Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer: Law enforcement agencies in New York have informed me of bomb threats targeting several of my offices.
IOF storm Al-Ahli Hospital, vicinity of Al-Mizan Hospital, and Mohammed Ali Al-Muhtaseb Hospital in al-Khalil.
Iraqi sources told Al Mayadeen that reports that Barrack conveyed warnings to Iraq about an Israeli strike if any Iraqi party supports Hezbollah are false.
Pope Leo XIV: Peacemakers do not flee, but dare to stay even if it costs them some sacrifice.
The Pope to the Lebanese: You are a diverse country and a community made up of communities united by one language, the language of hope, which has allowed you to start anew.
Pope Leo XIV to the Lebanese: You are a people who do not give up, but a people who persevere in the face of difficulties and know how to be reborn.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in South Lebanon: Israeli occupation targets bulldozer working to remove rubble of destroyed home in Shebaa.
IRGC sources tell Al Mayadeen that reports of Iranian missile strikes on northern Iraq are false, calling them rumors spread by enemy-linked media.
Trump: Venezuela airspace should be considered 'closed in its entirety'
AFP: Ukraine behind attack on Russian 'shadow fleet' tankers in Black Sea

CIA secretly ‘hunting’ Assange activists

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 2 Mar 2023 14:30
  • 7 Shares
4 Min Read

Julian Assange's lawyer accuses the CIA of tapping into activist phones and assaulting them.

  • x
  • CIA secretly ‘hunting’ Assange activists
    WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange reacts during a public debate chaired by Jason Cowley, editor of the New Statesman, and hosted by the New Statesman and the Frontline Club at Kensington Town Hall in London, Saturday, April 9, 2011. (AP)

In a scandalous report by the Bombshell Report, activists, lawyers and journalists linked to WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange are being subjected to extensive surveillance and intimidation. 

From late-night break-ins, to secretly installing devices to remotely monitor computer activity, to death threats and bizarre mind games meant to disorient and demoralize their targets, it seems little is off-limits when it comes to the push to neutralize the support network that’s cropped up around Assange since his imprisonment.

Individuals were hacked, tracked, burglarized, threatened with death, and thrown in jails for years on dubious charges. Nothing is proven but victims accuse the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of being behind the harassment campaign. 

Hacker and internet neutrality activist Andy Muler-Maguhn, who assumes the CIA's involvement due to their description of WikiLeaks as "hostile" in 2017, said in a recent interview with a German outlet that the some tactics used are related to "intimidation surveillance" by US intelligence agencies and their collaborators abroad. 

He said, "the point all these years has been to [make it] abundantly clear: We're out to get you." 

Read next: Belmarsh Tribunal: Biden 'hypocrite' for extradition of Assange

The activist's phone was reportedly tapped with a Field Programmable Gate Array carrying US-made chips and which “cannot be detected with a normal frequency locator." This was just one of many apparent victims targeted by the CIA for their association with WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks an 'enemy intelligence service'

The CIA gave the green light after WikiLeaks was declared "not to be a journalistic outlet, but rather an enemy intelligence service." Furthermore, a former senior counterintelligence official later told US media that "there seemed to be no boundaries" anymore. 

Assange's lawyer, Aitor Martinez, questions "who could believe that" so many Assange activists were stalked and harrased by mere coincidence. “It's a vendetta against Julian Assange,” he reportedly explained.

For his team, “there is no question that Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks organization, and everyone surrounding Julian are being systematically monitored and intimidated - whether supporters, journalists, lawyers or family members."

Martinez explained that shortly after Pompeo declared WikiLeaks a “hostile intelligence agency,” his wife was accosted by a stranger in the streets of the Paraguayan capital, who grabbed her by the arm and whispered to her in English, “Watch your cellphone!”

Immediately afterward, 230 screenshots of photos, private emails, and text messages suddenly appeared on her cellphone, apparently sent from Martínez's phone, which he says he hadn't touched.
“Then, when we left in a hurry, a man with a plug in his ear followed us at the airport, waving a friendly goodbye,” he added.

His harassers didn’t stop there.

Read next: CIA coder convicted of massive leak of US hacking tools

He reportedly has surveillance footage revealing three masked men enter his place of work in the dead of night in December 2017. The burglars spent six minutes searching for something they were apparently unable to find, according to the footage, before stealing a leg of ham from the kitchen.

“I have handled many delicate cases in my life,” Martínez noted. “I've been threatened, sometimes even by the police. But I've never experienced this level of intimidation.”
 
He suggests that the perpetrators appear to be ordered by the CIA and that reveals the threat and seriousness of Assange being extradited to the US, which has repeatedly insisted the jailed WikiLeaks founder will receive a fair trial.

  • Aitor Martinez
  • CIA
  • Julian Assange

Most Read

13 elite Israeli troops were wounded in a confrontations in Beit Jinn, Syria.

13 elite Israeli troops wounded in confrontations in southern Syria

  • West Asia
  • 28 Nov 2025
Russia and China are not part of the Resistance Front, but they are playing an important role in building structures to bypass US power and thus facilitate a multipolar and freer world. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

The Resistance Front and BRICS

  • Opinion
  • 29 Nov 2025
Four killed, ten wounded in targeted California shooting in Stockton

Four killed, 10 wounded in 'targeted' California shooting

  • US & Canada
  • 30 Nov 2025
Point-blank killings: 'Israel' executes 2 Palestinian youths in Jenin

Graphic footage: IOF execute 2 Palestinians from point blank in Jenin

  • Politics
  • 27 Nov 2025

Coverage

All
In Five

Read Next

All
US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack speaks during the Concordia Annual Summit in New York, Wednesday, September 24, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Iraqi sources deny US warning of Israeli attack on Lebanon: Exclusive

People walk through a street in the old city of Homs, Syria, Friday, November 21, 2025 (AP)
Politics

US cautions Israeli occupation against escalation in Syria

Members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) arrive at the site where Hamas militants are searching for the remains of captives in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, December 1, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Gaza death toll surpasses 70,000 as victims remain under rubble

Pope Leo XIV meets the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch John X Yazigi, left, and spiritual leader of Lebanon's Druze community Sheikh Sami Abi al-Mona in the Martyrs' Square, in Beirut, Monday, December 1, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Pope Leo XIV calls for unity, coexistence during Lebanon visit

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS