The People's Record

Wikileaks releases 2.4 million Syrian emails
July 5, 2012

WikiLeaks says it is publishing emails from Syrian political figures dating back to 2006 but also covering the period of the crackdown on dissent by Syria’s regime.

“Just now … WikiLeaks began publishing the Syria files, more than two million emails from Syrian political figures, ministries and associated companies dating from August 2006 to March 2012,” said spokeswoman Sarah Harrison.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a written statement: “The material is embarrassing to Syria but it is also embarrassing to Syria’s external opponents.

“It helps us not merely to criticise one group or another but to understand their interests, actions and thoughts. It is only through understanding this conflict that we can hope to resolve it.”

The news came a day after Russia denied having discussed with Washington offering exile to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.

WikiLeaks said on its website the files would shed light on the workings of the Syrian government but also “reveal how the West and Western companies say one thing and do another”.

It said the 2,434,899 emails came from Syrian ministries including foreign affairs, finance and presidential affairs. There are around 400,000 emails in Arabic but also 68,000 in Russian.

Harrison said it would take time for all the stories to come out.

It is unclear what exactly is in the documents. WikiLeaks only posted a handful to its website Thursday but the disclosure - whose source WikiLeaks has not made clear - wouldn’t be the first major leak of Syrian emails.

Harrison said the WikiLeaks emails dated from August 2006 to March 2012 and originated from hundreds of different domains, including Syria’s ministry of presidential affairs.

Harrison said her group was “statistically confident” the body of material was genuine.

Source

The People’s Record’s other Wikileaks posts.