# Justice Department self-immolation attempt

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Justice Department self-immolation attempt," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/justice-department-self-immolation-attempt/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*An attempted self-immolation at a Washington rally in support of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, held outside the Department of Justice, at which John Kiriakou was speaking. Kiriakou and another demonstrator physically stopped a naked man who had doused himself in lighter fluid; an attorney present intervened with the arresting officers and the man was taken to a hospital rather than a jail.*

- **Location:** Outside the U.S. Department of Justice, Washington
- **Occasion:** Rally in support of [Julian Assange](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/julian-assange) and WikiLeaks
- **Intervention:** Stopped by Kiriakou and another demonstrator
- **Outcome:** Taken to a hospital rather than jail
- **Weather recalled:** A warm day in October

The **Justice Department self-immolation attempt** was an incident at a demonstration outside the U.S. Department of Justice in support of [Julian Assange](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/julian-assange) and WikiLeaks, at which [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) was among the speakers. In his account a man walked up to the podium where the speakers were standing, removed all of his clothes, squirted lighter fluid over himself, and produced a lighter from the pocket of the trousers he had just put on the ground. Kiriakou and another demonstrator stopped him before he could use it.[1]

Asked why he intervened, Kiriakou's answer was about audience rather than about the man: the rally was one at which *"we were all standing there agreeing with each other,"* so the act would have been witnessed only by people already persuaded.[1] He resisted the suggestion that the man had any political motive at all, offering instead that *"maybe the poor guy was just having a mental breakdown"* — and rejecting the proposition that he might simply have been cold, on the ground that the weather did not support it: it was, he recalled, a comfortable and *"warm day in October."*[2]

What happened after the police arrived is the part of the episode Kiriakou singles out approvingly. A woman at the rally who was an attorney ran to the officers as they made the arrest and told them *"I'm an attorney. He's clearly mentally ill. Don't hurt him."* Instead of taking the man to jail they took him to a hospital — an outcome Kiriakou called *"kind of nice,"* and one he attributes to her intervention rather than to the man having done anything chargeable.[2][3]

## See also

- [Julian Assange](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/julian-assange)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)
- [Assange plea deal](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/assange-plea-deal)

## Sources

1. Matan Confronts Kiriakou (Israel) (2026-05-17), at 09:44. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drZH5_d9Xg0&t=584s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-17-the-matan-show-matan-confronts-kiriakou-israel/
2. Matan Confronts Kiriakou (Israel) (2026-05-17), at 10:15. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drZH5_d9Xg0&t=615s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-17-the-matan-show-matan-confronts-kiriakou-israel/
3. Matan Confronts Kiriakou (Israel) (2026-05-17), at 10:45. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drZH5_d9Xg0&t=645s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-17-the-matan-show-matan-confronts-kiriakou-israel/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/justice-department-self-immolation-attempt/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt