LONDON/ SYDNEY: Police moved WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange to the segregation unit of a London jail for his safety, his lawyer said Friday as new cables showed the US suspects Myanmar has a secret nuclear program.
The 39-year-old Australian has been moved from the main part of Wandsworth prison to an isolation unit, said Jennifer Robinson, one of Assange’s legal team.
"The prison authorities are doing it for his own safety, presumably," she told AFP.
Assange is due to appear in a London court for a second time on Tuesday after being arrested on a warrant issued by Sweden, where prosecutors want to question him about allegations of rape and sexual molestation made by two women.
WikiLeaks insists the allegations are politically motivated because the whistleblowing website has enraged Washington and governments around the world by releasing thousands of US diplomatic cables.
Robinson complained that Assange "does not get any recreation" in the prison and "has difficulties getting phone calls out… he is on his own."
Assange, a former computer hacker, is not allowed to have a laptop computer in his cell, but his lawyers have requested one.
"Obviously we are trying to prepare a legal appeal and he has difficulties hand writing, so it would be much easier in order to assist us in the preparation if he had a laptop," Robinson said.
She declined to elaborate on why he had difficulties writing.
Assange is in "very good" spirits but "frustrated" that he cannot answer the allegations that WikiLeaks was behind cyber attacks launched on credit card firms which have refused to do business with the website.
"He told me he is absolutely not involved and this is a deliberate attempt to conflate WikiLeaks, which is a publishing organization, with hacking organizations which are not," she said.
Hundreds of Australians rallied in support of WikiLeaks and its Australian-born founder Assange on Friday, urging the government to stand up for his rights.
The protests around the country came as activist group GetUp! said that more than 50,000 people had signed a petition supporting freedom of information, raising close to $250,000 to publish it in US newspapers.
The protests, which marked international human rights day, criticized Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s comments that Assange had acted illegally in relation to the leaking of hundreds of US diplomatic cables.
"I absolutely condemn the placement of this information on the WikiLeaks website — it’s a grossly irresponsible thing to do and an illegal thing to do," Gillard said earlier this month.
The prime minister has since stood by her comments, saying that Australian police were investigating and adding that the "foundation stone" of the leaks was an illegal act.
But at a protest outside Sydney’s central Town Hall, about 400 people gathered to reject this idea, some carrying banners such as "Merry Christmas — and a leaky new year" and "C’mon Julia, which law has Assange broken?".
And in Brisbane, those gathered outside the foreign ministry’s office heard calls for a strong message to be sent to governments all over the world protesting against the treatment of Assange.
GetUp! said that Assange faced the prospect of being extradited to the United States to face charges related to the leaking of the sensitive cables.
"Regardless of what you think about WikiLeaks or Julian Assange, we are really hoping that the government comes forward and commits to some of those really basic principles we live by, in terms of access to a fair trial and innocence until proven guilty," spokesman Paul Mackay told AFP.
Treasurer Wayne Swan said Assange was entitled to the same consular support given any citizen in his situation, but would not comment on whether Canberra had sought assurances that Assange would not be sent to a third country.
Assange is due to appear in a London court again next Tuesday, when his case will be argued by Geoffrey Robertson, a high-profile British-Australian human rights lawyer.
Assange’s mother said Friday she was worried for her son because "massive forces" were ranged against him.
Christine Assange, who lives in Queensland, dismissed the rape accusations against her son, but told Australia’s Seven Network that she was concerned about what will happen to him.
"Julian, rape, straight out of my guts — no way. Julian would not rape," she said.
She added: "It’s a worry, of course. I am no different from any other mother. Every time the news goes on I am glued to it.
"These massive forces have decided they are going to stop him and they are not going to play by the rules."
Cables released by WikiLeaks overnight Thursday showed Washington has suspected for years that Myanmar has a secret nuclear program supported by North Korea, with witnesses reporting suspicious activity dating back to 2004.
One cable from the US embassy in Yangon, dated August of that year, quoted an unidentified source as saying he saw about 300 North Koreans working at an underground site.
"The North Koreans, aided by Burmese workers, are constructing a concrete-reinforced underground facility that is ‘500ft from the top of the cave to the top of the hill above’," the cable said.
"The North Koreans are said to be assembling missiles of unknown origin," it said, adding that the report alone should not been taken as definitive proof or evidence of sizeable North Korean military involvement with the Myanmar regime.
Another leaked release said US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer had sought damaging information against Nigeria’s ex-attorney general to pressure him into dropping lawsuits over a drug trial.
In the cable published by Britain’s Guardian newspaper, Pfizer’s country manager in Nigeria, Enrico Liggeri, told US officials of the operation in a meeting on April 9, 2009.
Pfizer has maintained that it had done nothing wrong and has denied any liability.
