Today Julian Assange faced his last extraditon hearing (apparently). We will be updating Court´s events in Belmarsh here. If you have related live information and audio or video feeds, please send to @wikileaks_world on Twitter.
After 1 hour and 45 minutes, the hearing is over. Judge orders Assange be extradited in Sweden. Assange has 7 days to appeal. For now, he will remain on bail. Lawyer Mark Stephens says they will appeal.
Full judgement is up here.
Relevant Twitter feed from Belmarsh, based on @federicacocco, @estheraddley, @c4marcus and @ravisomaiya:
c4marcus (12.13 GMT)
#Assange bailed until 2pm while issues around sureties are sorted out.
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federicacocco (12.12 GMT)
Judge: Assange will remain on bail
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federicacocco (12.10 GMT)
Robertson: To save time, we have 2 alternative sureties. One of the original sureties was Lord Evans but he couldn't be here today
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estheraddley (12.10 GMT)
Decision postponed on costs. On bail, defence offering two alternative suretors. Judge 'I'm afraid I don't know who these people are'
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(12.08 GMT)
Judge: I can't rule on costs today as Crown hasn't provided me with their total. #Assange
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federicacocco (12.05 GMT)
Judge: A schedule has not been made. For these purposes, the court has no longer jurisdiction after today.
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federicacocco (12.05 GMT)
Judge: In principle I would today make an order for costs in the amount I consider Judge. Today I'm not in a position to assess costs
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c4marcus (12.00 GMT)
Appears Crown aren't actually sure what their costs are, which is making dealing with that issue today a bit tricky. #Assange
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federicacocco (11.58 GMT)
Judge to prosecution: If the appeal in successful you have a right to apply for the reimbursement of legal costs
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federicacocco (11.56 GMT)
The young United States had barely thrown off it's own colonial shackles when in 1805 it flexed its nascent imperial powers against what is now Libya. U.S. Marines captured the Eastern Libyan city of Darnah, raise the U.S. flag over it and forced the ruler in Tripoli to sign a commercial treaty with the U.S. before withdrawing. Since those days, wherever US Marines fight and kill, from Vietnam to Afghanistan, they proudly remember those early battles to put down the Barbary pirates and insure favorable trade relations "on the shores of Tripoli."
Robbed of piracy as an income source the three areas which make up present day Libya, Tripolitania, Fezzan, and Cyrenaica, fell back under the control of the Ottoman Empire which had pretty much ran things there since the middle of the 16th century anyway. Libya rotted as a backwater of "the sick man of Europe" until Italy invaded and united the three areas as its colony in 1911. When Italy lost WWII, it lost its colony. It became the Independent and United Kingdom of Libya in 1951.
It stayed a kingdom until 1969 when a 27 year old army captain Muammar Gaddafi led a military coup d'état, installed himself as dictator and promoted himself to colonel. Military power put Gaddfi in control and he has always shown a keen interest in increasing it plus he has the petrol dollars to buy lots. This has long made him a most favored customer of the international arms industry.
Munyaradzi Gwisai, the International Socialist Organisation (ISO) general coordinator, and 45 others were charged in Zimbabwe today with treason, which carries the death penalty, or subverting a constitutionally elected government, for which the maximum penalty is 20 years imprisonment. The charges stem from a meeting the plaintiffs allegedly held, by invitation, and participants, although invited, were subjected to thorough vetting before being allowed into a room which was kept under lock and key. In this room they allegedly complained that "in Zimbabwe, there was a long authoritarian leadership , general hunger, poverty, unemployment and capitalist practices where wealth was enjoyed by a few individuals while the general populace of Zimbabwe was suffering."
WL Central will be updating news on Cameroon, with new items added at the top. You can contact me on twitter @GeorgieBC or by email at admin@wlcentral.org.
Current time and date in Yaoundé:
WEDNESDAY, February 23
A video of Cameroon's scheduled protests today.
Paul Biya - Clear police brutality against the demonstrators on February 23, 2011 in Yaounde.
The Cameroonian people rises to say no to Paul Biya, the Cameroon president for over 28 years, but as we can see from this video, the elements of the police and the army hesitate to use force to suppress a legitimate manifestation of Cameroonians.
WL Central will be updating news on Bahrain, with new items added at the top. All times are ET in USA.
You can contact me on twitter @carwinb or by email at carwinb@hushmail.com. Don't send media when links available. Most email is not encrypted and not anonymous. I cannot guarantee anyone's safety in transmission.
Current time and date in Manama, Bahrain:
Send Arabic #firstaid images by MMS/SMS/email or print as fliers usng http://bit.ly/gv3tS #Bahrain.
THURSDAY, February 24
Hassan Mashaima was arrested Tuesday at Beirut airport based on an arrest warrant issued by Interpol, the official, who requested anonymity, told AFP. "He was detained on order of the prosecutor general," he said.
He added that when Mashaima was questioned, he pointed out that he was among several opposition figures pardoned earlier this week by the king of Bahrain.
The official said that Lebanese authorities were seeking legal documents proving Mashaima had been pardoned.
"When we receive these documents, we will act accordingly," he said.Mashaima was among 25 men charged in Bahrain in October with forming an illegal organisation, engaging in and financing terrorism and spreading false and misleading information. (Source: iloubnan.info)
Bahrain: Ensure Rights of Freed Political Prisoners | Human Rights Watch
A Facebook page and hashtags #UAE and #Mar25 announce a day of protest for the United Arab Emirates "a revolution against the era of the Senate - a revolution against oppression and suppression of freedoms in the United Arab Emirates - a revolution against the wealth looted from the people of the UAE." There are currently 2,598 members on Facebook. On Twitter it is going over with about as much enthusiasm as the announced Qatar protest.
MADRID - Today the auditorium of the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid hosted a debate between the chief editors of the five major newspapers involved in cablegate: Javier Moreno from El Pais, Alan Rudbridger from The Guardian, Sylvie Kauffmann from Le Monde, Georg Mascolo from Der Spiegel and Bill Keller representing The New York Times. The theme was the future of journalism in the new global context set by Wikileaks.
We live tweeted the event here.
There was plenty of expectation, and early on in Twitter trends users were wondering if we would see a true discussion and not an orchestrated charade. This was important as most of the audience was made up of young reporters and students on assignment from their Universities: if the debate was to be centered on the future of journalism and its new model then the way it was to be carried out had to be convincing for the future players present. It seemed, however, that the organizers had planned on trying to have a big impact on the future generations, as they lined up students of a journalism Master sponsored by El Pais behind the main participants, though it was still unclear if they would be allowed to join in the debate. As they went in, the viewers were given a piece of paper each, in which they were supposed to write down a question addressed to one of the five editors. It is a shame that even though the scene was perfectly set for an interesting and enriching discussion, full of young people ready to carry the torch when their time comes, it turned out to be sterile: no participation was allowed from and the master students were a little bit more than a stage prop.
@wikileaks_world
english coverture of @el_pais @nytimes @guardian @lemondefr & @DerSPIEGEL #today to #discuss #jornalism & #wikileaks on #wldebatemadrid
on 23 Feb 2011 11:57:43.
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@wikileaks_world
Event starting at 17.30 GMT #wldebatemadrid #pconfuturo complete report on @wl_central
on 23 Feb 2011 11:58:57.
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@skdadl
Livetweet of discussion amng eds of "5 majors" who 1st pub'd WikiLeaks cables: #wldebatemadrid Begins 18:30 Madrid 2:30 EST. Please RT.
on 23 Feb 2011 17:02:51.
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@dontmentionit
RT @skdadl: Livetweet of discussion amng eds of "5 majors" who 1st pub'd WikiLeaks cables: #wldebatemadrid Begins 18:30 Madrid 2:30 EST. Please RT.
on 23 Feb 2011 17:02:53.
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@wikileaks_world
@el_pais @nytimes @guardian @lemondefr & @DerSPIEGEL - Live feed of the meeting in english on #wldebatemadrid #wikileaks by @wl_central
on 23 Feb 2011 17:15:56.
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El País: Estados Unidos presionó a Uribe para hacer una limpia en sus servicios de espionaje (U.S. pressure on Uribe to make a clean intelligence services)
"Estados Unidos presionó en 2009 al entonces presidente de Colombia, Álvaro Uribe, para que hiciera una limpieza a fondo en el Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS), la agencia de espionaje que depende directamente del presidente del país. Los cables del departamento de Estado filtrados por Wikileaks revelan cómo el embajador de Estados Unidos en Bogotá, William R. Brownfield, amenazó al entonces vicepresidente Francisco Santos con endurecer las relaciones de su país con los servicios secretos colombianos. Santos reconoció que Uribe no comprendía a fondo la gravedad de la crisis y pidió al embajador que hablara directamente con Uribe para convencerle de la necesidad de tomar medidas efectivas respecto al DAS. (The United States pressed in 2009 the then President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, to do a thorough cleaning at the Department of Administrative Security (DAS), the spy agency that reports directly to the president. The State Department cables leaked by Wikileaks reveal how the U.S. ambassador in Bogota, William R. Brownfield, threatened the then Vice President Francisco Santos to toughen his country's relations with the Colombian secret services. Santos acknowledged that Uribe did not understand fully the gravity of the crisis and asked the ambassador to talk directly to Uribe to convince of the need to take effective action on the DAS.)"
Sunday, February 20
Afrol News is reporting that the government has freed the country's three main opposition leaders, Ismaël Guedi Hared, the leader of Djibouti's main opposition coalition Union for a Democratic Alternative (UAD), Aden Robleh Awalleh and Mohamed Daoud Chehem, leaders of the minor opposition parties PND and UJD. The government is also warning against further protests.
Protesters were able to keep control of the Balbala neighbourhood during the night from Friday to Saturday. Protests on Saturday were concentrated in Balbala, as armed security forces stopped the protesters from reaching the city centre.
National Security chief Hassan Said Khaireh said that "authorities will have to take severe measures to punish those responsible for these troubles and senseless act of violence."
Saturday, February 19
Aside from its own political and ideological conflicts, in 2004 Pakistan saw itself obligated to join a task force with the U.S. to fight Taliban and Al-Qaeda groups in its northern region. This created a relationship of mutual interests between the Pakistani political elite and U.S. military interests on the region - generally characterized by the hunt for Osama bin Laden and other terrorist leaders. This agreement seemed to complicate problems that already existed in Pakistan, mostly corruption in every sense, and a reliance on U.S. support also was originated. Based on leaked cables of U.S. Diplomacy, we selected some cases where this co-dependence shows its weaknesses and incapabilities to establish an honest and democratic Pakistan.
U.S. DRONE ATTACKS
Current time and date in Wisconsin:
Wisconsin? Yes, Wisconsin... WL Central has been covering all the protests worldwide. WL Central has been looking at countries regardless of whether there are WikiLeaks cables handy. And at 5:44 PM, hundreds if not more than a thousand people are in the capitol about to be removed by police.
Many of the people in Wisconsin are inspired by Egypt just like many others in the Middle East and North Africa have been moved to act. And, actually, it's not entirely true that there is nothing out there to color what is happening in Wisconsin, to illuminate the anti-worker anti-union politics that has been spreading throughout the states. If one looks at the following cable 06MEXICO2220, one can infer that the US government views workers that try to wield political power and unions which wage battles against governments as players that could threaten a country's economic stability.
In this cable, ten economic challenges that the next president of Mexico will face are outlined. One of them is "Taking On the Unions without Shutting Down the Country":
12. (SBU) Few major reform proposals will move forward without
some confrontation or deal with the unions representing the
affected industries. Unions gained power and influence over many
decades of working closely with the PRI, delivering votes in
exchange for unaffordable benefits for workers and untold riches
for union leaders. Due to union protections, for example, the
state-owned Mexico City electric utility (LyFC) has what is in
effect its own construction and manufacturing subsidiaries with
some 10,000 employees. LyFC retirees not only retire at full
The Guardian: A guide to Gaddafi's 'famously fractious' family
"US embassy cables shed light on Gaddafi family – including son Saif al-Islam, who vowed in TV address to eradicate enemies.
The leader of the Libyan revolution presides over a "famously fractious" family that is powerful, wealthy, dysfunctional and marked by internecine struggles, according to US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks. The documents shed light on how his eight children – among whom rivalries have sharpened in recent years – his wife and Gaddafi himself lead their lives."
Aftenposten: SECURING ADDITIONAL ALLIED/PARTNER CONTRIBUTIONS TO ISAF IN SUPPORT OF PRESIDENT OBAMA"S UPCOMING ANNOUNCEMENT ON AFGHANISTAN
"When President Obama announces his decision on possible U.S. troop increases for Afghanistan, the impact could be far greater if other Allied and Partner leaders would announce increases of their own either simultaneously or in close succession. Several Allies and Partners have the military capacity to make significant additional contributions, and if they showed the political will to follow through that would send a strong signal of resolve and unity of purpose to the international audience, Al Qaeda and the Taliban. We should use the time between now and the Presidents announcement to engage select Allies and Partners at the highest levels to secure commitments to those additional military, civilian and monetary contributions. Below is a summary of nations that we believe can do more now. Of these countries, we believe Germany, Italy, and the UK are the most likely to respond positively."
WL Central will be updating news on Morocco, with new items added at the top. You can contact me on Twitter @kgosztola or by email at kgosztola@hotmail.com.
Current time in Rabat, Morocco:
MONDAY, February 20
10:45 PM Photo screen shot of 2M TV report
The King's Speech: He announces the installation of an Economic and Social Council to "give strong impetus" to "dynamic reforms." He says "we have consistently refused to succumb to the demagoguery." And he outlines:
Our ultimate goal is to ensure conditions for a dignified life for all Moroccans, especially the most needy, and implement a comprehensive development to create productive jobs, especially to the youth that we place in the heart of our development policy.
Police arrest activists. Video posted less than hour ago.
Moroccan news segment on the February 20 movement
Afrol News points out that Morocco's peaceful protests didn't end peacefully. The violence is described:
Headline: Westboro Baptist Church targeted by Anonymous
Hacker group Anonymous appears to have singled out its next target - the controvesial anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church in the US.
True or false? Here are the facts.
An address from Muammar al-Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, was aired on television in Libya early on February 21. Saif al-Islam told Libyans he had come without a prepared speech and was going to speak from his heart and mind.
The address (which you can read here) was given as Tripoli was turning into more of a battlefield. Snipers were firing in Saha Al Khadra. His father’s “thugs” were allegedly going into hospitals and killing Libyans who had been out in the streets and been wounded.
Rumors are circulating that Saif al-Islam was shot. Some of the unconfirmed reports say Saif al-Islam is dead and his father and some from the Gaddafi family has fled. Muammar has gone to Venezuela, some reports allege.
The death of Saif al-Islam is possible, but until there are reports which go beyond unconfirmed, this is largely a distracting story. What Saif al-Islam said in the recorded address that aired on February 20 is much more important.
Saif's Address to Libya
Aftenposten: READOUT NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL MEETING JANUARY 28, 2009
"AFGHANISTAN: ISAF Senior Civilian Representative Gentilini said the Afghans were eager for NATO to respond to its proposal for a military technical agreement, sent to NATO in early January. The SCR and several Perm Reps stressed that a MTA with the Afghans could help address the issue of civilian casualties, but many cautioned that the legal difficulties involved in negotiating such an agreement called for the Alliance to proceed with caution. Saying it needed more time to seek instructions, Hungary blocked consensus on a decision that fully filling the Elections Support Force (ESF) should take priority over filling the NATO Response Force (NRF), which would have allowed nations to pull NRF components for use in the ESF. The NAC will revisit the issue next week."
Aftenposten: AMBASSADORS JANUARY 11 MEETING WITH NATO SENIOR ISAF REPRESENTATIVE ON GIROA PROPOSED AFGHANISTAN-NATO MILITARY TECHNICAL AGREEMENT
Aftenposten: NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL READOUT MAY 2, 2007
"Afghanistan: Allegations of civilian deaths near Herat seized PermReps, attention as the U.S. and Spain push for NATO to develop a response to such allegations. SHAPE focused attention on increased enemy suicide attacks and the need to counter increasing IED attacks, including through better training and HQ staffing, as well as the heightened enemy interest and build-up in Kabul and environs. Ambassador Nuland urged Allies to focus greater effort on countering IEDs, to do more to train Afghan forces, and to follow U.S. leadership in staffing HQ ISAF. Portuguese Quick Reaction Force (QRF) to deploy to RC-S later in May."
El País: Un exministro peruano pidió colaboración a EE UU para frenar el avance electoral de Ollanta Humala (A Peruvian ex-minister asked to the United States to collaborate on stopping Ollanta Humala's progress before the elections)
"Fernando Rospigliosi, antiguo responsable de Interior con Alejandro Toledo, buscó en 2005 el apoyo de la Embajada en una campaña contra el candidato nacionalista. Los diplomáticos estadounidenses rechazaron la petición. (Fernando Rospigliosi, former responsible of interior with Alejandro Toledo, searcher in 2005 support from the American Embassy on a campaign against the nationalist candidate. The American diplomats refused the petition.)"
(Image Credit: Dali Rău)
The third episode of this weekly podcast, which looks at stories related to WikiLeaks from the past week, featured guest Michael K. Busch, who teaches international relations at the City College of New York, where he is also program coordinator at the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies. He has posted on blogs on released cables on WikiBlogged, and he is listed as a resource in the back of Greg Mitchell's recently published book, "Age of WikiLeaks," which you can purchase in print on Blurb.com or in e-book form off of Amazon. [Follow him on Twitter @michaelkbusch]
The program for this week's show was dedicated to protests and violence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The show will provide updates on what is happening in the region and discuss some released WikiLeaks cables that provide context for what is happening.
The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has published an article on NATO, US, and the Red Cross and the Bala Baluk massacre on May 4, 2009. The article features a cable that shows the Red Cross put together a report that raised significant doubt about military reports on the number of civilians killed. The cable reveals how a PR campaign kicked into gear to sell the idea that the deaths were not intentional and to skew coverage of the event to fit the interests of NATO and US forces in Afghanistan.
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