Embattled journalist Julian Assange has appointed Kristinn Hrafnsson as the new editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, taking over one of Assange roles within the whistle-blowing media organization.
While Assange remains the site’s publisher, WikiLeaks explained in a brief statement last week that “Due to the extraordinary circumstances where Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been held incommunicado (except for visits by his lawyers) for six months while arbitrarily detained in the Ecuadorian embassy, Mr. Assange has appointed Kristinn Hrafnsson Editor in Chief of WikiLeaks.”
Since founding WikiLeaks in 2006, Assange has courageously disseminated censored and suppressed information that has uncovered numerous crimes by governments and corporations throughout the world.
For exposing the crimes of American imperialism – most notably the “collateral murder” Apache helicopter massacre in Iraq, the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, and the “cablegate” release that documented Washington’s global diplomatic intrigues – Assange has been subjected to a vicious and relentless witch hunt.
Following baseless allegations of sexual assault in Sweden, the journalist was threatened with a series of bogus criminal charges in the United States.
In 2012, Assange claimed political asylum when he entered the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. He has since been illegally subjected to arbitrary detention by British authorities, who have threatened his arrest and extradition to the US if he sets foot outside the embassy.
The siege was escalated in March, when the Ecuadorian government, capitulating to enormous pressure from Washington, cut off Assange’s communication with the outside world and indicated it was preparing to evict him. This threat could still be enforced at any time.
Icelandic investigative journalist Kristinn Hrafnsson’s appointment is testament to the invaluable contribution by WikiLeaks to genuine journalism. It also points to the base of support that Assange still retains among a minority of principled journalists who have refused to either denounce him as have the majority of their colleagues within the global media establishment.
Hrafnsson is an acclaimed investigative journalist in Iceland, having worked for several newspapers as well as television news. He has led numerous exposés of high level corruption, including in the Icelandic banking sector, and was awarded the country’s “journalist of the year” award in 2004, 2007 and 2010.
Hrafnsson began working with WikiLeaks after Assange published documents detailing unscrupulous lending practices by Iceland’s largest bank, amid the collapse of the Scandinavian country’s financial system.
He gained international recognition for his collaboration with WikiLeaks on its investigation into the July 12, 2007 Baghdad strikes.
The “collateral murder” video, received by WikiLeaks from US military intelligence whistleblower Chelsea Manning, showed US Apache helicopters firing indiscriminately at a group of Iraqi journalists and civilians.
Hrafnsson travelled to Iraq in April 2010 to speak with the children of those killed in the massacre. He then served as the WikiLeaks spokesperson for several years, and was the only individual other than Assange authorized to receive sensitive information on behalf of the organization.
In 2014, he explained his perspective on the growth of state surveillance: “It is very strange that we live in times where the privacy of individuals is becoming practically non-existent, but the secrecy of those in power is increasing day by day. That is something that is totally against every principle and value of society, and of course it should be reversed. We need more transparency for those in power. We need more privacy for the powerless – the individual.”
On accepting the editor-in-chief position last week, Hrafnsson said that “I condemn the treatment of Julian Assange that leads me to my new role, but I welcome the responsibility to secure the continuation of the important work based on WikiLeaks’ ideals.”
Despite Washington’s relentless campaign against Assange, first under US President Barack Obama and now Donald Trump, WikiLeaks continues to publish important material that would otherwise remain hidden from public view.
Last Friday, two days after Hrafnsson’s appointment, WikiLeaks published a secret document from the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Court of Arbitration that related to a disputed commission payment for a $3.6 billion arms deal between a state-owned French weapons manufacturer and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The multi-billion-dollar deal involved the sale of 436 French tanks and other armored vehicles (with German-manufactured motors) that were deployed to Yemen from 2015, and used to back the brutal government offensive against Houthi rebel forces.
The ongoing US-backed Saudi-UAE assault on Yemen has led to tens of thousands of deaths and now threatens mass famine. WikiLeaks partnered the story with three European media outlets, Der Spiegel in Germany, Italy’s La Repubblica and the French Mediapart.
Der Spiegel reported: “It’s unclear how many of those deaths were because of the tanks the Emiratis sent, but it is possible to reconstruct just how the machines found their way to the Arabian Peninsula. The whistleblowing platform WikiLeaks has published a rare document that pulls the curtain back on the international arms trade.”
