Stefania Maurizi is an Italian investigative journalist working for the daily Il Fatto Quotidiano, having previously reported for La Repubblica and l'Espresso. She began working with Julian Assange and WikiLeaks in 2009 for her newspaper. Among international journalists, she is the only one who has worked on the entirety of the WikiLeaks secret documents and the only one who has conducted a multi-jurisdictional litigation to defend the right of the press to access the full documentation on the WikiLeaks case. Ken Loach was born in 1936 in Nuneaton. After a brief spell in the theatre, Loach was recruited by the BBC in 1963 as a television director. This launched a long career directing films for television and the cinema, from Cathy Come Home and Kes in the sixties to Land And Freedom, Sweet Sixteen, The Wind That Shakes The Barley (Palme d’Or, Cannes Film Festival 2006), Looking for Eric, The Angels’ Share and I, Daniel Blake (Palme d’Or, Cannes Film Festival 2016).
'The vindictive hounding of Julian Assange by the US government deserves as wide an audience as possible. There is no journalist better placed to tell the story than Stefania Maurizi, who has been following the story closely for more than a decade and personally knows most of those involved. But what stands out is her sheer perseverance, through which she uncovered lots of new information.' -- Ewen MacAskill, Pulitzer Prize winner for Public Service 'A rigorous, compelling and highly readable reconstruction of the WikiLeaks case. I highly recommend this work. No one conveys better the urgency of averting the extradition and prosecution of Assange' -- Daniel Ellsberg, US whistleblower who leaked the Pentagon Papers 'Maurizi's relentless, rigorous and courageous work has produced compelling evidence for the flagrant and deliberate illegality of Julian Assange's persecution. She has decisively contributed to my official investigation into the case as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture' -- Professor Nils Melzer, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (2016-2022) 'Stefania Maurizi's book on the persecution of Julian Assange is the definitive text on this tragedy. To read it is to resist, it is a must read. Free Assange' -- Roger Waters, co-founder of Pink Floyd 'Stefania Maurizi's revelation of the role of the UK Crown Prosecution Service, then run by Keir Starmer, in the persecution of Julian Assange was a journalistic landmark. Her book is a lesson to all who expose the malign secrets of state power' -- John Pilger 'Heroic freedom-fighter or maverick controversialist - Assange is a polarising character. But we can all agree that the classified documents he published revealed much of the heinous barbarity of the post 9/11 US-led wars. This book is a passionate plea in Julian's defence. To extradite would send the message that no journalist or publisher is safe anywhere in the world' -- Kathy Lette, best-selling author and TV presenter 'Everything you think you know about this story is not what you think. Maurizi brilliantly tells the real story of what happened with WikiLeaks and the powers that went out to destroy it' -- John Goetz, Editor of Investigations at German State Broadcaster 'NDR' 'The best possible tribute to Julian Assange's sacrifice on behalf of Western citizens whose governments have been committing, in their name, crimes against humanity. Stefania Mauitzi has sacrificed much to write this book, making it a book to read, behold and promote to anyone who cares about the truth' -- Yanis Varoufakis, Professor of Economics at the University of Athens 'An exceptional book by an exceptional journalist. Written like a political thriller, 'Secret Power' is not only one of the best accounts of the WikiLeaks revolution and the man behind it. It's also a deeply disturbing investigation into the military-intelligence complex and secret power determined to dismantle the last strongholds of democracy, namely freedom of the press' -- Srecko Horvat, philosopher and author of 'Poetry from the Future' 'The story of the aftermath of the biggest story in journalism in generations brilliantly laid out by Maurizi. A must read for everyone interested in finding out how democratic and free, the 'free and democratic west' indeed is.' -- Helgi Seljan, investigative journalist at 'Stundin' 'A gripping first-hand account of the Assange affair' -- Gavin Jones, senior Reuters correspondent in Rome