Assault on Wikileaks is an unprecedented threat to journalism
Press Release
Assault on Wikileaks is an unprecedented threat to
journalism
Wikileaks has brought egalitarianism in journalism
New Delhi, March 5, 2013: A
Round Table on 'WikiLeaks, Press Freedom
and Status of Legal Cases Against WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, the
founder and
editor-in chief', dwelt on the implications of vicious attack on the
Wikileaks and their sources for the future of journalism across the
globe.
The Round Table started with a presentation by Ms Jennifer
Robinson who is an Australian human rights lawyer and member of the legal team
for Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.
After briefing the
participants including journalists, lawyers, researchers, union leaders and
students about the status of the legal cases
against WikiLeaks, Julian Assange and Bradley Manning, Ms Jennifer
Robinson said, “Any criminal prosecution of Assange or Wikileaks in the USA will
raise serious concern for Press Freedom everywhere including India”.
Ms Robinson has acted for Assange in extradition proceedings
in London brought by Sweden and advised WikiLeaks through the publication of
Cablegate. She has also attended the Bradley Manning proceedings in the United
States on behalf of WikiLeaks and worked together with the Center for
Constitutional Rights to compel disclosure of materials in those proceedings
(US v Bradley Manning). She explained the legal situation facing Assange, who
has been granted political asylum by Ecuador in order to protect him from
persecution in the US but remains in the Ecuador embassy in London, and provide
an update on the Bradley Manning proceedings and the ongoing criminal
investigation into Wikileaks in the US.
Commenting on her presentation, Arun Kumar, Member, Press
Council of India said, “Indian journalistic community have the issues like
whether exposing of war crimes, corporate crimes, large scale human rights
violations by State actors and corporate citizens as well as the protection of
sources and egalitarianism in journalism as most important for survival of journalism
across the globe and each and every journalist and freedom loving citizen
should join hands with Julian Assange as described by Jennifer Robinson in her
experience sharing with us have in the Round Table.”
Arun Kumar is also the President, The Times of India
Newspaper Employees Union, Patna, General Secretary, Bihar Working Journalists
Union, Patna and Member National Executive Committee, Indian Journalists Union.
Reflecting on Ms Robinson’s presentation, Anand Swarup
Verma, Editor, Teesari Duniya said that the role of USA in impeding fair
national security journalism is being exposed by Wikileaks. Its expose has
brought the patronage being given to surveillance technology companies in the
public domain.
Prashant Bhushan, the eminent Supreme Court lawyer argued
that journalists who are whistle-blowers should get immunity even if some laws
get violated. He argued for a UN Convention for the protection of whistle-blowers.
For Details: Gopal Krishna, Member, Citizens Form for Civil
Liberties (CFCL), Mb: 9818089660 (Delhi), E-mail: krishna1715@gmail.com
Citizens
Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL) has been campaigning against unregulated
biometric, surveillance and identification technology companies since 2010 and
had appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee, Finance in this
regard. CFCL has consistently underlined that the silence of the States which
are quite vocal about threats to federal structure from Union Home Ministry‘s
National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) and National Intelligence Grid
(NATGRID) that integrates 21 sets of databases in the matter of the creation of
UID’s Centralized Identities Data Register (CIDR) disregarding the fact that
Planning Commission’s CIDR and Home Ministry’s National Population Register
(NPR) is inexplicable. CFCL is associated with MediaVigil, an association of
mass communication practitioners engaging since March 2004 with the issues of
democratisation of communication and the right to communicate without which the
freedom of expression is meaningless.
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