2012-04-26 #WikiLeaks News Update: Major developments from Manning's motion hearing; Other news

WikiLeaks News:

• Andy Worthington, WikiLeaks media partner for "The Guantánamo Files," has written an article for the one-year anniversary of the release. He also updated his four-part Definitive Guantánamo Prisoner List.

• Jacob Appelbaum was on Democracy Now! discussing CISPA, surveillance, WikiLeaks' Spy Files, Tor, and the "Militarization of Cyberspace." Watch the video below.
  

• John Pilger has written a new article about surveillance, war, and how we are all suspects now, and asks the question, "What are you going to do about it?" He also mentions Julian Assange's upcoming verdict and possible extradition to the U.S., commenting on the Australian government's failure to help him.

• L'Espresso journalist Stefania Maurizi tweeted that she will be telling new stories about her experiences with WikiLeaks and Julian Assange during the International Journalism Festival in Perugia. She will be speaking at the panel "Dossier WikiLeaks" along with WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson on April 28 at 7:30PM.

Bradley Manning News:

• Bradley Manning's thee-day motion hearing concluded today. Here are the major developments in the case:

  

  • The judge ruled that the U.S. Government must release its assessments on how much damage WikiLeaks' publications have caused. The judge will view these assessments in secret, but they could potentially become evidence in Manning's trial.
  • Motion 1: The defense moved to dismiss all charges against Manning, saying the prosecution failed to share important information with the defense. The judge denied this motion.
  • Motion 2: The defense requested transcripts from the secret WikiLeaks grand jury that has been active in Virginia for 18 months. The judge denied this motion.
  • Motion 3: The defense moved to dismiss certain charges due to "unreasonable manipulation of charges," saying Manning was charged multiple times for the same act. The judge denied this motion, but said the defense may raise it again if Manning is convicted.
  • Motion 4: The defense moved to dismiss the change that Manning "aided the enemy." The judge denied this motion, but said the government will have to prove that Manning knew he was indirectly giving intelligence to the enemy.
  • The judge denied the press and public any additional access to court filings. This comes after the Center for Constitutional Rights renewed its request for further access to documents from the hearings.
  • Bradley Manning requested the two military lawyers assigned to him be removed and replaced with Capt. Joshua Tooman. No reason for this change was given.
  • Bradley Manning's trial has been scheduled for September 21-October 12. There will be three more sets of motion hearings beforehand: June 6-8, July 16-20 and August 27-31.
  • For in-depth coverage of this week's motion hearings, see Kevin Gosztola's live-blog (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3) and the Bradley Manning Support Network's articles
    (Day 1, Day 2).

• Kevin Gosztola wrote two articles covering key points in Bradley Manning's motion hearings: one on the alleged harm done by the leaks, the second detailing the "aiding the enemy" charge. ACLU's Ben Wizner also wrote in-depth on the government's overreach by charging Manning with "aiding the enemy."