LONDON (AFP) – WikiLeaks is auctioning off a chance to dine with Julian Assange to raise funds for its whistle-blowing activities -- although it will have to be lunch because he is under a court-imposed curfew.
The website is offering eight lucky bidders the chance to have a meal with its founder and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek in "one of London's finest restaurants", according to the listing on auction website eBay.
Four of the places were put online on Monday for a week, and by Wednesday afternoon had attracted a top bid of ?620 ($1,000, 700 euros), with the website promising that 100 percent of the final sale price will go to WikiLeaks.
The lunch will be from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm on Saturday, July 2, and will be followed by a public discussion about the impact of WikiLeaks between Assange and Zizek.
Assange will then have to head back to the country mansion in eastern England where he is living under a strict bail curfew while challenging an attempt by Sweden to extradite him to face questioning over alleged sexual assault.
He is due back in court in London on July 12 to appeal a British judge's ruling in February that his extradition would not breach his human rights.
He says the claims against him are politically motivated because of WikiLeaks' publication of thousands of cables in which US diplomats give their often candid views on world leaders, to Washington's acute embarrassment.
