This is a "WikiLeaks News Update", a daily news update of stories that are obviously related to WikiLeaks and also freedom of information, transparency, cybersecurity, and freedom of expression. All the times are GMT.
New Cable(s) were released today.
* Julian Assange, John Pilger and Noam Chomsky have added their names to an online petition that aims to prevent commonwealth prosecutors from seizing the proceeds of David Hicks’ memoirs Guantanamo: My Journey.
"The move against Hicks’ memoirs should concern everyone. But it is of particular relevance to writers and publishers, precisely because of the direct interference into publications with which the government politically disagrees.", the petition reads.
* UMNO’s abuse of security institutions and national security laws pointed out as causes to political crisis in Malaysia in a diplomatic cable from 2008.
"In good times UMNO can maintain control by distributing power and money to get what it wants. In bad times, it uses the stick, and for now that means intimidation. The ruling elite
maintains control over the security apparatus through party stalwarts who run the security institutions, mainly the police but also the military. We believe the military will remain loyal to legitimate leadership and is not a likely tool to overturn an elected, royally-approved and Malay-led government from either the ruling or opposition side. The police, on the other hand, follow orders from the ruling party."
Malaysia’s dominant party was facing a strong opposition alliance but determined to remain in power.
"The ruling party wants to stay in power indefinitely, and that means Anwar and the multi-racial opposition front he is leading must fail. At least so far, there is scant evidence of a more thoughtful and forward-looking analysis within UMNO."
* The two diplomatic cables describing how Thailand was pressured by the United States into granting Viktor Bout's extradition were considered by Judge Scheindlin to be of little value to the case.
"Scheindlin said that "even if the WikiLeak documents were authentic," there is nothing unusual about diplomatic pressure in extradition, and treaties show that U.S. courts cannot investigate the decisions of another country's judicial system." via Courthouse News Service
* "Think of the Chartists, the Suffragettes, the Black Civil Rights movement, the struggle for people in the former colonies to win their freedom and their independence. All of these struggles were conducted at great personal risk by very very heroic individuals. And to me Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, and Bradley Manning are those kind of people and I’m really proud to support them." - Peter Tatchell
A video of Peter Tatchell’s full speech at the Giuseppe Conlon Hall on the 9th July can now be found at ‘UK Friends of Bradley Manning’, as well as a transcript.
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Procedes of Crime.
...presupposes that there has been a crime commited, and that the perpetrator of said crime has been charged and convicted of said crime. The designation obviously does not apply in the case of Mr. Hicks.
In fact, this is another case where the criminal is the US government, which has broken several international laws regarding the trafficing, purchase, and sale of human beings.
It might be assumed that the core mandate of a national government could be defined as the defence of citizens, and the nation's constitution and laws. In the cases of David Hicks and Omar Khadar, the governments of Australia and Canada respectively, have denied their responsiblities and obligations. A government which does not fulfill its obligations to its citizens is not entitled to levy taxes or to rule those citizens. Our governments have shown their true allegiances, and that loyalty does not extend to common citizens.
My error...
I remembered that the original trial as quashed, but not the subsequent US actions.
From Wikipedia>>
Those proceedings failed in 2006 when the Supreme Court of the United States ruled, in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, that the military commission system was unconstitutional. The military commission system was re-established by an act of the United States Congress. Revised charges were filed against Hicks in February 2007 before a new commission under the new act.[3][4] The following month, in accordance with a pre-trial agreement struck with convening authority Judge Susan J. Crawford, Hicks entered an Alford plea to a single newly codified charge of providing material support for terrorism. Hicks's legal team attributed his acceptance of the plea bargain to his "desperation for release from Guantanamo".
In April 2007, Hicks was returned to Australia to serve the remaining nine months of a suspended seven-year sentence. During this period, Hicks was precluded from all media contact and there was criticism[citation needed] for delaying his release until after the 2007 Australian election. Former Pentagon chief prosecutor Colonel Morris Davis later alleged political interference in the case by the Bush administration in the United States and the Howard government in Australia.[15] He also said that Hicks should not have been prosecuted.<<
I have sympathy for Mr.Hick's 'guilty plea'. I once made the same mistake to end presures from a government prosecution that enjoyed unlimited funds and time.