WikiLeaks founder’s custody will be extended after current prison terms comes to end
Julian Assange will stay in prison after the custody period on his current jail term ends because of his “history of absconding”.
As home secretary, Sajid Javid signed an order in June allowing Assange’s extradition to the US over hacking allegations. A 50-week jail term was imposed in the UK after he had jumped previous bail by going into hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Continue reading...British home secretary says final decision on WikiLeaks founder is ‘now with the courts’
The home secretary, Sajid Javid, has revealed he has signed a request for Julian Assange to be extradited to the US where he faces charges of computer hacking.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday, Javid said: “He’s rightly behind bars. There’s an extradition request from the US that is before the courts tomorrow but yesterday I signed the extradition order and certified it and that will be going in front of the courts tomorrow.”
Continue reading...Ruling prevents prosecutors from applying immediately for extradition warrant
An attempt to extradite Julian Assange to Sweden has suffered a setback after a court in Uppsala said he did not need to be detained.
The ruling by the district court prevents Swedish prosecutors from applying immediately for an extradition warrant for Assange to face an allegation of rape dating back to 2010. Assange denies the accusation.
Continue reading...Julian Assange could face decades in a US prison after being charged with violating the Espionage Act by publishing classified information through WikiLeaks.
Prosecutors announced 17 additional charges against Assange for publishing hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic cables and files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Continue reading...Prosecutor asks for warrant to begin process of extraditing WikiLeaks founder from UK
The Swedish prosecutor leading an investigation into a rape allegation against Julian Assange has filed a request for his arrest, the country’s prosecution authority has said.
The warrant, if granted, would be the first step in a process to have the WikiLeaks founder extradited from the UK, where he is serving a 50-week prison sentence for skipping bail.
Continue reading...Former army private says she would ‘rather starve to death’ than cooperate in growing battle of wills
Chelsea Manning was again behind bars on Thursday night after she was jailed for a second time for contempt of court, having refused to cooperate with a grand jury.
A defiant Manning told Judge Anthony Trenga in a federal district court in Alexandria, Virginia, that she would “rather starve to death” than do what the state insisted and give testimony before the grand jury. Having already served 62 days in jail, 28 of which were spent in solitary confinement, she now faces up to 18 months more in custody.
Continue reading...However, the former army intelligence analyst was served a new subpoena ordering her to appear before another grand jury
Chelsea Manning has been released from jail after 62 days of confinement for refusing to testify before a grand jury.
The former army intelligence analyst, who leaked hundreds of thousands of state secrets to WikiLeaks in 2010, was released from the William G Truesdale adult detention center in Alexandria, Virginia, on Thursday after the grand jury she had defied expired.
Continue reading...Ruling will be given on Monday over whether to reopen case that dates back to 2010
Sweden’s state prosecutor will announce on Monday whether she will reopen a preliminary investigation into a rape allegation against Julian Assange.
The WikiLeaks founder is in prison in Britain after he was arrested last month after seven years holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The US wants to extradite him in a case relating to WikiLeaks’ massive release of sensitive military and diplomatic documents.
Continue reading...Actor joined by WikiLeaks editor-in-chief for Assange’s first social visit since his arrest
Pamela Anderson has described Julian Assange as “the world’s most innocent man” and said a fight was on to “save his life”, after the actor and model visited the WikiLeaks founder at Belmarsh prison.
She was accompanied by the website’s editor-in-chief, Kristinn Hrafnsson, for what WikiLeaks described as Assange’s first social visit since he was arrested by police after Ecuador revoked the political asylum granted to him at the country’s London embassy.
Continue reading...UN experts say British government is breaching WikiLeaks publisher’s human rights
UN experts have called for Julian Assange to be released from prison and criticised the British government for breaching his human rights.
The WikiLeaks publisher was jailed for 50 weeks on Wednesday for breaking bail conditions imposed seven years earlier by seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Continue reading...UK foreign secretaries wrote to assure Ecuador president over WikiLeaks founder’s extradition
Ecuador’s president, Lenín Moreno, was assured by two British foreign secretaries that Julian Assange would not be extradited to a country where he could face the death penalty, according to letters seen by the Guardian.
Letters signed by the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, and his predecessor Boris Johnson, dated 7 March 2018 and 10 August 2018 respectively, confirm a person cannot be extradited if they could face the death penalty, according to British legislation.
Continue reading...Exclusive: President says he has it in writing from UK that WikiLeaks co-founder’s rights will be respected
Julian Assange repeatedly violated his asylum conditions and tried to use the Ecuadorian embassy in London as a “centre for spying”, Ecuador’s president has said in an interview with the Guardian.
Lenín Moreno also said he had been given written undertakings from Britain that Assange’s fundamental rights would be respected and that he would not be sent anywhere to face the death penalty.
Continue reading...Sending the WikiLeaks founder to face charges in the US would be a disaster for press freedom
It’s not difficult to despise Julian Assange. For seven years, he has attempted to evade rape and sexual assault charges in Sweden by seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He has dismissed the charges as a “radical feminist conspiracy” and tried to smear the complainants as acting on behalf of the CIA. His excuse for refusing to face trial in Sweden – that he would then face extradition to the US – has always been hogwash. He is no safer from extradition in Britain than he would have been in Sweden, as he may soon discover.
There are questions to be asked about WikiLeaks, too. The organisation has been invaluable in allowing whistleblowers to safely publish documents that the authorities would rather have kept hushed up, from the truth about the commodity trader Trafigura’s devastating dumping of chemical waste in Ivory Coast to videos of US helicopter attacks on Iraqi civilians. It is, or certainly was in its early days, an important tool in cutting down to size those in power who would abuse their power.
Continue reading...WikiLeaks founder’s father says Australian government should ‘do something’ after his arrest in London
The father of the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has called on the Australian government to help his son and suggested he could be brought back to his home country.
John Shipton, who lives in Melbourne, urged Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, to step in following Assange’s arrest in London last week.
Continue reading...Authorities investigating whether Ola Bini was working with WikiLeaks and Assange as part of attempt to ‘destabilise’ Ecuador
A judge in Ecuador has jailed a Swedish software developer whom authorities believe is a key member of WikiLeaks and close to Julian Assange, while prosecutors investigate charging him with hacking as part of an alleged plot to “destabilise” the country’s government.
Ola Bini, 36, was ordered to held in preventive detention on Saturday pending possible cyber-attack charges and his bank accounts were frozen. Prosecutors were examining dozens of hard drives and other material he had in his possession, according to local media reports.
Continue reading...Letters to Sajid Javid and Diane Abbott call for attention to focus on any Swedish case
Political pressure is mounting on Sajid Javid to prioritise action that would allow Julian Assange to be extradited to Sweden, amid concerns that US charges relating to Wikileaks’ activities risked overshadowing longstanding allegations of rape.
More than 70 MPs and peers have written to Javid and the shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, urging them to focus attention on the earlier Swedish investigations that Assange would face should the case be resumed at the alleged victim’s request.
Continue reading...Hillary Clinton told an event in New York that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's dramatic arrest on Wednesday was not about 'punishing journalism', but holding him to account for the hacking charges against him. The Australian is charged by the US with conspiring to hack into a Pentagon computer network with whistleblower Chelsea Manning. WikiLeaks released a cache of hacked Democratic party emails that embarrassed Clinton's campaign during the 2016 presidential election
Former prosecutor says it would be ‘uphill task’ even if rape inquiry is reopened
Swedish lawyers have said they doubt Julian Assange will ever stand trial in Sweden even if prosecutors decide to reopen an investigation into a rape accusation.
The WikiLeaks founder was arrested in London on Thursday after being dragged from the Ecuadorian embassy, where he had stayed since 2012 in order to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations, which he has always denied.
Continue reading...WikiLeaks founder’s removal from London embassy brings seven-year diplomatic stalemate to an end
Julian Assange is facing extradition to the United States and up to five years in prison after he was forcibly dragged from the Ecuadorian embassy in London on Thursday, bringing an extraordinary seven-year diplomatic stalemate to an end.
After 2,487 days in the embassy, the 47-year-old was arrested after Ecuador revoked his political asylum and invited Metropolitan police officers inside their Knightsbridge premises, where he has stayed since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations which Assange has always denied.
Continue reading...After WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London on Thursday, Donald Trump claimed not to know anything about WikiLeaks and that it's 'not his thing'. The US president frequently praised the organisation during the 2016 presidential campaign when WikiLeaks published emails stolen from Democratic National Convention servers and Hillary Clinton's campaign.