Assange in bid to sue Australian prime minister
Published: 8 Oct 12 06:33 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/43670/20121008/
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in an interview published Monday he has hired a legal team to establish whether he has a case to sue Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard for defamation.
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The Australian founder of the whistleblowing website says comments Gillard made in 2010 that the leaking of US diplomatic cables was "illegal" and "grossly irresponsible" had hurt WikiLeaks' financial viability.
"We are considering suing for defamation so I have hired lawyers in Sydney and they are investigating the different ways in which we can sue Gillard over this statement," he told Australian activist group GetUp in an interview.
Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since claiming asylum on June 19 in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning over alleged sex crimes.
He said the organisation had not been convicted of breaking any laws yet Gillard's comments had been used against WikiLeaks.
"MasterCard Australia, in justifying why it has made a blockade preventing any Australian MasterCard holder from donating to WikiLeaks, used that statement by Julia Gillard as justification," he said.
"So the effects of the statement are ongoing and they directly affect the financial viability of WikiLeaks."
Assange, who plans to run for the Australian Senate in elections due next year, denies the sex allegations and fears Sweden would extradite him to the United States, where his supporters say he could receive the death penalty.
WikiLeaks deeply embarrassed the US government in 2010 by publishing huge caches of confidential documents on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and more than 250,000 diplomatic cables from US embassies around the world.
Ecuador granted him asylum on August 16 but Britain has denied him safe passage out of the country.
Assange again accused the Australian government of offering him little help -- an allegation it rejects.
"I haven't seen any member of the Australian embassy or consulate since I was in prison in 2010. And even then, all they did was bring some notepads, pens, etc," he said.
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Australia has an uber corrupt government. we had ministers caught in "talks" with foreign ministers and ambassadors from the USA just prior to the old democraticaly elected prime minister being outed in favour of this one. a bit of regime change USA style.
We have multiple permanent USA military bases on our soil including a nuclear powered top secret one ( and we are a non nuclear country )
they have conspired with the USA so many times abandoning their tax paying citizens in favour of the USA. its time she gets her come uppance.
She gave multiple guarantees in the last elections and has proved herself a spineless liar. it will be another massive landslide against her corrupt party and herself in the not too distant future. At a state level her party has been obliterated such is the hatred against her and her party.
the only one burning bridges is the australian government.
Is it, isn't it, where's the ruling?
Maybe he should sue Mastercard, they made the decision.
Is the financial support for wikileaks so fragile that it hangs on a thread that is controlled by Mastercard Australia?, if so, maybe assange should start looking for another job, as it seems the one he has does have no longer has the support of the consumer.
Maybe litigation is his Forte.
Another Pet Rock novelty appears to have outlived it's 15 minutes.
"We have multiple permanent USA military bases on our soil including a nuclear powered top secret one ( and we are a non nuclear country )"
List them, including the "secret" one.
"Australia rejects proposal to base a US nuclear aircraft carrier group near Perth"
Excerpt,
Australia, which tries to tread a fine line between supporting its closest ally, the US, and not upsetting China, its biggest trading partner, yesterday rejected a proposal to base a US nuclear aircraft carrier group near Perth, saying it did not want American bases in the country.
Pine Gap - CIA and NSA from the USA - try google
news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/australia-welcomes-us-marines-to-darwin-20120404-1wc91.html
USA marines permanently based at Robertson Barracks in the NT - Darwin.
2500 troops within a few years.
Yesterday Julia Gillard also said that "our" future didnt lie with a undemocratic country that abused human rights - China and that we were directing our focus to Japan. Right as Japan and China re going at it and the yanks move 2 entire fleets into Japanese waters.
I do know when i'm dealing with an axxhole who responds with personal insults.
Pine Gap is a satellite tracking station set up by your trusted friends and ally.
Robertson Barracks apparently welcomes your trusted friends ally to help out with protecting the region, and the citizens of Darwin apparently are looking forward to having them also.
So far that's a far cry from your "We have multiple permanent USA military bases on our soil including a nuclear powered top secret one.
So where exactly are these other "multiple permanent USA military bases, and the nuclear powered top secret one located?
Your most trusted ally is not coming to overrun Australia and take over for christ's sake, they're coming to help you keep the region secure.
Who in the hell do you want for an ally, Iran, Russia, China, the (cough) "muslim world", ......... WHO!!!
Nothing wrong with the muslim world. I have lots of chinese friends.
Where do you get this trusted friends rubbish from?
Pine Gap is nuclear powered!
In highschools now we have obligitory use of ipads - not tablets - ipads. all hooked up to the icloud - now we have the australian government handing over our entire high school system to a bunch of people who think kidnap and murder are fine for them but no one else and who believe dinosaurs are a figment of our imagination. do you know any other countries that dna test to enter? it would nice to have a dna sample of half the world - for security reasons of course.
we have handed over vast regions of WA for the yanks to practice bombing on.
most people dont know about pine gap and no one can get near it even though its on australian soil.
the citizens of australia eh? thats similiar to the PM welcoming jewish lunatics and George W on behalf of all australians. not even close. Imguessing your a dotty old fella there bc with a primary school education and a good christian to boot.
The "most religious extreme"?
You don't know much about world religious extremism do you?
Everyday, ....... EVERYDAY, there are examples of muslims literally slaughtering innocent others for the crime of not being muslims. MANY THOUSANDS of innocents are killed every year in the name of islam.
Your choice of allies is as expected, unlike the overwhelming majority of freedom loving Australians.
"Imguessing your a dotty old fella there bc with a primary school education and a good christian to boot."
I never impose my spirituality on anyone, it's RUDE, it's personal on to myself and it needs no confirmation of others, but since you asked a direct question, i have no problem in giving a direct answer.
Guess again wise one, i'm a clear thinking objective agnostic atheist with no affiliation, like manmade bigoted brainwashing fascist mythologies with no basis in fact, which relentlessly insists on violently imposing their totalitarian fascism on innocent others.
My objective views, afford me a high degree of education that those entrenched in their subjective narrow views cannot even begin to comprehend.
My turn to "guess", is that your a good submissive muslim, that is not allowed to even question the brainwashing you've been subjected to since birth. In many muslim countries you would not escape with your life if you dared to cross that line.
My legal advisor also commented that while assange is against censorship and he seems to like people to be free to say what they like, here he is being against the freedom of speech of someone else.
I say that assange's idea of total freedom of expression is a two edged sword, it also gives a license to people who disagree with him to express their views !