WIKILEAKS HAS RELEASED what it describes as “an unprecedented” Australian censorship order.
Last night, the organisation tweeted that it was to make a big announcement within a number of hours.
It has now emerged that the information concerns a “multi-million dollar corruption case”.
It explained:
The super-injunction invokes “national security” grounds to prevent reporting about the case, by anyone, in order to “prevent damage to Australia’s international relations”.
The court-issued order lists 17 individuals.
The document also specifically bans the publication of the order itself.
There are also fears that social media users could get into legal trouble for publishing Wikileaks’ documents on the case:
Gag order
Wikileaks said that the last known blanket suppression order of this nature was granted in 1995.
WikiLeaks’ publisher Julian Assange said that with the order – which he described as “the worst in living memory” – “the Australian government is not just gagging the Australian press, it is blindfolding the Australian public”.
This is not simply a question of the Australian government failing to give this international corruption case the public scrutiny it is due.
Assange said he believes it is in the public interest for the press to be able to report on this case.
Here’s how it is being reported in Australia and Malaysia:
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