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WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Granted Bail
Just one day after winning the Time Magazine online poll for "Person of the Year," Julian Assange, founder of the secrets outlet WikiLeaks, has been granted bail.
Just one day after winning the Time Magazine online poll for "Person of the Year," Julian Assange, founder of the secrets outlet WikiLeaks, has been granted bail. He had been sitting in a British prison pending extradition to Sweden on allegations of sexual assault not connected to WikiLeaks' release of secret US State Department cables. His lawyers suggested the arrest was part of a larger plot to have Assange extradited to the US, where he may yet face espionage charges.
Though granted bail, Assange may not actually be freed on Tuesday, as it was already late afternoon when the ruling came down and prosecutors had time to appeal the decision. One of his supporters, Sarah Saunders, offered the court £150,000 -- or "pretty much all I'm worth," according to a reporter on the scene -- to ensure Assange did not flee.
He also received help from US filmmaker Michael Moore, who offered $20,000 for Assange's bail. He called the WikiLeaks founder "a pioneer of free speech" and said he'd host their site on his own web servers if needed.
Bail was set at $315,000, or 200,000 pounds UK.
Once the decision was announced, the courtroom erupted with cheers, according to The Guardian.
The court required that Assange surrender his passport, submit to a curfew and wear a tracking device.
In an MSNBC live broadcast, a reporter suggested that "the whole of the world's media" and a massive throng of supporters had gathered outside the courtroom, and that the scene was one of celebration.
But not everyone was happy. Republican strategist Boris Epshteyn, speaking to MSNBC, claimed that Assange was "out there murdering individuals."
"He's costing people's lives and putting our people, our men and women in uniform, in harm's way and I really despise him for that," the former McCain adviser said.
"US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates admitted in a letter to the US congress that no sensitive intelligence sources or methods had been compromised by the Afghan war logs disclosure," Assange wrote last week, in an editorial published the day he went to jail. "The Pentagon stated there was no evidence the WikiLeaks reports had led to anyone being harmed in Afghanistan. NATO in Kabul told CNN it couldn't find a single person who needed protecting. The Australian Department of Defence said the same. No Australian troops or sources have been hurt by anything we have published."
Award-winning journalist and documentarian John Pilger also told MSNBC, "there is no case against Julian Assange," adding that it's a "disgrace" for the British to keep him in solitary confinement for so long.
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74 Comments so far
Show AllA recent commentary in Pravda:
"What WikiLeaks has done is make people understand why so many Americans are politically apathetic. After all, the evils committed by those in power can be suffocating, and the sense of powerlessness that erupts can be paralyzing, especially when government evildoers almost always get away with their crimes."
"So shame on Barack Obama, Eric Holder and all those who spew platitudes about integrity, justice and accountability while allowing war criminals and torturers to walk freely upon the earth. The American people should be outraged that government has transformed a nation with a reputation for freedom, justice, tolerance and respect for human rights into a backwater that revels in its criminality, cover-ups, injustices and hypocrisies."
On another note I noticed the comments were disappeared/shut off in article on war criminal Holbrooke's death.
I never thought in my lifetime that Pravda would be a better source for truthful commentary than our own media--but there it is for all the world to see.
Yes, the much vaunted US commitment to Freedom and Human Rights has become a joke in this sick nation run by murderous clowns.
you know it. between the dick dims and rethugs they can't fall over themselves quick enough to call for assange's murder. this country has become a warmongering gulag police state. of course our corporate media is a cheerleader for all of this and is really shitty. it is too busy covering celebrities and fluffy garbage.
cheers for julian!!!
matt
galveston tx
thanks mcoyote
Time they must be accountable for their crimes.
there is no sense of guilt, shame , honour or humanity for that matter.
its holding the corps of several countries in its jaws its dripping all over the place but it won't let go.
Like all tyranny it wont stop until its stopped.
No terror No torture Just Truth.
The comments by the Republican strategist above are lies, as the article makes clear.
But we can expect the media to be flooded with such comments.
One wishes for real justice in this world...
Accusations of murder and assertions that Assange has caused deaths from the official voices of US Politics and Policy on the one side and official admissions that he has caused no harm on the other - it amazes me.
It amazes me so little comparison of this contrast appears in the major media.
I'll concede the Media is produced by the same corporations that have purchased the congress and white house - but it is a heartbreaking indication of the lack of organized reason on the part of the American public that this contradiction isn't a scandal.
In the 1960s the accusers would be a laughing stock. In the 1970s it would have been a scandal. In the 1980s it would be a talking point. In the 1990s It would be an uneasy presence. In the 2000s the 2 voices simply target separate audiences.
US culture has degenerated in a structural way. We aren't a we any more.
Gives new meaning to "Speaking with Forked Tongue"
or is it :
Double Double Speak ?
Julian Assange granted bail: live updates
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/dec/14/wikileaks-julian-assange-court-appeal-live-updates
Jemima Khan: Why did I back Julian Assange? It's about justice and fairness
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/11/julian-assange-jemima-khan
Maybe the CIA LOST THE POODLE.
Quantum truth for a quantum cultural change the image of an innocent man/woman @ the gates of a prison where he spent 50 years. He stands between the edge of liberty & the construct, with his senses shut down.
Long may you live Julian & wikileak to light us with the 99% of remaining files de-constructing the wall of lies that blind us we must.
They say truth will set you free not quite, it helps only US will set US FREE.
In Soulidarity.
No Terror, No Torture, Just Truth.
More and more evidence that Assange is CIA. Whatreallyhappened.com
Whatreallyhappened is an extreme rightist website that frequently posts patently false information, lies and rumors.
The sheer absurdity of Assange as CIA asset is obvious. His revelations have undermined the CIA war in Afghanistan, for one.
Well he could have certainly been a CIA patsy like Oswald because if we look at Cui Bono, Wikileaks has given the rotten S.O.B.'s the opportunity to censor and control the net, something the CIA has wanted for several years because the net has made it harder and harder for the CIA to spin their web of lies and subterfuge. So far, it seems to me, that they have benefited the most because they now have a way to demonize the net as a tool of al-Qaeda and censor, shut down, or intimidate websites that speak truth to power. Think about it.
This "logic" leads to the conclusion that anyone who resists is actually serving power. Stupid empty logic. Think about it.
Oh no! Did the CIA lose the poodle? Not THE poodle!
$315,000 is a ridiculously high amount for bail. That amount probably came down from Downing Street & Pennsylvania Avenue.
Dear CIA,
Find the poodle.
There was a demonstration yesterday at Amazon headquarters in Seattle, Washington protesting Amazon's shutting down donations to Wikileaks. Those of us present believe Amazon's action represents an attack on free speech and access to information so desperately needed in the U.S.
SHAME ON AMAZON! Boycott Amazon!
People in the U.S. are so pitifully ill-informed, it's no wonder with the propaganda spewed by our media day in and day out that Americans make such terrible decisions and vote so often against their own self interest.
Thank goodness for the likes of Common Dreams, Raw Story and other electronic media outlets that some of us get to see at least some of the truth. Unfortunately, we are not the majority. I grieve for what we have lost in this country and most of us don't even know what we've lost.
I have ordered books in the past from Amazon, BUT NOT ANYMORE! I hope many others will boycott Amazon until they change their ways. The only thing I have against Common Dreams and Democracy Now! Is that they seem to be afraid of reporting on the inside job of 911; especially, since there is a plethora of information on many other net sites proving it was not what the U.S. Government told the American people. Why the paranoia?
Why the paranoia? I don't know--perhaps they're afraid of being killed by the Obushma cartel?
" He is out there murdering individuals, he's costing people's lives and putting our people our men and women in uniform in harms way, I really despise him for that". What a bunch of Orwellian double speak BS Boris Epshteyn! No Boris, you are a war mongering, fascist and I despise that nihilistic,fascists like you have stolen our government with their packs of lies for your own egregious ends. You cheer leaders for war, are the ones murdering and putting our soldiers in harms way in two illegal wars! That quote fits Oweenie, you and the rest of your ilk not Julian Assange. It is people like you that I despise!
And Epshteyn's elfs say :
1) Assange is a State Agent
2) Nothing new in the Cables
3) Evdence of assumptions are unimportant.
If Michael Moore can donate $20,000.00 for bail, then perhaps he can set up an account on his website to accept donations for bail. Paypal excluded, I'm sure there are other services available to accomodate the need to collect donations & send them off to the POME's.
You see, the govorporation has very long tentacles, & it takes money to sever those appendages.
Don't let them take the system away. Be creative in using it against them.
Michael Moore should set up a link to an account USING PAY PAL to accept contributions that he could then forward to Wikileaks, and maybe help with Assange's legal fees. Would Obama dare to call Pay Pal, "asking" them to shut down contributions to Michael Moore?
Since Pay Pal allows Visa contributions, we could all use our Visa cards.
This folks are doing a great job of it:
https://xipwire.com/give/wl
Boris Epshteyn needs to go back to the end of the line and start over. It is never too late. But he can't be forced back, he needs to wake up and excuse himself for some years and get it together.
In the meantime let us give thanks for the Constitution of the United States of America. Let us give thanks for the greatest agricultural country in the world. Both need love and care.
God Bless America.
"...let us give thanks for the Constitution of the United States of America."
Ah, yes, the Constitution and Bill of Rights. They can be amended. How is spelled out in the Constitution. It cannot be modified, changed or canceled out by Legislative, Executive or Judicial fiat.
The "Patriot" Act, death of habeas corpus, cancellation of posse comitatus, the various amplifications of the above acts are all Constitutionally ILLEGAL!
The President and legislators all take an oath to "protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC."
The domestic enemies have won, and reduced our Constitution to a "goddamned piece of paper."
Read the Declaration of Independence, read the catalog of injustices and oppression listed therein. Compare it to what is going on today. Actually READ the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
It is time We the People stopped being We the Sheeple and began standing up for our rights, forcing by any means necessary, the repeal of these illegal and immoral acts and the return of the Constitution as our rule and guide.
Otherwise, we shall just continue the slide into poverty and ignorance that the current regimes have forced on us, until the entire thing collapses from the dry rot within. Oh, the millions that will die before that day.
Sorry, accidental duplicate post.
i should bloody well think so too........
what cads these blighters refusing bail to mr. assange when a man who allegedy had his wife murdered gets it granted.....
Why does it say, "Comments will be closed for a few hours starting at 2AM EST" when I am here saying something? Perhaps it takes comments but refuses to post them or something.
I'm glad Assange got bail, but it's still an insulting situation and dicey if there's any possibility that he will be railroaded to the U.S. or come under its authority. He's not out of the woods yet, but at least the PTB know we're all keeping close track of events, and Assange can walk around (electronically shackled) and breathe free.
Indeed.
Raised on hate, fear and punishment, conservative reactionaries like Epshteyn rear their ugly heads.
Long live Julian Assange!
highkarate...You make an incorrect assumption. Some here have resisted USA foreign policy for many decades. I have protested the war since it started in 1991. Just Google my name. You can read about my arrest, Trial, etc.... Google my name and "A COURTROOM SPEECH" and see what I said to the Court.
highkarate...I understand what you say. I agree that we all should be focused on the message - not the messenger, Assange. Maybe I am a bit sensitive to anyone who is in prison since I have had a small taste of it myself - and have faced that same threat on other occasions.
Yes, WikiLeaks is Blowback. In the '50s the CIA predicted Blowback of US foreign policy, but I bet that even they did not think that it would come in the form of an Army PVT and a gentle man from Australia.
Sending hugs from the old dissident..........
rosemarie, i read your speech. you are a person like mr. assange who we should all look up to. you have the 'courage of your convictions'. would that everyone has your determination and integrity. i'm sure the passion still remains, but i'm sorry the hope has been abandoned...............
coco
911 was yesterday, WL is now.
Onward through the fog!
You're making false assumptions.........
After the leaks comes the crunch where we find that knowing for certain that an official has broken the law doesn't necessarily mean they suffer any consequences. Bush and Cheney are still walking around free.
It's going to get harder and harder to pretend justice exists.
I am Julian Assange. We all are.
not so fast, he's staying in jail... for now.
London (CNN) -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was granted bail Tuesday after a hearing at Westminster Magistrate's Court in London, but a lawyer representing Swedish prosecutors immediately filed an appeal.
That means Assange will remain in jail until the next hearing, which should be within 48 hours, lawyers said.
Let's see, he has no passport so he can't leave Britain, and he's to wear a tracking device so his location is always known. Now what could that possibly facilitate?
Will they set it as an exercise for the SAS (suitably disguised as Iraqi "terrorists" of course), do you suppose, or leave it in the hands of someone flown in from the US.
"Julian Assange Granted Bail"
Not if those rabid Swedish "rape" prosecutors can help it. From the Guardian (U.K.): "[E]lation turned to anger as lawyers representing Sweden challenged the decision. Speaking outside the court, Mark Stephens, one of Assange's lawyers, said: 'The prosecution is doing no more than taking instructions from Sweden.'"
We know Jullian would be denied anything that resembles justice from Obama/Holder. America seems truely run amuk in its paranoia.
Will English Law show us anything that resembles the truth? Or have they just flushed out Jullian for the poparazzi?
Glenn Greenwald's column provides a real good look at how ObamaInc is even more radical than BushCo at trying to convict writers and whitleblowers: "Amazingly, the Obama administration is surpassing its predecessor when it comes to assaults on whistle-blowing and a free press." The evidence he presents and the dots he connects make his essay a must read. By now it should be clear Obama's a neocon and as great a danger to the world as Bush.
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/
Thanks for the link.
I have a problem with him having to wear a tracking device. That strikes me as way over the top. Is that normal for people granted bail in England?
yeah, i wonder on which appendage they've placed the tracking device............
we'll have to send him some ambrosia................
Those who won't wear condoms.
I always turn mine inside out the second week.
What? You haven't heard of predator drones and other homing devices?