SYDNEY (AFP) — Australian spy agencies may have
helped trace the movements of WikiLeaks founder
Julian Assange, whose whistleblowing website published
tens of thousands of secret US military files, reports
said on Friday.
Attorney General Robert McClelland said Australia
cooperated on security matters with international
bodies, but refused to say whether authorities had
shared information about the Australian-born
Assange.
“It’s not the sort of thing that I would comment on
, but again, we do cooperate with respect to a
number of matters internationally,” he said in
comments reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.
WikiLeaks in June released close to 77,000 files
from the US military about the Afghan war, some
of which alleged that Pakistani spies met the Taliban
and that deaths of innocent civilians by foreign forces
were covered up. The documents also included names
of some Afghan informants, prompting claims that the
leaks have endangered lives.
Assange has denied that the release of the confidential
documents had jeopardised the safety of people, telling
an audience in London on Thursday that the site aimed
to protect people.
“We do not have a goal of innocent people being harmed.
We have precisely the opposite goal,” he said at
London’s City University.
The 39-year-old, who has applied for a permit to live in
Sweden, has claimed that he is a victim of a “smear
campaign” aimed at discrediting his website over the
release of the secret US documents.
WikiLeaks is expected to reveal another 15,000
files shortly.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article
/ALeqM5iJw-RBk449rShHIOaMmNR7WBty2g
?docId=CNG.0c3a53ff7267f11501a5b3dbd9567dbf.1f1
[Leaders do the right thing whereas
followers cover it up]