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Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#131

Post by jbmorgado »

youngtaff wrote: post #110
ageofwant wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was blindingly obvious that it was. Sweden's reputation took a huge hit because of this incident, and rightly so. They should have resolved the matter within 6 months. But it became such a hot potato that they were willing to sacrifice a man's live, and demonstrated to the world that principles and truth is inconsequential when the bully is sitting on your chest. The stench of this shit will cling to Sweden for ge…

Whether Swedens's reputation took a hit is a matter of opinion. If he was innocent why didn't he go back to Sweden and face the charges? All the stuff about the risk of US extraditing him in nonsense, they'd find it easier to do from the UK. All he did is use political asylum to avoid facing charges of a sexual assault.

"All he did is use political asylum to avoid facing charges of a sexual assault."

All they did was use sexual assault charges in order to force him into political asylum.

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#132

Post by notahacker »

vidarh wrote: post #108
r721 wrote: post #49

David Allen Green‏, Law and policy commentator at @FT: >It is now easier for US to obtain Assange's extradition, if they (ever) wanted it. >Now only UK's consent required, not UK and Sweden. https://twitter.com/davidallengreen/status/86550564980685619...

That assessment, though, is based on an assumption that Swedish authorities would have complied with Swedish law. Part of Assanges fear of going to Sweden, whether justified or not, is presumably that Sweden had a history of letting Swedish police get away with blatantly violating Swedish law in support of US rendition. One could argue that this risk is not real in his case, but that is/was not relevant to whether or…

If Assange truly feared the police blatantly violating Swedish law in support of rendition, then it would seem strange for him to base himself in Sweden, remain in the country whilst being well aware of the investigation under way against him and leave only on the day they notified him they'd received legal authorisation to detain him. And then repeat the whole thing in the UK...

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#133

Post by ttctciyf »

_fizz_buzz_ wrote: post #32
Sephr wrote: post #14

What about the secret US charges? I honestly don't understand how in our democracy there is even such a concept as "secret charges". It just sounds mind-bogglingly corrupt and out of place.

Do they really exist though? Assange travelled to the US on several occasions before the Swedish charges came up ...

I think the best indication that's emerged is in Comey's recent testimony[1]

> before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Comey was asked why the United States had not charged WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with a crime. Comey said he had to be careful with his answer, because he did not want to confirm whether there were charges pending against Assange, but then responded: “He hasn't been apprehended because he is inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London.”

1: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/03/james-comey-wikilea...

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#134

Post by joshschreuder »

skrebbel wrote: post #126
sschueller wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a "kill list" [1] which is unbelievable on its own so I don't see this as much of a stretch. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposition_Matrix

Oh my god. If Trump would introduce something like that the entire internet would explode.

"If"?

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#135

Post by jacquesm »

notahacker wrote: post #90
coldtea wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it was a shady "character assassination" attempt without real standing in the first place... "*The woman of whom Mr. Assange is accused of the offence of "lesser rape" (a technical term in Swedish law) sent an SMS to a friend saying that she "did not want to accuse JA [of] anything" and "it was the police who made up the charges". The other woman tweeted in 2013 that she had never been raped. Both women’s tes…

Strangely, the women's lawyers had a slightly different view of their desire to pursue the matter through the court than the Assange campaign to prevent the matter going to trial. It stretches credulity to argue that responsibility for the affair lies more with the "big powers" than the decision of two apparently major fans to report him to the police after comparing notes on his sexual behaviour. And suggesting the…

> If the state wanted to railroad Assange, he'd have been in jail a lot quicker on much more straightforward charges

Such as?

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#136

Post by efraim »

toyg wrote: post #130
cmdkeen wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? He had the opportunity to appeal all the way to the UK Supreme Court who ruled that the extradition request was valid. Those who pledged surety over his bail were ordered to pay £93,500 back in 2012. This absolutely should not be about politics but about the rule of law. There is a serious point as well that bail needs to be enforced otherwise its effectiveness is reduced, which in turn makes it easier for the a…

> This absolutely should not be about politics but about the rule of law. But it is about politics. No other bail-skipper in recent memory was ever granted the attention and resources that the UK police granted to the Assange case. It's also pretty clear by now that the Swedish charges were overblown, with very strong suggestions that it was done for political reasons. Hiding behind procedures will not change that. A…

>It's also pretty clear by now that the Swedish charges were overblown, with very strong suggestions that it was done for political reasons.

That's not clear at all and there are no such strong suggestions from any reputable source. Assange has not been charged with anything in Sweden, he was merely wanted for questioning before any such charges could be made. People suggesting Sweden wanted him back just to hand him over to the US don't know what they are talking about, no matter how strong they are suggesting it.

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#137

Post by dullgiulio »

icebraining wrote: post #99
dullgiulio wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All he had to do was answer some questions to the Swedish prosecutor. I still fail to understand why Sweden, NOT a NATO member, would have been more dangerous than the UK. Also, Sweden is not exactly the worst place in the world to spend prison time (which was only the worst case scenario.) Answer the questions, clarify everything, and walk free. He chose himself not to answer. He chose to dump all the rich people wh…

Not being a NATO member doesn't mean they don't collaborate with the CIA: Swedish officials handed over al-Zari and another Egyptian, Ahmed Agiza, to CIA operatives on December 18, 2001 for transfer from Stockholm to Cairo. Both men were asylum seekers in Sweden, and suspected of terrorist activities in Egypt, where torture of such suspects is commonplace. (...) Despite post-return monitoring by Swedish diplomats, bo…

Just to be clear, it's two Egypitians being transferred to Egypt. Assange is not American.

The case you quote is obviously a violation of International Law, but it doesn't make me more suspicious for the fate of Assange in Sweden.

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#138

Post by pbhjpbhj »

tontonius wrote: post #35
tray5 wrote: post #3

Anyone know why they dropped it?

From Swedish news: Defence laywer Per E Samuelsson identifies two reasons to why the charges were dropped: – He had a solid explanation to what really happened that night. Which means the prosecutor can't expect a conviction in court. Secondly, we can prove that the US is after him. Proof which we didn't have when the Supreme Court tested this in 2015.

>He had a solid explanation to what really happened that night. //

So why not go to court with it? He believes Sweden would have handed him over for extradition?

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#139

Post by crdoconnor »

chx wrote: post #39

Is there a good article -- does even anyone know? -- on how did Wikileaks turn from a whistleblower into a mouthpiece of the Kremlin? Edit: some examples: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/... https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2017/03/...

This is the same Washington Post got caught manufacturing stories to generate anti-Russian hysteria:

https://theintercept.com/2016/12/31/russia-hysteria-infects-...

And that created an McCarthyite blacklist:

https://theintercept.com/2016/11/26/washington-post-disgrace...

Of course, the Washington Post isn't really guilty of anything more than slavishly believing what US military officials are saying, who, of course, wouldn't do anything as crass as to try and denounce Assange as an enemy of the people and a puppet of Russia.

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#140

Post by arethuza »

joshschreuder wrote: post #134
skrebbel wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh my god. If Trump would introduce something like that the entire internet would explode.

"If"?

I think the relevant part of the page being "Developed by the Obama administration beginning in 2010"
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