WikiLeaks

Linking to, and discussing my recent interview with Chris Cook on his ‘Gorilla Radio’ show in Victoria, British Columbia, in which we spoke about the case of torture victim Abu Zubaydah, the 20th anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo, and the latest dispiriting ruling in the extradition case of Wikileaks’ founder Julian Assange.

As the UK High Court allows the extradition to the US of WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, overturning a lower court’s ruling regarding his suicide risk, I explain my disappointment with the ruling, not only because US assurances regarding his treatment are unreliable, but also because the key element of the case wasn’t under discussion: the US’s reprehensible efforts to prosecute a publisher for making available leaked information that it is in the public interest to know about, which sends a chilling message to the world about the US’s disregard for press freedom.

My appearance, with Clive Stafford Smith, on the ‘Primary Sources’ podcast, hosted by Chip Gibbons of Defending Rights and Dissent, to discuss our long involvement with Guantánamo, the significance of WikiLeaks’ release of ‘The Guantánamo Files’ in 2011, and the reasons why we testified on behalf of Julian Assange in his extradition hearing in October 2020.

My analysis of the appeal by the US government, heard in the High Court in London this week, against a judge’s refusal in January to allow the extradition to the US of WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, on the basis that, because of his mental health issues, the risk of him committing suicide if extradited is too severe to allow the extradition to go ahead.

Reflecting on the US defeat in Afghanistan, as the Taliban once more control the country, I look at how, in Guantánamo and in the prison at Bagram Airbase, chronically poor intelligence, and the contempt for the rules regarding the detention of prisoners in wartime that was so typical of the “war on terror,” did so much to help the US lose the battle for “hearts and minds” in Afghanistan.

Recalling the significance of the release of “The Guantánamo Files” by WikiLeaks, ten years ago today, on which I worked as media partner, and calling for the release of Julian Assange, who is still imprisoned in Belmarsh, despite a judge refusing to allow his extradition to the US in January.

Video of my interview with the London-based activists of Team Assange, about the new UK police bill, the right to protest, Guantánamo and Julian Assange. Also included is an update regarding genuinely shocking incidents of police violence in Bristol over the last week in response to protests about the bill.

Video of my half-hour interview, on Jan. 11, the 19th anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo, with Kevin Gosztola of Shadowproof for his YouTube channel. We also discussed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition case, and the Trump-inspired invasion of the Capitol last week.

As Judge Vanessa Baraitser denies bail to Julian Assange, I point out how necessary it is for the incoming Biden administration to conclude, as Barack Obama did, that prosecuting Assange poses too grave a threat to press freedoms to proceed with, and to drop the extradition request.

My response to the totally unexpected ruling today by Judge Vanessa Baraitser, who refused to approve WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition to the US, on the basis that “his autism spectrum disorder” would “caus[e] him to commit suicide.”