Assange Threatens Prosecution Of Palin And Others Under Australian Law

Murder threats can be prosecuted:

Under Australian law, inciting violence is a serious crime: an offense which could even trigger the prosecution of members of the US political class and mainstream media who called for the assassination of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, according to his attorney.

Comments by Robert Stary, Assange's Melbourne-based lawyer, were carried in the US by a Friday broadcast of National Public Radio's Morning Edition.

"Our main concern is really the possible extradition to the US," he said. "We've been troubled by the sort of rhetoric that has come out of various commentators and principally Republican politicians — Sarah Palin and the like — saying Mr. Assange should be executed, assassinated."

Stary added: "Certainly if Sarah Palin or any of those other politicians come to Australia, for whatever purpose, then we can initiate a private prosecution, and that's what we intend to do."

...Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas who's long professed to be Christian, claimed during a Nov. book signing that he wanted to see Assange and the leaker "executed" for their actions.

...Palin, similarly, wrote on her Facebook page that Assange should be pursued "with the same urgency we pursue al Qaeda and Taliban leaders" -- the implication being that the US military should assassinate him in person or by remote.

Conservative talk show host Bill O'Reilly has also called for the leaker to be executed, but stopped short of calling for violence against Assange.

Likewise, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) suggested that WikiLeaks should be designated a "foreign terrorist organization" by the Secretary of State. His call was echoed by the Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who called Assange a "terrorist" and said the US should "change the law" in order to pursue him if current statutes did not permit it.

..."That is incitement to commit murder," Assange continued. "That is an offense. When people call for illegal, deliberate assassination and kidnapping of others, they should be held to account. They should be charged for incitement to commit murder."