More classified US documents: WikiLeaks
6 March 2013 7:31 AM IST
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has claimed that his website holds more US classified documents which are yet to be published online.
The website will, however, not release this material during the court martial of its source, US Army Private Bradley Manning, according to a report by The Age on Tuesday.
Assange, currently holed up in Ecuadorian embassy in London, described Manning as ‘America's foremost political prisoner...an activist who faces retribution for revealing the truth’.
‘Bradley Manning's plea was a very positive development for him. For the first time he was able to speak about his motivation to reveal truths and stimulate public debate about war’, he said. Assange has confirmed to the Fairfax publication that WikiLeaks had received classified material from Manning that related to a February 2010 incident in which the US military had turned a blind eye to Baghdad police arrests and persecution of political opponents of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Assange said that WikiLeaks had decided not to publish the material at the time for ‘source-protection reasons’ given that the person providing the material appeared to have been connected with the US military's handling of the incident.
‘We still can't publish it. It would be a questionable action to do so now while Bradley Manning has a potential life sentence hanging over his head,’ he said.
He said he ‘wouldn't go beyond what Manning has said’ and ‘can't answer’ whether the two published CIA documents were the documents referred to by Manning or whether WikiLeaks holds other intelligence agency material not yet published.
The website will, however, not release this material during the court martial of its source, US Army Private Bradley Manning, according to a report by The Age on Tuesday.
Assange, currently holed up in Ecuadorian embassy in London, described Manning as ‘America's foremost political prisoner...an activist who faces retribution for revealing the truth’.
‘Bradley Manning's plea was a very positive development for him. For the first time he was able to speak about his motivation to reveal truths and stimulate public debate about war’, he said. Assange has confirmed to the Fairfax publication that WikiLeaks had received classified material from Manning that related to a February 2010 incident in which the US military had turned a blind eye to Baghdad police arrests and persecution of political opponents of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Assange said that WikiLeaks had decided not to publish the material at the time for ‘source-protection reasons’ given that the person providing the material appeared to have been connected with the US military's handling of the incident.
‘We still can't publish it. It would be a questionable action to do so now while Bradley Manning has a potential life sentence hanging over his head,’ he said.
He said he ‘wouldn't go beyond what Manning has said’ and ‘can't answer’ whether the two published CIA documents were the documents referred to by Manning or whether WikiLeaks holds other intelligence agency material not yet published.
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