Wikileaks releases transcript of critical US film

WASHINGTON: WikiLeaks has released an annotated version of a leaked transcript of a documentary in a bid to counter a film that takes a critical look at the anti-secrecy group and which opened yesterday.

WikiLeaks said it had not participated in the making of “We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks,” a film by Alex Gibney that focuses on the website’s controversial founder Julian Assange and its chief informant Bradley Manning. Manning, a US Army intelligence analyst who admitted to leaking hundreds of thousands of secret military logs and confidential embassy cables to WikiLeaks, faces possible life imprisonment in a military trial to resume June 3.

Assange, the Australian hacker who founded the site, has been holed up in Ecuador’s London embassy for nearly a year, seeking to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning in a sexual assault case. WikiLeaks said late Thursday that the film “portrays Manning’s alleged acts as a failure of character rather than a triumph of conscience” and said the film’s portrayal of his relationship with Assange was “grossly irresponsible.”

These file two photos show Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (left) looking on at the media and his supporters from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning being escorted following a motions hearing in the case...