Worldwide demos called in support of jailed Wikileaks chief

Spanish online supporters of Julian Assange called for worldwide demonstrations yesterday to press for the release of the Wikileaks founder, who is in a London jail awaiting possible extradition to Sweden to face rape charges.

The Spanish website Free Wikileaks urged rallies in eight Spanish cities, including Madrid and Barcelona, while similar demonstrations were planned in Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Bogota and Lima.

In a manifesto entitled ‘For Freedom, Say No to State Terrorism’, it demanded “the release of Julian Assange in the United Kingdom” and “the restoration of the Wikileaks domain”.

“Given that no one has proved that Assange is guilty of the offences he is accused of and that Wikileaks is not implicated in any of those,” the website also urged that credit card giants Visa and Mastercard rescind their decisions to cut off payments from the whistleblowing website’s supporters.

Assange is due to appear in a London court for a second time on Tuesday after being arrested on a warrant issued by Sweden. Prosecutors there want to question him about two women’s allegations of rape and sexual molestation.

Wikileaks insists the allegations are politically motivated because the website has enraged Washington and governments around the world by releasing a treasure trove of 250,000 confidential US documents, believed to have been supplied by a junior US army intelligence analyst.

The 39-year-old Australian has been transferred from the main section of Wandsworth prison to an isolation unit, according to Jennifer Robinson, one of his legal team.

In the Netherlands, 75 people gathered in central Amsterdam to show their support for Wikileaks, police spokesman Rob van der Veen told AFP.

The Amsterdam rally was sponsored by the Dutch Pirates Party “to call for protection of freedom of the press” and “to express displeasure with the attempt to silence” sites such as Wikileaks.

Assange supporters in Lima scheduled their demonstration outside the British embassy.

Meanwhile new leaked US diplomatic cables revealed a row between the Vatican and Ireland over a child abuse inquiry.

The Holy See hit back after cables released by Wikileaks indicated it had refused to cooperate with an Irish probe into child sex abuse by Catholic priests in Dublin.