That’s the table, I had Christmas
dinner there with Julian
for every year that he
was in the embassy.
On the first Christmas there together,
there were some 15 of us at the table.
Then, the number
decreased.
And so, on the last Christmas we were there
together, there was just Julian and I.
Julian Assange, founder of the
whistleblowing platform Wikileaks,
has been arrested.
The U.S. judiciary is accusing
Assange of conspiracy.
It’s unclear whether he will
be extradited to the U.S.A.
If you are going to play with fire,
you are going to get burned.
Don’t take on the most powerful nation in
the world. Don’t take on the U.S. army.
The US accuses Assange of having
helped publish classified material
on US military operations.
That has changed the way
journalism is done.
Ignorance or misplaced idealism is no longer
an excuse for lionizing these demons.
They’re threatening to prosecute Assange
and lock him away, possibly for decades.
That’s a blow to the very foundations
of freedom of the press.
I think his life is
genuinely in danger.
The behavior of the pilots is like
they are playing a computer game.
Something else this video shows, is the
reality of modern war from the air.
And I don’t think that
that has been seen before.
Blatant war crimes. On April 5th, 2010,
WikiLeaks exposed them to the world.
Julian Assange was about
to become world-famous.
A military video has
surfaced on the internet,
showing a deadly U.S. attack
on a group of people in Iraq.
?online whistle-blower
Wikileaks?
Wikileaks has posted
this video...
The video also shows the shooting of a bus
which was rushing to the scene to help.
Two children were aboard the bus,
both were seriously injured.
You could say Wikileaks was
something truly revolutionary.
It’s certainly changed
the face of journalism.
We were the first in introducing
this secure Dropbox,
where people could
securely submit material.
Now, every
medium has it.
We were sitting at the kitchen table and
Julian said he wanted to start a wiki,
making the information
available for public analysis.
I thought it was a
handsome idea, yes.
WikiLeaks posted original
documents online
— on the condition that they are
genuine, and of public interest.
Criticism soon arose that WikiLeaks
was not acting with due caution.
WikiLeaks uncovered corruption
in the financial sector,
environmental scandals,
and war crimes.
Secrets the government would
have preferred to keep hidden.
I think people have an enormous
misunderstanding of the work of WikiLeaks.
This model allowed journalists to work
with primary hard-source material
at a scale and with the
kind of sophistication
that had never really
previously been done before.
I met Assange for the first time
in London in the summer of 2010.
We had heard at Spiegel that WikiLeaks had
received a huge cache of secret documents.
We were asked to come to London and
meet Assange to find out more details.
It turned out that WikiLeaks did indeed
have three huge packages of documents
— one with almost 100,000 war reports of
the U.S. army on the Afghanistan war,
then several hundred thousand
from the Iraq war and finally,
1/4 million confidential diplomatic
cables from the U.S. Department of State.
All in all, there were
3/4 million documents.
The WikiLeaks documents were at the
center of unprecedented attention.
Der Spiegel, The New York
Times and The Guardian
were the first to join forces
to evaluate the documents.
Secret files that exposed the
“true war” in Afghanistan.
German soldiers are also said to be
having increasingly serious problems.
For Spiegel magazine,
it’s front page news.
Evidence of the US secret task
force 373 in Afghanistan,
who hunt and kill of their own accord.
The files also reveal the
brutality of the war being waged.
Many more civilians were killed in
military interventions in recent years
than officially confirmed.
It was like being hit by a very large wave.
It was quite a shocking experience.
In 2010, I was the coordinator for
counterterrorism at the State Department.
It was abundantly clear that this was going
to be a diplomatic disaster for the US.
Well, good afternoon. Do we
have enough room in here?
The US strongly condemns the illegal
disclosure of classified information.
So let's
be clear:
This disclosure is not just an attack
on America’s foreign policy interests
— it is an attack on the
international community.
The damage was
enormous.
I mean, I'm open to the possibility
that a selective release
might have been justified in some cases,
but again, wholesale release
- what sense does that make?
In Europe, the criticism was
more subdued — at first.
To the US government, it was
clear right from the start
that Assange was an existential challenge.
I think you can put it as simply
as: He had crossed a line.
You should never take on the most
powerful nation in the world.
Don’t take on the U.S army, don’t
take on the secret services, the CIA.
If you do, you will be met
with enormous blowback.
Hillary Clinton once said “Can’t we
just take the guy out with a drone?”
Julian Assange set his hopes on
Sweden’s liberal press laws.
Afraid that the U.S. would investigate him, he hoped
Sweden would be a safe haven - for him, and for WikiLeaks.
At the time, key servers
were located in Stockholm.
They have since been removed,
and relocated several times.
When he was in Sweden and the first great
releases after ‘Collateral Murder’,
I did say to Julian that
he ought to be careful.
A warning that proved
to be well-justified.
In Stockholm, Assange had intercourse
with two women. Allegedly unprotected.
After attempting to reach
Assange personally,
the women turned to the police to
compel him to undergo testing for STDs.
The police opened preliminary investigations
into 4 counts of sexual offense.
Overnight, the story of “Assange
the Rapist” hit the headlines.
It would become an accusation
he could never quite shake off.
Julian Assange
was a rock star.
Overnight he was an asshole and
that was kind of Swedish consensus
among from left to
right, up and down.
In the meantime, the hunt for Julian Assange
and his informants had begun in the U.S.
We want whatever they
have, returned to us
and we want whatever copies they
have expunged, erased, gone.
We are not alone
in this endeavor:
The FBI, the DOJ are also investigating
this, are also involved in this matter.
Later, U.S. investigators discovered a chat
protocol on one Army private’s computer.
It was to become a key piece of evidence,
and form the basis of the present charges.
The source Assange was exchanging messages
with in the spring of 2010, was in Iraq.
It was Chelsea Manning, then Bradley Manning,
an intelligence analyst with the U.S. army.
The two didn’t know each other personally, only
through their anonymous ‘handles’ or aliases.
They proceeded, getting to know
each other cautiously, bit by bit.
Then there was a new
approach to communicating.
Then Assange wrote: ‘Curious eyes never run dry’.
This is quoted in the bill of
indictment and it’s a very thin line.
While journalists should never incite anyone
to steal or intrude to gain information,
they of course do want to know
what their sources can offer.
In the spring of 2019, a U.S. federal grand
jury unsealed an indictment against Assange.
17 further charges under
the Espionage Act
on obtaining and publishing
classified information soon followed.
The possible sentences total
up to 175 years in jail.
Count 18 of the
indictment:
“conspiracy to commit computer
intrusion” — better known as “hacking”.
Assange is said to have given Manning
advice on how to remain anonymous.
I believe he is closer to a spy than to a journalist
because his business involves stealing information.
His use of information is not informed by a story, by a
narrative and by a public point that needs to be made.
They were out to destroy,
because he exposed war crimes,
criminal activities, murder of hundreds
of thousands, displacement of millions.
In Sweden, Assange was being investigated by
public prosecutors for an allegation of rape.
He had spent some time living
temporarily with Donald Boström.
The Swedish journalist had tried to mediate
between Assange and the two women in question,
and also made a statement
to the police.
I read everywhere that he was a coward, running away,
escaping from everything, but that’s not the fact.
The fact is, actually he went to
the police. He was interrogated.
Then he stayed another 5weeks waiting for the
next step in the process, which never occurred.
Swedish authorities granted him
permission to travel to London.
Then, they wanted him back for more
questioning, insisting it take place in Sweden.
Assange asked for assurance that he would not be
extradited to the US — his request was denied.
And so he decided to apply for asylum in Ecuador,
escaping first to their embassy in London.
He arrived at 1 p.m. in the afternoon. He
had his asylum petition ready to be handed.
Australian Julian Assange is currently
in London in the Ecuadorian Embassy.
Ecuador has granted
Assange asylum.
But it’s unclear how he intends to
get there from the London embassy.
The British police are outside, ready to arrest
him the moment he emerges to get to the airport.
Julian Assange was trapped
- in the heart of London.
And Sweden fell silent —
no hearing, no charges.
Then, in 2016 WikiLeaks made another major release.
The DNC leaks implicated the Democratic Party.
They included emails that shed a harsh light on
Hillary Clinton’s election campaign manager.
There have been new email disclosures, once
again jeopardising Hillary Clinton’s career.
The whistleblowing platform Wikileaks
has released confidential emails
pointing to the DNC preferring Clinton to run
as the Democratic presidential candidate
instead of the outsider
Bernie Sanders.
He clearly disliked Hillary Clinton, he didn’t
like John Podesta, her campaign manager.
And he was happy to do whatever
he could damage their interest.
The whistleblowing platform
WikiLeaks quoted Clinton
from well-paid speeches she allegedly
held before Wall Street firms.
WikiLeaks - I love WikiLeaks!
This is a case where an external
actor is actually, as we would say,
putting their hand on the scale
and making a difference.
Was the Russian intelligence service using the
principle of WikiLeaks to promote its own interests?
That was part of Robert
Mueller’s investigation
in his report on Russia’s influence
on the 2016 American elections.
Guccifer
2.0.
The name of the hacker who allegedly acquired
and provided Wikileaks with the emails.
According to special
investigator Mueller,
Russian intelligence service staff, who have
since been indicted, were behind the hacks.
I now believe that it is something
like a 21st-century hostile service
working in collusion with the Russian
intelligence services in that campaign
and I think for that reason its reputation
in the US has been fatally damaged.
This was journalistic activity. This was
in the public interest to be published.
It doesn't really matter where
the material came from.
If it's in the public interest to publish
it, you have a duty to publish it.
Donald Trump becomes the
45th president of the U.S.A.
Trump’s victory came after one of the most
suspenseful election nights in U.S. history.
Donald Trump and his campaign
team celebrate his victory.
After being sworn into office, Trump
claims he’s never heard of WikiLeaks.
It’s unclear what impact the Wikileaks
release had on the election results.
There is no evidence that WikiLeaks
knew who was behind the email dump.
Wikileaks walks like a
hostile intelligence service
and talks like a hostile
intelligence service.
We know the danger that Assange and
his not-so-merry band of brothers
pose to democracies
around the world.
Ignorance or misplaced idealism is no longer an
acceptable excuse for lionizing these demons.
You would agree with director Pompeo, that’s
what he was when he made that remark,
that it [Wikileaks] is a hostile
intelligence service, correct?
Yes.
He made himself a target for intelligence
services all over the world,
because of the information
that he was releasing.
If you’re going to play with fire,
you’re going to get burned.
The Spanish company UC Global was responsible
for security in the Ecuadorian embassy.
Their boss David Morales was a former Spanish
military officer with good contacts in the US.
They started to put video cameras
all over, and change all the locks.
The only goal should be:
Protect the embassy.
In 2017, presidential elections
were held in Ecuador.
Having already served two
terms, Rafael Correa,
who had previously granted asylum to
Assange, was unable to run again.
Cheer up. Welcome to the
group of the persecuted.
Thank you,
President Correa.
He was succeeded by new president Lenin Moreno,
who sought a closer relationship with the US.
This also changed the atmosphere
in the London embassy.
Security staff started confiscating
visitors’ bags and mobile phones.
They appear to have been tasked with
collecting as much information as possible.
Actress and activist Pamela Anderson
would visit Julian Assange regularly.
While she was talking to him, security
staff apparently inspected her cell phone,
noting her password
on a yellow slip.
Data seems to have been systematically
gathered from Assange’s guests.
Phones were forcibly opened, private
messages copied and stored without consent,
observation
reports compiled.
The German public broadcasters NDR and WDR
are in possession of internal documents.
In one email, the head of UC
Global writes quite openly.
Another regular visitor to the embassy
is Assange’s lawyer, Aitor Martinez,
who is coordinating Assange’s defense
against the U.S.A. from Spain.
Mr Assange was always very concerned
about being listened in on.
I personally asked the
security staff several times
whether the cameras that were installed
everywhere could also record audio.
This was
always denied.
In the end we had all our conversations
in the ladies’ restroom,
because Mr Assange was so
worried about being heard.
According to one
of the staff,
the security firm installed a bug in the ladies’
room shortly afterwards, behind this box.
And in the meeting room, a bug was
fitted inside the fire extinguisher.
Confidential communication
between lawyer and client
is a fundamental right in every
democratic country of the world.
The bugged material seems to have ended up in the hands
of North America, via the Spanish security firm.
Who is
“x”?
We believe it
is the CIA.
David Morales is said to have frequently boasted
to his staff about his connections to the U.S.A.
An affadavit from a
former employee states:
When I asked him who his “American friends” were,
he replied:‘the US intelligence services’.
The connection with the US intelligence
services, that is really stupid.
These emails are confidential, and belong
to my company and it's our conversation,
a private conversation
that I have.
Spain’s High Court has opened investigations
on David Morales and UC Global.
When approached, the U.S. authorities
made no statement about the enquiry.
In 2018, the security firm
in the embassy was replaced.
Assange’s internet connection was cut for
good and hardly any visitors were allowed.
It’s reported that even his shaving
equipment was confiscated.
I had never been involved
with this case before.
But then I took a closer look. I
took two medical experts with me.
What we saw was that Mr. Assange was
actually showing all the symptoms
a person normally displays when subjected to
psychological torture over a long period of time.
He was stuck inside the embassy for 7 years,
with very little input from the outside world.
He hardly received any visits, either
from his lawyers, or from friends.
He had no internet
connection.
On April 11th, 2019, Ecuador allowed the
British police to enter the building.
Julian Assange, founder of the
whistleblowing platform Wikileaks,
has been arrested after almost seven years
asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
He’d been right, that he would be arrested as
soon as he set foot outside of the embassy,
with the extradition order to the U.S.A.
to quickly follow.
In Britain he was placed before a
judge straight after being arrested
and convicted within
just 15 minutes.
During the whole trial, the only words
he uttered were: ‘I plead not guilty’.
But the judges insulted
him as a ‘narcissist’,
saying he was only concerned
with his personal interests.
Stockholm,
2019.
For 9 years, Julian Assange had been threatened
with prosecution by the Swedish judiciary.
Shortly after his
arrest in London,
the public prosecutor in Stockholm closed the
proceedings - due to a lack of evidence.
Julian Assange is now locked up in
a high security prison in London.
The hurdles to prevent extradition from Britain
to the U.S.A. are not especially high.
There’s only one decision.
Free Julian Assange.
No evidence needs
to be provided
as long as there are grounds for suspicion
of a crime having been committed.
Julian Assange’s extradition hearing could be one
of the biggest cases in British legal history.
If these charges under the Espionage Act weren’t so
serious, we should actually be laughing about it.
After all, receiving, processing
and releasing secret information
is the daily bread and
butter of journalism.
I don’t believe in imprisoning journalists,
but I think I could easily agree
that someone who is stealing government information
wholesale, ought to be punished for that.
I’m certainly not going to shed
big tears for Julian Assange.
Of course, it’s much easier to
make an example of someone,
and to violate all their human rights,
when it’s a person nobody likes.
Destroying Assange’s image, undermining and
tarnishing his reputation with sexual allegations,
this ‘shady hacker’ label, and the half-truths
rumored about him — they’re all part of it.
And we absorb it all
through the media,
and are then more willing to accept and
tolerate the fact that he is being mistreated.
What's gonna happen tomorrow when China demands
the extradition of a Canadian journalist?
What happens when Saudi Arabia does the same
thing about someone living in Argentina?
We are setting a precedent right now that we
are going to live with for the next 100 years.
And no matter what you
feel about Julian Assange,
the methods that WikiLeaks and everyone
connected to it have pioneered,
have changed the way
journalism is done.
And if we cannot recognize that and
we are not willing to protect it,
I think the saddest part of this whole
story is we probably don't deserve it.
And as a result, we will no longer
have it when we need it the most.
