May 17 2010

Australian Wikileak founder’s passport confiscated

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Link: Australian Wikileak founder’s passport confiscated

This is probably the most sensationalist story I’ve read in a long time:

Julian Assange, the Australian founder of the whistleblower website Wikileaks, says he had his passport taken away from him at Melbourne Airport and was later told by customs officials that it was about to be cancelled.

Hmmm… seems to imply they cancelled his passport because of his connection to the Wikileaks website.

Last year Wikileaks published a confidential Australian blacklist of websites to be banned under the government’s proposed internet filter.

I wonder if there’s any other reason why they would take his passport from him?

Assange told The Age his passport was taken from him by customs officials at Melbourne Airport when he entered the country last week after he was told ”it was looking worn”.

Ah – maybe because it was looking worn?

Passports are routinely taken from travellers for short periods by immigration officials if they are damaged.

So he had a worn passport? That sounds like a valid reason, is there anything else we need to know about this story?

Assange said half an hour after his passport was returned to him, he was approached by an Australian Federal Police officer who searched one of his bags and asked him about his criminal record relating to computer hacking offences in 1991.

So he was travelling with a worn passport and has a criminal record? Those seem like valid enough reasons to receive a bit of extra attention at the border. Is there more to this story? Maybe, but this article doesn’t show it.

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