Assange calls WikiLeaks film ‘propaganda attack’

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Published time: January 24, 2013 04:33
Edited time: January 24, 2013 18:39

Julian Assange has lashed out at a Hollywood film about WikiLeaks, calling it “a massive propaganda attack” against the whistle blowing website, also accusing it of fanning “flames of war” against Iran.

DreamWorks Studious announced Wednesday that "The Fifth Estate," starring British actor Benedict Cumberbatch as Assange, will be released in the United States in November 2013. The film’s director though says it will not try to pass final judgment on Assange.

The famous whistleblower, who managed to obtain a copy of the script, denounced the film as “a lie.” He spoke to students of Britain’s top Oxford University on Wednesday via a video-link from his refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

"It is a lie upon lie. The movie is a massive propaganda attack on WikiLeaks and the character of my staff," he told the Oxford Union debating club.

However the video of Assange's speech has not yet been posted on the Oxford Union Society’s YouTube channel, where the organization usually publishes such videos.

"'The Fifth Estate' traces the heady, early days of WikiLeaks, culminating in the release of a series of controversial and history changing information leaks," DreamWorks said describing its project.

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (AFP Photo/Giuseppe Cacace/Reuters/Valentin Flauraud)

Among those “leaks” featured in the film are implications that Iran is working on a nuclear bomb. Assange rejected such notion and claimed the film “fans the flames to start a war with Iran.”

"How does this have anything to do with us?" the Australian questioned.

"It may be decades before we understand the full impact of WikiLeaks and how it's revolutionized the spread of information,” the film’s director, Bill Condon said. “So this film won't claim any long view authority on its subject, or attempt any final judgment," said Condon in a statement.

Assange has been confined inside the Ecuadorian Embassy since the 19th of June, after Ecuador granted him political asylum. Should he leave the building the whistleblower faces immediate arrest and extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning on charges of sex crimes.

Despite all the difficulties the WikiLeaks faced in 2012, Julian Assange vowed to publish some 1,000,000 new documents in the coming year. In his Christmas speech he called for people to continue fighting for democracy “from Tahrir to London.”