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- This, is about the truth.
- [Narrator] Some see a terrorist.
- [Assange] The real story of this material,
is it that's it's war, it's one damn thing after another.
- [Narrator] Some see a journalist.
The media would have you see an eccentric,
weird and mysterious criminal.
- In relation to my Wikileaks work, it goes on.
- We have to recognize that we can no longer allow
Assange and his colleagues.
The latitude to use free speech values against us.
- [Narrator] This is an unparalleled look of the journey,
of how one man and his mission to empower the world
with information became the target
of the most powerful government in the world.
- 10 days arbitrary detention in Wandsworth prison
in solitary, 18 months house arrest in Norwich,
Julian had to seek asylum.
And was given asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy
and that was seven and a half years.
So 10 years of arbitrary detention.
- What is happening here today.
- [Crowd] What is happening here today
- Is a culmination of dreams.
- [Crowd] Is a culmination of dreams.
- [Narrator] From coder to convict,
this is the story of Julia Assange.
One man in his fight for a fair trial,
one man and his quest for truth.
[dramatic music]
In his teenage years living in Australia,
Julian Assange found himself in the center
of a burgeoning technology driven world.
With an affinity to computers,
Assange began experimenting with coding and hacking.
- What hacking is, is having the attitude
of playful cleverness.
Doesn't matter just what you're doing,
you could be writing computer programs, writing music,
sneaking around on the roof of a building
where the authority say people aren't supposed to go
or sneaking around abandoned subway tunnels.
- Someone who is so interested in things,
that they don't need to be pushed to investigate
them rather thoroughly.
- Well, hacker ethic is a series of principles,
that I think the hackers that I have spoken to.
No matter what generation seem to implicitly share,
it's based around I guess a premise that,
Your best off when you get your hands on things,
to change them.
It's a very active philosophy
and is also based around a free flow of information.
Information if not free should be as
freely disseminated as possible.
In the spirit of sharing, in the spirit of helping
everyone else improve systems.
- What is hacking all about?
It's all about whatever it's to do
It's everything you ever wanted a computer to be,
It's making love, it's being aggressive,
it's stalking into the unknown
and seizing the unknown and kicking it.
And finding out that is exactly what you did intend.
- It was only really after I started talking to hackers
from various time periods that I realized they share
this philosophy to some degree in common.
- [Narrator] The year is 1989.
NASA are forced to delay a launch
after becoming the victim of a hack.
Wank worms against nuclear killers infiltrated
the NASA servers with the first of its kind.
A political message.
[orchestral music]
You talk of times of peace for all and then prepare for war.
Investigations link the hack to a group
of anonymous Melbourne hackers.
Though no one has been found guilty.
Julian was believed to be involved.
[soft music]
In 1993, Julian gave technical advice on two occasions
to an Australian police child exploitation unit.
Which in turn assisted them with putting child abusers
and pornographers behind bars.
[soft music]
Fast forward to 2006.
After becoming embroiled in the mucky world of hacking.
Assange saw the world with a veil pulled back.
Eye witness to the contradiction between public statements
and the truth that lay on the servers in the back room,
Assange looked to change the status quo.
Julian Assange founded a news organization in 2006.
Aimed to publishing information
that is in the public's interest.
Built on the basis of not knowing who the source is.
A mission of speaking truth to power.
WikiLeaks became notorious in
its first few years of publishing.
Whistleblowers soon started anonymously sending Wikileaks
sensitive and at times, classified information
from organizations all over the globe.
A blind eye could not be turned to the abuses of power
that were being exposed year after year,
by the newly founded news publishing organization.
Revealing Guantanamo Bay procedures.
Scientology documents.
- With your help we're gonna win,
- [Narrator] Exposing Sarah Palin's violation
of public record laws at the 2008 US election.
Extrajudicial killings in Kenya.
The membership list of the hateful right wing
British National Party,
disclosing Barclays Bank tax avoidance,
the internet censorship lists, revealed news of a serious
nuclear accident in Iran caused by a cyber attack,
hinting that a Stuxnet computer worm carried out the attack,
a jointly built cyber weapon by the United States
and Israel governments.
And the harmful dumping of toxic substances in Africa,
called the Minton report.
Culminating in a debate still present in the WikiLeaks saga.
Lawyers for the commodities giants Trafigura obtained
a secret super injunction against the guardian
for further publishing the contents of the Minton report.
Bringing into question the privileges guaranteeing
free speech established under the 1689 bill of rights,
statutes that Wikileaks also upholds.
March 15th, 2010.
[dramatic music]
Wikileaks publishes a 32 page report,
on themselves conducted in secret
by the United States Department of Defense.
For exposing human rights violations in Guantanamo Bay,
the US equipment expenditure
and the battle over the Iraqi town of Fallujah.
Discussed in the document are ways in which
the United States can deter any current or former insiders
or whistleblowers, their security interests and the methods
for marginalizing the Wikileaks organization.
Julian was in view, but what transpired next
would put a target on his back.
April 5th 2010.
Julian Assange caught the eye of most Americans
when Wikileaks published the collateral murder video.
Sending tremors that could be felt on Capitol Hill.
Leaked by an anonymous member of military personnel,
the video shows the purported murder of a dozen Iraqi men,
amongst them two journalists,
part of the Reuters news agency.
On the 12th of July 2007, having been unable to identify
small arms fire in a Baghdad suburb, the United states
deployed two Apache helicopters to investigate.
Through the cross hairs, we see the lead up to the incident.
The supposed misidentification of cameras as firearms,
the subsequent firing on unarmed civilians,
including the targeting of a truck coming
to the aid of the wounded men.
Two young girls were also in the truck.
[dramatic music]
- Some of the morning papers.
So this is the Guardian from this morning,
putting pages about this topic,
also concurrently in Der Spiegel 17 pages,
the New York Times, I'm not sure how many International
Herald Tribune and I believe the telegraph also has it.
- July 25th 2010.
Nickname to the Afghan war diary,
WikiLeaks releases over 92,000 documents to The Guardian,
The New York Times and German publication Der Spiegel.
Disclosing friendly fire and civilian casualty incidents
in the war in Afghanistan between 2004 and 2009.
The scale of which can be compared
to the 1970s Pentagon papers.
- There's no doubt in my mind, no doubt in my mind.
We'll bring Al Queda to justice,
peace or no peace in the Middle East.
- We're familiar with groups whose abuse we expose,
attempting to criticize the messenger to distract
from the power of the message.
We have tried hard to make sure that this material does not
put innocents at harm.
- [Narrator] Four days later, a 1.4 gigabyte insurance file
was added to the page.
Fearing that Assange or Wikileaks were in danger,
the decryption for the insurance file would be released
if either got in harm's way.
- I'm often asked this question,
what is the most single damning revelation?
What is the thing that is easily capturable,
the single event, the single personality,
the single mass killing.
That is not the real story of this material.
The real story of this material is that it's war.
It's one damn thing after another.
It's clear that it will shape an understanding of what
the past six years of war has been like.
And that the cause of the war needs to change
the manner in which it needs to change is not yet clear.
- These documents are going to have to be poured
through, analyzed and making sure that they then match up
with the media reports and what ISAF has been telling us
about civilian casualties.
- It is the most comprehensive history of a war
to have ever been published during the course of a war.
- [Narrator] Intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning,
formally Bradley Manning was arrested on May 27th 2010.
By March of 2011, Manning was charged with 22 violations.
The most serious of which was aiding the enemy,
punishable by a death sentence.
Concerns by the Obama administration fueled political debate
on the basis of stolen government property
and the unredacted disclosure of Afghans
acting as informers potentially putting lives at risk.
WikiLeaks held back on releasing all of the files
in order to review
and redact the sources of the information.
WikiLeaks in an attempt to morph the method
requested help from the Pentagon and human rights groups
to aid in redacting the names that receive no assistance.
- Right over here.
- Why are we here?
- [Narrator] The monumental leak was surpassed by
what the Pentagon described as the largest leak
of classified documents in US military history,
dubbed the Iraq war logs.
The release made in October 2010, by Assange's Wikileaks
disclosed just under 400,000.
- [Assange] Because we don't have much time,
I won't speak for long.
But,
this disclosure,
is about the truth.
Philip Knightley, the great investigative reporter
an Australian, who for the past 30 or 40 years,
has made the UK his home said,
that the first casualty of war is the truth.
But the attack on the truth by war
begins long before war starts
and continues long after a war ends.
In our release of these 400,000 documents,
about the Iraq war,
the intimate detail of that war from the US perspective.
Iraq, as we can see,
was a bloodbath on every corner
of that country.
They stated aims for going into that war,
of improving the human rights situation,
improving the rule of law.
Did not eventuate.
[dramatic music]
- In any human disaster, finding out who died
and how they died is the overriding public concern.
For seven years on the public does not have a full account
of the terrible human cost
of this ongoing Iraq war to the Iraqi people.
What we have instead, is anincomplete patchwork of stories,
pictures and data gathered by different organizations
for different purposes.
Often published one day and forgotten the next.
- [Narrator] Other news publishers ran with the story
focusing on the claims that the United States government
had ignored torture reports and the unreported concealment
of 15,000 civilian deaths.
Wikileaks was fast becoming one
of the most dangerous websites.
And the man behind it was now the enemy
of the most powerful authority in the world.
The United States government.
Unearthed during the Manning trial in December 2011,
Manning had used IRC and Java encrypted internet
conferencing services to contact an anonymous member
of Wikileaks believed to be Assange.
Julian dismissed the allegations as absolute nonsense.
The United States began their investigation of Assange
and Wikileaks looking to prosecute under
the Espionage Act of 1917,
for seeking out classified information.
On the contrary, no evidence was found that Assange
offered Manning any direction in her leaks,
raising serious questions around press freedom
and first amendment rights.
During a visit to Sweden, Assange became the subject
of allegations that would hang over him for years to come.
Two women claimed to have been
sexually assaulted by Assange.
Questioning ensued only for the case to be suddenly closed.
Julian was allowed to leave the country.
One week later, the investigation is reinstated.
Looking to resolve the issue, Assange asks to be interviewed
before he leaves the country.
But was told he may leave without one.
Some months on after crossing the Swedish border,
authorities issue an Interpol arrest warrant,
ordering the detention of the man who'd exposed
wrongdoings around the globe.
The warrant was lowered to suspicion of rape
of rape of a lesser degree.
Assange's legal team argued that there was no such thing as
a minor rape, and that the allegations made do not need
the European legal definition of rape.
Further efforts by Assange to be questioned in Britain
where he had been residing for two months were denied.
Assange's next battle to fight an extradition hearing
to be sent back to Sweden, fearing a further extradition
to the United States where he faces possible
life imprisonment or the death penalty.
[sirens blaring]
December 7th 2010.
Assange hands himself in to British police.
- They've verified his identity.
They're satisfied that he is the real Julian Assange,
and we're now ready to go into the court.
Many people believe Mr. Assange
to be innocent, myself included.
And many people believe that
this prosecution is politically motivated.
[police officers shouting]
- [Plato] I think he's got a chance, yes.
I fancy him, I do.
I don't think it's open and shut.
At this point I'm not convinced
that he has committed a crime
in the United States.
[crowd shouting]
- Today, we learned for the very first time information
about the allegations that are being made
from Sweden about him.
There are no charges, still no charges.
He's only wanted for questioning.
And we still haven't seen the allegations.
- [Mark] And people have understood for the very first time
that there is something wrong here.
It's not in the state of Denmark,
it's in the state of Sweden,
and I think people are starting to stand up and be counted.
We saw five very brave and honorable people stand up today
to be sure it is for him,
four of them didn't know who he was,
but were prepared to do so.
Because they believed in his innocence,
believed this to be wrong and I think they are but the tip
of an iceberg and I do believe this will go viral.
- Any journalist, who feels anything about what we do,
should be supporting him 100%.
I think the charges against him are outrageous.
- [Reporter] Why?
- [Reporter] What's the next step.
- Because if you look at the case in Sweden,
you know, as I've said the chief prosecutor in Sweden
throughout this case, in effect declared it ridiculous.
And it was brought back only after the intervention
of a senior right wing politician.
- [Reporter] Who was that sir?
- That will do.
- Finally, after two hours, we've heard
that the Swedes won't abide by the umpires decision.
They clearly will not spare any expense,
but to keep Mr. Assange in jail.
This is really turning into a show trial.
[dramatic music]
- [Crowd] Free Julian now.
Free Julian now.
[dramatic music]
Free Julian now.
- The fact that Julian Assange was refused bail,
was a gross injustice and that has been corrected.
- [John] Today in a limited way.
- I think the attempt is designed to discredit
Assange, his credibility, his morals,
in order to discredit Wikileaks as an organization.
But every organization is larger
than a single person within it.
And WikiLeaks will survive whatever,
so it was a foolish decision to try and discredit him.
- During my time in solitary confinement,
in the bottom of a Victorian prison.
I had time to reflect on the conditions,
of those people around the world,
also in solitary confinement,
also on remand,
in conditions that are more difficult
than those faced by me.
I hope to continue
my work and continue,
to protest my innocence in this matter,
and to reveal as we get it,
which we have not yet the evidence
from these allegations, thank you.
[dramatic music]
- I don't have too many fears about being extradited
to Sweden there are much bigger concerns
about being extradited to the United States.
[dramatic music]
Those who have been following the case will have heard
time and time again repeated statements,
that no evidence needs to be presented,
In this case by the prosecution.
To extradite me no evidence is needed
under European arrest warrant.
In relation to my bail application,
they said they did not need to present any evidence.
In Sweden, every single court hearing has been in secret,
and we still have not been provided with the evidence.
Either provided with not a single page
of information in English whatsoever.
- [Assange] Ambassadors were tasked by Hillary Clinton
to engage in espionage behavior.
And that is not the first paper
we have released on that subject,
more serious ones, including tasking
- [Assange] ambassadors to steal the DNA
of leaders of human rights organizations in South America.
Including stealing the DNA
of members of the UN Security Council
and even Ban-Ki Moon.
So that's a,
a serious change.
I don't believe that has always been the case.
- Cause embassies have always been a host for espionage.
But diplomats have not always been
tasked to conduct espionage.
That seems to be a change and that seems to be
representative of a gradual shift
to a lack of rule of law.
- [Assange] In US institutions that needs to be exposed
and that we have been exposing.
- And that other journalists
have been helping us to expose,
and which is something that I believe
that the US public does not support,
the Australian public does not support,
the British public does not support,
the Swedish public does not support.
We don't engage in actual decisions.
We have written policy for our public decisions
and that keeps us accountable
and we think that is the way forward in journalism.
That all news organizations should follow.
- I think that has to do Julian, because we are a bit late.
- Okay.
- [Reporter] One final question.
- I'm under house arrest sir, I gotta go.
- [Narrator] With some high profile celebrities
and friends backing him.
Julian was able to pay the exorbitant
bail price of 240,000 pounds.
And was even offered sanctuary by former Army officer
and war correspondent Vaughn Smith.
- Well, I mean, there's a saying about battlefield friendship.
So it's the depth of the trench rather than the length
of time you've been living in it.
And, if you've, you know, if you experience things
with people you get to know them well,
and you don't necessarily have
to have known them a long time.
[reporters asking question]
- I will speak with you for hours.
- [Assange] Very nice to be free for Christmas
and to smell the fresh air of Norfolk.
Solitary confinement in the bottom of Victorian prison is
a significant experience in a way.
It's an experience I'm glad that I've had.
I've never been in prison, but I think it is important
for every journalist actually writing about serious matters
to be in a prison,
to understand what it is like for people in prison,
around the world.
Clearing my name is not the highest task I have,
the highest task I have, is to continue on with my work.
We have also heard today from one of my US lawyers,
yet to be confirmed but a serious matter
that they may be a US indictment
for espionage for me
coming from a secret US grand jury investigation.
- [Narrator] The backdrop for the world's
most wanted house guest.
The picturesque Norfolk Manor,
that is
Ellingham Hall.
- Very nice to be amongst good friends,
you know fresh snow in the English countryside,
to have my first Martini in a long time.
So very good, of course we have to understand
that I am practically under house arrest.
But of course personally it's a big
improvement compared to being
in the basement in solitary confinement.
Where has been many calls by senior political
figures in the United States, including the elected ones
in the Senate for my execution, the kidnapping of my staff,
the execution of the young soldier Bradley Manning.
This has been a very successful
smear campaign so far.
But I think it's days are numbered
and people are starting to wonder
is what is claimed really true
and if it is true, where's the evidence?
- [Assange] For the past five and a half months,
we have been in a condition
where a black box has been applied to my life
and on the outside of that black box,
has been written the word rape.
That box is now,
thanks to an open court process being opened.
And I hope over the next day,
we will see that, that box
is in fact empty.
And has nothing to do with the words,
that are on the outside of it.
[thunder-clap]
- I challenge you Marianne Ny.
Marianne Ny, come to London, come on Friday,
subject yourself to the cross examination
by Jeffrey Robertson QC.
- In relation to my Wikileaks work,
which of course is a separate topic.
It goes on it continues every day we are publishing
serious content around the world
and especially about the Middle East.
And that gives me great heart,
as does the ongoing support of the world
for my staff and our mission.
- [Narrator] February 2011, marks the first loss
in Assange's quest to quash the extradition.
- [Assange] What we saw today at Belmarsh,
was a rubber stamping process.
That comes as no surprise,
but is none the less wrong.
- And that is releasing footage of a helicopter
gunshot massacre of two Reuters journalists.
- A rubber stamping process that is a result
of a European arrest warrant system run amok.
There was no consideration during this entire process
as to the merits of the allegations
made against me
No consideration or examination
of even the complaints,
made in Sweden.
And of course we have always known that we would appeal.
We have always known, that in all likelihood
we would have to appeal.
- Congratulations from an Irish man, I hope you win.
- Thank you.
- I hope you win, we're right behind you,
I hope you win, congratulations.
- I'll stand up for you.
[soft music]
- Today at Belmarsh court, there's been miscarriage
of justice an innocent man has been sentenced,
and these two protestors are wanting
to make a point about that.
Julian Assange is innocent.
He should not be extradited.
- Manning's case, it's very clear the US government
is trying to crack him open with his solitary confinement
by causing emotional devastation.
I think they're trying to get him to issue a confession
or a false confession.
So they can link him to Julian Assange.
- [Assange] The new charges are very interesting,
you know, Mr Manning has now spent
10 months in solitary confinement.
First in Baghdad, then in Kuwait, and now in Quantico,
Virginia in the United States.
Amnesty International has condemned his treatment,
and there are a number of calls for inquiry into it.
The charges themselves, these 22 new charges,
include a charge which labels him
as passing information to an enemy.
The naive reading of the charges would have
that enemy being Wikileaks i.e the publisher.
So the United States appears to be setting
up these charges for two purposes.
Number one, to provide pressure on Bradley Manning,
they're trying to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut
into confessing some kind of relationship with Wikileaks.
In order to embroil us into an espionage case.
The other purpose of these charges is to spread across
a spectrum of different types of criminality.
They've been trying to crack Bradley Manning for months.
By making his conditions worse and worse.
There's been a number of complaints
by his lawyers about that matter.
And Amnesty International has complained about his
treatment, Bradley Manning is not speaking.
And Bradley Manning is exercising his right to silence
and they're trying to force him into a plea deal.
And most legal commentators believe that kind of plea deal
would involve him in saying something that would help
the United States prosecute this organization for espionage
or some other criminal matter that he could be embroiled in.
So that is wrong.
You know, the requirements given by some of those charges is
that Wikileaks is the enemy of the United States,
that the publisher is the enemy of the United States.
And nothing in our four years of publishing shows that
that is in any way true.
We publish from all countries who come to us.
We are not an enemy of the United States,
and it is an abuse against Mr. Manning
and an abuse against us to suggest otherwise.
- [Narrator] October 15th 2011.
Assange was next seen at the
anti capitalist protest, occupy London.
But nothing is straightforward for the man who had published
the largest leak of classified material ever seen.
- We're blocked from speaking at the moment,
but we'll try to negotiate a way through.
Wikileaks has been most attacked,
not by military organizations,
or intelligence organizations,
but actually numerically by banks.
This is an infamous tactic
used by the MET called kettling.
Which doesn't have an analogy
in many other democratic countries.
It is to enclose the populate,
enclose protesters in tight small groups prior to any
sort of accusation of violent activity.
So in this particular example, you see
what is a entirely political protest about the big banks.
Being denied its ability to express itself.
It's very important in a democracy
that people see that they have the numbers.
They see that their opinion is shared
by other people in the community.
And this form of kettling prevents
people coming to a protest
people in the community seeing that their values
are actually a majority.
So that's why it's anti democratic process.
While we can all understand that certain actions need to be
taken in response to true violence.
There is no hint of violence at all.
And I spoke to police earlier today,
they said it will all be a completely calm.
good day, good weather, good people.
[dogs barking]
In 2007, I lived in Cairo,
and I and my friends in Cairo were all too,
too well aware of the behavior of the Mubarak regime
with 20,000 political prisoners,
it seemed impossible that anything could change.
But through courage, determination and professionalism,
we did see a change we saw the end of the Mubarak regime.
And while the situation in the West is different
in important respects to that faced
by people in the Arab Spring.
There are also similarities.
While ideas from the Western enlightenment
entered into the pan Arab states
and gave those activists hope
and technology allowed them to organize better.
We in the West have a lot to learn also from the successes
of people in the Arab Spring.
Their determination and professionalism in response
to years of abuse and torture.
Lead eventually to the overthrow of Mubarak,
and the overthrow of Ben Ali and reforms in Morocco
and throughout many countries in the region.
- [ Assange] What is happening here today.
- [Crowd] What is happening here today.
- [Assange] Is a culmination of dreams.
- [Crowd] Is a culmination of dreams.
- That many people, all over the world.
- [Crowd] That many people all over the world.
- Have worked towards.
- [Crowd] Have worked towards.
- From Cairo to London.
- [Crowd] From Cairo to London.
[crowd cheering]
- [Assange] Wikileaks has published the biggest leaks
in journalistic history.
This has triggered aggressive retaliation
from powerful groups.
Since the seventh of December 2010,
an arbitrary and unlawful financial blockade.
Imposed by the Bank of America, Visa, MasterCard, PayPal,
and Western Union has destroyed 95% of our revenue.
It came as part of the concerted US based political attack
that included vitriol by senior right wing politicians in
the United States and high level calls for the assassination
of Wikileaks staff and myself personally.
- [Narrator] November 2011,
Assange loses his appeal against extradition.
- I have not been charged with any crime in any country.
Despite this, the European arrest warrant is so restrictive
that it prevents UK courts from considering the facts
of a case as judges have made, clear here today.
We will be considering our next step in the days ahead.
This afternoon, the parliament of the United Kingdom
is considering in depth the matters that arise
from various extradition cases
in the United Kingdom, including my own.
Today, the High Court,
has decided,
that any issue that arises from my own case
is of general public importance
and maybe of assistance to other cases
and should be heard by the Supreme Court.
I think that is a correct decision and I am thankful.
The long struggle for justice for me
and others continues, thank you.
- [Narrator] The case is destined
for the highest court in the land.
[soft music]
Seven months on,
the Supreme court upholds the decision to extradite.
- [John] It makes the law to me, seem rather shabby actually
and I'm not talking about,
simply because they found against Assange.
It is their arguments,
which are not based on, MP's understood the law to be
when they passed this extradition legislation in 2001.
- [Narrator] June 2012.
Fearing an extradition to the United States from Sweden
for his alleged crimes of procuring classified information,
Mr. Assange breaches his bail conditions by walking up the
steps of the Ecuadorian embassy taking refuge inside.
Giving Assange assurance he could not be detained
by British police as long as he doesn't set foot outside.
- So,the situation we confront today now is a stalemate.
There is a confrontation,
a confrontation which is not of our choosing.
Because the right to claim asylum,
is the right of any citizen anywhere in the world.
- [Narrator] August 19th 2012
Julian addresses his supporters and the assembled media
from the balcony of the embassy.
With a message for the American establishment.
- The US administration war of whistleblowers must end.
I thank president Correa for the courage
he has shown in considering
and in granting me political asylum.
On Wednesday night after a threat was sent to this embassy
and police descended on this building,
you came out in the middle of the night to watch over
and you brought the world's eyes with you.
Inside this embassy after dark,
I could hear teams of police swarming up into the building
through its internal fire escape.
But I knew there would be witnesses.
And that is because of you.
There is unity in the oppression.
There must be absolute unity
and determination in the response.
[crowd cheering]
Thank you.
[crowd cheering]
[soft music]
- [Vaughan] The Ecuadorians are the only people,
who have properly looked at,
the idea that Julian might be threatened.
That his rights are being threatened,
that he's in danger, physical danger,
of being sent to America.
- We will not allow a Mr. Assange safe passage out
of the United Kingdom.
- [Vaughan] We seem quite incapable of appreciating
and acknowledging that in London Julian Assange
has gone to the Ecuadorian embassy
and he has got political asylum.
And I think that there's an opportunity to reflect on that
and if we are really the tolerant people that we think
we are, we should do that.
- [Narrator] Six months on from breaking bail
with Christmas fast approaching,
Assange addressed the crowds from his window once more.
[crowd cheering]
- Good evening, London.
[crowd cheering]
What a sight for sore eyes.
Six months ago, 185 days ago,
I entered this building.
It has become my home, my office and my refuge.
I came here in summer, it is winter now.
I have been sustained by your solidarity, and I'm grateful
for the efforts of people all around the world.
Supporting the work of Wikileaks,
supporting freedom of speech, freedom of the press,
essential elements in any democracy.
While my freedom is limited,
at least I am still able to communicate this Christmas,
unlike the 232 journalists who are in jail tonight.
It is from the revelation of truth that all else follows.
Our buildings can only be as tall
as their bricks are strong.
Our civilization is only as strong as its ideas are true.
When our buildings are erected by the corrupt,
when their cement is cut with dirt,
when pristine steel is replaced by scrap.
Our buildings are not safe to live in.
And when our media is corrupt, when our academics are timid,
when our history is filled with half truths and lies,
our civilization will never be just,
it will never reach to the sky.
[orchestral music]
- [Narrator] June 2013.
- [Translator] So to sum up,
we sense that granting political asylum
would be ineffective,
if there were not the corresponding recognition
of the guarantee of safe conduct
in line with protection of human rights.
We discussed this issue with the British foreign ministry
which is also concerned about the risk of the subsequent
extradition which may occur of Mr. Assange
from Sweden to the United States.
And this is one of the reasons why Ecuador
has granted political asylum.
Our concerns have worsened,
particularly in light of what has been occurring
in the context of Bradley Manning.
And so together with the UK,
we wish to explore the possible mechanisms
which we can use to make sure that Sweden
would not extradite Mr. Assange, subsequently.
- [Narrator] July 2014.
Air around the embassy was filled with disappointment
as news surfaced that Interpol arrest warrant
would be upheld.
Incarcerated inside the embassy for over two years now,
Assange's hope of freedom was further diminishing.
- The reality is Julian Assange is a political prisoner.
You know he's a dissident in our country,
and we're just not really used to that.
This wouldn't be happening,
there wouldn't be these police outside this embassy.
If it wasn't Julian Assange, if he wasn't a public person,
nobody else would get this.
- [Narrator] August 2014.
Rumors emerge that the WikiLeaks founder
may need hospital treatment.
- The native environment in which any healthy person
would find themselves,
soon enough with certain difficulties.
[orchestral music]
- [Narrator] March 2015.
After years of no progress held up in confinement,
Swedish prosecutors asked
to interview Julian inside the embassy.
Only for it to be canceled a few months later.
According to the founder of the whistleblowing publication.
[Orchestral music]
August 13th 2015.
After the legal time limit had passed,
two of the three sexual allegations were dropped,
the more serious serious rape allegation remains.
From the moment Assange strolled up the steps
in June 2012 to October 2015.
The United Kingdom have spent in excess of 30 million pounds
an expenditure somehow rationalized by the government.
A small victory came to Assange in the form of recognition,
having won UN backing.
January 2016, a UN Working Group panel
on arbitrary detention supports Assange.
- [Melinda] Good afternoon, everyone.
So finally, we have the verdict
of the United Nations Working Group
on arbitrary detention.
And they issued a very detailedopinion which considers
all arguments from Sweden and the United Kingdom.
And this decision dispels the myth,
that Mr. Assange is either a fugitive from justice
or that he could just walk out of the embassy.
It is a damning indictment of the manner
in which this case has been handled.
Further offense Mr. Assange is a victim
of a significant miscarriage of justice,
that is attributable to the action
and inaction of both Sweden and the United Kingdom.
It further emphasize Julian's continued willingness
to cooperate with the investigations in this case
at all stages of the procedure.
- [Philip] Will I reject the finding
of this working group?
It's a group made up of lay people not lawyers.
And their conclusion is flawed in law.
Julian Assange is a fugitive from justice.
He's hiding from justice in the Ecuadorian embassy,
he can come out onto the pavement anytime he chooses.
He's not being detained by us.
But he will have to face justice in Sweden,
if he chooses to do so.
And it's right that he should not be able to escape justice.
This is a, frankly, a ridiculous finding
by the Working Group and we reject it.
- [Melinda] I mean I'm very concerned that they would turn
the United Nations decision as ridiculous.
Well, the United Kingdom is a member
of the Security Council
it's one of the founding members
of the United Nations system.
I would expect that they will want
to uphold the very system that they created.
- What rights does this government
or the US government, or the Swedish government have
to deny my children their father,
for five and a half years?
- [Crowd] Yes, shame on our government.
- [Narrator] May 2016.
Photographs of a new arrival inside the embassy appear
given to him by his children.
The Embassy cat gave a much needed rest bite
from the political storm surrounding Assange.
November 2016.
Swedish authorities interview Assange in the embassy,
lasting two days.
- [Crowd] Yes we can.
Yes we can
Yes we can.
- Yes we can.
- [Narrator] Outgoing US President Barack Obama decides
to free Wikileaks key whistleblower Chelsea Manning,
formerly Bradley Manning.
January 19th.
Assange stands by his offer of extradition
to the United States, provided his rights are protected.
- In 10 days,
the world will witness a hallmark
of our motto.
[crowd boos]
No, no.
But a peaceful transfer of power,
from one freely elected president to the next.
[crowd cheers]
- What we gonna do?
We're gonna make America great again, you watch.
[crowd cheers]
I'm the messenger, I'm just really the messenger.
Although I've been a very good messenger.
Let's face it, right.
[crowd cheers]
I've been a pretty good messenger.
- [Narrator] January 20th.
Donald Trump wins the presidency.
In the lead up to the election,
Assange is cut off from the world,
both physically and technologically.
Ecuador cut the internet over fears
he may have been meddling in the US elections.
April 21 2017.
The new Attorney General Jeff Sessions sets his agenda
declaring Assange's arrest is a priority.
- [Jeff] For the Department of Justice
does not discuss ongoing investigations
or confirm specific matters.
It is important for the American people
and those who might be thinking about
leaking classified or sensitive information.
To know that criminals who would
illegally use their access.
To our most sensitive information
to endanger our national security
are in fact being investigated and will be prosecuted.
Since January, the department has more than triple
the number of active leak investigations compared
to the number of pending at the end
of the last administration.
- [Mike] First to days like today, where we call out those
who grant a platform to these leakers,
and so called transparency activists.
We know the danger that Assange and his not so merry band
of brothers posted democracies around the world.
Ignorance or misplaced idealism is no longer
an acceptable excuse for lionizing these demons.
Second, there are steps that we have to take at home.
In fact this is a process
that we have already started.
We've got to strengthen our own systems,
secure our own staff.
We've got to prove our internal mechanisms that help us.
In our counter intelligence mission.
We need to be as clever and innovative as the enemies
we face because they will not relent.
And we will not either.
Third, we have to recognize that we can no longer
allow Assange and his colleagues the latitude
to use free speech values against us.
To give them the space to crush us
with misappropriated secrets is a perversion
of what our great constitution stands for.
It ends now.
- The persecution of him is completely wrong.
The threats against him are completely wrong.
They should be withdrawn.
He should be freed, heshouldn't have to be imprisoned.
- [Narrator] May 19th 2017.
[crowd cheering]
- [Assange] Today is an important victory,
to me,
and for the UN human right system.
But it by no means, erases
seven years of detention without charge.
In prison,
under house arrest,
and almost five years here,
in this embassy without sunlight.
Seven years without charge,
why my children grew up without me.
That is not something that I can forgive.
It is not something that I can forget.
But let us understand, while today was an important victory
and an important vindication, the road is far from over.
The war, the proper war is just commencing.
The UK has said it will arrest me regardless.
Though the United States CIA director Pompeo
and the US Attorney General, have said that,
I and other Wikileaks staff have no rights.
We have no first amendment rights,
and then my arrest and the arrest
of our other stuff is a priority.
That's not acceptable.
WikiLeaks will continue its publications.
The United Kingdom, the European Union,
is a party to the 1951 convention on refugees.
It states that it adheres to the right for all people
to seek asylum, to receive asylum and to enjoy asylum.
I have that right, you know, political case,
we all have that right.
So, the claim by the United Kingdom indeed has a right
to arrest me for seeking asylum.
In a case where there have been no charges,
which has now been dismissed, is simply untenable.
The UK refuses to confirm or deny at this stage,
whether a US extradition warrant
is already in the UK territory.
How can it be that a journalist
and publisher operating from Europe.
I can be extradited to the United States.
We don't operate in the United States,
We don't publish from the United States.
So that's a threat to all journalists around the world,
wherever they operate.
That if they expose serious abuses occurring
in the national security domain,
there's a threat to extradite them
or indict their organization and all their stuff.
Okay, that's it. Thanks, guys.
[reporters asking questions]
[crowd chanting in foreign language]
- [Narrator] With one obstacle out of the way,
another was just coming into view.
[crowd chanting in foreign language]
[foreign language]
- [Narrator] With Lenin Moreno in power,
who knew the fate of Julian Assange.
In the midst of the unrest in Catalonia,
Assange tweets his support for independence
and accuses Madrid of repression.
Having been warned by the new president Moreno
not to interfere in allied politics.
Life inside the embassy was becoming increasingly strained.
[dramatic music]
- Still bereft of sunlight and cut off from the world.
Assange spent summer of 2018 in silence as noisy accusations
of his ties to Russia's involvement in the 2016
US election were being constructed.
March 2018.
For the second time time Assange's internet access
and communications are cut off.
Barring any connection to the outside world.
October 2018.
Assange launches a legal case,
accusing the newly formed government headed by Moreno
of violating his fundamental rights and freedoms.
Having had new rules imposed on him,
designed to force him out of the embassy.
Ruling a week later that legal action cannot move forward.
With his rights in doubt Julian remained
at the embassy, awaiting his fate.
January 2019.
- [Ciaron] So my relationship with Julian,
our friendship goes back to 2000.
We were active in Australia in the peace
and justice movement.
I was in prison in the United States
for a year in the early 90s.
For disabling a B-52 bomber with three other people,
Catholic pacifists.
And, at that point Julian was 17
and had released out the wank worm.
That's when as an activists field he was arrested
and charged with 36 offenses for hacking.
Now he grew up and moved on from activism
and he started Wikileaks in 2006.
After being a single father raising a child from 17 to 34.
130 days ago, I came here feeling that his extraction
from this building was inevitable and imminent.
And I've been here 130 days.
The only thing the British are offering
for the breach of bail.
Usually bail is indicted if you've been charged
with something, you get out before.
But he hasn't been charged with anything.
The Swedes finished their investigation
and didn't charge him.
So it's just the substitutes to do what the Americans want.
Which is what the Australians do
and the Irish do so don't feel bad about it.
I mean, it's an empire, you know, when the Americans
say jump the British, the Irish, the Australians.
Go, high do you want us to jump?
Who do you want us to land on?
And how hard do you want us to land on them?
Yeah, it's tragic,
it's like a slow motion crucifixion.
- [Narrator] April 2019.
With ties becoming strained between the WikiLeaks founder
and the new government, it became increasingly more likely
Assange would be extradited.
Subsequently looking at spending the rest of his life
rotting in solitary confinement
in the United States prison cell.
It's April 10th,
and these days my solidarity with Julian
being here 24 hours, seven days a week.
But I was at the first court appearance of Julian,
when he walked in voluntarily to Kennedy Township
police station December 7th 2010.
[reporters shouting]
Well different people have different entry points.
I'm a bit dyslexic, I'm not very techy.
My entry point as an anti-war activist.
I'm part of Pacifist Catholic Worker Movement
has been going since the 30s.
People were jailed in World War two for anti conscription.
We were the first people to burn draft cards publicly
in the early part of the Vietnam War.
And then two priests Daniel and Philip Berrigan
led the Draft Board Raid Movement.
Where people, nuns and priests and laity would break
into draft boards, and destroy draft files.
And it's kind of interesting because Dan and Phil were on
the front page of Time magazine in 1968.
Julian was in 2010.
And then Hoover and Nixon had a meeting
about how to marginalize them.
And I'm sure similar meetings have happened without Julian
and they were quite successful.
In both instances, of radicalizing any support
and marginalizing.
Some of my prison conditions in different places have been
worse and some have been better.
The most significant part of it being worse
is this is sensory deprivation.
There's no change in heat or cold,
no ability to see more than five meters.
No healthcare access.
So it's changed for four or five different ambassadors,
since he went in there.
And they sacked the ambassador
and half the staff in December.
Probably because they thought that he was too sympathetic
and then just made the environment much more toxic.
Like there's a live feed to Quito from in that building.
There's more and more cameras.
That's what we hear from John Pilger and others who visited.
So they're trying to push him out
and they're having difficulties
cause he's an Ecuadorian citizen.
So leak happened last week from within the government
that he had hours or days left.
If that leak had not happened,
he'd probably be gone by now.
But on Friday 40 Media turned up and now that's just
a lot of them going, from roughly doing 24/7.
[soft music]
He won't surrender, he'll be dragged out eventually
and he'll be put in prison here.
Facing extradition he'll fight that.
What I hope to do is move there and try
and get a support group going around the prison,
And because as a former prisoner, I know the significance
of solidarity basically.
They've set up protocols hoping he'll break them.
I believe that one of them is he can't come to the window.
You know, so he's only ever spoken four times,
from the balcony.
Yeah, so there's good people everywhere.
And that was my feeling in prison too.
But it is a bit like prison in the sense
that I'm restricted to certain area.
But you find good people everywhere.
And you find threats everywhere too.
Apparently Wikileaks have found one [laughs]
So yeah, there's news that they've been infiltrated,
or something like that.
- [Narrator] April 10th 2019
News emerges of an extensive spying campaign
orchestrated on Assange.
- Let me just begin with telling you the basics.
The new and unexpected thing that just came into light
in the last few days.
Is that Wikileaks uncovered an extensive spying operation
against Julian Assange within the Ecuadorian embassy.
It entails a total invasion of privacy of Mr. Assange.
- [Kristinn] What we have established is that
security cameras were used to monitor
his every move, his every meeting with visitors.
- One thing is absolutely clear,
with the new government,
Ecuador is not protecting Julian anymore.
It's not protecting him as it should,
since it granted him political asylum.
Quite the contrary,
the government is making everything
possible to end the asylum.
- [Fidel] And the only reason, why it hasn't happened yet,
is because the international shame,
the historic shame, that will be entitled to Ecuador.
We know since January that there was a request
by the US government to Ecuador,
to allow the interrogation of diplomats
that worked in the Ecuadorian embassy,
in relations to an ongoing investigation,
criminal investigation,
and to WikiLeaks and Julian Assange.
And we know that the Ecuadorian government did comply.
We also know that there was a request to hand over
visitors logs from the embassy and video recordings from
within the security cameras in the embassy.
So we assume that this material, this extensive material
that has been gathered has been handed over
to the Trump administration.
- [Fidel] Let's remember that Julian Assange
is not serving any sentence.
He doesn't have any charges.
He is a political refugee.
Political refugees do not lose rights,
on the contrary, they should have their rights protected.
What we have here is a clearly human rights
violation of a journalist.
- The Moreno government in Ecuador has been all too willing
to help out by pushing Julian Assange out of the embassy.
This attempt to have this done has been escalating
in the last few weeks and even days.
And even last week, we heard that he was,
from very reliable sources on Friday to this race
that was imminent that he would be evicted
from the embassy and arrested.
On learning Moreno's orders, the president of Equador.
The only reason why this was averted, in our opinion,
is the fact that we learned about it.
And we were able to publish that information.
That was the only reason why
that was stopped probably temporarily.
- [Ciaron] When I came here 138 days ago, whatever it was,
I expected him to be lifted that night.
So they've obviously backed off because of the leak.
The more observing that's going on, but more presence
the safer it is to Julian so it's good at the moment.
There seems to be about five people here which is good
because often it's just me.
That red car there that's probably embassy police.
- [Ciaron] They're armed and they do a circuit every hour
but they've been back about four times in past hour now.
Two nights ago a van pulled up right in front of me,
another guy, cop got out a machine gun
and part of this is just to stress him out mentally
you know, it's the kind of low intensity conflict
on his mental health.
- [Ciaron] I would think this Lenin Marino who seems
to be keen to turn Ecuador back into a US colony
and you know, the history of South America
and United States post World War Two.
Is the US toppling democratic government after democratic
government and putting military juntas in.
- [Ciaron] It's a toxic hostile staff now
compared to what preceded it.
Like he was invited in,
by the president Correa who now,
has an arrest warrant issued on him.
The president who invited him in,
is now at large trying to get asylum in Belgium.
So this place has gone from a sanctuary to a trap.
And the Special Branch are here 24/7.
And they're probably number 18, that's my guess.
And there is no where to do a run up from here.
- [Crowd] Free, free Julian Assange.
- Well, what does it mean to journalism you know like,
Chomsky calls mainstream journalists,
the demographers of power,
which is this real, journalism is questioning the story
behind the story and yeah.
The lack of transparency just leads to corruption.
Everything can become corrupt Christianity, communism,
capitalism, democracy, feminism.
So you've got to have transparency
and power to be held to account.
It's the death of free expression.
He's very resolute and he's very convinced
with the significance of his work.
And, but obviously is starved of intellectual stimulation
which he thrives on.
No one could argue that he could be a multimillionaire
poolside Silicon Valley.
And he's decided to you know, give the gifts
I believe God gave him to expose the rich
and powerful wage constant war on the poor.
And, you know, that's pretty impressive.
It's very similar to the story of John the baptist
in that sense that you had a collaborator King,
a Jewish King Herod, who wanted to appease the empire,
Roman happens to be American now,
and delivered the head of a prophet.
And what is a prophet?
A prophet doesn't necessarily have to be a really nice guy.
That's a saint.
A prophet is someone who speaks truth to power.
And as Oscar Wilde who used to live in this building said,
If you tell people the truth, and don't make them laugh,
they'll wanna kill you.
So Julian probably needs a gag rider.
- [Narrator] April 11th 2019.
In the early hours of the morning,
to avoid any commotion on the wealthy
streets of Knightsbridge.
A frail and weaker Assange is carried down
the very steps he walked up over seven years ago.
After the Ecuadorian government saw fit
to invite the British police inside.
[crowd shouting]
Seen on Ruptly.
Media campaigns to discredit the infamous publisher evolved
leaked videos from inside the Ecuadorian embassy
and comments made by Merino's embassy staff
on his personal hygiene,
gave the government enough ammunition
to rid themselves of Assange.
Handing him over to the British police.
A stark contrast to the government that provided his asylum.
- Those allegations are a smear campaign,
smoking screen made by the government.
In order to cover,
the fundamental thing.
The fundamental thing here is that Ecuador
has handed over a political refugee,
to his persecutors.
Ecuador has breached every single legislation
on political asylum and refugee there is.
So that's in a sense a crime,
and in order to cover that
they need to bring their attention to something else.
It's outrageous, it's absolutely outrageous.
It was basically a kidnapping,
he didn't walk out by his own will, outside of the embassy.
He was dragged by force,
he refuse and he was right to refuse.
He became Ecuadorian during this time.
That was his embassy.
According to the Ecuadorian constitution,
no Ecuadorian could be extradited ever.
- Good day, well look at that.
- Another last one.
- [Alan] Can I say we are very grateful to the ambassador
and to president Moreno.
For bringing this to a conclusion,
I think everyone is pleased that
this has finally come to an end.
And I think it will signal ever improving relations
between the United Kingdom and Ecuador,
and we look forward to such.
Increased activities over the years ahead.
So thank you once again ambassador.
Thank you.
- [Narrator] Meanwhile, in the United States,
the indictment showing Julian's charges is unsealed,
revealing the charge to be a conspiracy
to commit computer intrusion.
No new information is disclosed.
- Now you have all probably heard about the indictment
and the nature of the indictments.
Which I think are very revealing
about the nature of this entire case.
It is based, 17 as was pointed out,
by the indictments on the Espionage Act,
which is an archaic legal framework
from the World War One period,
and has never in its 102 years history
been used against the publisher
and the journalists, never before.
- What is now going on is that
the United States is of course furious.
It's the first elephant in the room breaking everything.
It's furious, and it's violating
a lot of fundamental rights.
- [Kristinn] This is a watershed moment
for the preservation of journalism
This is about press freedom.
The Assange case and his extradition request
and this case is more than just
something pertains to one person, or one organization.
This is about the future of press freedom in our part
of the world where we have been rather privileged
with relatively good standing.
It is a crackdown on press freedom,
nothing less.
Publishing of documents, of videos of the killing
of innocent civilians, exposure of war crimes.
This is journalism, it's called conspiracy.
It's conspiracy to commit journalism.
- [Geoffrey] I have faith in the British justice system.
And I think he will argue
that this is a breach of his right to freedom of speech
which we uphold to an extent.
To throw him to the American wolves who are determined
to jail him for a long time.
So, yes, I've got faith that the British
justice system may prevent that.
As to the American justice system, ending up in the
Supreme Court in a few years,
with the majority of Trump appointees, I'm not so sure.
- May 1st 2019, Southwark Crown Court.
Assange is handed a 50 week jail sentence,
for breaching bail.
[crowd shouting]
- [Kristinn] To get a sentence only two weeks short
of the maximum sentence, is an outrage.
It's almost double the sentencing guideline.
And may I point out just into comparison,
that the so called speedboat killer.
Got six months for not showing up in court,
to hear his sentencing for manslaughter.
But the fight continues tomorrow is the big fight,
the start of a big and the most important fight.
The fight against the extradition of Julian Assange
to the United States.
What is at stake there?
Could be a question of life and death,
for Mr. Assange.
It is also a question of life and death,
for a major journalistic principle.
- [Narrator] May 2nd 2019.
Assange appears via a video link in one of the smallest
court rooms at Wesminster Magistrates.
With the session only lasting 10 minutes,
a new procedural hearing date is set.
This is a matter of life and death for Assange.
May 7th 2019.
Visitors of Julian approach the assembled media
outside Belmarsh prison.
- I think I speak for both of us that we are quite
emotional after this first social visit that Julian's
allowed after being in here for a month.
- Obviously, it's been very difficult to see
Julian here and to make our way through the prison
to get to him was quite shocking and difficult.
He does not deserve to be in a super max prison.
He has never committed a violent act.
He's an innocent person.
You know justice will depend on public support.
- I guess he lost about 20 pounds, at least.
- The visiting hours are very, very precious.
Sorry I'm really upset.
Julian is a gentle, intellectual
in a maximum security prison,
it's just very moving to see Julian
particularly in those circumstances coming out of sick bay
and having lost 10 kilograms weight considerable terms.
When loosing weight
and being a little ill
is a big challenge.
But fighting spirit is there and he's still bossy.
- [Narrator] May 23rd 2019.
Assange is accused of 17 new charges brought forward
by the justice department.
The indictment states that Mr. Assange had repeatedly
encouraged sources with access to classified information,
to steal and provide it to Wikileaks to disclose.
No evidence was shown.
May 30th 2019.
News is released that Assange is too ill
to attend the hearing.
Resurfacing rumors of his poor health,
even signs of psychological torture.
[soft music]
The complicated extradition process,
which involves both Sweden and the United States
and deals with press freedom and national security issues,
is expected to last for months or years to come.
June 11th 2019.
United States submit an extradition request.
Sajid Javid confirms and signs the request,
setting up the extradition case in 2020,
the very case he fears most.
- [Geoffrey] Because of the cruelty
of the British government.
He hasn't been allowed even to go to a hospital for a day,
to get his chest scanned, he has a bad chest condition
according to specialist doctors.
And so that has not been allowed,
maybe allowed in a British prison hospital.
But the conditions in an American super max prison
are quite horrific and his freedom
and his spirit may well be broken.
He has a strong spirit, a spirit which is determined
to publish whatever he comes across or is sent to him,
which is of public interest.
And remember that history books are now being informed
by WikiLeaks revelations hardly a week goes by
without the news based on some Wikileaks revelation.
So he's sacrificed a lot for his belief in freedom
of speech and the issue will be whether our judges
and perhaps eventually American judges have the same relief,
or whether they're hypocrites.
- This deep disparity with the US is about to be laid bare
when the courts decide whether the WikiLeaks publisher
Julian Assange will beextradited to the US on charges
of espionage for exposing war crimes,
the murder of civilians and large scale corruption.
Will the prime minister agree with the parliamentary report
that's going to the Council of Europe that this extradition
should be opposed and the rights of journalists
and whistleblowers are held for the good of all of us?
- Prime minister.
- Mr. Speaker, I'm not gonna comment on any individual case.
But it is obvious that the rights of journalists
and whistleblowers should be upheld
and this government will clearly continue to do that.
[crowd chanting]
- [Narrator] February 24 2020.
Crowds gather at Woolwich crime court
in support of the brave publisher.
- From the angel of democracy and nobody knows more
about democracy than Julian Assange, it's not a crime,
to publish American war crimes,
it's in the interests democracy.
[crowd chanting]
- Robert Gates, ex secretary of defense before congress
in a testimony said that, it's awkward
embarrassing, that no damage was done.
I'll note that the prosecutor didn't err give one example
of a broken fingernail.
Just he said that sources were in danger,
that's simply not true.
- Thank you, as john said it's only a 10 minute break now.
So it's gonna be short.
But what was presented here was an overwhelming evidence
of how politicized the entire process has been.
As the channels are presented, very compelling evidence
of how it was decided under Obama not to prosecute
because of the impossibility
of singling out one publisher,
WikiLeaks, one journalist Julian Assange
and not going after all those who were actually part
of that project the New York Times problem
as as it was called.
It was laid out here how then after Trump came to power,
every avenue was sought to actually go after Julian Assange.
That is apparent from
quote from Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General,
from Mike Pompeo in 2017
when he started to depicting Wikileaks
as a hostile intelligence service,
and of course by this amazing revelation
that congressman Dana Rohrabacher
made an offer to Julian Assange
that if he would reveal his source of the 2016 DNC leaks.
They would bring back the message to Donald Trump
and secure leniency or pardon.
Of course that offer was denied.
There was no doubt about it.
That congressman Rohrabacher and his colleague
at that meeting, were saying that they were acting
under instruction by full knowledge
of President Trump in making that offer.
That is extraordinary only when that offer was declined
the process of formulating the indictments,
of getting the hands on Julian Assange
started in full earnest and we know how that all ended.
What was, of course, astonishing to hear
that we will hear more of his the revelation
that the security company the private security company hired
to look after the interests of Julian
was again hired rehired
by the funder of Donald Trump,
Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson to spy on Julian
and evidence will be produced
by whistleblowers from that company who will anonymously
bear witness in this court, how they spied on everything,
and tell you exactly who they were working for,
it was US intelligence it's the dark side.
They said internally in between themselves.
They were spying on the legally privileged conversation
between Julian and his lawyers.
And everything, almost in real time, was transported back
to intelligence agency in the US.
There was even discussions among the staff in the embassy
that more extreme measures would be possibly be taken.
Apart from this spying on Julian,
namely kidnapping or poisoning.
[soft music]
- [Narrator] February 25th 2020.
[crowd shouting]
News breaks of the inhumane care
the founder of Wikileaks is receiving.
February 26th 2020.
Sitting in a bulletproof box,
unable to be properly engaged in the proceedings.
Assange's lawyer revealed to the court
that he is now on medication,
fueling further rumors of his weakening health.
[crowd chanting]
February 27th 2020.
[soft music]
- [Craig] The main stream media came here
for the opening statement of the prosecution.
Yeah, they copy and paste it from the prosecution
thing saying Mr. Assange is a common criminal
and then they all went homeeven before the defense started.
So I'm afraid that,
but that simply tells us
what we already knew about the main stream media.
Anyway, thank you.
- It's not a fair hearing, it's not a fair hearing.
If one side is more armed than the other.
If one side can go back and forth with their lawyers
and discuss the route that they need to take
or point out the things might be factually incorrect.
It will have an equally chilling effect
on both whistleblowers and publishers.
Because it sets the precedent that,
it doesn't matter where you are reporting from,
it doesn't matter who gives you the documents,
none of that matters.
If you do something that another state doesn't like,
they can reach out that extra territorial arm
and pluck you from that country
and throw you into a hole in theirs.
So in this case, we have an Australian
publisher in Europe and the United Kingdom
being sought by the United States.
Where he is looking down the barrel of 175 years in prison.
They've already stated that they'll keep him
under what they call SAM's Special Administrative Measures.
We understand how the United States government works
with their terminology, they talk about.
Enhanced interrogation techniques,
which is a synonym for torture.
SAM's is a synonym for solitary confinement in isolation.
He wouldn't be allowed to speak to his family.
He'd only be allowed to speak to his lawyer
and his lawyer wouldn't be allowed to convey anything
that he said to the public
without his lawyer themselves being thrown into prison.
- John Shipton, Julian Assange's his father here,
outside Belmarsh with the supporters.
This is the fourth day.
The story continues to unfold as some sort
of fraud upon the court,
by the Department of Justice in the United States,
because they have, all of their evidence has been proved
to be, as our barrister says,
lies, lies and more lies, the extraordinary.
This abrogation of Julian's human rights
started 10 years ago, with 10 days arbitrary detention
in Wandsworth prison in solitary.
Then after that 18 months house arrest in Norridge,
after that Julian had to seek asylum
and was given asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy.
And that was seven and a half years of arbitrary detention.
- Can you hear me?
- [Crowd] Yeah.
- [John] Now, after the United Kingdom contravened
its own conventions to arrest Julian
without the revocation of the asylum that has given him.
They arrested him and charged him with skipping bail,
and has been in Belmarsh maximum security prison
for about 10 months now.
So 10 years of arbitrary detention, you don't have to take
my word for there's a Working Group,
the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention,
their determination, there's this secondary
they're reporting in February 2018,
from the Working Group on arbitrary detention.
There's Nils Melzer of the UN rapporteur on torture.
His conclusions that Julian
had been psychologically tortured,
deliberately smeared,
mobbed.
There's also the United Nations rapporteur on privacy,
his determination that Julian's privacy
had been stolen from him.
There's the illegal surveillance by UC global
on behalf of the CIA,
the list just goes on and on.
You know, I just take each day as it comes
and do what I can to ensure that Julian
comes home to his family, that's all.
- [Narrator] Court proceedings are adjourned
with three weeks of evidence scheduled on May 18th.
- [Crowd] Free Julian Assange.
Free Julian Assange.
[soft music]
- [Narator] Julian Assange the enemy of America
for nearly 15 years lies in Belmarsh prison
awaiting his fate.
Fate that will have grave implications
across the media driven world,
from whistleblowers to journalists.
Fate that will change the way stories can be investigated.
Fate that will be decided in the months to come.
From coder to convict, Assange has brought information
and injustices to light that would
otherwise be stored and forgotten.
Whether you support or shun his methods.
Undoubtedly his revolutionary publishing has changed
the way journalism is conducted.
Holding governments that act in our name
to a definitive account.
With ailing health
and the Coronavirus pandemic in full swing.
Doctors expressed fear that Assange
may not see the light of day, again.
- I think it's important to remember at this time,
that as we go back out into the world,
we leave these happy headlands,
this this open face setting with all these happy hills.
We remember that the world of tomorrow,
is not gonna be like the past.
And the networks we move into are going to be threatened
by the KGB, the CIA, Sears, Roebuck
and any number of strange,
ostensibly honest, suspicious entities whose very nature
and motivations must be very carefully scrutinized.
So it's upto the entire public to defend itself
to look to the extension of freedom of privacy,
freedom of information, freedom of association
and all the things that have made America great
in this strange new and dark network world.
[soft music]