The world need Julain Assange but some dirty country dont.

Julian Assange arrested on sex assault charges, vows to fight extradition
A prison van, believed to be carrying Julian Assange, leaves London's Westminster Magistrates' Court / AFP Source: AFP
Britain WikiLeaks

Mark Stephens said the WikiLeaks founder was keen for the truth about the rape claims to be revealed / AP Source: AP
THE PRIME Minister has been urged to support WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange following his arrest, while Visa has cut off payments to the whistleblowing website.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been denied bail, as he appeared in a London court on rape allegations.
British judge denies bail for Assange
8 December 2010 1:33 undefined
WikiLeaks supporters have staged a protest outside the courthouse where founder Julian Assange was tried / AFP

8 December 2010 1:55 undefined
Harvard politics professor Timothy Colton discusses the diplomatic fallout from the WikiLeaks affair / Russia Today

The US regards Kevin Rudd as a 'control freak', diplomatic cables reveal.
including scholar Noam Chomsky, journalist John Pilger, author Christos Tsiolkas, and Greens leader Bob Brown - have urged the Prime Minister to support Assange after he was arrested in Britain on sex assault charges.

The case against Assange sparked from two one-night stands in Sweden which one of the women involved says "had been consensual from the start but had eventually turned into abuse".

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The news comes as WikiLeaks released hundreds more US diplomatic cables that reveal a damning assessment of Kevin Rudd's performance when he was the country's leader. In these messages, the US ambassador labels Mr Rudd a bungling "control freak" who risked diplomatic relationships in attempts to big-note himself.

Visa has now suspended all payments to WikiLeaks pending an investigation of the organisation's business. This leaves WikiLeaks, which relies on online donations, without another source of payment after PayPal recently severed ties to the organisation.

Today the office of the Swedish prosecutor pursuing Assange came under cyber attack in the latest salvo by his online supporters, the "cyber hacktivist" group called "Anonymous". Attempts to connect to the aklagare.se website around 9am (AEDT) were unsuccessful.

The arrest

Assange has been been refused bail and remanded in custody following his arrest by British police on sex assault charges.

The 39-year-old, who voluntarily surrendered to police last night, faced an extradition hearing at London's Westminster Magistrates Court.

During his court appearance the Australian vowed to fight attempts to extradite him to Sweden, where he faces the sex offence allegations, while his lawyer confirmed Mr Assange would make a renewed bid for bail.

He was asked if he understood that he could consent to be extradited, to which he replied: "I understand that and I do not consent."

Judge Howard Riddle remanded him in custody and ordered him to return to court on December 14.

Rudd criticised

The court drama played out as new information emerged from the secret US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks on former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Mr Rudd was branded a mistake-prone control-freak and "a micro-manager obsessed with managing the media cycle rather than engaging in collaborative decision-making".

The cables showed how favourable US impressions of Mr Rudd, once described as "a safe pair of hands", were replaced by criticism of his micro-management and mishandling of diplomacy as he focused on media opportunities, AAP reported.

"Rudd undoubtedly believes that with his intellect, his six years as a diplomat in the 1980s and his five years as shadow foreign minister, he has the background and the ability to direct Australia's foreign policy," the US embassy observed in November last year.

Hiding out

Before last night, Mr Assange had not been seen publicly for over a month and was believed to have been hiding with friends in southeast London.

His arrest came after Scotland Yard contacted his lawyer Mark Stephens after receiving a fresh European Arrest Warrant from the Swedish authorities.

A previous warrant, issued last month, was invalid, as officials had failed to fill in all the charges on the form.


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