Wikilkeaks founder Julian Assange says he's being forced into writing an autobiography to keep his organization afloat. On Monday, New York publishing house's Alfred A. Knopf confirmed that it had struck a deal with the Australian to bring out his autobiography, whose publication date has yet not been determined.
Speaking to The Sunday Times, Assange said the deal would bring in more than $1 million, with $800,000 from Knopf and another 325,000 pounds ($500,000) from U.K. publisher Canongate. But he said he only agreed to it because he was under financial pressure.
"I don't want to write this book, but I have to," he said. "I have already spent 200,000 pounds for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat."
Assange shot to worldwide prominence after the publication of a series of spectacular leaks of classified U.S. material, including the ongoing publication of some 250,000 classified State Department cables.
But with the international attention came international legal issues. The UK- bound activist is currently fighting extradition to Sweden, where he faces sex crime allegations, and has said he fears moves to indict him in the United States on espionage charges. He's previously said that most of his organization's money goes to the fighting of legal and technical attacks.
Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards declined to comment on the specific figures mentioned by Assange, but confirmed that a deal had been in place since "prior to the holidays."
Bogaards said Assange was due to deliver his manuscript sometime in 2011. The autobiography's title hasn't been made public. (Knopf is an imprint of Random House Inc)
Again, Assange believes he could withstand solitary confinement in a U.S. prison if the American government manages to extradite him, but he fears he would likely be killed in "Jack Ruby-style" if held with others inside the U.S.
Assange told British Guardian newspaper in an interview that the final determination as to whether he can be sent from the U.K. to Sweden or to the United States would be made by British Prime Minister David Cameron, but that he believed it would be "politically impossible" for Cameron to do it.
"Legally the U.K. has the right not to extradite for political crimes," Assange said. "Espionage is the classic case of political crimes. It is at the discretion of the U.K. government as to whether to apply to that exception."
The U.S. government has not filed any charges against Assange, but Attorney General Eric Holder has said "there's a predicate for us to believe that crimes have been committed here and we are in the process of investigating those crimes."
It's been suggested that the U.S. government is trying to find a way to name the WikiLeaks founder as a co-conspirator in its case against the Army Analyst, suspected of providing the classified U.S. documents to WikiLeaks. In the meantime, U.N. has ordered an investigation into his treatment in the prison.
"Solitary confinement is very difficult," Assange said, reflecting on the nine days he's already spent in a London prison on a Swedish warrant for questioning in a sexual misconduct case brought by two women in that country.
"But I know that I can withstand it, provided there is some opportunity for correspondence. I'm mentally robust,". He added, "Of course, it would mean the end of my life in the conventional sense."
If he was to be held in a U.S. prison, however, Assange speculated there was a "high chance" he'd be killed in the Jack Ruby style, the man who killed alleged JFK shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald two days after he was arrested.
Assange claimed the legal fees incurred by WikiLeaks already had added to about $770,000. He said the decision by several large U.S. financial companies (reportedly under political pressure from U.S. lawmakers) to halt payments to WikiLeaks had deprived his group of its $655,000 'war chest'
Days would be better in 2011..so hang on..
Thanks,
Prof. Dr. Alex Abraham Odikandathil
No comments:
Post a Comment