Sydney Morning Herald Article: Julian Assange Cable Leaks Are Not A Criminal Act In Australia.
Julian Assange has committed no crime in Australia: AFP
Dylan Welch
December 17, 2010 – 2:50PM
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks to the media outside Ellingham Hall in Norfolk, England, the home of his friend, journalist Vaughan Smith. Photo: Reuters
Neither WikiLeaks not its founder Julian Assange has committed any crime in Australia over the leaking of official United States government documents, the Australian Federal Police announced this afternoon.
This comes despite Prime Minister Julia Gillard labelling the actions of the group “illegal” two weeks ago.
A statement released by the federal police just before 1pm said: “The AFP has completed its evaluation of the material available and has not established the existence of any criminal offences where Australia would have jurisdiction.
“Where additional cables are published and criminal offences are suspected, these matters should be referred to the AFP for evaluation,” the statement declared.
Grossly irresponsible: Gillard
Ms Gillard later told journalists the release of US cables by WikiLeaks was a grossly irresponsible act.
She said Mr Assange would have access to full consular assistance.
“Obviously, as an Australian citizen, Mr Assange is entitled to the consular assistance we provide to Australians citizens around the world when they find themselves in legal circumstances,” Ms Gillard said.
She said the theft of documents was “properly in the hands of the US authorities to deal with”.
She said the government had believed it was appropriate to refer the matter to the federal police to see if there had been any breaches of Australian law.
“We have done that, we have received the advice, and the advice is there have been no breaches of Australian law,” she said.
She said there were occasions when whistleblowers disclosed information of some wrongdoing after taking all reasonable steps to achieve action.
“That is not the circumstance here … with WikiLeaks. This has been a wholesale release of information,” she said.
“There are some people who are fans of this conduct but I most certainly am not.”
Ms Gillard said she did not believe this had raised any issue about changing Australian laws.
She said the foundation stone of the leaks was an illegal act, the initial taking of the documents in breach of US law.
That was not done by a journalist but by an individual with access to that confidential material, she said.
“I believe it is appropriate when people are reporting on WikiLeaks, that they do not make the slip of suggesting that because something is written in a cable, it is fact,” she said.
“Cables are a recording of views of the individuals writing the cables and so that should be clear on all occasions.
“While this process has its fans, the other side needs to be put. I do believe this conduct is irresponsible.”
Ms Gillard said confidential cables could identify people living under repressive who were providing information to the US and that could have consequences.
“I don’t allege that this has occurred,” she said.
Attorney-General Robert McClelland
Attorney-General Robert McClelland said earlier the government had received the advice from the federal police.
Mr McClelland said the federal police noted a number of offences that could be applied in the circumstances, depending on whether all elements of the offence could be proven.
Based on the information available to date, the federal police has not identified any criminal offences where Australia has jurisdiction and as a result have not commenced an investigation, he said.
“The government referred the matter to the federal police as it was prudent to examine whether any Australian laws have been broken,” he said in a statement.
“As has previously been stated, given the documents published to date are classified by the United States, the primary jurisdiction for any investigation into the matter remains the United States.
“The government remains extremely concerned about the unauthorised and irresponsible distribution of classified material,” he said.
Mr Assange was earlier today released on bail in London, after being placed on remand following a European arrest warrant issued by Sweden.
He is wanted there in connection with allegations of sexual assault. He denies the allegations.
– with AAP
Huffington Post Article: American Feminist Naomi Wolf’s Incendiary Letter Supporting Julian Assange Over Rape Case!!!
Naomi Wolf
Bestselling Author, The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot
Dear Interpol:
As a longtime feminist activist, I have been overjoyed to discover your new commitment to engaging in global manhunts to arrest and prosecute men who behave like narcissistic jerks to women they are dating.
I see that Julian Assange is accused of having consensual sex with two women, in one case using a condom that broke. I understand, from the alleged victims’ complaints to the media, that Assange is also accused of texting and tweeting in the taxi on the way to one of the women’s apartments while on a date, and, disgustingly enough, ‘reading stories about himself online’ in the cab.
Both alleged victims are also upset that he began dating a second woman while still being in a relationship with the first. (Of course, as a feminist, I am also pleased that the alleged victims are using feminist-inspired rhetoric and law to assuage what appears to be personal injured feelings. That’s what our brave suffragette foremothers intended!).
Thank you again, Interpol. I know you will now prioritize the global manhunt for 1.3 million guys I have heard similar complaints about personally in the US alone — there is an entire fraternity at the University of Texas you need to arrest immediately. I also have firsthand information that John Smith in Providence, Rhode Island, went to a stag party — with strippers! — that his girlfriend wanted him to skip, and that Mark Levinson in Corvallis, Oregon, did not notice that his girlfriend got a really cute new haircut — even though it was THREE INCHES SHORTER.
Terrorists. Go get ’em, Interpol!
Yours gratefully,
Naomi Wolf
Salon Article: Feminist Mary Elizabeth Williams Blasts Feminist Icon Naomi Wolf For Supporting Julian Assange Over Rape Allegations!!!!
This Week in Crazy
Saturday, Dec 11, 2010 11:01 ET
This week in crazy: Naomi Wolf
The feminist who weathered her own storm over sexual misconduct lashes out against Julian Assange’s rape accusers
Ever since publishing “The Beauty Myth” nearly 20 years ago, Naomi Wolf has built a reputation as a challenging, tough and thought-provoking feminist writer. Now, she’s also bananas.
It’s not that the rush to arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on “one count of unlawful coercion, two counts of sexual molestation and one count of rape” wasn’t mighty questionable. After all, it’s pretty funny how often individuals accused of sex offenses gallivant around the globe with relative impunity — until they start publishing classified documents. And since the allegations first arose back in August, there have been several conflicting accounts, massive mishandlings and plenty of speculation over whether this is a case of abuse or just of a man who doesn’t like to wear condoms.
But just because a story smells a little off, that doesn’t make it completely rotten. It shouldn’t anyway — unless you’re Wolf, who, in a snippy open letter to Interpol this week, decided Assange had been a victim of “the dating police,” because he’d been “accused of having consensual sex with two women.” Actually, among other things, one of the alleged victims accused him of having decidedly nonconsensual sex with her while she was asleep, and the other has accused him of “using his body weight to hold [her] down in a sexual manner.”
Oh no, not our Julian! Instead of considering the veracity of the claims, Wolf quickly pieced together a tale in which “both alleged victims are upset that he began dating a second woman while still being in a relationship with the first,” a drama of “what appears to be personal injured feelings.” Or maybe not, given that the charges arose when one of the alleged victims contacted the other, and the two compared their apparently very similar stories. They have also retained the same counsel.
Wolf is clearly up in arms about the way the U.S. government is gunning for Assange. She used her Friday Huffington Post column to decry the possibility of Assange becoming the victim of the Espionage Act, pausing only every few sentences to congratulate herself. “I predicted in 2006 that the forces that wish to strip American citizens of their freedoms, so as to benefit from a profitable and endless state of war … would pressure Congress and the White House to try to breathe new life yet again into the terrifying Espionage Act in order to silence dissent,” she wrote, adding, “I knew, based on my study of closing societies, that this tactic would resurface.” Gosh, Naomi, however did you achieve such a slam dunk of prognostication? Well, “If you study the history of closing societies, as I have, you see that every closing society creates a kind of ‘third rail’ of material, with legislation that proliferates around it.” Told ya so, America.
If Wolf wants to get a little full of herself, that’s one thing. If she wants to make a point about how easily, how frighteningly the Espionage Act can be exploited, fair enough. But a woman who knows all too well the bitter mudslinging one can endure for accusing a man of sexual misconduct (as Wolf herself did) might want to give another woman the benefit of the damn doubt. She might want to consider — just consider — that while Interpol’s response to Julian Assange may have been politically motivated, the accusers’ might not have been.
Perhaps we should have seen this coming. Two years ago, when Wolf was criticizing the Bush administration for sex crimes committed at Abu Ghraib, she explained that “having worked at a rape crisis center and been trained in the basics of sex crime, I have learned that all sex predators go about things in certain recognizable ways.” That must have been a hell of a crisis center. Because I did not know that all predators are exactly alike. I did not know that gray areas regarding consent do not exist! Thank you, Naomi! And now, in 2010, I did not know that she has the magical ability to determine whether a man is a sexual assailant or just the victim of two angry chicks.
Nobody ever said feminism means the person with the vagina is always right and the one with the penis is always wrong — unless I just didn’t get that version of the Manifesto. And, indeed, throughout her career, Naomi Wolf has been wrong plenty of times. Like, say, this week, when she condescendingly dismissed a rape allegation by comparing it to a guy who “did not notice that his girlfriend got a really cute new haircut — even though it was THREE INCHES SHORTER.” Yes, sex crime and not giving sufficient props for your girlfriend’s hairdo are exactly the same, Naomi Wolf. Also, can I just say, on behalf of every person, male or female, who has ever been sexually coerced, victimized or assaulted, one thing? Blow me.
It’s hard to believe this is the same woman who once wrote, “Only when people start to speak out and tell the truth about rape and sexual assault can the healing begin.” The “truth,” however, extends only as far as Naomi Wolf’s personal determination of it. And if you don’t pass her impeccable muster, honed via a litany of credentials she will eagerly trot out for you, you’re just a pouty little Swede who isn’t getting enough attention. I may not have Wolf’s extensive background in rape recognition and truth sniffing, but I have been doing This Week in Crazy for a while now, and I sure know self-delusional bonkers when I see it. It’s always the same. And it looks like Naomi Wolf.
- Mary Elizabeth Williams is a staff writer for Salon and the author of “Gimme Shelter: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream.” Follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/embeedub More: Mary Elizabeth Williams
Gayblackcanada 