WikiLeaks publishing Syria emails

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
WikiLeaks says it is publishing emails from Syrian political figures dating back to 2006 but also covering the period of the crackdown on dissent by Syria's regime.
 
"Just now ... WikiLeaks began publishing the Syria files, more than two million emails from Syrian political figures, ministries and associated companies dating from August 2006 to March 2012," said spokeswoman Sarah Harrison.
 
The latest disclosures could illuminate the workings of the Syrian regime and its interactions with allies in the run-up to and during the 16-month conflict, which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says has claimed more than 16,500 lives.
 
The first wave of emails released claimed Italian defence giant Finmeccanica continued to supply support for communications equipment to the Syrian regime after the unrest began in March last year.
 
The contract to supply the Syrian Wireless Organisation with high-tech radios made by Selex Elsag, a branch of Finmeccanica, dates to 2008, according to the emails published in Italy's Espresso magazine and by Spanish website Publico.
 
But Selex continued supplying engineers and assistance on the radios until recently, said the publications, two of WikiLeaks' media partners for the project it has dubbed "the Syria Files".
 
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a written statement: "The material is embarrassing to Syria but it is also embarrassing to Syria's external opponents.
 
"It helps us not merely to criticise one group or another but to understand their interests, actions and thoughts. It is only through understanding this conflict that we can hope to resolve it."
 
The news came a day after Russia denied having discussed with Washington offering exile to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.
 
WikiLeaks said on its website the files would shed light on the workings of the Syrian government but also "reveal how the West and Western companies say one thing and do another".
 
It said the 2,434,899 emails came from Syrian ministries including foreign affairs, finance and presidential affairs. There are around 400,000 emails in Arabic but also 68,000 in Russian.
 
Harrison said it would take time for all the stories to come out.
 
WikiLeaks only posted a handful to its website Thursday but the disclosure - whose source WikiLeaks has not made clear - wouldn't be the first major leak of Syrian emails.
 
Harrison said the WikiLeaks emails dated from August 2006 to March 2012 and originated from hundreds of different domains, including Syria's ministry of presidential affairs.
 
Harrison said her group was "statistically confident" the body of material was genuine.
 
Assange meanwhile is holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London as he seeks political asylum in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations he sexually assaulted two former WikiLeaks volunteers.
 
Meanwhile, Ecuador's foreign minister said sexual assault allegations in Sweden against Julian Assange are laughable, but no ruling has been made on the WikiLeaks founder's asylum application.
 
"Personally, (I think) this is hilarious," Ecuadoran chief diplomat Ricardo Patino said, explaining Assange "is charged because his condom broke".
 
Assange is currently at the Ecuadoran embassy in London, seeking political asylum in the Latin American country.
 
Ecuadoran officials are examining the allegations of sexual misconduct in their review of Assange's application.
 
British and Swedish authorities are awaiting Ecuador's decision regarding Assange's asylum application.
 
Patino said that one of the alleged victims filed a complaint, because she "realised that on certain nights, the condom broke."
 
Assange, an Australian, maintains he had only consensual relations with the alleged victims.
 
WikiLeaks and Assange enraged the US by publishing a flood of secret information about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
 
The website founder fears that if extradited to Sweden, he will be subsequently re-extradited to the United States to stand trial for espionage, on account of the 250,000 US diplomatic cables that were published.
 
Ecuador's leftist President Rafael Correa, who has often been at odds with Washington and offered Assange asylum in 2010, has said that the South American country will take its time considering the application. AAP