Julian Assange Still Holed Up in Ecuador Embassy

LONDON (AP) Julian Assange is marking the second anniversary of his stay in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, saying he has no intention of returning to Sweden where he faces allegations of sexual misconduct.

As supporters chanted slogans outside the embassy, Assange maintained he didn't want to go to Sweden because he had no guarantee he wouldn't subsequently be sent to the United States, where an investigation into WikiLeaks' dissemination of hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. documents remains live.

Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said Thursday Assange can stay at the embassy "for as long as necessary" and there would be no attempt to force him back to Sweden.

Assange fled to the cramped building in 2012 after losing his battle against extradition to Sweden in Britain's highest court.

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Original headline: Julian Assange marks 2nd year in Ecuador's embassy

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Julian Assange Still Holed Up in Ecuador Embassy

Assange marks two years in legal limbo

UK: Julian Assange, a modern day hero and enemy of state, is preparing to mark two years in captivity inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, with another major leak of state secrets and a fresh challenge to escape legal limbo.

Having spent two years inside a small ground-floor apartment in the heart of Knightsbridge, London, the 42-year-old year old founder of WikiLeaks is still making his presence felt with a new batch of documents implicating Canada and 49 other countries, it's expected to be released later on Thursday.

On the eve of the two year anniversary of captivity, Assange in a phone interview with journalists has once again stressed that the US Department of Justice is engaged in a witch hunt investigation of a publisher - the longest since the introduction of the Espionage Act of 1917.

"It is against the stated principles of the United States and the values supported by its people to have a four-year pre-law investigation against a publisher," Assange said.

Meanwhile his UK-based lawyer Jennifer Robinson told reporters the defense team plans to file a legal challenge with the Swedish courts next Tuesday, based on "new information gathered in Sweden".

She said further details of the "information" would be revealed next week. The announcement is the first sign of a possible route out of captivity that has entered its third year.

The WikiLeaks founder, in his latest interview, said next week's challenge could be a first step in annulling the Swedish detention order, to face "the larger problem of the US and its pending prosecution and perhaps extradition warrant."

Assange, whose services exposed more than 8 million anonymously leaked documents since 2006, continues to crave freedom.

"He craves freedom, he can't buy his own food and he would love to have the chance to have a normal walk in the fresh air," journalist Vaughan Smith, who gave refuge to Assange back in 2010, told UK's Channel 4 news.

Denial of fresh air has so far caused the British taxpayers more than 6 million for security services to prevent Assange from escaping the Ecuadorian premises. The bill will further grow, Ecuadorean officials warned, as Assange was welcome to stay in the embassy as long as it was required.

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Assange marks two years in legal limbo

Reality of Illusion – Part 4 – Julian Assange, The White Brotherhood and the Nazis – Video


Reality of Illusion - Part 4 - Julian Assange, The White Brotherhood and the Nazis
Josh Reeves - The Global Reality Network http://www.theglobalreality.com "Reality of Illusion," is a mini-documentary series. Part 4 deals with the hard evid...

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Reality of Illusion - Part 4 - Julian Assange, The White Brotherhood and the Nazis - Video

Julian Assange Predicts Orwellian Future, Internet Will Be …

Julian Assange believes that in the near future, the worlds governments will control every aspect of human life, taking a page from Orwells 1984.

According to the WikiLeaks chief, things are going to turn creepy with government officials taking DNA samples at birth and encoding it into the citizens IDs.

We will see a situation that Sweden has had for more than a decade... which is everyone has a number, everyone's DNA is taken at birth, their DNA is encoded onto their identity documents or connected to it, to their tax records, to their credit report, Assange said during a New York conference.

Assange is currently living in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, trying to avoid being arrested by the police and turned over to the Swedish authorities where is being under investigation for sexual assault.

Following the NSA scandal, Assange has said on several occasions that we are moving into a totalitarian world, where the intelligence agencies of the world, such as the NSA and the GCHQ, have the ability to spy the entire world, especially since their capabilities double every 18 months.

Assange said that the ability to spy on everyone in the world is almost here, but we might still have a few years until this happens. This will, of course, translate into a huge transfer f power from the people who are surveyed upon those who control the surveillance complex.

During the past year, it has become obvious that the surveillance powers held by the NSA alone are huge and that the agency can virtually snoop in on anyone it wants without repercussions. After all, the agency has actually spied on world leaders and the US got off with a slap on the wrist and investigations that are too weak to go anywhere because lawmakers are afraid to damage the diplomatic relationship between nations.

Considering that the United States is actually working alongside intelligence agencies from other countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, chances are that the number of people that are being spied on is even greater.

WikiLeaks has been responsible for a great number of scandals within the United States after leaking diplomatic wires belonging to the countrys officials which had been shared by Chelsea Manning (formerly known as Bradley Manning) from Iraq.

Manning is currently serving time in prison after being accused under the Espionage Act. Assange believes that the British authorities wont actually send him off to Sweden, as they claim, but rather to the United States, which is how he justifies remaining behind doors within the Ecuadorean embassy.

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Assange may stay in Ecuador embassy ‘forever’

UK: Julian Assange, hiding inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London for almost two years, may remain there indefinitely, the Ecuadorean ambassador said, adding "it's a pity" that UK citizens have to cover the growing policing bill.

The 67 year old diplomat, Juan Falconi Puig said that Assange was "suffering" in custody but could remain there for a long time after the Wikileaks founder lost a Supreme Court bid to stop his extradition to Sweden, where the 42-year-old Australian is wanted for questioning over rape allegations, The Times reports.

Assange is "not a fugitive", Falconi stressed, reminding that Ecuador's President, Rafael Correa, granted him asylum on human rights grounds - and that Assange, if eventually extradited to the US, would face persecution and could even be tortured.

"He thinks it is a very strong possibility. The (Ecuadorean) government have accepted that position," Falconi said.

The UK has been refusing to provide Assange safe passage to Ecuador ever since the Australian sought refuge inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in June 2012.

Since he entered the embassy, the security measures implemented by the British security services to prevent Assange from escaping the Ecuadorian premises have amounted to 6 million for the British taxpayers.

"The estimated total cost of policing the Ecuadorean embassy between June 2012 and the end of March 2014 is 5.9 million, of which 4.9 million is opportunity costs and 1 million in additional costs," a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Service announced in April, causing some outcry from the British public.

"It is absolute madness. I have been asking the Met questions about this because clearly at the moment the cost is falling on London taxpayers as a net police cost," Baroness Jenny Jones, deputy chair of the Police and Crime Committee at the London Assembly, was quoted in April.

She suggested that the Metropolitan Police should just walk away. "I do understand the legal ramifications of the case, but the fact is this is a complete nonsense. He could stay there for years."

Commenting on the growing bill, Falcone said, "That's not our problem."

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Assange may stay in Ecuador embassy 'forever'

USA: Julian Assange warns of Orwellian future during Personal Democracy Forum – Video


USA: Julian Assange warns of Orwellian future during Personal Democracy Forum
Video ID: 20140605-046 M/S Felicity Ruby, ThoughtWorks Director of Global Internet Policy SOT Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder (English): "We will see a situation that... has had for more...

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USA: Julian Assange warns of Orwellian future during Personal Democracy Forum - Video

Julian Assange – Deadline.com

Oliver Stone and his producing partner Moritz Borman have thrown their hats in the ring and will make a movie about Edward Snowden, the former systems administrator for the CIA and a counterintelligence trainer at the Defense Intelligence Agency who later worked for the National Security Agency and then made public thousands of classified documents, an act which has been called the most significant leak in U.S. history since the release of the Pentagon Papers by Daniel Ellsberg.

Stone and Borman bought screen rights to The Snowden Files: The Inside Story Of The Worlds Most Wanted Man, a book by Guardian journalist Luke Harding thats published by Guardian Faber. Stone will write and direct the film based on Hardings Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting of the disclosures provided by Snowden. Itll be mounted as a European co-production.

I got a no comment from insiders when I asked if Snowdens rights are part of the package. Hes currently residing in Russia, after fleeing the U.S. and trying unsuccessfully to find a place to live in other countries. Harding and other Guardian journalists will also act as exclusive production and story consultants. This is the first project Stone has sparked to since he exited plans to make a movie on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This is one of the greatest stories of our time, Stone said in a statement. A real challenge. Im glad to have the Guardian working with us. Read More

WikiLeaks and its embattled founder Julian Assange keep trying to make it crystal clear they dont support DreamWorks upcoming The Fifth Estate. Today WikiLeaks published the first of Assanges letters to Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays him in the October 18 release, denying the actors request to meet prior to production. The pic directed by Bill Condon is based on Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange and the Worlds Most Dangerous Website by Daniel Domscheit-Berg and WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assanges War on Secrecy by David Leigh and Luke Harding, which Assange calls toxic and the two most discredited books on the market. WikiLeaks previously posted a version of the Fifth Estate script online along with a rather exhaustive memo detailing everything the film gets wrong. Heres the Assange letter:

Related: Julian Assange Calls Fifth Estate A Massive Propaganda Attack

Dear Benedict,

Thank you for trying to contact me. It is the first approach by anyone from the Dreamworks production to me or WikiLeaks.

My assistants communicated your request to me, and I have given it a lot of thought and examined your previous work, which I am fond of.

I think I would enjoy meeting you.

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Julian Assange - Deadline.com