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WikiLeaks published more than 60,000 leaked cables from Saudi Arabia and says it will publish more than half a million in upcoming weeks.
WikiLeaks released Friday more than 60,000 secret documents from Saudi Arabia and said that it had more than half a million additional documents that it will be releasing in the upcoming weeks as part of the “Saudi Cables.”
According to the press release on the transparency advocacy organization, the Saudi Cables include reports, “Top Secret” documents and reports from various Saudi institutions, including the interior ministry and Saudi intelligence agencies, as well as email communications between the Saudi foreign ministry and embassies in foreign countries.
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RELEASE: #SaudiCables: Buying Silence: How the Saudi Foreign Ministry controls the international media https://t.co/e3cx2Lr8r0
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks)
June 19, 2015
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, said in the press release that the documents would give a glimpse into how the kingdom manages to keep its high-level alliances with the West, despite an ever-declining human rights record.
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“The Saudi Cables lift the lid on an increasingly erratic and secretive dictatorship that has not only celebrated its 100th beheading this year, but which has also become a menace to its neighbors and itself," the organization said in its press release. “Each year it [Saudi Arabia] pushes billions of petro-dollars into the pockets of UK banks and US arms companies. Last year it became the largest arms importer in the world, eclipsing China, India and the combined countries of Western Europe.”
WikiLeaks did not disclose the source of the documents, but said that the Kingdom had identified a security breach in its computers in May.
The Arab World is staying up all night tonight :"WikiLeaks Says It's Leaking Over 500,000 Saudi Documents" http://t.co/bLFgZ4LoNS
— Zied Mhirsi (@zizoo)
June 19, 2015
A Yemeni cyber group claimed responsibility and have since been releasing “sample” secret documents. WikiLeaks said that it had significantly more documents than what the Yemeni group might have acquired.
The release of the documents marks the three-year anniversary since Assange entered the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where he has sought refuge as he faces extradition to the U.S. from both the U.K. and Sweden.
Interesting Saudi intel. report on Mohammed Ghonim & the rise of political Shi'ism in Egypt after Jan. 25 revolution. pic.twitter.com/yPaRmFeK3i
— Hassan Hassan (@hxhassan)
June 19, 2015
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