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WikiLeaks hasn’t met pledge for soldier’s legal aid, group says


Army private is suspected of leaking classified materials


BY ELLEN NAKASHIMA WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy


Web site, has yet tomake good on a July pledge to contribute finan- cial aid to the legal defense fund of a U.S. Army private suspected of leaking classified documents to the site, the fund’s director said Tuesday. “It’s a surprise to us that it


hasn’t happened yet,” said Jeff Paterson, project director of Courage to Resist, an Oakland, Calif., group seeking to raise $100,000 toward legal fees for Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, who was charged five months ago in connection with the leaking of classifiedmaterial. Courage to Resist, awar resist- ers’ group, so far has donated


$50,000 to pay the fees of Man- ning’s private attorney, David E. Coombs. But as of Tuesday, Pater- son said, WikiLeaks had not transferred anymoney to him. Late Tuesday, WikiLeaks


spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said in an e-mail that amisunder- standing about the status of the paymenthad been“rectified” and the “payment is being processed now.” At a panel discussion lastweek


in London, Hrafnsson said the group had contributed to Man- ning’sdefense fund“a substantial amount of money,” while insist- ing that WikiLeaks still does not know whether Manning was the source of the diplomatic cables and other classified material it has recently posted. According to Paterson, Cour-


age to Resist corresponded with WikiLeaks founder Julian As- sange in July and on subsequent occasions confirming that WikiLeaks would cover about half of the expected fees, or


$50,000, for Manning’s defense. On its Twitter page, WikiLeaks frequently solicited donations for the defense fund through a Ger- man charity, the Wau Holland Foundation. Paterson said that in an e-mail


exchange Tuesday with a founda- tion official, he learned that the foundation had not yet been au- thorized by WikiLeaks to dis- burse the money. Foundation Vice President Hendrik Fulda said it was his understanding that 15,000 euros, about $20,000, would be set aside for the defense fund but he still needed to con- firm that with WikiLeaks, ac- cording to Paterson. “The contribution was infor-


mally agreed upon quite some time ago and that was relayed to the defense fund,”Hrafnssonsaid in the e-mail. “I was under the impression it had been formally authorized as is required by the trustees [of the] Wau Holland Fund. This situation has now been rectified and the payment is


being processed now.” Paterson said the development


was “awesome.”He said: “Super. I hope the check is in themail.” WikiLeaks has engaged in an


aggressive fundraising campaign and has raised about $1 million throughWau Holland, according tomedia reports. But in recent days it has faced


difficulties in keeping its con- duits for donations open. On Friday, the online money


service PayPal cut off WikiLeaks’ account, depriving the site of its principal—though not exclusive — means to receive contribu- tions. The move froze 60,000 euros, or about $80,000, in dona- tions to WikiLeaks, the group said in a statement. Themoneywas supposed to go


toWauHolland. On Monday, Swiss bank Post-


Finance froze anaccount used for Assange’s defense fund and per- sonal assets of about 31,000 eu- ros, or about $41,000, saying in a news release that Assange had


“provided false information re- garding his place of residence” when opening the account. As- sange had stated he lived in Geneva. “Upon inspection, this information was found to be incorrect,” the statement said. Assange’s failure to prove


Swiss residency, a requirement to open an account with the bank- ing arm of the Swiss postal ser- vice, entitled PostFinance to close the account, the statement said. Fulda told Wired.com’s Threat


Level blog in September that WikiLeaks had authorized himto release funds fromits account for Manning’s defense. The money was expected to go to Courage to Resist,Wired.comreported. At lastweek’spaneldiscussion,


Hrafnsson said Wau Holland would release a report by year’s end detailing expenses and sala- ries for paid WikiLeaks staff, Wired.comsaid. “We are a small but healthy organization,” Hrafnsson told


The Washington Post in October on the eve of WikiLeaks’ release ofmore than 390,000 secretmili- tary field reports on the Iraqwar. “We are limited in terms ofmon- ey, but we have a lot of people who are active in their support in all aspects, both in technical expertise and journalistswho are helping out and reviewing mate- rial.” Hrafnsson, an Icelandic jour-


nalist, put the number of volun- teers “in the hundreds.”He said a small number of people, includ- ing himself, are paid. Manning is being held at a


military facility in Quantico, pending the investigation. Coombs has said that he has yet to receive any evidence from the government to indicate that Manning was responsible for the alleged leaks. nakashimae@washpost.com


Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.


Arrest of site’s founder in Britain complicates U.S. extradition process wikileaks from A1


would also have to launch a laborious extradition request with Sweden, a country known for protecting asylumseekers. In addition, if British authori-


ties grant the Swedish request, Assange would be flown to a country that shares a significant- ly stricter extradition treaty with the United States. Swedish au- thorities said Tuesday that they would seriously weigh any re- quest but noted that their treaty with the United States does not cover crimes that are political or military in nature. “If and when a U.S. request


comes, itmust be builtwith some sort of evidence and would be complicated if the same act is not punishable under Swedish law,” said Nils Rekke, head of the legal department at the Swedish pros- ecutor’s office in Stockholm. It would also depend, he said, on whether any crime “is consid- ered political or military, which are omitted” from the extradi- tion treaty. Assange has argued that the


allegations against himare polit- icallymotivated.


U.S. officials have been investi-


gating whether Assange, as head ofWikiLeaks, can be charged for disseminating sensitive docu- ments, including detailed ac- counts of the wars in Afghani- stan and Iraq and embarrassing personal opinions of world lead- ers held by U.S. diplomats. Given the broader extradition


treaty Washington enjoys with London, analysts say that going after Assange while he is still on British soilwould prove the surer path. Nevertheless, his arrest may not affect the pace of the investigation in the United States, according to U.S. officials and experts on the laws of extra- dition. The U.S. attorney’s office in


Alexandria and the FBI are con- ducting what Justice Depart- ment officials have described as an aggressive criminal probe that sources familiar with the inquiry say could lead to charges under the Espionage Act. But prosecutions under the 1917 act are highly complex, and sources familiar with the investigation have said that no criminal charg- es are imminent. U.S. officials,who spoke on the


condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to dis- cuss the probe, indicated Tues- day that they were unlikely to quickly put together a criminal case just to seek Assange’s extra- dition. That could mean that Assange is instead extradited to Sweden to face the sex crime charges there. One U.S. official said that


could give the Justice Depart- ment time to decide whether — and how — to bring a criminal case in the United States. Allen Weiner, director of the


program in international and comparative lawat Stanford Law School, said that such an out- come “would be lucky for theU.S. government. If we don’t want him to be running around the world doing more WikiLeaks type of activity, we will have caught a break if he ends up being arrested, tried and convict- ed of a completely unrelated crime.” Despite the closing net around


the organization’s international financial and technical opera- tions,WikiLeaks representatives vowed that Assange’s arrest would not interrupt the release


ofmore documents. “We are on 301, and there are


250,000 secret cables,”Mark Ste- phens, one of Assange’s attor- neys, told reporters in London. He referred to WikiLeaks’ latest cache of State Department docu- ments, the most recent of which was released Tuesday night. Nevertheless, Assange suf-


fered a blow Tuesday when a judge in Britain, Howard Riddle, denied him bail despite the sup- port and financial backing of noted British personalities, in- cluding celebrity heiress Jemima Kahn.While amedia horde and a smattering of WikiLeaks sup- porters gathered outside the courthouse, Riddle said that not only is the nomadic Assange a flight risk, but he is potentially at risk of harm from “unstable persons” if released. Appearing stoic in a dark-blue


suit, Assange told the court that he declined to give fingerprints or DNA samples on the advice of his attorneys, according to ac- counts from the courtroom. As- sange, the court heard, had spent two months living at the Front- line Club, a media watering hole near Paddington Station, though


more recently he had been living with a female friend. When asked if he would willingly agree to the extradition, he said he would not. Though his extradition trial


next week could potentially take only a day, legal experts said it could also drag on for weeks. Assange’s attorneys are stating their case that there is no need for him to go to Sweden to answer prosecutors’ questions, arguing they could interview him through videoconferencing or come to London themselves. Britain and Sweden, as mem-


bers of the European Union, share an extradition treaty that is designed for rapid and streamlined dispatching of sus- pects. Proving a political moti- vation for extradition may be one way to fend off the Swedish request. But Riddle made it clear that the burden of proof would be high. “This case is not, on the face of


it, aboutWikiLeaks,” Riddle said in the courtroom. “It is an allega- tion in another European coun- try of serious sexual offenses alleged to have occurred on three separate occasions and involving


two separate victims.” On Tuesday, British authori-


ties offered additional details of the thus far murky allegations against Assange in Sweden. Dur- ing a trip in August, when As- sange was scouting out Sweden as a potential new base of opera- tions, a woman alleged that he had unprotected sex with her despite her protests, and that he additionally used his body “to hold her down in a sexual man- ner.” A second woman, authorities


said, alleged that Assange had unprotected sex with her while she was asleep. Assange has yet to be formally


charged; rather, he is still being sought only for questioning by Swedish authorities. If found guilty of the most serious of the allegations, he could face up to four years in jail under Swedish law.


faiolaa@washpost.com markonj@washpost.com


Markon reported from Washington. Special correspondent Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi in London contributed to this report.


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