In the wake of the tributes to Charlie Hebdo, WikiLeaks went off on leaders of the Western world for applying a double standard to the attacks.
WikiLeaks, whose founder, Julian Assange, has been holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, accused President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron of only promoting free speech when it was politically expedient. “The instrumentalization of Charlie Hebdo: Some defend freedom of speech all the time,” they tweeted. “Others only when they can use it to spy, drone, more.”
They also accused the politically-correct lobby for “legitimizing” the attacks against Charlie Hebdo, which left 12 dead. “The notion that offending religious groups is unlawful contributes to a climate where those without legal connections make their own police,” they added.
The tweets began yesterday and continued into today:
Terrorists attack critical private media; 7 shot dead, editorial offices bombed. Not Charlie Habdo. Al-Ikhbariya TV in Damascus 2 years ago.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 8, 2015
It's funny how Western leaders talk about "freedom of speech" while continuing their attempt to prosecute Assange for espionage.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 8, 2015
White House: "no legitimate act of journalism justifies violence". Note "legtimate". The US continues to drone and prosecute journalists.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 8, 2015
David Cameron pontificates about freedom of speech while spending millions detaining #Assange without charge http://t.co/OGKnoI6mlV
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 8, 2015
How the Jewish pro-censorship lobby legitimized attacks on Charlie Hebdo for "offensive" speech http://t.co/6Ts6rWgw7p #CharlieHebdo
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 8, 2015
The instrumentalization of Charlie Hebdo: Some defend freedom of speech all the time. Others only when they can use it to spy, drone, more.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 8, 2015
The notion that offending religious groups is unlawful contributes to a climate where those without legal connections make their own police.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 8, 2015
That said, Wikileaks released a statement from Assange tweeting his support of Charlie Hebdo, honoring them in the way they probably wanted to be remembered:
Assange: The world must now avenge Charlie Hebdo by swiftly republishing all their cartoons. Censorship attacks are a losing move.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 7, 2015
And as they promised, they tweeted them out, with English captions to capture the full spectrum of offensiveness. We’ve included some of them:
You're not Charlie Hebdo unless you are prepared to retweet its most offensive cartoons (1/4) #iamcharlie pic.twitter.com/ofhHFsrxGP
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 8, 2015
You're not Charlie Hebdo unless you are prepared to retweet its most "offensive" cartoons (3/4) #iamcharlie pic.twitter.com/t9pC5MTLXc
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 8, 2015
[WikiLeaks]
[Image via Wikileaks]
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