Massive Release of Raw WikiLeaks Files Threatened if Assange Harmed

Julian Assange's lawyer has warned that supporters of the WikiLeaks founder will unleash a "thermonuclear device" of government files containing the names of spies, sources and informants if he's killed or brought to trial.

Assange's lawyer, Mark Stephens, told the BBC news program "The Andrew Marr Show" on Sunday that if the WikiLeaks website was taken down -- or if anything ill happened to his client -- the key to that damaging file would be released. "[WikiLeaks founders] need to protect themselves," Stephens said, "and this is I think what they believe to be a thermonuclear device, effectively, in the electronic age."

Stephens added that the insurance policy was vital because Assange had received numerous death threats from around the world, including one from Canadian Tom Flanagan, a former campaign manager to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Flanagan told a TV interviewer last week that Assange "should be assassinated" and taken out "with a drone or something." He later apologized for the remark.

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