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AFP called to investigate Wikileaks

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has said that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) had been asked to look into his site's publishing of the Australian Government's blacklist of banned websites.
Written by Josh Taylor, Contributor

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has said that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) had been asked to look into his site's publishing of the Australian Government's blacklist of banned websites.

Julian Assange

Julian Assange (The subtle roar of online whistle-blowing image
by New Media Days, CC BY-SA 2.0)

In an interview on SBS's Dateline program last night, the Australian founder of the whistle-blowing website said he had recently received a letter from Senator Stephen Conroy's office informing him that the site had "been referred to the Australian Federal Police" for disclosing the blacklist in March last year and that the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) "continues to liaise with the AFP on the matter".

However, in a statement provided to ZDNet Australia, a spokesperson for the AFP said the matter was outside of the police's scope to investigate.

"Whilst the AFP received a referral in relation to the matter you refer to, it was evaluated in accordance to the AFP's case categorisation and prioritisation model and as a result it was deemed that the AFP had no jurisdiction to investigate the matter."

Senator Conroy's office declined to comment, saying that the case was a matter for the ACMA. The ACMA had not responded to requests for comment at the time of writing.

In the Dateline program Assange also revealed that immigration officials had seized his passport upon his arrival in Australia at Melbourne airport a few days ago. The passport was taken for 15 minutes before he was informed that it would be cancelled for "looking worn".

The Department of Foreign Affairs and trade had been asked for comment, but had not responded at the time of writing.

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