Julian Assange, founder of whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, was interviewed on the 21st December 2010 by Cenk Uyger of MSNBC. Having watched this interview I found myself captivated by what Assange had to say and how he defended both himself and the Wikileaks organisation. There are two major points from the interview that I would like to discuss further, but firstly I encourage you to watch the interview for yourselves:
Interesting?
Ok, so here I go. The first part of the interview that I wish to comment on was the part when Assange discussed some of the comments made by some major political figures/analysts. I agree completely with what Assange says on the matter and as a result I don't believe I can say anything that he hasn't already said himself. I think that it is absolutely disgraceful that the United States, the 'land of the free' where free speech is 'protected' by the First Amendment, can allow important politicians to openly call for the illegal murder of a publisher. After all, regardless of what documents Wikileaks has published, they are simply publishing documents that they have been sent by others and even though these may contain information of a sensitive nature, according to both NATO and the Pentagon, to date no one has been hurt as a result of these publications.
As Assange himself said in the interview:
Im sure that the United States would have been quick to condemn any Russian politician who called for the illegal assassination of a member of the press. Do you remember the controversy around the case of Alexander Litvinenko, the former KGB/FSB officer turned journalist who suddenly fell ill in November 2006, due to what was established as a case of radioactive poisoning?"If we are to have a civil society we cannot have senior people making calls on national tv to go around the judiciary and illegally murder people. That is incitement to commit murder, that is an offence. We can not have senior people on national TV asking people to commit an offence. That is not a country that obeys the rules of law. Does the United States obey the rule of law? because Europeans are starting to wonder..."
The video below shows Bob Beckel and a Panel of Analysts discussing and calling for the assassination of Julian Assange:
The second point that I wish to briefly address is the treatment of Private Bradley Manning who is suspected to have been responsible for a major leak of classified documents to Wikileaks. Manning has been kept in solitary confinement at a military prison since May 2010, under extremely pressing conditions yet has not been convicted. The treatment of Manning has been referred to as 'cruel and inhumane' by many of the worlds top human rights analysts and personally I am a member of the same school of thought. If Manning is guilty of leaking official documents, then he should face a fair trial and the justice system should agree the correct punishment. He should not be held, under such conditions, based upon the fact that he may be guilty. Whatever happened to the idea of 'innocent until proven guilty'?
The second point that I wish to briefly address is the treatment of Private Bradley Manning who is suspected to have been responsible for a major leak of classified documents to Wikileaks. Manning has been kept in solitary confinement at a military prison since May 2010, under extremely pressing conditions yet has not been convicted. The treatment of Manning has been referred to as 'cruel and inhumane' by many of the worlds top human rights analysts and personally I am a member of the same school of thought. If Manning is guilty of leaking official documents, then he should face a fair trial and the justice system should agree the correct punishment. He should not be held, under such conditions, based upon the fact that he may be guilty. Whatever happened to the idea of 'innocent until proven guilty'?
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