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Tuesday, December 07, 2010

"We Will Not Be Gagged"

TwitLonger:
Following the detention of Wikileaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assangem, Wikileaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said:

“Today, Wikileaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange was refused bail by a UK court. While we are troubled by this bizarre decision, we know Julian is grateful for the support of both his legal team and prominent figures such as Ken Loach, Jemima Khan and John Pilger.

“However, this will not stifle Wikileaks. The release of the US Embassy Cables – the biggest leak in history – will still continue. This evening, the latest batch of cables were released, and our media partners released their next batch of stories.

“We will not be gagged, either by judicial action or corporate censorship. Today Visa joined Mastercard, Paypal, Amazon, EveryDNS and others in cutting off their links.

“Wikileaks is still online. The full site is duplicated in more than 500 locations. Every day, the cables are loaded more than 50 million times.

“US Senator Joe Lieberman today attacked the New York Times for its decision to publish the cables, just days after calling for companies to boycott Wikileaks.

“Just minutes later, the State Department announced the US will host next year’s UNESCO Press Freedom day. The irony is not lost on us. We hope in future, UNESCO celebrates press freedom somewhere where it exists.”

2 comments:

jimf said...

You know, in almost any other case, if somebody charged
with a crime claimed that he was being framed by a major
world power, the claim would be laughable -- a transparent
lie or the ravings of a paranoid.

In this case, however, it's very likely true.

Whoever has persuaded (or bribed) Assange's accuser
(the CIA?) probably hopes that tying up Assange's life
in legal knots will not only make an example of him,
but also deprive the organization of its motivating
personality. The hope, no doubt, is that Wikileaks
will simply dry up and blow away.

We'll see.

jollyspaniard said...

What is clear is that big corporations that we rely on for services will bend like a reed in the wind at the behest of vested interests irrespective of the law.