Swiss bank list has Indian names: Assange

NEW DELHI: In an interview that could trigger a new controversy over Indian businessmen stashing black money in Swiss banks, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said he had seen Indian names in a list of Swiss bank account holders and added that the data was going to be made public.

"Yes, there are Indian names in the data that we have already published or are going to publish. I can't remember specifically whether there are Indian names in the coming publication. But I have read Indian names," Assange told Times Now in an interview telecast on Tuesday. He, however, declined to reveal anything more on the issue at this stage.

In the course of the 50-minute interview, Assange appealed to Indians to "absolutely not lose hope" that names of those with secret Swiss accounts will come out in future. Hinting that WikiLeaks might work with specialized agencies before releasing the Swiss bank data he pulled up the Indian government for not being aggressive like Germany in going after the list of Indian account holders. "India should be more aggressive because India seems like it is losing per capita more tax money than Germany."

Assange had earlier claimed that he was handed over documents of bank accounts by a former banker Rudolf Elmer and the whistleblower also claimed that the names in the documents came from "US, Britain, Germany, Austria and Asia — from all over," and include "business people, politicians, people who have made their living in the arts and multinational conglomerates — from both sides of the Atlantic".

Assange also dismissed the contention of the Indian government that accords on double taxation were coming in the way of tracking the trail of black money. "Double taxation does not have anything to do with asset hiding. It doesn't simply cover asset hiding," he said. Assange said that issue of stashing black money in foreign banks was worse than local corruption as when money is pushed offshore, "... everytime they are selling rupees and the result is that the currency of the nation is debased... everything for all Indians become expensive as a result of that transfer."


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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Swiss-bank-list-has-Indian-names-Assange/articleshow/8095782.cms

WikiLeaks: al Qaeda watched towers burn

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the 9/11 plot mastermind for al Qaeda, was in Pakistan, watching the attacks on television. according to WikiLeaks documents.

Each of us remembers where we were on September 11, 2001, but we never knew what the masterminds of al Qaeda's terrorist plot were doing that terrible day.

Now, we have an answer, as found in more than 700 documents from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, and just published by WikiLeaks.

As it turns out, while Americans watched in horror as the twin towers burned, al Qaeda's top leaders were watching, too. CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the plot mastermind, was in Karachi, Pakistan, watching on television with Ramsi bin al Shib, the day-to-day coordinator of the operation.

"After the success of the attacks, the operatives prostrated themselves and gave thanks to Allah," one document says.

Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, who engineered the bombing of the USS Cole, couldn't be there. He was in a Karachi hospital after having had his tonsils out. Nashiri may have been the most dedicated terrorist of all. "He reportedly received injections to promote impotence (rather than be distracted by women)," a document says.

The documents, based on the interrogation of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, say after 9/11, all senior operatives left Pakistan for Afghanistan to meet with Osama bin Laden, who had watched the attacks from Kandahar.

Bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al Zawahiri, spent the next couple of months moving about Afghanistan by car, finally taking refuge in the Tora Bora mountains. In mid-December 2001, the two disappeared across the border into Pakistan. The others were eventually captured, but not before Bin al Shib threatened to slit his own throat rather than be taken alive.

Of course, one should not believe everything a captured terrorist says. One sensational but unconfirmed claim found in the documents says al Qaeda had a nuclear bomb it would set off if Bin Laden were ever captured.

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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/25/eveningnews/main20057231.shtml?tag=cbsnewsTwoColUpperPromoArea

U.S. secretly backed Syrian opposition groups, cables released by WikiLeaks show

The State Department has secretly financed Syrian political opposition groups and related projects, including a satellite TV channel that beams anti-government programming into the country, according to previously undisclosed diplomatic cables.

The London-based satellite channel, Barada TV, began broadcasting in April 2009 but has ramped up operations to cover the mass protests in Syria as part of a long-standing campaign to overthrow the country’s autocratic leader, Bashar al-Assad. Human rights groups say scores of people have been killed by Assad’s security forces since the demonstrations began March 18; Syria has blamed the violence on “armed gangs.”

Barada TV is closely affiliated with the Movement for Justice and Development, a London-based network of Syrian exiles. Classified U.S. diplomatic cables show that the State Department has funneled as much as $6 million to the group since 2006 to operate the satellite channel and finance other activities inside Syria. The channel is named after the Barada River, which courses through the heart of Damascus, the Syrian capital.

The U.S. money for Syrian opposition figures began flowing under President George W. Bush after he effectively froze political ties with Damascus in 2005. The financial backing has continued under President Obama, even as his administration sought to rebuild relations with Assad. In January, the White House posted an ambassador to Damascus for the first time in six years.

The cables, provided by the anti-secrecy Web site WikiLeaks, show that U.S. Embassy officials in Damascus became worried in 2009 when they learned that Syrian intelligence agents were raising questions about U.S. programs. Some embassy officials suggested that the State Department reconsider its involvement, arguing that it could put the Obama administration’s rapprochement with Damascus at risk.

Syrian authorities “would undoubtedly view any U.S. funds going to illegal political groups as tantamount to supporting regime change,” read an April 2009 cable signed by the top-ranking U.S. diplomat in Damascus at the time. “A reassessment of current U.S.-sponsored programming that supports anti-[government] factions, both inside and outside Syria, may prove productive,” the cable said.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-secretly-backed-syrian-opposition-groups-cables-released-by-wikileaks-show/2011/04/14/AF1p9hwD_story.html

3rd UPDATE: Ecuador Asks US Envoy To Leave As Soon As Possible

QUITO (Dow Jones)--Ecuador has declared the U.S. ambassador in Quito, Heather Hodges, persona non grata and asked her to leave the country immediately, over the release of diplomatic cables via WikiLeaks that discuss alleged police corruption in the Andean country.

Ecuadorian Foreign Affairs Minister Ricardo Patino said Tuesday the U.S. ambassador has been asked to leave the country as soon as possible.

"The government decided to declare Hodges as persona non grata. We have asked her to leave the country as quickly as possible," Patino said.

In Washington, the State Department said Ambassador Hodges is one of the U.S.'s most experienced and talented diplomats and that her "expulsion" is "unjustified."

"The Department will examine its options to respond to Ecuador's action," added the State Department.

Meanwhile, in the afternoon, according to Ecuador's state news agency, Andes, President Rafael Correa said his government expected the United States to take reprisal for the Hodges expulsion, and that the "intrusion" by the U.S. embassy into the internal affairs had been "very serious."

"The United States will retaliate," Correa said, adding that his government will respond at a regional level, through the Union of South American Nations, or UNASUR.

"I am sure that UNASUR will give Ecuador its total support in this case," Correa said.

Local analysts said the decision by Correa will affect the relationship between the U.S. and Ecuador.

Hodges told reporters in Quito the order "left me saddened tremendously, both personally and for this country."

In 2009, a secret diplomatic U.S. embassy cable said there was widespread corruption in Ecuador's police, and that former Commander General Jaime Hurtado Vaca had used his power "to extort cash and property, misappropriate public funds, facilitate human trafficking, and obstruct the investigation and prosecution of corrupt colleagues."

According the cable, the U.S. Embassy also said it had information from numerous sources that Hurtado Vaca received payments from police to give them protection so they could continue illegal activities.

Interviewed on Tuesday by Dow Jones, Hurtado Vaca denied any act of corruption and said the cable was not proof or evidence.

"Police chiefs generally always have people against them," he said.

The cable also said that some members of the embassy had speculated that Correa knew of the corruption allegations when he named Hurtado Vaca police commander, but that the president believed this would make him more easy to manipulate. Hurtado Vaca was police chief from April 2008 to mid-2009.

At a press conference, Patino said Ecuador's government had asked Hodges for an explanation, but the ambassador said the WikiLeaks documents are considered to be stolen goods and, therefore, would not comment.

Patino said the decision wasn't against the government of the U.S., "but against an official who made serious declarations."

He said the meeting with Hodges lasted only two minutes and called Hodges's answers to their questions "unacceptable, insufficient and unsatisfactory."

Hodges is a career foreign-service officer who became ambassador to Ecuador in 2008.

Declaring someone persona non grata means they are unacceptable to the host government.

Hodges is the third U.S diplomat to be expelled by Correa's administration since he took office in early 2007.

In February 2009, Correa ordered the expulsion of a top U.S. diplomat, Armando Astorga Jr., and the Embassy's first secretary, Mark Sullivan, accusing them of treating the country like a colony.

Ecuador's request for the U.S. ambassador to leave is the second diplomatic flap in Latin America due to WikiLeaks revelations.

Last month, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico resigned after publication of several WikiLeaks cables in which the U.S. envoy questioned Mexico's institutional capability to tackle organized crime.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110405-714905.html

Yemen general is feared player: WikiLeaks

(Reuters) - The top Yemeni general backing pro-democracy protesters is, like Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a crafty survivor who has wielded power for his own benefit, according to U.S. diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks.

General Ali Mohsen, a powerful figure close to Saleh, threw his support behind the democracy movement earlier this week and sent in troops to protect protesters in the capital of Sanaa, where they have gathered in the tens of thousands to pressure Saleh into giving up his grip on power after 32 years.

Yet as far back as 2005, Thomas Krajeski, then the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa, painted a picture in diplomatic cables of a brutal military commander likely to back a more radical Islamic political agenda and draw little public support.

"Ali Mohsen's name is mentioned in hushed tones among most Yemenis, and he rarely appears in public," Krajeski wrote in a cable obtained by Reuters. "Ali Mohsen... is generally perceived to be the second most powerful man in Yemen. Those that know him say he is charming and gregarious."

Noting Mohsen's role in ruling Yemen with an "iron fist," the cable said he controls at least half of Yemen's military. Despite its detail and strong opinions, other parts of the cable contained key inaccuracies, such as Mohsen's estimated age as well as the region he commands.

The United States and Saudi Arabia have long relied on Saleh to try and stop al Qaeda from using Yemen as a base to plot attacks on both countries. The impoverished Arabian Peninsula country is deeply divided, and was already on the brink of becoming a failed state before protests erupted in January, inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

After Mohsen's defection on March 21, Saleh reacted by warning against a "coup" that would lead to civil war and beefed up his personal security for fear of an assassination attempt.

Days later, Mohsen told Reuters that he had no desire to take power or hold office, and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life in "tranquility, peace and relaxation far from the problems of politics and the demands of the job."

The diplomatic cable also indicates that Mohsen would be viewed by the public as an unpalatable successor to Saleh.

"Ali Mohsen would likely face domestic as well as international opposition if he sought the presidency... Yemenis generally view him as cynical and self-interested."

One reason, according to the U.S. ambassador at the time, was because of his side business in smuggling.

"A major beneficiary of diesel smuggling in recent years, he also appears to have amassed a fortune in the smuggling of arms, food staples, and consumer products," his cable said.

Although the opposition welcomed Mohsen's support earlier this week, they are also wary of his loyalties, which fall along the country's tribal and ideological fault lines.

Northern Shi'ite rebels see Mohsen as a ruthless military leader who led the military campaign against them in a bloody civil war. Leftists and southerners worry that their goals for democracy will be overtaken in a military power struggle, while the Islamist opposition is thought to view Mohsen more favorably.

More than likely, Krajeski wrote in the cable, Mohsen would try and orchestrate a transition where he could anoint Saleh's successor: "If he holds true to form, Mohsen would likely prefer to play kingmaker, choosing another loyal military officer to hold the presidency."

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/26/us-yemen-general-idUSTRE72P1WV20110326

WikiLeaks, free speech and Twitter come together in Va. court case

An odd confluence of important issues came together in a federal courtroom in Alexandria on Tuesday: the criminal investigation of WikiLeaks, free speech and social networking.

It all stemmed from the government's attempts to get personal information from the Twitter accounts of three people linked to the WikiLeaks probe. Their lawyers argued that the data - screen names, mailing addresses, telephone numbers, credit card and bank account information, and Internet protocol addresses - are protected by the First Amendment. Prosecutors said the request is a routine part of their criminal probe.

It was the opening salvo in what experts expect to be a long and difficult investigation of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and others suspected of disclosing thousands of classified documents on the anti-secrecy Web site.

Tuesday's arguments went to the heart of a larger debate about WikiLeaks - whether the posting of the documents was free speech or a violation of national security. They also provided a high-profile test of outdated rules about what data the government can seize in the new world of social networking.

In the courtroom, John Keker, a lawyer representing one of the Twitter clients, said the users' data would give the government a map of people tied to WikiLeaks and essentially halt free speech online. He noted how social networking sites have been used in Egypt and Tunisia, where citizens have pushed for government changes, and suggested that such a broad request by the U.S. government in this case would put a stop to that.

John Palfrey, a Harvard law professor not associated with the case, said the government is using 18th-century arguments with 21st-century technology.

"These are not new arguments, but they're being used in a really interesting and important way that has a twist to them in light of social media," he said.

New details of probe

Until now, there has been little public evidence of the government's criminal investigation of WikiLeaks, a probe Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced in late November.

Information began to come out last week after U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa Carroll Buchanan granted a motion from the three Twitter clients to unseal some filings in the case. Tuesday's hearing was the first public debate in the criminal investigation of Assange and others.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/15/AR2011021506483.html

Julian Assange 'would face bias in Sweden', retired judge says

The prosecutor leading the rape and sexual assault case against Julian Assange is a "malicious" radical feminist who is "biased against men", a retired senior Swedish judge has told the hearing into Assange's extradition to Sweden.

In caustic evidence on the first day of the two-day hearing, Brita Sundberg-Weitman, a former appeal court judge, told Belmarsh magistrates court that Sweden's chief prosecutor, Marianne Ny, who is seeking the WikiLeaks founder's extradition, "has a rather biased view against men". "I can't understand her attitude here. It looks malicious," she said.

Geoffrey Robertson QC, acting for Assange, asked if it was her view that Ny wanted "to get [Assange] into her clutches and then arrest him no matter what?"

"Yes" said Sundberg-Weitman. "It might be her attitude to have the man arrested and maybe let him suffer for a few weeks to have him softer [for interrogation]."

Such was the hostility towards Assange in Sweden that "most people take it for granted that he's raped two women", she said. The country is seeking Assange's extradition in relation to allegations of rape, sexual assault and sexual molestation made by two women in August.

He denies all the allegations and has not been charged.

Under cross-examination by Clare Montgomery QC, for the Swedish government, however, Sundberg-Weitman admitted she had no personal knowledge of the conduct of the prosecutor in the case, basing her views instead on what she had been told.

She also acknowledged that while she believed the warrant to have been disproportionate, a Swedish district court and the appeal court, considering evidence from Assange's Swedish lawyer Björn Hurtig, had judged it both proportionate and legal. "I must say I am very concerned about the state of the rule of law in Sweden," she said in response. "It has been decaying since the mid-1970s."

The hearing is being presided over by Judge Howard Riddle, the chief magistrate. Assange listened intently from the dock, watched by supporters including Jemima Goldsmith, Bianca Jagger and Tony Benn, who had agreed to attend following an invitation from Goldsmith.

Montgomery also led the former judge to acknowledge that she was not an expert in the European arrest warrant, despite criticising its use in this case, and challenged line by line the newspaper article on which she said she was basing her assertion that Ny was a "radical feminist".

Sundburg-Weitman pointed to lectures on sexual violence that the prosecutor had made, to which Montgomery said: "But she's a rape prosecutor." The former judge maintained her assertion that the prosecutor was "a bit biased".

Robertson argued that both Ny and Claes Borgström, the lawyer representing the two women, were politically motivated. Ny had illegally confirmed Assange's identity on the charges when asked by a Stockholm tabloid, he said (accused sex offenders are customarily anonymous in Sweden).

"This man Borgström", meanwhile, had vilified Assange in the press and "would be behind bars for contempt in this country," the lawyer said.

Also called by the defence was Göran Rudling, a Swedish blogger and campaigner on the country's rape laws, which he believes are not tough enough.

Rudling said he was not a supporter of Assange or WikiLeaks, but had taken an interest in the case after finding tweets that were later deleted sent by "Miss A", one of the two women, in the hours after the alleged offences, in which she had asked if anyone was holding a crayfish party that she could attend with Assange, and in a tweet from the party that she was "sitting outside at 2am, with the coolest and smartest people".

"It meant that the story told to police was not consistent with the tweets," he said. He had reported the tweets to police but had not heard back from them, he said.

Rudling also translated another document for the court that he had found on the internet, entitled "A seven point programme for legal revenge", apparently posted by Miss A in January 2010 but deleted in November. The last point included the admonition: "Remember, your victim has to suffer as much as he made you suffer."

Asked had he seen the police file relating to the case, Rudling said his knowledge was based on a 100-page bundle of documents faxed in November by Hurtig to Mark Stephens, Assange's British solicitor, and leaked onto the internet last week.

Earlier, Robertson, in opening the case for the defence, said that the Swedish custom of trying rape cases in secret was a "flagrant denial of justice". Assange had been subject to "trial by media", and it was "hyperbolic and irrational to suggest there was wickedness involved" in Assange's sexual behaviour, he said.

All relationships had "moments of frustration, irritation and argument", he said. "It doesn't mean that the police are entitled to slip between the bedclothes."

The act of "minor rape" allegedly committed by Assange against the second woman would not be an extradition offence in English law, he said. After three "utterly consensual" sex acts, she had objected to Assange having sex with her again without a condom, but "she let him continue". "It's not natural to call this rape."

Outside court, Assange said that since August "a black box has been applied to my life. On the outside of that black box has been written the word rape. That box has now, thanks to an open court process, been opened. I hope in the next days you will see that the box is in fact empty."

The case continues

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/07/julian-assange-prosecutor

WikiLeaks nominated for Nobel Peace Prize for 'transparency'

Wikileaks is nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by a Norwegian Politician. The whistle blowing WikiLeaks website, that landed its founder behind bars, is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize due to its use as a “gauge of transparency in the world.”

Snorre Valen, a member of the Norweigian coalition government’s Socialist Left Party, is the man behind the WikiLeaks nomination, according to ABC News.

Valen cites Liu Xiaobo, a jailed Chinese dissident, as an example of someone who was in trouble with the law and still won the Nobel Peace Prize. Xiaobo was jailed for his work in human rights, democracy, and freedom of speech in China.

Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, who is originally from Australia, is currently out on bail in Britian fighting extradition back to Sweden. He is accused of sexual assault in Sweden. He is staying at a home of his friend, where he has limited time off the property according to the provisions of his bail.

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http://www.examiner.com/pop-culture-in-hartford/wikileaks-nominated-for-noble-peace-prize-for-transparency-says-politician#ixzz1CrpLpfDx

Rudolf Elmer arrested in Swiss banking records case

The Swiss former banker who on Monday handed what he said were secret Swiss banking records to WikiLeaks, the website dedicated to revealing secrets, was arrested Wednesday, officials said.

The economic crime unit of the Attorney General's Office of the County of Zurich issued an arrest order against Rudolf Elmer on suspicion of violation of the banking law. He was taken into custody at 6:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. ET), the attorney general said in a news release.

Elmer is a former director of Julius-Baer Bank's branch on the Cayman Islands. On Monday, in London, he gave two CDs to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

"As Elmer has made public outside of the criminal proceedings, bank customer data is apparently on the CDs," the attorney general's news release said. "The attorney general's office is examining if Rudolf Elmer via the transfer of the CDs to WikiLeaks made himself culpable of an act against the Swiss banking law."

WikiLeaks could release the secret Swiss banking records in "a matter of weeks" if it can process them quickly enough, Assange said Monday.

Elmer said he would not reveal the names in the records. He said he was unable to say how many people were involved.

About 2,000 clients' records were included, he said, but because of the way trusts and corporations are set up, he could not determine how many individuals were involved.

Elmer describes himself as an activist/reformer/banker. "I think, as a banker, I do have the right to stand up if something is wrong," he said Monday, explaining why he was giving the documents to the website.

Elmer said he wanted "to let society know what I do know and how this system works, because it is damaging our society in the way that money is moved" and hidden in offshore jurisdictions.

He began looking into the issue when he was a banker in the Cayman Islands, he said.

He said the problems of offshore banking looked like "a mouse tail" when he first began to investigate them, but as he looked into banking practices in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland, it became a "dragon's tail" and finally a many-headed dragon.

Elmer aims to "challenge Swiss bank secrecy at the European Court of Human Rights and the Swiss courts," he says on his website. He has worked at six offshore banking centers and has been engaged in a long-running battle with Swiss banks over secrecy, he adds.

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http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/01/19/switzerland.wikileaks.elmer/

Japan Pushed U.S. on Whale Group, Cables Show

In the first set of cables leaked by WikiLeaks that originate from the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Japan asked the U.S. to take action against an antiwhaling activist group for harassing Japanese whalers, including taking away the group's tax-exempt status.

The cables, which WikiLeaks posted online with a release date of Jan. 1, were sent two months before a Japanese harpoon vessel collided with one of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's boat, destroying it.

A total of four U.S. diplomatic cables—three originating from Tokyo, one from the State Department—show a push-and-pull effort from both countries, with the U.S. trying to get Japan to further restrict its controversial whale hunting. Japan's escalating problems with the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd group are repeatedly mentioned from the Japanese side as a thorn in negotiating efforts.

According to a cable dated January 27, 2010, Fisheries Agency Deputy Director General Masayuki Yamashita told U.S. officials that the Sea Shepherd confrontations could cause domestic political embarrassment for the Japanese government if they keep Japan from fulfilling its whaling quota.

Japan's troubles with the Sea Shepherd group were also referred to in a cable dated Nov. 2, 2009, describing a discussion with an official in the ministry handling fisheries matters.

"Yamada inquired about an investigation into the tax status of the U.S.-based NGO Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and repeated Japan's request for the U.S. to take action against the organization, which he said created a very dangerous situation on the seas," according to the cable written by John Roos, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, in reference to Shuji Yamada, the vice minister of international affairs in the Ministry of Agricultural Affairs, Forestry and Fisheries.

The State Department has repeatedly said it will not comment on the specific content of leaked cables.

The activist group's campaign against Japanese whalers has evolved into a high-seas drama of sorts in recent years. The group tails the large harpoon vessels during the whale hunts and hurls objects at the ships. The Sea Shepherd's increasingly aggressive tactics resulted in multiple confrontations during the 2009-2010 whale-hunting season. In January 2010, one of the Sea Shepherd's vessels crashed into a Japanese whaling ship in the Southern Ocean, destroying the activist group's boat, which prompted the skipper Paul Bethune to later board the vessel in an attempt to make a citizen's arrest of the ship's captain.

Japan has drawn international criticism for continuing whale-hunting missions despite a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling set by the International Whaling Commission. Japan has said it is conducting "whale research," a crack in the ban that allows whales be caught for research purposes. Japanese whaling fleets depart for annual whaling hunts in the Southern Ocean in mid-November citing scientific research purposes. Critics say the real motive is to sell whale meat. The Japanese vessels kill over 500 whales each season.

Another cable sent from the Tokyo Embassy a week later—on Nov. 9, 2009—cites the director general of the Fisheries Agency of Japan as saying U.S. action regarding the Sea Shepherd group would "positively influence Japan's negotiating position in the Future of the IWC [International Whaling Commission] process," underscoring just how nettlesome the Sea Shepherd's presence on the high seas has become for Japan's whalers.

In response, the U.S. representative to the International Whaling Commission Monica Medina is cited as saying "she believes the USG can demonstrate the group does not deserve tax exempt status based on their aggressive and harmful actions."

It's unclear whether the U.S. government ever did anything to curtail Sea Shepherd's activities. Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd, said "we have had our tax status since 1981, and we have done nothing different since then to cause the IRS [Internal Revenue Service] to change that," the Associated Press reported Monday.

At its June 2010 annual meeting, the IWC failed to reach a compromise that would have resolved a longstanding impasse between the pro-whaling nations that include Japan, Norway and Iceland, and those against it. The IWC launched negotiations three years ago to find consensus among the member states that was set to conclude at the June meeting in Morocco, determining the long-term future of whale conservation. An embassy cable dated November 14, 2009, originating from the U.S. State Department urges U.S. negotiators to press for some agreement to reduce Japan's catch levels.

A proposal to allow Japan to resume limited commercial whaling in its coastal waters in exchange for a reduced catch was floated in March. The commission decided to defer the proposal until 2011.


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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704835504576059572077593268.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Assange signs book deals worth more than £1m

Julian Assange has signed book deals worth more than £1m in the US and UK, to allow the WikiLeaks founder to cover his legal fees and maintain the whistleblowing site.

He will be racing a disgruntled former colleague to release an autobiography telling his side of the WikiLeaks story. Both books are to be published by divisions of Random House next year.


Mr Assange is fighting allegations of sexual assault in Sweden while trying to continue the gradual release of thousands of US diplomatic cables through WikiLeaks.

Released on bail by the British high court in mid-December, he spent Christmas wearing a tracking tag, confined to a friend’s mansion home in East Anglia.

The US administration, which has been angered and embarrassed by successive leaks of its foreign-policy secrets through WikiLeaks, is believed to be exploring ways to prosecute Mr Assange.

The controversy did not dissuade readers of Time magazine voting Mr Assange their “person of the year” for his campaign for freedom of information and radical transparency from governments.

He has agreed an $800,000 (£520,000) contract with Knopf, a US imprint of Random House, the Bertelsmann-owned publisher, and another £325,000 deal for the UK with Canongate, an independent publishing house based in Edinburgh.

But although the deals are expected to net Mr Assange more than £1.1m ($1.7m) after the book is sold in other countries and serialised in newspapers around the world, Mr Assange said he had agreed to write his autobiography only reluctantly.

“I don’t want to write this book, but I have to,” he told the Sunday Times. “I have already spent £200,000 for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat.”

Mr Assange did not describe how he would divide the proceeds from his autobiography between his own personal legal costs and the operational funds required by WikiLeaks, which he has described as a large and distributed organisation that is not solely reliant on him.

WikiLeaks’ operational costs have more than tripled since it drew up budgeting plans at the beginning of the year, due to the increased scope of information it has reviewed and published. Before “cablegate”, it released huge amounts of files about the Iraqi and Afghan wars.

The whistleblowing site relies largely on donations from individuals, but had its fund-raising channels curtailed after several US financial services firms stopped processing payments to its account.

Bank of America, MasterCard, Visa and PayPal have all stopped directing funds to WikiLeaks in recent weeks. They deny Mr Assange’s accusations that the actions were politically motivated. Mr Assange’s Swiss bank has also frozen his account.

Last week, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a former WikiLeaks spokesman, announced he would publish a tell-all book next year about his time with the site.

Crown Publishing, another division of Random House, will release “Inside Wikileaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website” in 14 countries in February.

The author, who called himself Daniel Schmitt when he worked at WikiLeaks, fell out with Mr Assange over the running and strategic priorities of the site.

He has said that the allegations of Mr Assange’s sexual misconduct would be better handled privately and have become a burden to WikiLeaks.

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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e0d0e164-1142-11e0-a26b-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=9a36c1aa-3016-11da-ba9f-00000e2511c8.html

Assange says 'high chance' he would be killed in US jail

WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange said in an interview published Thursday there was a "high chance" he would be killed in a US jail if he were to be extradited from Britain on espionage charges.

The Australian is on bail in Britain fighting a bid by Sweden to extradite him over sex assault claims, but Washington is believed to be considering how to indict him over the leaking of thousands of US diplomatic cables.

Assange told The Guardian it would be "politically impossible" for Britain to send him across the Atlantic, adding that the government of Prime Minister David Cameron would want to show it had not been "co-opted" by Washington.

"Legally the UK has the right to not extradite for political crimes. Espionage is the classic case of political crimes. It is at the discretion of the UK government as to whether to apply to that exception," he said.

He said US authorities were "trying to strike a plea deal" with Bradley Manning, the US army soldier suspected of providing WikiLeaks with the cables.

Assange added that if the United States succeeded in getting him extradited from Britain or Sweden, then there was a "high chance" of him being killed "Jack Ruby-style" in an American prison.

Ruby, a nightclub owner, shot dead Lee Harvey Oswald at a police station in Dallas, Texas days after Oswald was arrested for the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

Ruby's alleged links to organised crime sparked conspiracy theories about his involvement in an overall plot surrounding the assassination of Kennedy.

Assange has previously said that he and other WikiLeaks staff have received death threats since the website began to release a cache of around 250,000 secret US State Department cable in November.

The 39-year-old has been staying at a friend's country mansion in eastern England since his release from jail last week on strict bail conditions that include reporting to police daily and wearing an electronic tag.

A court in London is due to hold a full hearing on the Swedish extradition request starting February 7.

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g3aIipRuLxgHxrr-q2Vsh8Q0ISxw?docId=CNG.d082576fa7a8aae22f83a4e5f6909993.d61

Julian Assange like a hi-tech terrorist, says Joe Biden

The US vice-president, Joe Biden, today likened the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, to a "hi-tech terrorist", the strongest criticism yet from the Obama administration.

Biden claimed that by leaking diplomatic cables Assange had put lives at risk and made it more difficult for the US to conduct its business around the world.

His description of Assange shows a level of irritation that contrasts with more sanguine comments from other senior figures in the White House, who said the leak had not done serious damage.

Interviewed on NBC's Meet the Press, Biden was asked if the administration could prevent further leaks, as Assange warned last week. "We are looking at that right now. The justice department is taking a look at that," Biden said, without elaborating.

The justice department is struggling to find legislation with which to prosecute Assange.

Asked if what Assange had done was criminal, Biden seemed to suggest it would be considered criminal if it could be established that the WikiLeaks founder had encouraged or helped Bradley Manning, the US intelligence analyst suspected of being behind the leak. Biden claimed this was different from a journalist receiving leaked material.

"If he conspired to get these classified documents with a member of the US military that is fundamentally different than if someone drops on your lap … you are a press person, here is classified material."

Asked if he saw Assange as closer to a hi-tech terrorist than the whistleblower who released the Pentagon papers in the 1970s, which disclosed the lie on which US involvement in Vietnam was based, Biden replied: "I would argue it is closer to being a hi-tech terrorist than the Pentagon papers. But, look, this guy has done things that have damaged and put in jeopardy the lives and occupations of people in other parts of the world.

"He's made it more difficult for us to conduct our business with our allies and our friends. For example, in my meetings – you know I meet with most of these world leaders – there is a desire now to meet with me alone, rather than have staff in the room. It makes things more cumbersome – so it has done damage."

The interview, though broadcast yesterday, was conducted on Friday. In an interview the previous day, he had been more neutral about WikiLeaks, saying: "I don't think there's any substantive damage."

The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, led criticism of the WikiLeaks revelations at the end of November when she accused the website of mounting an "attack" on the world.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/19/assange-high-tech-terrorist-biden

WikiLeaks's Assange walks free on bail in London

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, fighting extradition to Sweden over alleged sex crimes, walked free on bail from a British jail on Thursday protesting his innocence and pledging to continue exposing official secrets.

Assange spoke to a crowd of journalists and supporters waiting in outside the High Court in London five hours after a judge said he could be released on 200,000 pounds ($312,000) bail under stringent conditions.

"It's great to smell fresh air of London again," Assange, illuminated by a blizzard of photographers' flashes, said.

WikiLeaks has angered U.S. authorities by publishing hundreds of a trove of 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables, including details of overseas installations that Washington regards as vital to its security.

Assange, wearing a dark suit and open-necked white shirt, brandished court papers titled "Swedish Judicial Authority vs Julian Paul Assange." He was then driven away in a four-wheel-drive vehicle.

The 39-year-old Australian later arrived at Ellingham Hall, in Suffolk eastern England, where he must live as a condition of his bail. He spoke to reporters at the mansion that belongs to a former army officer and Assange supporter, Vaughan Smith.

"I continue on with our work. Clearing my name is not the highest task I have. The highest task I have is to continue with my work."

Janice Game, 63, who lives opposite the Georgian house said she had come out to see reporters waiting in the snow for Assange to drive through the gates of the 650 acre estate.

"I do not think that Vaughan would have him at the house unless he believed completely that he was innocent."

Assange has spent nine days in a London jail after Sweden issued an arrest warrant for him over allegations of sexual misconduct made by two female WikiLeaks volunteers. Assange denies the accusations.

Assange told reporters soon after his release that he was more concerned the United States might try to extradite him than he was about being extradited to Sweden.

Assange and his lawyers have voiced fears that U.S. prosecutors might be preparing to indict him for espionage over WikiLeaks' publication of the documents.

"We have a rumor today from my lawyers in the United States, it's not confirmed yet, that there has been an indictment made against me in the United States," Assange said.

The New York Times said on Wednesday federal prosecutors were looking for evidence that he had conspired with a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking classified documents.

Shortly before Assange's release, his mother Christine, who had flown over from Australia, said she could not wait to see her son and "to hold him close."

Read More

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL3E6N80HH20101217

Julian Assange bail decision made by UK authorities, not Sweden

The decision to have Julian Assange sent to a London jail and kept there was taken by the British authorities and not by prosecutors in Sweden, as previously thought, the Guardian has learned.

The Crown Prosecution Service will go to the high court tomorrow to seek the reversal of a decision to free the WikiLeaks founder on bail, made yesterday by a judge at City of Westminster magistrates court.

It had been widely thought Sweden had made the decision to oppose bail, with the CPS acting merely as its representative. But today the Swedish prosecutor's office told the Guardian it had "not got a view at all on bail" and that Britain had made the decision to oppose bail.

Lawyers for Assange reacted to the news with shock and said CPS officials had told them this week it was Sweden which had asked them to ensure he was kept in prison.

Karin Rosander, director of communications for Sweden's prosecutor's office, told the Guardian: "The decision was made by the British prosecutor. I got it confirmed by the CPS this morning that the decision to appeal the granting of bail was entirely a matter for the CPS. The Swedish prosecutors are not entitled to make decisions within Britain. It is entirely up to the British authorities to handle it."

As a result, she said, Sweden will not be submitting any new evidence or arguments to the high court hearing tomorrow morning. "The Swedish authorities are not involved in these proceedings. We have not got a view at all on bail."

After the Swedish statement was put to the CPS, it confirmed that all decisions concerning the opposing of bail being granted to Assange had been taken by its lawyers. It said: "In all extradition cases, decisions on bail issues are always taken by the domestic prosecuting authority. It would not be practical for prosecutors in a foreign jurisdiction … to make such decisions."

Last week Sweden issued a warrant for Assange's arrest and extradition over sexual assault allegations. On 7 December the British prosecutor, Gemma Lindfield, convinced the senior district court judge Howard Riddle that Assange must be kept in custody because he was a flight risk.

Yesterday the judge accepted that Assange could be released on bail, but he was kept in Wandsworth prison after the CPS said it wanted to appeal against the decision to grant bail to a higher court.

The CPS's formal grounds of appeal for the hearing tomorrow morning, seen by the Guardian, will say that Assange must be kept in prison until a decision is made whether to extradite him, which could take months.


Read More:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/15/julian-assange-bail-decision-uk

Air Force Blocks Access to Sites That Posted Secret Cables

WASHINGTON — The Air Force is barring its personnel from using work computers to view the Web sites of The New York Times and more than 25 other news organizations and blogs that have posted secret cables obtained by WikiLeaks, Air Force officials said Tuesday.

When Air Force personnel on the service’s computer network try to view the Web sites of The Times, the British newspaper The Guardian, the German magazine Der Spiegel, the Spanish newspaper El País and the French newspaper Le Monde, as well as other sites that posted full confidential cables, the screen says “Access Denied: Internet usage is logged and monitored,” according to an Air Force official whose access was blocked and who shared the screen warning with The Times. Violators are warned that they face punishment if they try to view classified material from unauthorized Web sites.

Some Air Force officials acknowledged that the steps taken might be in vain since many military personnel could gain access to the documents from home computers, despite admonishments from superiors not to read the cables without proper clearances.

Cyber network specialists within the Air Force Space Command last week followed longstanding procedures to keep classified information off unclassified computer systems. “News media Web sites will be blocked if they post classified documents from the WikiLeaks Web site,” said Lt. Col. Brenda Campbell, a spokeswoman for the Air Force Space Command, a unit of which oversees Air Force cyber systems. “This is similar to how we’d block any other Web site that posted classified information.”

Colonel Campbell said that only sites posting full classified documents, not just excerpts, would be blocked. “When classified documents appear on a Web site, a judgment will be made whether it will be blocked,” she said. “It’s an issue we’re working through right now.”

Spokesmen for the Army, Navy and Marines said they were not blocking the Web sites of news organizations, largely because guidance has already been issued by the Obama administration and the Defense Department directing hundreds of thousands of federal employees and contractors not to read the secret cables and other classified documents published by WikiLeaks unless the workers have the required security clearance or authorization.

“Classified information, whether or not already posted on public websites or disclosed to the media, remains classified, and must be treated as such by federal employees and contractors, until it is declassified by an appropriate U.S. Government authority,” said a notice sent on Dec. 3 by the Office of Management and Budget, which is part of the White House, to agency and department heads.

A Defense Department spokesman, Col. David Lapan, in an e-mail on Tuesday night sought to distance the department from the Air Force’s action to block access to the media Web sites: “This is not DoD-directed or DoD-wide.”

The Air Force’s action was first reported on The Wall Street Journal’s Web site late Tuesday and underscores the wide-ranging impact of the recent release of secret State Department documents by WikiLeaks, and five news organizations, including The Times. It also illustrates the contortions the military and other government agencies appear to be going through to limit the spread of classified information that has become widely available in the public domain.

“It is unfortunate that the U.S. Air Force has chosen not to allow its personnel access to information that virtually everyone else in the world can access,” said a spokeswoman for The Times, Danielle Rhoades Ha. A senior administration official said Tuesday that the administration’s policy contained some leeway, for instance, to allow certain employees to download information in order for them to be able to verify that classified information was leaking into the public domain, and to assess damage to national security and potential danger to sources.

Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, a secrecy specialist, said dozens of agencies, as well as branches of the military and government contractors, had issued their own policy instructions based on the Office of Management and Budget memo.

“It’s a self-defeating policy that will leave government employees less informed than they ought to be,” Mr. Aftergood said.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/us/15wiki.html?src=mv

Julian Assange to appear in court to appeal for release

The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, will try to win his release from prison tomorrow, a week after being held on remand after Sweden requested his arrest over allegations that he sexually assaulted two women.

Even if the judge at Westminster magistrates court in London grants Assange bail, he could still be held.

The Crown Prosecution Service, which will represent the Swedish authorities in the UK court, has the right to appeal against any bail decision. Usually the suspect would be held in custody until an appeal hearing anyway.

Raj Joshi, a former head of the European and international division at the CPS, and an expert on extradition, said: "If they feel they have grounds for opposing bail, they would be duty bound to appeal that. He'll be held pending the appeal, and until it is decided. That hearing is usually held within 48 hours."

The chances of Assange going underground, given that his face was "plastered all around the world", were low, he added. "With a number of conditions, such as, maybe, a tag, it would be difficult to see why bail would not be granted."

The decision on whether to oppose bail will be made by the Swedish authorities, with Britain's CPS merely representing their interests at tomorrow's hearing. Speculation that the US could lodge an extradition request continued over the weekend, but it is regarded as highly unlikely that any such request would be lodged tomorrow.

Lady Kennedy, who has extensive experience in human rights, has joined Assange's defence team.

His case has stirred fresh controversy about European arrest warrants, which the Swedish authorities would use for his extradition.

Lady Ludford MEP, the Liberal Democrat European justice and human rights spokeswoman, claimed the arrest warrant system, which she said she supported, was being used by Sweden to carry out a fishing expedition. Sweden had yet to formally charge Assange with any offence.

In a letter to the Guardian, Ludford wrote that past cases showed that it was "not a legitimate purpose for an EAW to be used to conduct an investigation to see whether that person should be prosecuted". She added: "Normal cross-border cooperation on collection of evidence or interrogation of suspects called 'mutual legal assistance', using for example video-conferencing or a summons for temporary transfer of a suspect, should be used when more appropriate. "I urge the UK courts to refuse to allow the Assange EAW to be a fishing expedition without a pending actual prosecution. EU rules should be properly respected so that the integrity of the European arrest warrant process is protected."

Ahead of the case, lawyers today visited Assange in Wandsworth prison, south London, where the 39-year-old is being held in the segregation unit.

Assange's mother Christine is understood to have flown from Queensland, Australia to London to attend his bail hearing afternoon. It also emerged last night that the film-maker, Michael Moore, has offered to post security for the WikiLeaks founder.

Assange's lawyer Mark Stephens visited him in Wandsworth prison yesterday afternoon and said his client was being held under harsher conditions than last week. He claimed Assange was being confined to his cell for all but half an hour a day, and denied association with others prisoners, access to the library or TV.

"He's subject to the most ridiculous censorship," Stephens said. "Time magazine sent him a copy of the magazine with him on the cover and they censored it not just by ripping off the cover but by destroying the whole magazine."

Stephens also claimed a number of letters to Assange from media organisations have not reached him. He said Assange was under 24-hour video surveillance and had complained that a tooth which broke off while he was eating had later been stolen from his cell.

Stephens said Assange's UK legal team had still not seen the prosecution evidence against him. "His Swedish lawyers have some of the material but not all and it's in Swedish so we can't take proper instructions."

The decision by the district judge Howard Riddle to remand Assange into custody was made despite the film director Ken Loach, the journalist John Pilger, and the socialite Jemima Khan, offering sureties for him totalling £180,000. The judge had concluded that because of the "serious" nature of the allegations against Assange, his "comparatively weak community ties" in the UK, and the fact it was believed he had the financial means and the ability to abscond, there was a substantial risk he would fail to surrender to the courts.

The allegations about Assange were made by two women. The first complainant, known as Miss A, said she was the victim of "unlawful coercion" on the night of 14 August in 2009 in Stockholm. The court heard Assange was alleged to have "forcefully" held her arms and used his body weight to hold her down. The second charge alleged he had "sexually molested" her by having sex without using a condom. A third charge claimed Assange "deliberately molested" Miss A on 18 August.

A fourth charge, relating to a woman called Miss W, alleges that on 17 August, Assange "improperly exploited" a situation where she was asleep, to have sex with her without using a condom.

A poll by Comres for CNN revealed today that 44% of Britons believe the charges against Assange are an excuse to place him in custody so the US can prosecute him over the US embassy cable leaks. But the same number say he should be sent to Sweden for questioning.

Meanwhile a dating site profile from 2007, supposedly created by Assange, had prompted by yesterday some lively online debate. The profile on the OKCupid site featured pictures of Assange, though gave the name Harry Harrison – who described himself as a "passionate and often pig- headed activist intellectual" who sought to change the world. He concluded: "Write to me if you are brave."

Read More

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/13/assange-in-court-appeal-release

WikiLeaks: Pope Helped Win Sailors' Freedom

The latest US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks suggest the Pope helped win the release of 15 British sailors captured by Iran and held for a fortnight in 2007.



Captive British sailors return home

Another cable reveals that the British ambassador to the Vatican said "Anglican-Vatican relations were facing their worst crisis in 150 years" after the Pope encouraged Anglicans to convert to Rome over the issue of women priests.

Evidence of apparent links between the head of the Roman Catholic church and religious fundamentalists in Tehran come from a "scene setter" for President Obama's then forthcoming visit to Rome, compiled in June 2009 by Julieta Noyes, deputy chief of mission to the Vatican.

Her dispatch explains that the Vatican claims "an ability to act as an intermediary" in international crises involving Iran.

Noyes tells Obama: "The Vatican helped secure the release of British sailors detained in Iranian waters in April 2007."

According to The Guardian, which has published the cables, British diplomats in London said he did issue a message but was not necessarily key to the release.

In other cables relating to the Pope, the British ambassador to the Vatican is said to have feared a backlash against Catholics in the UK after the Pope's message to Anglicans to convert over female priests.

Francis Campbell, the British ambassador to the Holy See, said: "Anglican-Vatican relations were facing their worst crisis in 150 years as a result of the Pope's decision."

His comments came after Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams was a guest of honour at a dinner with Vatican officials.

The cable, from US ambassador Miguel Diaz, said Mr Campbell believed Pope Benedict XVI had put the Archbishop in an "impossible position".

It said: "The Vatican decision seems to have been aimed primarily at Anglicans in the US and Australia, with little thought given to how it would affect the centre of Anglicanism, England, or the Archbishop of Canterbury.

"Benedict XVI, Campbell said, had put Williams in an impossible situation. If Williams reacted more forcefully, he would destroy decades of work on ecumenical dialogue; by not reacting more harshly, he has lost support among angry Anglicans.


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Hackers Set Sights on Visa in Fight for WikiLeaks

Hackers have declared an Internet war in support of WikiLeaks, with groups of anonymous attackers disabling major credit card websites in retaliation for denying service to the controversial website.

The group, going by the name "Anonymous," rallied its supporters in a Twitter post Wednesday, calling for them to get their "weapons" ready to attack the Visa website for the next phase of "Operation Payback."

The same group claimed responsibility for crippling the MasterCard website for much of the day Wednesday using denial of service attacks, which overwhelm a website with data requests.

Both Visa and MasterCard have stopped processing donations to WikiLeaks as the online organization faces tremendous political pressure for publishing secret U.S. diplomatic cables.

Wikileaks released a cable Wednesday showing that in February 2010 U.S. officials lobbied Russia on behalf of MasterCard and Visa to ensure that a proposed Russian law did not adversely affect their businesses.

There are now more than 1,000 Internet "mirror sites" hosting WikiLeaks content, which is more than double the number of sites that existed days ago.

An executive of the online payment company PayPal said Wednesday it decided to suspend its business with WikiLeaks after the U.S. State Department said the website's activities are illegal.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in a Twitter message that the U.S. government did not write to PayPal requesting any action regarding WikiLeaks.

The website's founder, Julian Assange, surrendered to authorities in Britain Tuesday and is in custody while he fights extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning about alleged sex offenses.

Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny says the investigation has nothing to do with WikiLeaks and that she has no intention of handing Assange over to the United States if he is extradited to Sweden.

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http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Hackers-Avenge-WikiLeaks-Leader-with-Operation-Payback-111520314.html

Celebs, media vie to see WikiLeaks founder in court

The Westminster Magistrates Court was ill prepared for the media scrum that landed on its doorstop on Tuesday. That's when police confirmed that WikiLeaks editor and founder Julian Assange had voluntarily turned himself in and was now under arrest.

Swarms of cameras, microphones and reporters with earpieces dangling were buzzing around outside the court, trying to figure out which entrance Assange and his legal tem would use.

Despite the media scrutiny, Assange managed to whiz past in a car and straight into the back entrance of the courthouse with hardly a photo being taken.

His lawyer, Mark Stephens, was not so lucky: Mobbed the moment he appeared at the front door, though he seemed unruffled by the attention. He sported a dark suit with pink pinstripes and a tie dotted with a skull-and-cross bones motif. A nod to the Pirate Party (a Swedish political party) that has supported WikiLeaks perhaps, I asked? No, more like Alexander McQueen, he replied.

Inside, it was standing room only as reporters crammed into the small courtroom. A buzz went through the gallery as Jemima Khan, the ex-wife of former Pakistani cricket star Imran Khan, took her seat. Clearly, few expected to see a bona-fide celebrity at the proceedings today. Journalist John Pilger and British film director Ken Loach also offered to post money for Assange's bail -- indications perhaps that Assange may soon become a cause celebre.

But the main event was Assange. He showed little emotion as the hearing played out. When the court asked for his address, he gave a cagey reply: "For correspondence or other purposes?" he asked. He initially gave a PO Box before reluctantly scribbling down an address that was read out loud by a court recorder.

Judge Howard Riddle denied Assange bail, citing, among other issues, the "nomadic lifestyle" of the man behind WikiLeaks. He also repeatedly stated that this hearing was "not about WikiLeaks." Actually, once he said, this was "not about Wikipedia," setting off a few snickers from reporters.

This was the first time the details of the alleged sex crimes Assange faces were revealed in court. Among them, use of force and two charges of unprotected sex without a condom, despite the women's insistence that he use one. Reporters looked at each other trying to figure out the details of Swedish law.

The proceedings ran under an hour. There was genuine surprise when Riddle announced there would be no release on bail and Assange would be spending his time in jail until December 14.

When the police van carrying Assange pulled out of the courthouse, a media pack was waiting. Cameras flashing, microphones flying, and dozens of supporters shouting cries of: "We love you!" and "Julian Assange is a political prisoner." They ran after the van hoping to catch a glimpse of the once-elusive founder of WikiLeaks.

Read More

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/12/07/assange.wikileaks.court.scene/