Govts fear WikiLeaks truths, rally told

THE attacks on Julian Assange and WikiLeaks are looking more and more like "shoot the messenger" responses by governments who do not believe in the principles of an open society, a rally in Brisbane has been told. 

 

Stephen Keim, speaking on behalf of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, told a gathering of about 80 people that current events in Middle Eastern countries show the great political impact of publishing the truth.

"The (WikiLeaks) cables show the world's politicians are even more dishonest than even the most cynical among us might have expected," Mr Keim said.

He described the Swedish investigation of allegations of sexual assault as "strange" and attacked the legal processes of the extradition proceedings underway in London.

Journalists' union Queensland secretary Terry O'Connor said the profession had "a vested interest in the truth, and the truth is something we rarely get from government or big business or the military".

"WikiLeaks has gone a long, long way towards getting the truth out and for that Julian Assange well deserves our admiration and our support, both moral and otherwise," Mr O'Connor said.

Organisers said the rally was intended as a challenge to the federal government which, they say, has failed to properly support the Australian whistleblower.

His mother, Christine Assange, says she will hold a media conference outside the office of Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd on Friday afternoon, calling on him to act on promises he previously made regarding her son.
"I'm going to be asking him through the media to protect my son's legal rights and his life and to make good on the promises he's made to date regarding that."

Ms Assange told AAP Mr Rudd had promised to protect her son's legal rights but had "done nothing".
"He's made statements that Julian had done no wrong as far as he could see, legally, in the fact that hadn't breached any US or Australian legislation, had not broken any laws," she said.

Ms Assange said she had not had much contact with her son in the last few days and she understood that.
"He's in battle mode and I'm in battle mode. I'm trying to get as much sleep as I can. We're both in battle mode, trying to stay on the job to get justice for him."

Ms Assange also said she was very grateful for the Brisbane rally.

"Queenslanders have got a lot of spunk and a lot of get-up-and-go and guts and they don't appear to be too frightened to speak their mind when they see an injustice being done and I think that's wonderful.

"Obviously, you can see it in the floods. They stand by people when people are having a hard time. They stand shoulder to shoulder to support those people and they've done that for my son ... and it's something that Queenslanders ought to be proud of."

The extradition hearing for Assange is due to resume in London on Friday.