Greens attempt to have Assange and Snowden give evidence

Greens attempt to have Julian Assange and Edward Snowden give evidence

Scott Ludlam is reportedly trying to get the pair to testify via videolink to the Senate inquiry into the Telecommunications Act

Michael Safi

Greens senator Scott Ludlam is reportedly trying to have WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden called before a Senate committee to testify about mass surveillance of Australian citizens.

Ludlam successfully had the inquiry commissioned in December 2013, to review what he called the “deeply flawed” Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act, which has, since the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, been amended to give the government greater powers to monitor people’s phones and activities online.

"The scope and reach of the laws were unprecedented, and included extraordinary powers of surveillance, detention and restriction and censorship on speech,” Ludlam said in December.

"Since the revelations of Edward Snowden, the Senate has repeatedly voted to avoid knowing what is going on, until today failing in its primary duty as a parliament.”

The ABC reports that Ludlam will be seeking to have Snowden and Assange appear before the committee via videolink.

Snowden last year leaked thousands of classified documents to the Guardian revealing widespread collection of private data by spy agencies in the US and its allies around the world.

Among the revelations leaked by Snowden was evidence that Australia targeted the private phones of the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife, and senior Indonesian government officials.

Snowden has been charged with espionage in the US, and has sought temporary asylum in Russia. Assange has spent more than a year living under diplomatic protection in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, avoiding extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault.

A spokeswoman for Ludlam’s office would not confirm the reports, saying the witness list for the committee hearings is strictly confidential. The committee is due to report in June.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/mar/24/julian-assange-edward-snowden-evidence-senate-committee