Assange Seeks To Sue Prime Minister Gillard For Defamation

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Assange Seeks To Sue Prime Minister Gillard For Defamation

Posted by timothy on Sunday October 7, 2012 @08:38AM from the gillard-should-have-done-it-anonymously dept.

First time accepted submitter menno_h writes "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he has hired lawyers to investigate how to sue Prime Minister Julia Gillard for defamation." Assange "says comments made by Ms Gillard in 2010 that WikiLeaks acted illegally in releasing US diplomatic cables have affected the viability of his organisation. 'Mastercard Australia, in justifying why it has made a blockade that prevents any Australian Mastercard holder donating to WikiLeaks, used that statement by Julia Gillard,' he said."

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could be interesting by rbrausse · 2012-10-07 08:44 · Score: 5, Interesting

you may or may not support Assange or Wikileaks - but the lawsuit will be interesting: Mastercard used a semi-official statement by Julia Gillard to justify the blocking; is this a good-enough argument?
1. Re:could be interesting by Dan667 · 2012-10-07 08:49 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  He has a very good case or I don't believe he would even try. Holding publicly elected individuals accountable is something that has precedence.
2. Re:could be interesting by Charliemopps · 2012-10-07 10:12 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Currently, the only thing keeping Mr Assange from torture and death is the public spotlight. Every time the public starts to forget about his plight you can rightly expect him to make a stink to get our attention again.
3. Re:could be interesting by TapeCutter · 2012-10-07 10:42 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Unless he can find the official government document instead of random remarks he doesn't have a case.
  What you are describing is called persecution, what we are talking about is called defamation. The PM called him a crook in public, MC cut him off and quoted the PM as the reason.He was clearly defamed and suffered financially because of it. If the PM wanted to call him a crook in public she could have legally done so under parliamentary privilege, she is a lawyer and knows all this but for some reason she chose to ignore it.
  
  --
  And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
4. Re:could be interesting by MysteriousPreacher · 2012-10-07 11:02 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Really? A guy that suborned a US Army private to illegally give him access to classified diplomatic cables wouldn't do something if he didn't have a good case? Oh, wait he might sue ME now because I said he did something illegal that he has bragged that he did only I said that it is illegal. Well it IS illegal to do what he did. You might disagree with me about whether it ought to be illegal but there's no real question that it IS.
  Was it actually proven that Asange did that?
  
  --
  -- Using the preview button since 2005
5. Re:could be interesting by hot+soldering+iron · 2012-10-07 11:50 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  He's right. At one time, I "had a friend" that would have put a bullet through Assanges' head on "unofficial" orders. Government pukes play dirty by using guys like "my friend", and always have. If you think otherwise, you're a very naive person that thinks too well of the power-seeking people in government. Thank you for being like that. People like you actually try to make the world a nice place to live in.
  
  --
  When you want something built, come see me. If you want correct grammar and spelling, get a F*ing liberal arts student.
6. Re:could be interesting by cheater512 · 2012-10-07 11:50 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  In what country? Its certainly not illegal in Australia to leak classified *US* documents. Possibly illegal to leak Australian documents - I'm not sure about that.
  Just like if someone in the US leaked Iranian top secret documents, they'd probably get a handshake from the FBI not arrested.
  The US is not the world government. Just because they say it is top secret and illegal doesn't make it so and the rest of the world will rightly ignore them.
7. Re:could be interesting by Yvanhoe · 2012-10-07 12:04 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I doubt he enjoys being prisoner in an embassy. I doubt he enjoys being unable to ever have sex again without knowing if this is a CIA trap. I doubt he enjoys his wikileaks organization to be labelled half-terrorist and having lost a few millions of donations.
  
  He doesn't enjoy spotlight. He needs it to survive, because otherwise, he will die in an accident without anyone noticing.
  
  --
  The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
8. Re:could be interesting by Charliemopps · 2012-10-07 13:31 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  If you even speak with Julian Assange, you can be killed. Not kidding:
  http://news.yahoo.com/jullian-assange-enemy-state-023345613.html
  
  The US government successfully talked parts of the Australian government into attempting to charge him with Treason... but the Australian federal police commission rejected the argument after determining he had broken no Australian laws.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange#Allegations_of_possible_extradition_to_the_United_States
  
  The only reason the mans not dead, is because he's famous. The US government, my government, has already tortured and killed people for less. Both during the Bush and Obama administrations. Our governments stance is that Alkiada is the same as a foreign government, so our actions against them are the same as if we were fighting a foreign government, we are not dealing with criminals. And yet, when we caught their "head of state" we executed him in front of his family. Which violates US law. They literally knelt him down, in front of his wife and shot him in the head. Read the account of the navy seal that wrote about it. Then this very same president declared a US citizen an "enemy combatant" and has a drone fire a missile into his home, while he was on foreign soil. No trial, no justice, just summary execution. This is our government. We can debate weather this is all justifiable or not, but the fact that Mr Assange has angered the US government enough to put his life in grave danger is a fact.
Good by JazzXP · 2012-10-07 08:46 · Score: 5, Interesting

While I'm not a fan of Mr. Assange (quite the opposite really), I find the way he has been treated by our government absolutely deplorable. Especially when you consider how people like David Hicks (trained with terrorists) and Shappele Corby (convicted drug smuggler) have had the government behind them trying to get them home.
1. Re:Good by clockwise_music · 2012-10-07 12:17 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Especially when you consider how people like David Hicks (trained with terrorists) ... have had the government behind them trying to get them home.
  David Hicks did not have any help from the Australian government. He was left to rot in Guantanamo for five years without being charged for anything. The government's response was absolutely deplorable, especially considering how UK citizens were pulled out from Guantanamo. Compare Jack Straw's efforts compared to Philip Ruddock or John Howard sometime.
2. Re:Good by Pseudonym · 2012-10-07 13:38 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Whoever marked this "Troll" clearly doesn't know about what's been preoccupying Australian news over the last week. (Answer: Navel-gazing, as usual, only this time it involves dirty personal attacks against the PM.) In context, this was a good point.
  For the benefit of those who are unaware, here's the brief summary: Julia Gillard's father died a couple of weeks ago, and right-wing radio-shock-mouthpiece Alan Jones (for the non-Australians, or even non-Sydneyites, he's roughly the Australian equivalent of Rush Limbaugh: moderate-sized but dedicated following, and self-parody to everyone who doesn't listen to his show) decided to use that in a very insensitive cheap shot at the PM. The remarks were made at a private function, but of course, nothing is private in the Internet era. Alan Jones has since issued a sincere, rambling semi-notpology.
  The point being that the PM's PR people are currently enjoying a grace period where personal attacks are Not Cool. The PM herself is, of course, probably not enjoying the fact that her father just died.
  On the other hand, Underground screened last night. From that perspective, this is the best of all times to go on the offensive. It's unfortunate that the two events coincided, but there's not a lot you can do about that.
  Woah, this must be how Russel Howcroft feels.
  
  --
  sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
Re:Sue in Sweden by dominux · 2012-10-07 09:14 · Score: 4, Interesting

from wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation#Sweden words for defamation include:
ärekränkning
grovt förtal
förolämpning
and rape is våldtäkt. I call BS on the "reputational rape" claim. +5 informative indeed.
Re:Demise of the Computer Programmer by lsatenstein · 2012-10-07 11:52 · Score: 4, Insightful

Assume 400/week net, then add insurance, telephone, transportation, food, internet and children (1). I believe you will run a deficit.
What are you talking about? I lived on $10/hr for a few years. This is how I did it:
1: Shared a house with 4 other folks. Each one of us occupied a room we used as a bedroom.
2: Used public transit.
3: Prepared my own meals (in bulk, and froze the excess), took lunch to work and employed the fridge and microwave there.
4: Did laundry bi-weekly to save on costs.
5: Never "went out" on the town, or bought luxuries, ever...
6: Said "NO" to the fairer sex.
Things have changed now, [for the better], gladly. In fact, you wouldn't recognize me now. But please do not tell me one can't survive on minimum wage.
Try doing it with two kids, for 20 years.

--
Leslie Satenstein Montreal Quebec Canada
Re:Not Knowing When to Quit by drinkypoo · 2012-10-07 13:14 · Score: 4, Insightful

He knows exactly when to quit; about five minutes before he's ready to die.
Assange doesn't have the option of a quiet retirement at this point. He needs to continue to be loud.

--
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Re:Truly a hero for our times by drinkypoo · 2012-10-07 13:16 · Score: 4, Insightful

Julian Assange is famous for being a tireless champion of free speech. How does he respond to someone saying something nasty about him?
Neither free markets nor free speech work when fraud is permitted.

Mod me down, "libertarians". In your hearts you know I speak the truth.
I'm not a libertarian, just a liberal (e.g. not a democrat) and I know you're full of shit, which is the most popular reason to post as an AC. You haven't said anything that could likely get you shot or fired, so there's no other reason.

--
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"