WikiLeaks founder granted bail, but remains incarcerated

By
Ann Talbot
15 December 2010

Amid extraordinary scenes at a London magistrate’s court, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks was granted bail but then sent back to prison after the prosecution lodged an appeal. This Orwellian situation demonstrates beyond a shadow of doubt that the proceedings against Assange are of a politically motivated character. A political vendetta is being waged against him because he has dared to publish the truth about the crimes of American imperialism.

A cheer went up from a crowd of supporters, penned across the street by police, as news filtered out that Assange had been granted bail on onerous terms of ￡240,000, with the added conditions of surrendering his passport, obeying a curfew at an address in Suffolk, wearing an electronicall allegations against him. So flimsy is the case against him that Swedish prosecutors initially threw it out.

That the Swedish authorities decided to reopen the case against Assange―and the English courts first denied him bail and then agreed to keep him in prison even after doing so―is explicable only as the product of massive pressure exerted behind the scenes by Washington. It is widely predicted that if sent to Sweden, Assange will then be shipped on to the United States where, as the World Socialist Web Site reported yesterday, a grand jury has already been secretly empanelled.

The treatment meted out to Assange is confirmation of the rapid slide toward police-state measures taking place worldwide.

The extradition warrant under which Assange was detained was introduced a fter 9/11. It was