8 October 2012: Julian Assange has hired lawyers to investigate a defamation law case against the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, for defamation over a claim that WikiLeaks acted ”illegally” inleaking about 250,000 US diplomatic cables.
In an interview from the Ecuadorean embassy in London, Mr Assange said Ms Gillard’s comment, made in late 2010, was used by Mastercard Australia, which joined an online financial blockade of the organisation.
The White House and the Gillard government have condemned the release since November 2010 of more than 250,000 classified 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,” Ms Gillard said several days after WikiLeaks began releasing the cables.
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