London: WikiLeaks said it was in the process of publishing material from over two million Syrian emails — many of which it said came from official government accounts.
WikiLeaks’ founder, Julian Assange, said he decided to release these 2.4 million emails now because they show that certain European companies were still doing business with the Assad regime as recently as this year.
WikiLeaks’ Sarah Harrison told the media that the emails reveal interactions between the Syrian government and Western companies, although she declined to go into much further detail.
She quoted Julian Assange as saying that “the material is embarrassing to Syria, but it is also embarrassing to Syria’s external opponents.”
WikiLeaks released 25 of the 2.4 million emails Thursday focusing on an Italian defense technology group and a Greek company. The emails reveal the companies sold sophisticated radios and equipment to the Syrian police — the same police who are killing and torturing civilians.
The emails show the back and forth of a 2008 deal cut before the violence began. The $50 million deal was signed by Italy’s Finnmeccanica, its Selex Elsag unit, and a Greek firm Intracom-Telecom to provide Tetra-secure, encrypted radios to the Syrian government. As recently as February technicians from the firms were training Syrians to use these radios.
Finnmeccanica denied the report, saying, “This system was intended for use by emergency and rescue organizations (“public safety”). …After the beginning of the violence in Syria, and following the stance taken by the international community, no deliveries have been authorized nor, consequently, executed.”
WikiLeaks says it will continue releasing more of the two million plus emails in the coming days and months.
The handful of documents posted Thursday on the WikiLeaks website — whose source WikiLeaks has not made clear — wouldn’t be the first major leak of Syrian emails.
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