For more than a month now, CCC's honorary member Chelsea Manning has been detained in order to press her to testify before a Grand Jury. Chelsea Manning has served seven years in military prison before she her sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama. She is now trying to move on with her life without further harassment.

Wikileaks ex-director Julian Assange was evicted from the Ecuadorian embassy in a coordinated move to extradite him to the United States. In the U.S. he is charged with – unsucessfully – offering support to Chelsea Manning in accessing computer files. It is obvious that this indictment does not reflect the full extent of charges the U.S. will press against Assange in case of a successful extradition.

Now, Swedish software developer Ola Bini was arrested by Ecuadorian police. Initially, his attorneys were denied access to him, were not allowed to talk to him nor see him. His house was raided and several devices were confiscated. Bini was held captive for two days, before the Ecuadorian government announced that he was held for "alleged participation in the crime of assault on the integrity of computer systems." Apparently, the Ecuadorian government plans to intimidate and damage Ola in retaliation for recent publications exposing corruption within the Ecuadorian government.

We condemn these concerted attacks on journalists, whistleblowers and their supporters for what they are: shocking and coordinated violations of human rights and the freedom of press.

The Chaos Computer Club demands

• the immediate release of Chelsea Manning,
• the immediate release of Ola Bini, and
• an immediate stop of any plans to extradite Julian Assange to the U.S., where he would not face fair trial.

We call for citizens, journalists and European governments to stand in solidarity.

Information and Support:

• Free Ola Bini
• Support Chelsea Manning
• Wikileaks Defense Fund