in this way by leading figures in another country whose commitment to freedom of speech and the rule of law we traditionally regard as being no less than our own.''

Ms Gillard also should have admonished the US for such sloppy data security, he said.

The comments were made last week in a speech to the University of Sydney Law School

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/spycatcher-sequel-gillard-is-doing-a-thatcher-on-wikileaks-says-turnbull-20110404-1cyod.html

-------------------------

Gus: good one Malcolm but Assange getting kudos he does not deserve????? Assange has broken the bubble of diplomatic bullshit... Though, it's hard to know where the layers of lies stop but at least we know (we knew) in a verified manner that we are constantly porkied to by our sociopath leaders... see toon at top...

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been given a human rights medal for what has been described as "exceptional courage in pursuit of human rights".

The Sydney Peace Foundation has praised Mr Assange and WikiLeaks, saying they have brought about a watershed in journalism, freedom of information and potentially in politics.

In its 14-year history, only three other people have won the foundation's gold medal for courage in the pursuit of human rights - the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and Japanese Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda.

Mr Assange, who is fighting extradition from Britain to Sweden over alleged sex crimes, was praised for "challenging centuries-old practices of government secrecy and by championing people's right to know".

Foundation director Stuart Rees says the award was also motivated by the cowardice of the Australian Government.

"We think the struggle for peace with justice inevitably involves conflict, inevitably involves controversy," he said.

"We think that you and WikiLeaks have brought about what we think is a watershed in journalism and in freedom of information and potentially in politics."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/11/3213310.htm

Wikileaks is a leaking boat, filled with torpedo holes, that is struggling to stay afloat, founder Julian Assange says.

But the organisation has only just begun its work, the under-siege Australian has promised.

Assange, 40, who is currently on bail in Britain facing extradition to Sweden, appeared via videolink at the Sydney Opera House's annual Festival of Dangerous Ideas last night.

"At the moment, WikiLeaks is a rather big boat with a lot of torpedo holes in it that has taken water in and is drifting along and we're doing our best to keep it afloat," Mr Assange said.

But despite this, the organisation had not yet gone nearly far enough, he said.

"We have only just begun. We have put into that historic record less than one-thousandth of the series of information that is concealed that needs to be there," he said.

Assange reflected on how 310 days ago he was in Wandsworth Prison in London and the Australian government was doing "everything in their power to see me...shipped off to the United States".

"And that swift reaction from the Australian government was only stopped by the Australian population and our friends in Australia," he said.

"It was an expression of democratic discipline."

"This decision was exactly what I expected, but I am very critical about the fact that it has taken the High Court such long time, from July," Claes Borgstrom said.

Another of Mr Assange's legal advisors, Geoffrey Robertson QC, has called on the Australian Government to intervene if the extradition goes through, telling the ABC's Lateline program that the WikiLeaks founder would not receive a fair trial.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-02/assange-loses-extradition-appeal/3615784?WT.svl=news0

Hi Gus,

No doubt Julia was on the phone to Julian as soon as the court's decision was announced, assuring him that Kevin was on his way, along with the Australian Ambassador to the Court of St James, & a host of other government officials & an appropriate media gaggle, to provide him with all of the support that he knows that he can expect from the Awstraylan government?

Me fears that young Julian is about to disappear down a rabbit hole conected to the cages at Guantanamo Bay, no thanks to Julia!!

Cheers,

John.  

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is applying to have his case against extradition to Sweden heard by the UK Supreme Court.

He lost a High Court battle earlier this month to halt his removal for questioning over alleged sex offences.

Mr Assange denies "raping" a woman and "sexually molesting" another in Stockholm in August 2010.

On 5 December he will ask the High Court to rule his case raises a question of general public importance.

Mr Assange claims his arrest, under the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), was politically motivated and linked to the activities of WikiLeaks. The website angered the United States by publishing thousands of secret documents.

He is attempting to appeal to the Supreme Court on two grounds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15739437

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange last night won leave to appeal to Britain's Supreme Court in his battle to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual allegations. 

Seven justices  will listen to his case in a two-day hearing starting on 1 February. A panel of three Supreme Court Justices last night  said that seven  would sit because the legal issue he had raised in his appeal was of great public importance. 

Assange's lawyer had argued in a hearing before the High Court on 5 December that the European Arrest Warrant issued against him by Sweden was not valid because it had been issued by a prosecutor, and a prosecutor was not "a judicial authority", as was required under European law. 

The mother of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has met with Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, to discuss her son's bid for political asylum.

Christine Assange has been in Ecuador for the past five days to encourage the government to grant his request.

The WikiLeaks founder wants to avoid extradition to Sweden, and Ecuador's efforts to resolve the sex-crimes allegations at its London embassy have failed.

Ecuador's foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, says Sweden's refusal to send a prosecutor to London complicates the situation.

But he says the president expressed to Ms Assange that no final decision on her son's fate has been made.

"She has been very respectful towards the Ecuadorean state because she knows it's up to the president who has the last word," he said.

"What she did was express her worries, her doubts about what could happen to Julian if he's extradited to Sweden."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-02/assange27s-mum-meets-ecuador-president/4172604

We're all behind you... Keep the fight...

The usual Amerikan bullshit Gus.

Whilst most would doubtless accept that the US government should be able to make laws governing the actions of anyone whilst on American soil, & even some actions of US citizens whilst they are elsewhere in the world, I’m not aware that the Australian government has ever agreed to the US having the right to make laws effecting our citizens, based on their actions outside of the US?

If ‘sovereignty’ is to mean anything, then surely non-US citizens should be allowed to go about their business, subject only to international law or the laws of the jurisdiction in which they are located at any particular time & free of the fear that they might be arbitrarily deprived of their liberty by the US government or its vassals, based on secret allegations, & potentially rendered & incarcerated indefinitely without charge or trial.

Or do we now live in the United World of America?