LOS ANGELES: US cable network Showtime said on Sunday it is to release “Risk,” a documentary from Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras about controversial WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
The network announced in a statement it would partner with distributor Neon on a theatrical release before premiering the movie on television in a few months.
Filmed over six years and taking in the 2016 US presidential election, “Risk” claims to take viewers closer than any previous film crew into Assange’s inner circle.
“With unprecedented access, Poitras gives us the WikiLeaks story from the inside, allowing viewers to understand our current era of massive leaks, headline-grabbing news, and the revolutionary impact of the Internet on global politics,” Showtime said in a statement.
“‘Risk’ is a portrait of power, principles, betrayal, and sacrifice when the stakes could not be any higher. It is a first-person geopolitical thriller told from the perspective of a filmmaker immersed in the worlds of state surveillance and the cypherpunk movement.”
Assange, 45, has been at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London since 2012, having taken refuge to avoid being sent to Sweden, where he faces a rape allegation.
He fears Sweden would extradite him to the US over his website’s leaking of diplomatic cables and other classified documents.
The Australian was questioned at the embassy on Nov. 14 and 15 on the rape allegation which dates back to August 2010.
Poitras’s profile of Assange, who denies any wrongdoing, is a follow-up to her Academy Award-winning “Citizenfour” (2014), about fugitive leaker Edward Snowden and the NSA spying scandal.
“It is an exciting time to be working with Showtime and Neon,” the 53-year-old said. “Both organizations are thinking outside the box about how to bring complex stories to a wide audience. I am thrilled to team up with them on ‘RisK’.”
An unfinished version of “Risk” screened to critical acclaim at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
Separately on Tuesday, Ecuador’s President-elect Lenin Moreno warned Assange not to meddle in the country’s politics, after the he taunted a rival candidate following his loss.
Moreno’s election victory was a relief for Assange.
The socialist president-elect’s conservative rival, Guillermo Lasso, had vowed to kick Assange out of the embassy.
But Moreno had some stern words after Assange took to Twitter to celebrate Lasso’s loss.
“Mr Julian Assange must respect the condition (of asylum) he is in and not meddle in Ecuadoran politics,” he said at a news conference.
As results showed Lasso losing on election night, Assange had exuberantly turned around the right-wing candidate’s threat to expel him within 30 days.
“I cordially invite Lasso to leave Ecuador within 30 days (with or without his tax haven millions),” he tweeted — a reference to allegations the ex-banker has money stashed in offshore accounts. Outgoing President Rafael Correa, a fiery critic of the US, granted Assange asylum, and Moreno has vowed to uphold it.
Assange’s case has returned to the spotlight since WikiLeaks was accused of meddling in the US election last year by releasing a damaging trove of hacked e-mails from presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign and her Democratic party.
That created an awkward situation for the Ecuadoran government, which responded by temporarily restricting his Internet access.
Showtime to air documentary on WikiLeaks founder Assange
Showtime to air documentary on WikiLeaks founder Assange
Pioneering Asharq Al-Awsat journalist Mohammed al-Shafei dies at 74
- Egyptian was known for his fearless coverage of terrorist, extremist groups
- One of handful of reporters to interview Taliban leader Mullah Omar in 1970s
LONDON: Mohammed al-Shafei, one of Asharq Al-Awsat’s most prominent journalists, has died at the age of 74 after a 40-year career tackling some of the region’s thorniest issues.
Born in Egypt in 1951, al-Shafei earned a bachelor’s degree from Cairo University in 1974 before moving to the UK, where he studied journalism and translation at the University of Westminster and the School of Oriental and African Studies.
He began his journalism career at London-based Arabic papers Al-Muslimoon and Al-Arab — both of which are published by Saudi Research & Publishing Co. which also owns Arab News — before joining Al-Zahira after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Al-Shafei joined Asharq Al-Awsat in 1991 and spent 15 years on the sports desk before shifting to reporting on terrorism. He went on to pioneer Arab press coverage in the field, writing about all aspects of it, including its ideologies and ties to states like Iran.
His colleagues knew him for his calm demeanor, humility and meticulous approach, marked by precise documentation, deep analysis and avoidance of sensationalism.
Al-Shafei ventured fearlessly into terrorist strongholds, meeting senior terrorist leaders and commanders. In the 1970s he was one of only a handful of journalists to interview Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban, and conducted exclusive interviews with senior figures within Al-Qaeda.
He also tracked post-Al-Qaeda groups like Daesh, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and Boko Haram, offering pioneering analysis of Sunni-Shiite extremism and how cultural contexts shaped movements across Asia and Africa.
During the war on Al-Qaeda, he visited US bases in Afghanistan, embedded with international forces, and filed investigative reports from active battlefields — rare feats in Arab journalism at the time.
He interviewed Osama bin Laden’s son, highlighting a humanitarian angle while maintaining objectivity, and was among the few Arab journalists to report from Guantanamo, where his interviews with Al-Qaeda detainees shed light on the group’s operations.
Al-Shafei married a Turkish woman in London in the late 1970s, with whom he had a son and daughter. He was still working just hours before he died in London on Dec. 31.
