WikiLeaks may be shut-down by the end of the year due to a financial blockade caused by banks and credit card companies - who have slashed its income by 95 per cent.
The website's founder, Julian Assange, announced that a "temporary suspension" of publishing at a press conference in central London, saying that it was a result of the refusal by companies including Mastercard, Paypal, Visa and Bank of America to process payments since last December.
Assange described the blockade as "dangerous, oppressive and undemocratic", and declared that WikiLeaks would now be required to direct its energy towards "aggressive fundraising" in order to help the organization continue.
"This financial blockade is an existential threat to WikiLeaks. If the blockade is not borne down by the end of the year the organization cannot continue its work," said Assange.
“If WikiLeaks doesn't find a way to remove this blockade, given our current resources and expenditure we will simply not be able to continue by the turn of the New Year,” Assange said.
A collection of financial operators blocked donations in the days after WikiLeaks published leaked US embassy cables in November last year, with Paypal, Visa, MasterCard, Bank of America, Western Union and Post Finance cutting financial ties and Every DNS withdrawing its domain hosting service.
“If WikiLeaks doesn't find a way to remove this blockade, given our current resources and expenditure we will simply not be able to continue by the turn of the New Year,” Assange said. He also warned that the blockade against WikiLeaks threatened freedom of speech.
Donations have fallen from a monthly average of €100,000 ($133, 000) at the end of 2010 to an average of €6-7,000. Assange said the organisation had been surviving on cash reserves and needed US$3.5 million to continue over the next 12 months.
Assange remains on bail, pending a ruling on his appeal against extradition to Sweden to answer allegations of rape and sexual assault.
Source: Wikinews
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