Latest news with #StellaAssange
Japan Today
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Japan Today
Julian Assange open to political action as Cannes hosts documentary
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, his wife Stella Assange, and the team of the documentary film "The Six Billion Dollar Man" presented as part of Special Screenings, pose on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the film "The History of Sound" in competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier By Hanna Rantala and Miranda Murray WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is at the Cannes Film Festival this week for the documentary "The Six Billion Dollar Man," is thinking about how to become politically active again once he has fully recovered from prison, said his wife, Stella. Assange, 53, returned to his native Australia after pleading guilty last June under an agreement with U.S. officials to one count of illegally obtaining and disclosing national security materials. The plea ended Assange's five-year stay in a British prison, which followed seven years at the Ecuador embassy as he sought to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations. Assange denied those allegations and called them a pretext to extradite him to the United States over WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks in 2010 released hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. military documents on Washington's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - the largest security breaches of their kind in U.S. military history - along with swaths of diplomatic cables. "He was in a very grave situation in the prison. He's recovering from that," Stella Assange told Reuters in Cannes. "But now he's coming to understand how grave the situation outside (prison) is and thinking, making plans to find the means of what to do about it," she added. "He's very, very concerned about the state of the world and the state that we're all in right now," said Stella, who met Assange in London in 2011 while working as part of his legal team. Julian and Stella Assange, wearing a brooch with a picture of British designer Vivienne Westwood holding a sign saying "Stop Killing," walked the red carpet on Wednesday evening. Julian has so far not spoken at any of his appearances. CANARY IN A COAL MINE The documentary from Emmy-winning director Eugene Jarecki takes on the tone of a high-tech international thriller to recount Assange's fight against extradition, using WikiLeaks footage and archives, and previously unpublished evidence. Jarecki, who began filming before Assange was released, said he never expected to see him walk around Cannes as a free man. By inviting Assange, the festival was sending a message about the need for freedom of information and a free press, Jarecki told Reuters, as those values are in decline in many parts of the world according to an index from Reporters without Borders. The director called Assange "a canary in the coal mine" in foretelling the U.S. government's current moves to exert more control over media access to U.S. President Donald Trump. "If we had taken that bit more seriously, we might have seen a bunch of this coming," said the U.S. director. Assange's lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, told Reuters that the film portrayed the WikiLeaks founder as he should be shown. "This film is absolutely necessary in terms of telling the story of free speech and what Julian Assange, his case means for the world, not just for him, but for the world," she said. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Asharq Al-Awsat
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Asharq Al-Awsat
‘Recovered' Assange Promotes Cannes Documentary Wearing Gaza T-Shirt
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has recovered well after his release from jail last year, his wife told AFP ahead of the premiere of a documentary Wednesday that includes never-seen-before footage of the whistleblower. Assange is at the Cannes Festival to promote the documentary by American filmmaker Eugene Jarecki, wearing a T-shirt with the names of killed Gaza children at a photo session on Tuesday. The 53-year-old former hacker is not talking to the media, however, with his wife Stella Assange saying, "He'll speak when he's ready." "We live with incredible nature at our doorstep (in Australia). Julian's very outdoorsy. He always has been. He's really recovered physically and mentally," Stella, a Spanish-Swedish lawyer, told AFP. Assange was released from a high-security British prison last June after a plea bargain with the US government over Wikileaks's work publishing top-secret military and diplomatic information. He had spent five years behind bars fighting extradition from Britain and another seven holed up in the Ecuador embassy in London where he claimed political asylum. Award-winning director Jarecki said his film, "The Six Billion Dollar Man", aimed to correct the record about Assange, whose methods and personality still make him a divisive figure. "I think Julian Assange put himself in harm's way for the principle of informing the public about what corporations and governments around the world are doing in secret," Jarecki told AFP. Anyone willing to trade years of their life for their principles, "I think you'd have to look at that person as having heroic qualities," he added. The film includes personal videos handed over by Stella, who initially joined Wikileaks as a legal advisor and went on to have two children with Assange while he was living in the Ecuadorian embassy. It also features testimony from people who helped spy on Assange, including a private security agent who said he installed bugs accessed by the American security services in the Ecuadorian embassy. Former "Baywatch" actress and Assange's friend Pamela Anderson, fellow whistleblower Edward Snowden, and Australian human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson also appear. - Criticism - Jarecki pushed back on some of the criticism of Assange, notably that he endangered lives by publishing unredacted US documents with the names of people who spoke to American diplomats, including informants or human rights campaigners. He also dismissed any links between Wikileaks and Russian intelligence services over the leak of Democratic Party emails ahead of the 2016 US presidential election which embarrassed Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton. An investigation by US special counsel Robert Mueller, who probed alleged Russian interference in the 2016 vote, found evidence Russian military intelligence hacked the Democratic Party and passed the information to Wikileaks. "Other than from the mouths of people in the Democratic Party, we've never found any evidence of any linkages between WikiLeaks and Russia," Jarecki claimed. Ecuador's left-wing former president Rafael Correa, who offered Assange asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, was to attend the film's red carpet premiere on Wednesday evening. Jarecki was awarded the first ever Golden Globe for documentary at Cannes on Monday for his previous work, including his 2018 film about Elvis, "The King". This year's festival is one of the most political for years, with hundreds of film industry figures including Hollywood heavyweights signing a letter condemning what they called "genocide" in Gaza. It also denounced Israel's killing of Fatima Hassouna, a young Gaza photojournalist featured in the documentary "Put Your Soul in Your Hand and Walk", which premiered at Cannes last week.
Arab News
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Julian Assange open to political action as Cannes hosts documentary
CANNES: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is at the Cannes Film Festival this week for the documentary 'The Six Billion Dollar Man,' is thinking about how to become politically active again once he has fully recovered from prison, said his wife, Stella. Assange, 53, returned to his native Australia after pleading guilty last June under an agreement with US officials to one count of illegally obtaining and disclosing national security materials. The plea ended Assange's five-year stay in a British prison, which followed seven years at the Ecuadorian embassy as he sought to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations. Assange denied those allegations and called them a pretext to extradite him to the United States over WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks in 2010 released hundreds of thousands of classified US military documents on Washington's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — the largest security breaches of their kind in US military history — along with swaths of diplomatic cables. 'He was in a very grave situation in the prison. He's recovering from that,' Stella Assange told Reuters in Cannes. 'But now he's coming to understand how grave the situation outside (prison) is and thinking, making plans to find the means of what to do about it,' she added. 'He's very, very concerned about the state of the world and the state that we're all in right now,' said Stella, who met Assange in London in 2011 while working as part of his legal team. Julian and Stella Assange, wearing a brooch with a picture of British designer Vivienne Westwood holding a sign saying 'Stop Killing,' walked the red carpet on Wednesday evening. Julian has so far not spoken at any of his appearances. Assange's extradition fight The documentary from Emmy-winning director Eugene Jarecki takes on the tone of a high-tech international thriller to recount Assange's fight against extradition, using WikiLeaks footage and archives, and previously unpublished evidence. Jarecki, who began filming before Assange was released, said he never expected to see him walk around Cannes as a free man. By inviting Assange, the festival was sending a message about the need for freedom of information and a free press, Jarecki told Reuters, as those values are in decline in many parts of the world according to an index from Reporters without Borders. The director called Assange 'a canary in the coal mine' in foretelling the US government's current moves to exert more control over media access to US President Donald Trump. 'If we had taken that bit more seriously, we might have seen a bunch of this coming,' said the US director. Assange's lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, told Reuters that the film portrayed the WikiLeaks founder as he should be shown. 'This film is absolutely necessary in terms of telling the story of free speech and what Julian Assange, his case means for the world, not just for him, but for the world,' she said. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @
Straits Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Julian Assange open to political action as Cannes hosts documentary
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, his wife Stella Assange, and the team of the documentary film \"The Six Billion Dollar Man\" presented as part of Special Screenings, pose on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the film \"The History of Sound\" in competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier Julian Assange poses on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the film \"The History of Sound\" in competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Manon Cruz WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, his wife Stella Assange, and the team of the documentary film \"The Six Billion Dollar Man\" presented as part of Special Screenings pose on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the film \"The History of Sound\" in competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and team for the the documentary film \"The Six Billion Dollar Man\" presented as part of Special Screenings, pose on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the film \"The History of Sound\" in competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, his wife Stella Assange, and the team of the documentary film \"The Six Billion Dollar Man\" presented as part of Special Screenings, pose on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the film \"The History of Sound\" in competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier CANNES, France - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is at the Cannes Film Festival this week for the documentary "The Six Billion Dollar Man," is thinking about how to become politically active again once he has fully recovered from prison, said his wife, Stella. Assange, 53, returned to his native Australia after pleading guilty last June under an agreement with U.S. officials to one count of illegally obtaining and disclosing national security materials. The plea ended Assange's five-year stay in a British prison, which followed seven years at the Ecuador embassy as he sought to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations. Assange denied those allegations and called them a pretext to extradite him to the United States over WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks in 2010 released hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. military documents on Washington's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - the largest security breaches of their kind in U.S. military history - along with swaths of diplomatic cables. "He was in a very grave situation in the prison. He's recovering from that," Stella Assange told Reuters in Cannes. "But now he's coming to understand how grave the situation outside (prison) is and thinking, making plans to find the means of what to do about it," she added. "He's very, very concerned about the state of the world and the state that we're all in right now," said Stella, who met Assange in London in 2011 while working as part of his legal team. Julian and Stella Assange, wearing a brooch with a picture of British designer Vivienne Westwood holding a sign saying "Stop Killing," walked the red carpet on Wednesday evening. Julian has so far not spoken at any of his appearances. CANARY IN A COAL MINE The documentary from Emmy-winning director Eugene Jarecki takes on the tone of a high-tech international thriller to recount Assange's fight against extradition, using WikiLeaks footage and archives, and previously unpublished evidence. Jarecki, who began filming before Assange was released, said he never expected to see him walk around Cannes as a free man. By inviting Assange, the festival was sending a message about the need for freedom of information and a free press, Jarecki told Reuters, as those values are in decline in many parts of the world according to an index from Reporters without Borders. The director called Assange "a canary in the coal mine" in foretelling the U.S. government's current moves to exert more control over media access to U.S. President Donald Trump. "If we had taken that bit more seriously, we might have seen a bunch of this coming," said the U.S. director. Assange's lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, told Reuters that the film portrayed the WikiLeaks founder as he should be shown. "This film is absolutely necessary in terms of telling the story of free speech and what Julian Assange, his case means for the world, not just for him, but for the world," she said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Reuters
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Reuters
Julian Assange open to political action as Cannes hosts documentary
CANNES, France, May 21 (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is at the Cannes Film Festival this week for the documentary "The Six Billion Dollar Man," is thinking about how to become politically active again once he has fully recovered from prison, said his wife, Stella. Assange, 53, returned to his native Australia after pleading guilty last June under an agreement with U.S. officials to one count of illegally obtaining and disclosing national security materials. The plea ended Assange's five-year stay in a British prison, which followed seven years at the Ecuador embassy as he sought to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations. Assange denied those allegations and called them a pretext to extradite him to the United States over WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks in 2010 released hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. military documents on Washington's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - the largest security breaches of their kind in U.S. military history - along with swaths of diplomatic cables. "He was in a very grave situation in the prison. He's recovering from that," Stella Assange told Reuters in Cannes. "But now he's coming to understand how grave the situation outside (prison) is and thinking, making plans to find the means of what to do about it," she added. "He's very, very concerned about the state of the world and the state that we're all in right now," said Stella, who met Assange in London in 2011 while working as part of his legal team. Julian and Stella Assange, wearing a brooch with a picture of British designer Vivienne Westwood holding a sign saying "Stop Killing," walked the red carpet on Wednesday evening. Julian has so far not spoken at any of his appearances. The documentary from Emmy-winning director Eugene Jarecki takes on the tone of a high-tech international thriller to recount Assange's fight against extradition, using WikiLeaks footage and archives, and previously unpublished evidence. Jarecki, who began filming before Assange was released, said he never expected to see him walk around Cannes as a free man. By inviting Assange, the festival was sending a message about the need for freedom of information and a free press, Jarecki told Reuters, as those values are in decline in many parts of the world according to an index, opens new tab from Reporters without Borders. The director called Assange "a canary in the coal mine" in foretelling the U.S. government's current moves to exert more control over media access to U.S. President Donald Trump. "If we had taken that bit more seriously, we might have seen a bunch of this coming," said the U.S. director. Assange's lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, told Reuters that the film portrayed the WikiLeaks founder as he should be shown. "This film is absolutely necessary in terms of telling the story of free speech and what Julian Assange, his case means for the world, not just for him, but for the world," she said.
