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Economic Blockade of Wikileaks Ruled Unlawful
by Elizabeth C. via bub - Golightly Media Friday, Apr 26 2013, 1:44pm
international / prose / post

I have no time for Assange or any other despotic, fascist ego type and I couldn't give a fuck how 'gifted' or 'intelligent' others say he is. The issue is INJUSTICE and it seems that justice has finally been served; the clearly uncorrupted Icelandic Supreme Court ruled that the economic blockade of donations to WikiLeaks is unlawful.

It was clear from the start that the economic blockade was politically motivated, however, what has suffered more than WikiLeaks is the integrity of the LAW.

A nation that has legalised TORTURE, extra-judicial killing and indefinite detention without trial or charge on SUSPICION, probably thinks very little of an economic blockade instigated by the BANKS against WikiLeaks. It is very heartening to see that some nations have not politicised or corrupted their judiciary as Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia did and the Hague and USA is DOING today.

What is not very encouraging is the length of time it took to reach that verdict when it was OBVIOUS the blockade was illegal and politically motivated.

Story from Golightly Media follows:

Icelandic High Court Orders Visa To Resume Payments To WikiLeaks

by Elizabeth C.

The court ruled that Valitor must resume processing payments on behalf of WikiLeaks within 15 days or else face a fine of $6,830 per day, according to WikiLeaks.

Wikileaks hails the court victory as an “important milestone” in its battle against the West’s economic blockade. In December 2010, the organization’s economic lifeline was cut after it released a trove of diplomatic cables providing an unprecedented glimpse into U.S.’s diplomatic relationships around the world.

The U.S. Justice Department launched a criminal investigation of the records dump, which reportedly included a secret grand jury and indictment of Assange.

“This is a victory for free speech,” Assange said in a statement about the ruling. “This is a victory against the rise of economic censorship to crack down against journalists and publishers”

One month after the groundbreaking whistleblowing organization released the diplomatic cables, Visa, Western Union, Paypal and MasterCard abruptly stopped accepting donations to WikiLeaks. The economic blockade was assailed by Assange as “business McCarthyism.” But the blockade succeeded in drying up donations to the organization which has been praised by free speech activists, journalists and civil libertarians. Amnesty International UK awarded the organization its 2009 New Media Award for “exposing extrajudicial assassinations in Kenya.”

WikiLeaks continues to challenge the economic boycott in ongoing or planned legal actions “against the international card companies and financial services companies – VISA and MasterCard, Western Union, PayPal and Bank of America, and other payment facilitators that…form[ed] a concerted, and equally unlawful economic blockade against the organisation.”

In the absense of these payment services, Pentagon whistleblower Daniel Elsberg, actor John Cusack and Electronic Frontier Foundation founder John Perry Barlow created the Freedom of the Press Foundation to enable anonymous, tax-deductable donations to Wikileaks and other newsgathering outlets.

http://tinyurl.com/c6xtblw