Rights Groups Urge WikiLeaks to Censor Names

'There was no consideration about civilian lives'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 11, 2010 8:14 AM CDT
Rights Groups Urge WikiLeaks to Censor Names
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks during a press conference in London Monday July 26, 2010. Assange said Monday he believes there is evidence of war crimes in the thousands of pages of leaked U.S. military documents relating to the war in Afghanistan. The remarks came after WikiLeaks, a whistle-blowing...   (AP Photo/Lizzie Robinson, PA)

WikiLeaks has won praise from human rights groups in the past but now several have added their voices to those criticizing its leak of classified Afghanistan war records. A coalition of rights groups has written to founder Julian Assange, urging him to remove the names of Afghan civilians from the records already released and any to be published in the future, the Independent reports.

"There was no consideration about civilian lives," a spokesman for the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission said, noting there has been a rise in assassinations of civilians seen to be collaborating with NATO forces. Amnesty International says it has also contacted Assange over the issue. The US has urged its allies to consider arresting Assange; click here for more on that story.
(More Julian Assange stories.)

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