Khan says Assange has alienated allies
2013-02-07 17:39
London - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange risks turning
from a popular hero into an L Ron Hubbard figure, tolerating only
"blinkered, cultish devotion", said one his former backers Jemima
Khan.
Claiming Assange had alienated his supporters, Khan,
associate editor of the New Statesman, wrote for the weekly British magazine
that Assange's anti-secrecy organisation was now "guilty of the same
obfuscation and misinformation as those it sought to expose".
She compared the Australian to US science-fiction author
Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology.
Assange has been holed up inside the Ecuadoran embassy in
London after losing his battle in the British courts against extradition to
Sweden, where he faces questioning over allegations of rape and sexual assault.
Ecuador has granted him political asylum.
By jumping bail, the 41-year-old surrendered the £200
000 that supporters including Khan had put up as a surety.
Khan - daughter of the late financier James Goldsmith and
former wife of Imran Khan, the Pakistan cricket captain turned political leader
- was an executive producer of We Steal Secrets: The Story of
WikiLeaks, Alex Gibney's documentary about the whistle-blowing website.
"The problem with Camp Assange is that, in the words
of [former US president] George W Bush, it sees the world as being 'with us or
against us'," wrote Khan.
"When I told Assange I was part of the We Steal
Secrets team, I suggested that he view it not in terms of being pro- or anti-him,
but rather as a film that would be fair and would represent the truth.
"He replied: 'If it's a fair film, it will be
pro-Julian Assange.'
Beware the celebrity who refers to himself in the third
person.
"In many ways, the film's narrative arc mirrors my
own journey with Assange, from admiration to demoralisation.
"The list of alienated and disaffected allies is
long: Some say they fell out over redactions, some over broken deals, some over
money, some over ownership and control."
Khan said she felt passionately that democracy needs
strong, free media and remained convinced that were Assange prosecuted for
espionage then investigative journalism would be in jeopardy.
She said it remains to be seen if the allegations against
Assange can be substantiated in the Swedish courts but the former computer
hacker is "undermining both himself and his own transparency agenda"
by turning his refusal to go to Sweden "into a human rights issue".
"We all want a hero," she wrote.
"It would be a tragedy if a man who has done so much
good were to end up tolerating only disciples and unwavering devotion, more
like an Australian L Ron Hubbard."
