Julian Assange arrested in London • Hacker News Board

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#531

Post by cadlin » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:03 PM UTC

celticninja wrote: post #355

toby- wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Skipping bail; failing to surrender to the court after he was previously released on bail. The sexual assault case against him in Sweden has since been dropped, but the warrant for skipping bail is still active.

breaching bail is not actually a criminal offence https://greenandblackcross.org/guides/should-i-ignore-police...

That article says, "Failure to surrender, ie. not turning up on the date given on your bail sheet (whether to a court or to return to a police station) is a crime."

What's not a crime is breaching the conditions of your bail, e.g. you can't go to political protests if you're released on bail.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#532

Post by tenpies » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:04 PM UTC

magnamerc wrote: post #491

lowpro wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if Russia leaked the emails (not certain as the media would have you believe at all, not saying it’s conspiracy but It’s not conclusive), the information regarding massive corruption in the DNC was true, and that information being public is 1) good and 2) important.

Isn't it confirmed that the Russians hacked the DNC e-mails on the day that Trump famously said: 'Russia, if you're listening...". Wasn't that in the indictment for the 12 members of the GRU?

I still cannot believe that rational people believe that Trump said that literally. Even if you weren't watching and only got the media-spun version of events, the idea that the FSB is going to be watching live TV waiting for a literal order from a US candidate strikes me as so comically outlandish.

Email? Nope, it might go to the spam folder.

Phone call? What of the time zone difference?

Blinking morse code? Too obvious!

Secret gesture? The FSB may miss it!

Literally giving out the order on international TV during debates? Sounds like a plan!

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#533

Post by rndgermandude » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:04 PM UTC

scotchmi_st wrote: post #523

belorn wrote: post #487

I would like to locate all HN comments which said he never would get arrested on behalf of the US, and that Assange objections was all just pretense for trying to escape justice from the UK/Swedish legal system.

The second statement doesn't follow from the first. He was both wanted for questioning in a rape investigation _and_ wanted for extradition to the US. You can both want him to face charges for rape, and also not want him to be extradited to the US. The lack of regard for a rape case against him (mostly by male commenters, it has to be said) is very troubling.

You mean the "he removed his condom during consensual intercourse without her knowing or him telling her" rape...

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#534

Post by pjc50 » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:05 PM UTC

acct1771 wrote: post #448

matt4077 wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- By everything I've read of his behaviour, even before he became famous, the accusations seemed to be very much his style - The specifics, i. e. secretly removing the condom, seem to invite all sorts of "that's not rape" opinions, making them a rather bad choice compared to stereotypical violent rape. - The supposed CIA connection of the accuser is a laughable 10-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon connection involving her atten…

This is incredibly ill-informed, or very carefully constructed disinformation, and I'm uncomfortable that I can't tel the difference. For example: there were many illegal, suggestions of illegal, and offensive things in those, and related, email leaks, for supporters and detractors of HRC. > If you're intent to discredit Assange among his fanbase, which is largely young, male, and online: isn't rape actually the wors…

> many illegal, suggestions of illegal, and offensive things in those, and related, email leaks, for supporters and detractors of HRC.

Such as? Have there been any prosecutions? Wasn't she vindicated by an investigation?

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#535

Post by house9-2 » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:05 PM UTC

scotchmi_st wrote: post #523

belorn wrote: post #487

I would like to locate all HN comments which said he never would get arrested on behalf of the US, and that Assange objections was all just pretense for trying to escape justice from the UK/Swedish legal system.

The second statement doesn't follow from the first. He was both wanted for questioning in a rape investigation _and_ wanted for extradition to the US. You can both want him to face charges for rape, and also not want him to be extradited to the US. The lack of regard for a rape case against him (mostly by male commenters, it has to be said) is very troubling.

I think what you are saying is he should have been extradited to Sweden not the US?

Apparently those charges were dropped?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assange_v_Swedish_Prosecution_...

> The investigation into the allegation of rape, as of 19 May 2017, has been dropped by Swedish authorities.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#536

Post by vectorEQ » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:05 PM UTC

Mvandenbergh wrote: post #91

It will be interesting to see if the US tries to extradite him. It's actually not 100% clear that he's broken any US laws in any ways that they aren't also routinely broken by newspapers. There's a few avenues: 1) Publishing classified information. Easy to show that he did this but a very difficult path to go down when American newspapers do this all the time. 2) Conspiracy to commit espionage. Probably the most like…

once he sets foot in US soil he's screwed regardless of the laws specifics, just watch.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#537

Post by DyslexicAtheist » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:05 PM UTC

criley2 wrote: post #476

DyslexicAtheist wrote: post #274

and considering the public mood after a several year campaign to demonize Wikileaks and Assange by the US media, chances are pretty high that he will rot in a US prison for life or have his ashes thrown into the sea the same way as they did with Osama bin Laden. The US is a terror state that uses torture and secret prisons. I hope that EU countries will stop extradition asap.

It's pretty shocking here to see pro-fascist comments like this which reward the Russian Intelligence operation called "Wikileaks" and its constant war against democracy, liberty and free elections in not just the U.S., but also Europe. Sometimes you have to wonder why folks this guy truly hate the U.S. and the West and side openly with mediocre spies involved in intelligence operations against his own home. But this…

are you calling me a fascist right?

I'm neither right nor left and maintain that both camps are equally deluded. I don't hate the US - I want the US to succeed! Very much so!

But it's not going to succeed by telling Americans that all is fine and they are doing a great job not considering the mess that they create in the world (since decades). I am obviously upset about the US but it's not out of hate but because of disappointment. They have always acted like a role model for how "freedom and individuality" is the corner stone of a happy society - some might say they "pressed their liberal views onto the world". I am very much bought into that ideology so it stinks and hurts even more so when I get to watch their actual hypocrisy play out as it does right now. It's like being in a relationship with a toxic souse that says one thing and makes you believe in the overall message and then stabs you in the back.

I like watching Friends, How I met your mother, and other US cultural things and feel a stronger bond to their culture than to my own home country (which whatever they produce now is an poor American knock-off). So calling me an American hating fascist or right-winger is a bit too quick I think.

Stop killing Muslims, and stop putting your poor and minorities into prisons, educate your stupid and give them health insurance, and we'll be best friends again. Hopefully then _together_ (!) we can tackle real problems such as climate change. Sounds a lot more rewarding than going for war to make a few puppet masters richer.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#538

Post by dragonwriter » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:06 PM UTC

empath75 wrote: post #307

Mvandenbergh wrote: post #91

It will be interesting to see if the US tries to extradite him. It's actually not 100% clear that he's broken any US laws in any ways that they aren't also routinely broken by newspapers. There's a few avenues: 1) Publishing classified information. Easy to show that he did this but a very difficult path to go down when American newspapers do this all the time. 2) Conspiracy to commit espionage. Probably the most like…

I think the criminal argument is that he was acting as a cutout for Russian intelligence with the dnc leaks.

> I think the criminal argument is that he was acting as a cutout for Russian intelligence with the dnc leaks.

That may be a (relatively new) criminal argument, but there is also Manning plus 18 USC §2(a): “Whoever commits an offense against the United States or aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures its commission, is punishable as a principal.” (emphasis added)

Plus probably all kinds of stuff in between.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#539

Post by rndgermandude » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:06 PM UTC

foldr wrote: post #527

throwawaylolx wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, moments before the arrest, many people in this thread were accusing him of paranoia/manipulative intents: >He claimed that his reason to do so was to avoid extradition to the US, but Sweden wasn't allowed to extradite him without UK's permission first [0]. He could've gone to Sweden and face the charges, and avoided this whole thing. But he had to make himself look like a victim of a conspiracy instead, and his…

Hmm? This just goes to show that the USA didn't need to manufacture rape allegations in Sweden just in order to get Assange extradited, since their best chance of doing so was to extradite him from the UK.

He was in Sweden at the time. The UK couldn't have extradited him from Sweden to the US.

Not saying that the Swedish charges were all manufactured, just following your hypothesis.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#540

Post by dpwm » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:07 PM UTC

jhayward wrote: post #502

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From your link: Guardian journalist, David Leigh, claimed that Julian Assange initially refused to redact the names of informants.[62] In his book, co-authored with Luke Harding, WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy, Leigh claimed Assange to have said in relation to whether the names should be redacted, "Well, they're informants. So, if they get killed, they've got it coming to them. They deserve it."[63…

He hasn't strongly denied it. He said in 2011 that he would sue them for reporting the quote. He hasn't. Anyone can say "it's not true" on twitter. I don't call that a strong denial. In any case, the names of informants were published. He did it. That's all you need to know about the man.

Just bear in mind that libel is a seriously expensive game in the UK (£100,000+), and perhaps might not be your highest priority when you're fighting an extradition attempt.