UPDATED WITH VIGIL INFO AND STATEMENT FROM CIARON O'REILLY:
Numbers are still growing for tonight's Brisbane #Rally4JA vigil from 4pm. Many thanks to Ciaron, Adele, Damien, Peter, Jimmy, Angela, Mark, Maggie, Carole, Razza, Kay, Cully, Martin, Phil, Janet and possibles Sean, AJ, Jim, Simon. Anyone else interested in joining contact Ciaron ciaronx AT yahoo dotcom or come along from 4pm outside DFAT corner Ann and Creek streets. There will be speakers and musicians from 5pm with the UK Supreme Court decision expected after 6pm AEST.
This Brisbane vigil joins in solidarity with the vigil in London outside the UK Supreme Court. It has been organised by former anti-war prisoner of the United States Ciaron O'Reilly, a Brisbane-born veteran protestor who has regularly assisted Julian Assange at court cases in the UK.
"We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was 'legal.'"
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Did you read Bonfire of the Vanities?" George asked me. I nodded, and he continued: "Do you remember that scene where he's getting out of the car, and there are all these people screaming his name, women throwing themselves at him? I mean, here's this guy who's in a terrible situation, but he's like a big celebrity."
Aussie publisher and Assange family acquaintance George Hirst had met me at the law school's cafe, so we could confer on ideas for helping the WikiLeaks leader. George and I both worried about Assange's potential extradition to the U.S., where harpy Hillary Clinton and other government vengefuls could use the EU's lax extradition laws to prosecute Assange, torture him, or worse. Now, months later, on the eve of the UK Supreme Court's final decision, we are all about to learn whether or not the embattled publisher will be extradited to Sweden, and then perhaps to the United States.
On July 29, 2010, the then Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, ordered the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Ronald L. Burgess, to stand up an Information Review Task Force, to lead a comprehensive review of the documents allegedly given to WikiLeaks in concert with interagency participants.
On May 23, Julian Assange attended a screening of "Shadows of Liberty" wearing a kevlar Guy Fawkes mask.
Initially excoriated by mainstream media sources, Julian Assange's TV show, "The World Tomorrow," is now being hailed as the leading edge of a new era of "high quality alternative" broadcasting. The show's influence may become even more important, as two U.S. senators seek to overturn a longstanding ban on using the media for pro-government propaganda.
The WikiLeaks Twitter feed announced on 20 May 2012 that the WL Friends/Friends of WikiLeaks (FoWL) network is ready to launch an 'encrypted Facebook'. This comes amidst growing concern for user privacy and safety at the Facebook website.
On May 16th, a New York state federal judge granted a preliminary injunction to block provisions of the NDAA that allow indefinite detention, claiming they are unconstitutional. The decision is part of growing bipartisan opposition to the NDAA that includes prominent members of the US military.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest, originally appointed by Obama, clashed with the current administration by censuring the NDAA, saying that the act has a "chilling impact on First Amendment rights" to free speech, and infringes on the Fifth Amendment's right to due process.
On 16 May 2012 The Times published a piece claiming that information found in an embassy cable released by WikiLeaks directly led to the execution of Majid Jamli Fashi, an Iranian kickboxer. Within hours, media outlets around the world picked up the article and the story went viral.
Nothing could have been further from the truth.
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