U.S. Rep Wants Assange Declared ‘Banned Person,’ Recalling South Africa’s Internal Security Act
Banning Orders Should be Banned
U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., the chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, wants WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, to be added to the Treasury Department’s ‘Specially Designated National and Blocked Persons List,’ also known as the SDN List. Rep. King’s request evokes the story of another banned journalist, Donald James Woods. Woods was the editor of the South Africa’s ‘Daily Dispatch’ from 1965 to 1977, befriending Steve Biko, the leader of the anti-apartheid Black Consciousness Movement. Woods was declared a ‘banned person’ under South Africa’s Internal Security Act by the Afrikaner National Party government in October 1977.
You, Donald James Woods, are declared a banned person, in terms of the Internal Security Act. Henceforth, and for a period of five years, you are forbidden to associate with more than one person at a time, or be in a room with more than person at a time, except for the members of your immediate family. You are forbidden to write anything, whether privately or for publication. You are forbidden to enter any printing or publishing premises of any kind, and are restricted for that five years to the Magesterial District of East London. –Banning order issued to editor Donald Woods, under the Internal Security Act, South Africa, October 1977 (Richard Attenborough’s film, ‘Cry Freedom’) – USA PATRIOT Act’s ‘true’ lineage.
From the The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: U.S. rep wants WikiLeaks, founder added to banned list 14 Jan 2011 Although U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., the chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, wants WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, to be added to a special government list of entities and individuals that includes terrorist groups and drug trafficking organizations, the Treasury Department has reportedly declined to do so. King called Wikileaks a “clear and present threat to U.S. national interests,” in a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. King sent the letter on Wednesday, asking that Assange and WikiLeaks be added to the department’s “Specially Designated National and Blocked Persons List,” also known as the SDN List.
And now… the rest of the story. …..
Harold
