Julian Assange has now been detained for 500 days without charge. This includes the 10 days he spent in solitary confinement on top of the 490 days he's spent electronically tagged under house arrest. After all this time the media is still spreading the same falsities about his case and people continue to attack him with the same misconceptions as they were a year and a half ago.
The facts of the Assange case must be made clear. These false claims have irrevocably damaged Mr. Assange's reputation and have led to a hostile media climate which harms WikiLeaks as an organization. These smears must continue to be challenged until accurate reporting is widespread.
This is Part Three in WL Central's continued coverage of the arrest of Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab. He was arrested on May 5 at the Bahraini International Airport, following the announcement of his appearance on Julian Assange's talk show "The World Tomorrow." A representative of the public prosecution ordered that Rajab be detained for one week for "insulting a statutory body" via Twitter. Rajab denies the charges, saying they are aimed at hindering his human rights work and his right of expression. He was also charged unrelated to his current detention for "participating in illegal assembly."
Rajab's interview on "The World Tomorrow," alongside Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, aired May 8. The episode is available online in English, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and Italian. Extended transcript of the entire 3 hour interview is also available.
Many organizations have been calling for Rajab's release as well as the release of other political prisoners in Bahrain. Major protests have broken out in Bahrain. Meanwhile, the U.S. has resumed some arms transfers to the Bahraini Government amid calls for harsher crackdowns on the uprising. See Part One and Part Two of our previous coverage for more information.
The Polish Secret Service briefed both president Aleksander Kwaśniewski and PM Leszek Miller about the existence of a CIA black site on the grounds of a Secret Service training camp, Gazeta Wyborcza reports. The agents kept notes on these meetings, and eventually handed them over to the prosecutor late last year.
According to these notes, the agents reported that there were prisoners held in the CIA prison. It is not clear whether they also spoke about torture. Kwaśniewski recently admitted that he knew about the existence of such a prison, and that he was aware of the risk that the US might deploy inadmissible methods.
The creation of an extraterritorial area without international agreements and false imprisonment already constitute a breach of the Polish constitution.
A source within the prosecution told Gazeta Wyborcza that the Polish agents realized that the matter "stank", and that it could come out, and that they wanted to have proof of being backed by the highest levels in the government to protect themselves.
Cablegate evidence recently unearthed by WLC confirms a collaboration between the Polish and US intelligence agencies.
For our previous extensive coverage please see this link.
WikiLeaks Press is currently looking for reporters to help us cover the news. For more information see: http://wlcentral.org/reporters.
This is Part Two in WL Central's continued coverage of the arrest of Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab. He was arrested on May 5 at the Bahraini International Airport, following the announcement of his upcoming appearance on Julian Assange's talk show "The World Tomorrow." A representative of the public prosecution ordered that Rajab be detained for one week for "insulting a statutory body" via Twitter. Rajab denies the charges, saying they are aimed at hindering his human rights work and his right of expression. See Part One of our coverage here.
RT reported on the arrest of Nabeel Rajab, coming just days before his interview with Julian Assange on "The World Tomorrow" is set to air. Rajab is the "driving force" of the ongoing protests in Bahrain, even though the government has banned public protesting. A preview of Tuesday's episode is shown, where Rajab mentions his house being surrounded by nearly 100 armed policemen after he announced via Twitter that he was going to meet Julian Assange, although he was not at home at the time. Watch the full report below:
RT also interviewed author and journalist Afshin Rattansi about the arrest, who discussed the media's failure to cover the revolution in Bahrain and the arms sales by the US and UK to the Bahraini police.
Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab was arrested today by the order of the Bahraini public prosecution. This comes the day after WikiLeaks' press release that he, along with Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, will be the guests on next week's episode of Julian Assange's talk show, "The World Tomorrow."
Rajab was arrested at the Bahraini International Airport upon his return from Lebanon. Authorities have yet to comment on the reason for his arrest. Maryam al-Khawaja, another Bahraini human rights defender, said she and Rajab were discussing the possibility of his arrest as they left Beirut, knowing that the government in Bahrain was escalating.
Shortly after the announcement of his arrest, the Bahrain Police website was brought down in protest.
RT reports that Rajab has not only been arrested, but also imprisoned.
WikiLeaks has offered journalists embargoed access to the transcript of Tuesday's interview with Nabeel Rajab. Contact information is available via "The World Tomorrow" official website.
The episode of "The World Tomorrow" featuring Nabeel Rajab and Alaa Abd El-Fattah will air on RT Tuesday, May 8, starting at 12:30PM London time. It will subsequently air every two hours for a 24 hour period.
More to follow as the story progresses.
In a recent interview with Gazeta Wyborcza, former Polish president Aleksander Kwaśniewski made the following statements:
"... Q: But it was the Americans who revealed information that prisoners were held in Poland.
A: Indeed, in a wave of critique against George Bush, when Barack Obama said he was going to close the prison in Guantanamo. His term in office is almost over, and the prison still exists. Osama bin Laden was shot by a commando on the orders of someone who received the Nobel Peace Prize.
It was not us who detained terrorists, it was not us who interrogated them. We assumed that our allies would adhere to the law. If something happened that was not in accordance with the law, then the Americans are responsible for it, then it is up to them to pay the bill.
Q: Polish authorities closed their eyes on what the CIA were doing?
A: The collaboration with the CIA had the risk that the Americans were going to deploy methods that are not admissible. But if a CIA agent had brutally mistreated a prisoner in the Marriot hotel in Warsaw, would you accuse the hotel management for what this agent had done? We didn't know about any torture."
Kwaśniewski admits to a collaboration with the CIA, but claims not to have known of any torture, even though he says that apparently there were fears to this regard.
Cablegate evidence for such a cooperation has recently been recovered by WLC.
According to case files leaked to Gazeta Wyborcza just over a year ago, the initial investigation into the CIA black site in Stare Kiejkuty focused on the legal implications of creating an extraterritorial area, the detention and torture of prisoners in such an area and the status of these prisoners.
For our previous extensive coverage of the topic, please see this link.
Last Thursday, human rights and Julian Assange lawyer Jennifer Robinson was held up on her flight from London to Sydney for security reasons. Over the years, journalists have been interrogated and detained at borders, often for purely political reasons. This incident was unprecedented with a lawyer now facing similar treatment.
Robinson was told that she is on an "inhibited" list of mysterious origin and that the Australian High Commission in London needed to be contacted before her departure. At some point, she was given the green light to board without that call being made and was able to get to her destination. When pressed, Australian Attorney General Roxon showed concern about the incident. She said that "this is not the result of any action taken by the Australian Government. We believe [Robinson], as an Australian who is not subject to any criminal charges or allegations, should be free to travel in and out of Australia."
The Guardian reported that "The Australian high commission in London has no record of a call being received from UK authorities concerning her travel". Virgin Atlantic, the airline that stopped Robinson, deferred responsibility to security services, while the UK Border Agency and DFAT each deny involvement.
Below is a list of addresses that were handed out on a sheet of paper at the Whitney Biennial 2012's Surveillance Teach-In, and described as "possible domestic NSA interception points".
Friday night was standing room only at the Whitney Biennial 2012's Surveillance Teach-In of Academy Award nominated filmmaker, Laura Poitras.
Her body of work includes: "My Country, My Country", about the U.S. invasion of Iraq; "The Oath", about two Yemeni men caught up in America’s "War on Terror"; and her current work in progress detailing the U.S. surveillance state in post 9/11 America.
Woven through the museum were interactive installations by Stimulate, and two mysterious portraits of of Julian Assange, the editor of WikiLeaks, who has been under house-arrest in Great Britian for 501 days without charge.
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