Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the Front. I'm Claire Harvey.
Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, January eighth. There's an epidemic of childhood anxiety,
Speaker 1: or maybe there's not. Experts say worried parents and well
Speaker 1: meaning educators may be making anxiety worse by indulging kids
Speaker 1: instead of helping them through the normal challenges of life.
Speaker 1: That's an exclusive live right now at the Australian dot
Speaker 1: com dot a slash health. Julian Assange has been very
Speaker 1: quiet since returning to Australia in mid twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: He was freed after pleading guilty to a United States
Speaker 1: charge of espionage. He's a hacker, a self styled freedom fighter,
Speaker 1: and someone who's always denied committing crimes. But do you
Speaker 1: remember why he was on the run in the first place.
Speaker 1: Today we go back to the start with the women
Speaker 1: who accused Assange of rape. This episode was first broadcast
Speaker 1: in June twenty twenty four, and don't forget we'll be
Speaker 1: back with all new episodes of The Front on January eleven.
Speaker 1: Before we begin, this episode contains allegations of sexual assault.
Speaker 1: Back in twenty ten, Julian Assange was a figure of
Speaker 1: international intrigue, the swashbuckling hacker turned publisher whose website Wikileagues
Speaker 1: was dumping thousands of documents into the public domain, highly
Speaker 1: damaging secret military files that exposed the inner workings of
Speaker 1: America's war in Afghanistan. And then Assange was accused of
Speaker 1: rape while he was working in Sweden. Two young Swedish
Speaker 1: women who had met him in Wikileak circles accused Assange
Speaker 1: of having sex with them without using a condom without
Speaker 1: their consent. One was Anna Ardin. She had hosted Assange
Speaker 1: in her home and the pair had sex in which
Speaker 1: she said Assange deliberately ripped a condom she'd asked him
Speaker 1: to wear and was violent towards her during sex. Assange
Speaker 1: denied both those allegations. You're Flawdiana. Julian Massange men to scoff,
Speaker 1: but I'm not a shorning all. In this interview with
Speaker 1: Swedish paper Zvenska, Doug Bladette, Ardin, who's written a book
Speaker 1: about her allegations, said this, We've used a voice actor
Speaker 1: to bring you the translation of her words.
Speaker 2: I'm happy to forgive Julian Assange, but I can't create
Speaker 2: this reconciliation myself. I did my best to get this
Speaker 2: thing tried in court, but he stayed away. It affected
Speaker 2: my life immensely in the beginning. I had to quit
Speaker 2: my job, I had to move out of my apartment.
Speaker 2: I was even hidden abroad for a period. I also
Speaker 2: got a lot of support and it's helped me move
Speaker 2: on and I think I've become a stronger person in
Speaker 2: this process.
Speaker 1: Another woman, known only as Miss W, had consensual sex
Speaker 1: with Assange using a condom, but said she had awoken
Speaker 1: the following morning to find him having sex with her again,
Speaker 1: this time without the condom she'd asked him to use.
Speaker 1: This action removing a condom is now known as stealthing,
Speaker 1: and over the past decade has been formally criminalized throughout
Speaker 1: Australia and much of the western world. In Queensland, this
Speaker 1: offense carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Assange
Speaker 1: has always denied wrongdoing and said his contact with the
Speaker 1: women was consensual. He was questioned by local police, but
Speaker 1: he left Sweden for the UK before he could be charged.
Speaker 1: Swedish authorities formally arrested him in absentia in September twenty ten.
Speaker 1: Swedish courts issued a European arrest warrant, and the international
Speaker 1: policing agency INTERPOL issued a Red Notice, a note to
Speaker 1: police around the world indicating a person is wanted for extradition. Assange,
Speaker 1: by now in London, was arrested by London's Metropolitan Police
Speaker 1: and remanded in custody, whereupon numerous supporters, including Jemima Kahn,
Speaker 1: helped him post hundreds of thousands of dollars in bail.
Speaker 1: British courts issued an extradition warrant, rejecting Assannger's arguments the
Speaker 1: Swedish prosecution was politically motivated. Assange appealed to Britain's High Court.
Speaker 1: His lawyers argued the women had consented to sex, and
Speaker 1: that his conduct might have been unpleasant, but if committed
Speaker 1: in London, would not have been a crime. His lawyer
Speaker 1: ben Emerson case Assange may have seemed disreputable, discourteous, disturbing
Speaker 1: or even pushing towards the boundaries of what they were
Speaker 1: comfortable with, but it was not a criminal. He's a
Speaker 1: voice actor with Ben Emerson Casey's words as spoken in court.
Speaker 1: He's speaking about the second woman who says she awoke
Speaker 1: to find Assange having sex with her without a condom.
Speaker 3: She may not have enjoyed the experience, but she clearly
Speaker 3: consented to it.
Speaker 1: The High Court rejected Assange's arguments, ruling Swedish authorities could
Speaker 1: order his return to Sweden. Assange was defiant.
Speaker 4: I have not been charged with any crime in any country.
Speaker 4: No doubt. There will be many attempts made to try
Speaker 4: and spin these proceedings as they occur today, but they
Speaker 4: are merely technical.
Speaker 1: While all this was going on, Wiki leaks continued. In
Speaker 1: twenty eleven, the Walkley Foundation in Australia gave WikiLeaks and
Speaker 1: Dessange an award for an Outstanding Contribution to Journalism after
Speaker 1: they published a video showing American forces killing civilians and
Speaker 1: to Reuter's journalists in Baghdad That sparked a fierce debate.
Speaker 1: Was this accused rapist and self proclaimed crusader actually the
Speaker 1: journalist at all? James Madden is the Australian's media editor.
Speaker 5: I think it's cut and dried. Actually, Claire, I do
Speaker 5: not believe what WikiLeaks does can be considered journalism, for
Speaker 5: the simple fact that journalists have an obligation to the
Speaker 5: readers and the public to present information in its relevant context.
Speaker 5: That is a responsibility that falls upon the shoulders of
Speaker 5: journalists and media companies and news outlets, and Wikileak's mo
Speaker 5: has today obtaining documents and publishing them trives of documents
Speaker 5: at a time, without sifting through these documents to present
Speaker 5: the information within in journalism form.
Speaker 1: Wikiliks prided itself on presenting entire cases of material without
Speaker 1: editing or redaction. That meant the most sensitive diplomatic communications
Speaker 1: were suddenly out in the open, including the names of
Speaker 1: human rights leaders, dissidents, spies, informants, and others who were
Speaker 1: secretly dealing with the US in places like Iraq. In
Speaker 1: twenty ten, human rights organizations including Amnesty International begged WikiLeaks
Speaker 1: to redact the names of Afghans who were working with
Speaker 1: the Americans after the Taliban said it was going through
Speaker 1: the documents on wikiliks to identify and eliminate collaborators.
Speaker 5: That information, or that fact Claire doesn't always garner a
Speaker 5: lot of publicity when defenders of Assange are talking about
Speaker 5: the merits of his an Wikilik's journalism. But the truth is,
Speaker 5: professional journalists take extraordinary steps to defend the privacy and
Speaker 5: by extension the safety of people about whom they're writing,
Speaker 5: and a lot of consideration goes into presenting information in
Speaker 5: a responsible way.
Speaker 1: Then Assange went into hiding, and unlike most people accused
Speaker 1: of being sex offenders, he was suddenly hailed as a hero.
Speaker 1: Assange claimed he was afraid that the Swedish judicial process
Speaker 1: could end in him being extradited to the United States
Speaker 1: over all those classified US documents. In twenty twelve, he
Speaker 1: sought asylum in the London embassy of Ecuador, a South
Speaker 1: American republic, and that's where he stayed for seven years
Speaker 1: in the embassy, refusing to emerge in case he was
Speaker 1: arrested and sent back to Sweden to face the rape charges.
Speaker 1: In twenty nineteen, after much legal back and forth, Sweden
Speaker 1: dropped the charges, saying too much time had expired. Although
Speaker 1: the women have never recanted their claims, Assange was triumphant.
Speaker 4: Seven years without charge. Why my children grew up without them?
Speaker 4: That is not something that I can.
Speaker 1: Forgive yeah children. It later emerged Assange had formed a
Speaker 1: romance with a Swedish Spanish woman, Stella Morris, and fathered
Speaker 1: two kids while inside the embassy.
Speaker 6: He's not a criminal, He's not a dangerous person. He's
Speaker 6: a gentle intellectual center and a journalist, and those people
Speaker 6: are not the people who belong in prison.
Speaker 1: In April twenty nineteen, the Ecuadorians revoked his asylum. They
Speaker 1: said a sanch had been a terrible HouseGuest, abusing staff,
Speaker 1: hacking into their computer systems, meddling in Ecuador's relationships with
Speaker 1: other countries, and even leaving the feces of his cat
Speaker 1: and himself on the floors and walls of the embassy.
Speaker 1: The Metropolitan Police stormed the embassy and dragged Assange out,
Speaker 1: a bizarre scene on the quiet streets of London. As
Speaker 1: Assian shouted the UK must resist pressure to extradite him,
Speaker 1: Scotland Yard arrested him for failing to appear in court
Speaker 1: over the rape allegation. Until now, the US had not
Speaker 1: moved on Assange at all, but in twenty nineteen, once
Speaker 1: he was out of the embassy, the Americans finally revealed
Speaker 1: they did want him. He'd been indicted by a US
Speaker 1: grand jury for conspiration to commit computer intrusion. Coming up,
Speaker 1: how Julian Assange recast himself as not an accused rapist,
Speaker 1: but a freedom fighter. We'll be back after this break.
Speaker 1: Belmarsh is the maximum security prison where Julian Assange has
Speaker 1: been for the past nineteen hundred and one days, just
Speaker 1: over five years. His family and advocates have complained to
Speaker 1: Assange's mental and physical health were under desperate strain, so
Speaker 1: why was he in jail? Initially, he was sentenced to
Speaker 1: fifty weeks for breaching bail over the Swedish rape allegations.
Speaker 1: British prosecutors said he'd illegally entered the embassy to avoid
Speaker 1: extradition to Sweden. Assange released a statement of apologizing for
Speaker 1: his conduct. We've used a voice actor.
Speaker 2: I apologize unreservedly to those who consider that I have
Speaker 2: disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case.
Speaker 1: This is not what I wanted or intended. In early
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, after about a month behind bars, Assange was
Speaker 1: charged with an additional seventeen counts under the United States
Speaker 1: Espionage Act relating to hundreds of thousands of leaked classified
Speaker 1: US documents covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty.
Speaker 3: Julian Assange has been a denied bail by a judge
Speaker 3: at a London court. The wiki league's founder was hoping
Speaker 3: to leave prison two days after the same judge rejected
Speaker 3: a request for extradition to the United States.
Speaker 1: The judge that Assange couldn't be trusted to show up
Speaker 1: in court if he was given bail, and ordered him
Speaker 1: to remain in Belmarsh while the extradition proceedings played out. Then,
Speaker 1: in December twenty twenty one, another twist.
Speaker 5: Julian Assange is a step closer to being extradited to
Speaker 5: America after the US government one it's been to overturn
Speaker 5: a UK court decision.
Speaker 1: Assange appealed to the UK Supreme Court and failed. In
Speaker 1: April twenty twenty two, the US got its wish. A
Speaker 1: British court has issued an order to extradite Wiki Leagues
Speaker 1: founder Julian Assange to the United States. If convicted on
Speaker 1: all charges, Assange faced up to one hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: five years in an American prison. Just a month ago,
Speaker 1: another British court granted Assange one last chance to appeal
Speaker 1: the extradition order, and then on Sunday a deal was announced.
Speaker 1: Assange agreed to plead guilty to one charge of espionage
Speaker 1: conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information.
Speaker 1: He was released from Bellmarsh and bordered a plane to
Speaker 1: Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, a US Pacific territory,
Speaker 1: where a judge will handle the formalities. That was also
Speaker 1: part of the negotiation to avoid Assange setting foot on
Speaker 1: the US mainland. The Americans have agreed to drop eighteen
Speaker 1: espionage charges against Assange and he'll be sentenced to sixty
Speaker 1: two months in prison, but his time already served in
Speaker 1: Bellmarsh will be counted. It's expected that after sentencing, he'll
Speaker 1: leave the Marianas for Australia, his homeland. The Albanese government,
Speaker 1: which is campaigned for his release, will welcome Assange in
Speaker 1: the US. The Biden administration, which continued Donald Trump's pursuit
Speaker 1: of Massange, will be relieved to see the last of him,
Speaker 1: and the big question what now for the hacker turned
Speaker 1: activist who says he's only ever sought to expose the truth.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us for this fresh edit of one
Speaker 1: of our favorite episodes from the past year. We'll be
Speaker 1: back with all new episodes on January eleven. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: check out all the world's best journalism anytime at the
Speaker 1: Australian dot com dot au