http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/australia-has-abandoned-me-20101204-18kpq.html Australia has abandoned me Steven Swinford and Danny Kemp December 5, 2010 Click to play video Return to video Return to Australia impossible: Assange Julian Assange still calls Australia home, but has little hope for return following his website's release of 250,000 confidential US government cables.
a.. Video feedback b.. Video settings WHISTLEBLOWING website founder Julian Assange has broken cover to accuse the Australian government of abandoning him to attacks by the US government. >From a location in England the Queensland-born Mr Assange questioned what it >meant to be an Australian citizen. As the WikiLeaks chief waited for his >likely arrest so British authorities could extradite him to Sweden over >allegations of rape and sexual molestation - which he denies - he said he >missed his country ''a great deal''. ''However, during the last weeks the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, and the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, have made it clear that not only is my return impossible but that they are actively working to assist the United States government in its attacks on myself and our people,'' Mr Assange wrote in The Guardian. Advertisement: Story continues below Founder of the Wikileaks website, Julian Assange. Photo: AFP ''This brings into question what does it mean to be an Australian citizen - does that mean anything at all? Or are we all to be treated like David Hicks at the first possible opportunity merely so that Australian politicians and diplomats can be invited to the best US embassy cocktail parties.'' It was revealed Mr McClelland has also ordered a taskforce of Australian soldiers, intelligence officers and officials to investigate whether Mr Assange and his organisation had breached any Australian laws. ''The publication of this kind of information is incredibly irresponsible and reprehensible,'' Mr McClelland said. Mr Assange's outburst came as he revealed he had sent the politically sensitive US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks to 100,000 people and they would be released en masse if the website was brought down. He said the cables had been copied in encrypted form and would be automatically published online if ''something happens to us''. On Friday, WikiLeaks was forced to move to a Swiss internet address after its website came under a cyber attack. And he said he had boosted his security after receiving death threats amid the storm unleashed by his site's publication of 250,000 secret US cables. Scotland Yard and security services know Mr Assange's location, believed to be in south-east England, but have been unable to arrest him because Swedish authorities failed to fill out the arrest warrant correctly. Swedish prosecutors sent another file containing the missing details. Mr Assange's lawyer, Mark Stephens, linked the arrest warrant to ''sophisticated'' efforts to take down the website. Agence France-Presse; Telegraph, London [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
