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Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#151

Post by PJDK »

notahacker wrote: post #132
vidarh wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

And not to mention that fear when arguing against his extradition in a UK court.

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#152

Post by efraim »

mihular wrote: post #84
Numberwang wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it does not prove any such thing.

Of course it does. Not wanting to interview him, not having any valid evidence, dubious victims, etc.

It really doesn't. They wanted to question him, he fled and locked himself up in an embassy. You don't know what evidence they have but rape cases such as this rarely have any physical evidence but they should still be investigated.

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#153

Post by tunap »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #97
Sephr wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't specifically state what they are charging him with in that article, just that they "seek to put him in jail".

That's even worse imo. They can't find something he has done wrong but still want to imprison him.

I cannot help but suspect the recent "stealthing" headlines following Comey's(?) 180° turn against Wikileaks is part of the campaign. Sure, it is an abhorrent act and justifiably prosecutable, and just so happens to be what Sweden was wanting to question Assange about, but when WSJ, WaPo, Fox, USA Today, CNN & Fox run the same headlines for two weeks on a prior low-priority subject(for them & their advertisers), I cannot help but wonder at the genesis for this particular MSM meme of late.

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#154

Post by vidarh »

dullgiulio wrote: post #137
icebraining wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's two egyptians asylum seekers being illegal black-bagged and handed to a foreign power who turned around and handed them to the country they were fleeing.

It was not just a violation of international law, but a violation of Swedish law which the relevant police officers were not punished for.

So it is an indication that Swedish police can illegally pick people off the streets of Sweden, treat them in a way that is blatantly illegal, illegally hand them off to a foreign power, and not be charged with anything.

Maybe that is not enough to make you more suspicious, but the question is whether or not it gave Assange more reason to be concerned.

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#155

Post by belorn »

cmdkeen wrote: post #124
toyg wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But now the UK government can surrender that right to prosecute him if they want to. The political responsibility is pretty clear at this point.

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…

Is the risk that an accused on bail can be granted political asylum a reason to deny bail for future defendants?

In the history of UK, how many times have this set of circumstances happed?

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#156

Post by vidarh »

efraim wrote: post #152
mihular wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course it does. Not wanting to interview him, not having any valid evidence, dubious victims, etc.

It really doesn't. They wanted to question him, he fled and locked himself up in an embassy. You don't know what evidence they have but rape cases such as this rarely have any physical evidence but they should still be investigated.

And Assange kept offering to let them interview him in the UK. They refused for four years before finally agreeing last year. Why could they not have interviewed him for those four years?

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#157

Post by baby »

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/...

> how did Wikileaks turn from a whistleblower into a mouthpiece of the Kremlin?

Examples are not proof. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#158

Post by vidarh »

notahacker wrote: post #132
vidarh wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

They had closed the case, and notified him of that. Then a new prosecutor reopens the case and goes after him.

The point is that Sweden might very well have seemed perfectly safe despite those past actions until a prosecutor took those steps which still seems exceedingly odd.

To have one prosecutor say there was no case to answer, only to have another prosecutor specifically go after the case and reopen it, is uncommon to say the least.

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#159

Post by kevingadd »

dalbasal wrote: post #118

I suppose the ball is now in the US' court . Assange is a strange case, hes (Wikileaks is) really a journalist, and should be protected by laws and conventions protecting journalists. But he doesn't seem to identify too strongly with the press and presents more like a political dissident. I used to live in Melbourne (where wikileaks is sort of based). I stopped to sign a petition in his support. The petition mentione…

It's really regrettable that he's swung hard into manipulative conspiracy theories and attacks on people he disagrees with or politicians he dislikes. It's much harder to defend his current conduct as journalism, and WL's conduct with more recent leaks and hacked documents (like Macron's campaign) leaves a lot to be desired. In the past, I think you could make a strong argument that he should've been protected as a pseudo-journalist.

I think if he had kept a level head and a more serious approach to these things it would at least be easier to defend him...

Re: Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation

#160

Post by vidarh »

matt4077 wrote: post #117
vidarh wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

It doesn't have to be "the prosecutor's ambition"–it's just an unwillingness to let someone skip a trial just by fleeing, and the precedent it would set.

That does not explain the highly unusual step of overruling another prosecutors decision that there was no case to answer, the illegal release of information to the press, nor the insistence not to interview him in the UK - something she kept up for four years before finally accepting that there is no legal basis preventing her from doing so (one of the excuses used), and finally interviewing him last year.
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