Press Conferences

2010-11-04: Swiss Press Club, Geneva

On the occasion of the first UN Universal Periodic Review of human rights in the United States, the Institute for Peace, Justice and Human Rights invited Julian Assange to Geneva. The press conference focused on the subject of human rights abuses disclosed by the WikiLeaks Iraq war logs, and also the treatment of whistleblowers and activists on part of the United States.

IPJ Secretary General Ridha Ajmi expounded on the reasons why the institute invited Julian Assange in a post on the IPJ website.

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IPJ reports from the events:

Photo credit: Reuters/Valentin Flauraud

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2010-10-23: Iraq War Logs release, Park Plaza Hotel, London

Julian Assange was joined by Gavin MacFadyen (Centre for Investigative Journalism), John Sloboda (Iraq Body Count), Phil Shiner (Public Interest Lawyers) and Kristinn Hrafnsson at a historical press conference upon the release of the Iraq War Logs, with Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg in attendance. The release of the more than 391,000 military SIGACT documents from Iraq and coordinated coverage the previous day by The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, The New York Times and SVT was heralded by The Guardian's Editor in Chief Alan Rusbridger as "an extraordinary moment in journalism."

Human rights activist and former British ambassador Craig Murray presented Julian Assange with the Sam Adams Associates Award for Integrity in Intelligence, WikiLeaks thus joining a small and distinguished group of winners honoured for "speaking truth to power."

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Selected media coverage:

Please see the Iraq War Logs section for extensive media coverage.