Julian Assange is auctioning off eight tickets to July 2 lunch with himself and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, TIME magazine reported. The auction is taking place on eBay and, as of the evening of June 18, bids on the eight individual tickets ranged from £3,000.00 and £4,700.00. According to the listings, the auction ends June 20 and all the money raised goes straight to WikiLeaks.
The prize includes the price of lunch “at one of London’s finest restaurants,” a front-row seat to a Frontline Club event at the Troxy, and “taxis from the lunch to the event.”
Cameras Monitoring Assange or WikiError?
Earlier this week, WikiLeaks “released a video claiming that the British government has mounted CCTV cameras to spy on Julian Assange’s East Anglia apartment” where he has been staying during his house arrest, the Hindustan Times reported. The five-minute video, “House Arrest,” was made by supporters of Assange and published on The Telegraph’s website.
“This is one of the three cameras that is outside each entrance of the property. We suddenly noticed them appearing since we have been here. We believe they are monitoring everything that goes in and out of the property,” Sarah Harrison, a WikiLeaks supporter reportedly said.
WikiLeaks also tweeted June 16 about the alleged spying.
But, Vaughn Smith, who owns the house where Assange has been staying, reportedly told the BBC he is “embarrassed” over the reports that surveillance cameras have been monitoring his estate. Smith is the founder of UK journalist group the Frontline Club and has been a vocal supporter of Assange, allowing Assange to stay at his house during his house arrest and allowing Assange to stay at the Frontline Club in the weeks prior to Assange turning himself in.
According to the BBC, Smith “suggested automatic number-plate recognition cameras had been installed nearby” but he has clarified that the alleged “cameras” are really just speed detectors.
Smith had been quoted in the video as saying “I’m not an expert on cameras but I believe these take number plates and record number plates.”
The videos “are, I think, radars and I think it is important to correct that information,” Smith reportedly said. But, Smith also suggested his phones are being tapped. “There’s certainly evidence that our phones are being listened to,” Smith said.
Despite Smith’s correction, The Telegraph hasn’t updated its story reporting that the government is “spying” on Assange.
Swedish Bar Association Warns Assange Attorney
Bjorn Hurtig, one of Julian Assange’s attorneys, was warned by the Swedish Bar Association, according to the AFP. Swedish Bar Association Secretary General Anne Ramberg confirmed it has warned Hurtig but that “it was not united decision.” She explained it is “in response to the criticism directed to him by an English judge.”
Hurtig was criticized in February during Assange’s extradition hearing for his “untrue” witness statement, as iMediaEthics previously reported. Hurtig had stated that Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny didn’t try to interview Assange before he left Sweden in September, but Ny did. The UK judge, Howard Riddle, also called Hurtig an “unreliable witness.”
Assange : WikiLeaks Exposed Superinjunctions, but Would Get One For Itself If Necessary
Assange reportedly said in early June at literary event called the Hay Festival that WikiLeaks would name and break information about super injunctions if it was of “ethical and historic significance,” The Telegraph reported. He claimed that WikiLeaks already has “broken a number of them,” but added he “would seek super injunctions of his own, in order to protect the organisation’s sources.”
WikiLeaks avoids having secrets by not keeping “records of our sources,” Asange reportedly said.
The Scottish Daily Record reported that Assange was “heckled” at the festival.