Julian Assange has a funny relationship with the press: Sometimes he obliges and dresses up in fetishistic Santa Claus suits for Newsweek, other times he runs from the lenses of T magazine or from CNN reporters. Now, in his first public appearance since being arrested in December following accusations of rape and sexual assault, Assange showed up at a public debate and reaffirmed his commitment to suing the Guardian, then threatened political commentator Douglas Murray, before exiting the room. From the Guardian itself:
Douglas Murray challenged the WikiLeaks founder over an account in a book by Guardian writers, in which the authors quote him suggesting that if informants were to be killed following publication of the leaks, they ‘had it coming to them.’
Assange repeated an earlier assertion that the website is “in the process of suing the Guardian” over the assertion, and asked if Murray would like to “join the queue” of organisations he was suing. The Guardian has not received any notification of such action from WikiLeaks or its lawyers.
Although Assange doesn’t quite champion actual libel, which he’s claiming the Guardian book includes, he left before talking it out. What a tease.
Julian Assange claims WikiLeaks is more accountable than governments [Guardian UK via Gawker]
Earlier: Julian Assange Picks a Media Fight With the Guardian
