WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Monday his website has temporarily stopped publishing new documents and may soon be forced to shut down due to funding problems. Assange accused Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, Bank of America and others of blocking donations to WikiLeaks for nearly a year.

Julian Assange: "Since the 7th of December 2010, an arbitrary and unlawful financial blockade imposed by the Bank of America, VISA, Mastercard, PayPal and Western Union has destroyed 95 percent of our revenue ... In order to ensure our future survival, WikiLeaks is now forced to temporarily suspend all publishing operations in order to direct all our resources into fighting the blockade and raising funds."

Assange criticized the financial service companies for targeting WikiLeaks, even though the company has never been charged with a crime.

Julian Assange: "As a result, WikiLeaks has been running on cash reserves for the last 11 months. The blockade has cost the organization tens of millions of dollars in lost donations at a time of unprecedented costs resulting from publishing alliances in over 50 countries with over 90 media and human rights organizations. Our scarce resources now must focus entirely on fighting this unlawful financial blockade."

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/25/headlines