Uh oh. WikiLeaks is publishing Defense Department documents that reportedly cover detainment policies in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay post-9/11. Julian Assange said that the files show a “dark space” where law and rights don’t necessarily apply. The documents also reveal a harsh but “formal” interrogation policy -- as well as a policy of destroying interrogation recordings.

Reuters:

The WikiLeaks website began publishing on Thursday what it said were more than 100 U.S. Defense Department files detailing military detention policies in camps in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay in the years after the September 11 attacks on U.S. targets.

In a statement, WikiLeaks criticized regulations it said had led to abuse and impunity and urged human rights activists to use the documents, to be released over the next month, to research what it called "policies of unaccountability".

The statement quoted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as saying: "The 'Detainee Policies' show the anatomy of the beast that is post-9/11 detention, the carving out of a dark space where law and rights do not apply, where persons can be detained without a trace at the convenience of the U.S. Department of Defense."

"It shows the excesses of the early days of war against an unknown 'enemy' and how these policies matured and evolved," it said, and led to "the permanent state of exception that the United States now finds itself in, a decade later."

Assange is still staying inside Ecuador's embassy in central London to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning about an alleged rape and sexual assault. Assange and his supporters believe that the extradition to Sweden is a ruse, and that Sweden will then extradite him to the United States to face charges related to the publishing of leaked U.S. military and diplomatic documents.

The hacktivist collective Anonymous says that it has attacked government websites in retaliation for the UK's handling of the Julian Assange case.

It claimed responsibility on Twitter for the denial-of-service attacks. Websites affected include the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office.

The latest attacks were launched on Monday and most of the affected websites appeared to be operating normally on Tuesday evening.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice website said it "had been experiencing some disruption" and that "The Ministry of Justice website was the subject of an online attack."

The Ministry of Justice website is a public information site, and held no sensitive or confidential data.

"Measures put in place to keep the website running mean that some visitors may be unable to access the site intermittently," said the spokeswoman.

[Via]

British authorities have demanded that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange present himself at Belgravia police station at 11.30am on Friday. According to the Guardian, "This is standard practice in extradition cases and is the first step in the removal process," and "Failing to surrender would be a further breach of conditions and he is liable to arrest." But if he complies, police may arrest him immediately, because he has breached the terms of his bail.

Reuters reports:

On Thursday, British police summoned Assange to a London police station, demanding he leave the embassy. But Assange later told BBC television in a telephone interview: "Our advice is that asylum law both internationally and domestically in the UK takes precedence to extradition law, so the answer is almost certainly not."

On Sunday, Ecuador's ambassador to the UK left London to return home for talks on Assange's application for asylum. Assange remains under Ecuador's protection while it considers the application, and is "beyond the reach of the police" while he remains in the building.

Earlier this week, a letter signed by leading US figures in support of Assange's application for political asylum in Ecuador was delivered to the country's London embassy. Among its signatories were Michael Moore, Oliver Stone, Noam Chomsky and Danny Glover. Others who put their names to it included the author Naomi Wolf, comedian Bill Maher and Daniel Ellsberg, the former US military analyst turned whistleblower, who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971 and has been a long-standing supporter of Assange.

Ecuador has said that Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, has sought out asylum at the South American country’s embassy in London, according to Reuters. A week ago, Assange lost a bid in Britain’s highest court to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where he is to be questioned on sex-crime allegations. Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Pinto told reporters that “Ecuador is studying and analyzing the request.” The controversial Assange has waged a legal war in Britain’s courts for about two years to be allowed to stay in the country, even as his website has continued to publish sensitive documents.

The situation threatens to inflame tensions between the government of Rafael Correa, Ecuador's leftist and ardently anti-Washington president, and U.S. authorities, who accuse Assange of damaging its foreign relations with his leaks.

It is also an embarrassment for Britain, where the Foreign Office whose foreign ministry on Tuesday confirmed Assange was beyond the reach of its police in the Ecuadorean embassy.
...
"While the department assesses Mr. Assange's application, Mr. Assange will remain at the embassy, under the protection of the Ecuadorean Government," the embassy said on its website.

If Ecuador denies Assange's petition for asylum, the only option that remains through the courts is an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

Britain’s highest court ruled by a 5-2 vote on Wednesday that WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, should be deported to Sweden to face allegations of sexual abuse there, the culmination of an 18-month legal battle.

The Guardian:

But lawyers for the WikiLeaks founder were given two weeks to decide whether to challenge one of the points made in the judgment, and Assange's extradition will be stayed at least until then. Dinah Rose QC, for Assange, said that the justices had made their decision based on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties - but the provisions of that convention had not been raised during the hearing.

Legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg said this meant there was "everything to play for still", and it would be "very embarrassing" if the supreme court had to reopen the case on the basis that "they might have considered something which they gave the parties no opportunity to argue".

In brief, the judges ruled that the the UK had signed up to the European framework on extradition in order to help create a single system for surrendering accused people, and that it was always intended that the11 EU member states that allow prosecutors to issue extradition orders – as Sweden, but not the UK, does – would be able to continue doing so.

Lord Mance, one of two dissenting justices, said the wording of the framework decision was ambiguous and so it was appropriate to consider what ministers said at the time, which was that it would be a judge, court or magistrate that issued the order.

Mr. Assange -- who was not present in court -- was granted a two-week stay of extradition while he and his lawyers consider making the application to re-open the case.

Here is the judgement in full (pdf).

Julian Assange will play himself in the 500th episode of The Simpsons, according to Entertainment Weekly. The episode will air Feb. 19th, 2012. Assange is still under house arrest in England, and reportedly recorded his lines in an undisclosed location. But if the Simpsons team could get Thomas Pynchon on the show, nothing is beyond their superpowers.

Via:

In the milestone episode, Homer and Marge discover that the residents of Springfield are holding a secret town meeting to kick them out of Springfield for all of their shenanigans over the years. As a result, “the Simpsons go off the grid to this very rugged place where they meet [Assange], who’s sort of their new Flanders,” explains Jean. And how exactly is he like pious neighbor Ned? “Well, he lives next door,” quips Jean. “The similarities end there… He invites them over for a home movie and it’s an Afghan wedding being bombed.”

Assange is scheduled to appear before Britain’s Supreme Court on Wednesday to appeal extradition to Sweden over sexual-assault allegations.