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Julian Assange arrested in London

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#871

Post by gnode »

pjc50 wrote: post #789
johnnycab wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It will be interesting to see if the US tries to extradite him. Scotland Yard has confirmed that Assange was arrested on behalf of the US after receiving a request for his extradition. https://www.theguardian.com/media/live/2019/apr/11/wikileaks... Edit: Indictment: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/wikileaks-founder-charg...

This is why "breaking" news confuses as much as it informs. Has he been arrested for skipping bail on a UK court warrant? Yes. Has he been arrested on a US indictment for extradition? Also yes. These are two separate arrests. It just happens that one was once he was already at a police station. http://news.met.police.uk/news/update-arrest-of-julian-assan... Edit: apparently the Swedish extradition is spinning up as w…

What confused me most is that he was arrested twice. It seems non-nonsensical to arrest him a second time (rather than simply charge him), given that he was already in police custody.

Does this signify something meaningful, such as a change of which legal basis the arrest is under, and thus a change to the rights he has?

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#872

Post by dragonwriter »

panarky wrote: post #746
madez wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those who prefer the original source: http://news.met.police.uk/news/update-arrest-of-julian-assan...

The actual indictment: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/press-release/file/1153481... Snowden: The weakness of the US charge against Assange is shocking. The allegation he tried (and failed?) to help crack a password during their world-famous reporting has been public for nearly a decade: it is the count Obama's DOJ refused to charge, saying it endangered journalism. https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/11163365508733…

> The weakness of the US charge against Assange is shocking. The allegation he tried (and failed?) to help crack a password during their world-famous reporting has been public for nearly a decade: it is the count Obama's DOJ refused to charge, saying it endangered journalism.

That's an argument against the desirability of the charge because of knock on effects (or, rather, because of some other actors past perception of such effects), not an argument supporting the claim that the charge is weak. In fact, were it weak, it would pose little danger even if it was the kind of charge that, considerations of strength aside, would pose danger.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#873

Post by chx »

dontbenebby wrote: post #855
chx wrote: post #804

There are a number of things connecting Assange to Russia. https://www.salon.com/2017/01/07/donald-trump-julian-assange... this lists six such things. https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/303172-pus... is particularly damaging because one of the arguments of the "Wikileaks is not a Russian org" is that it sympathetizes and works with Pussy Riot... https://www.thedailybeast.com/wikileaks-inside-the-farage…

> There are a number of things connecting Assange to Russia. His own OkCupid listed that he loved everything Russian (except the food) long before the 2016 election: https://mashable.com/2010/12/13/julian-assange-okcupid/ That being said, while he's a piece of shit we need to be careful we don't erode press freedoms we've had for a very long time just because we really don't like one jerk.

And what if a Russian agent disrupting USA elections masquerades as a journalist?

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#874

Post by dragonwriter »

gcb0 wrote: post #773
panarky wrote: post #746

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The actual indictment: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/press-release/file/1153481... Snowden: The weakness of the US charge against Assange is shocking. The allegation he tried (and failed?) to help crack a password during their world-famous reporting has been public for nearly a decade: it is the count Obama's DOJ refused to charge, saying it endangered journalism. https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/11163365508733…

Interesting, as the current narrative (on thehill.com, a left-center bias news source no less) is that this is all caused by fears from the Obama administration personnel: https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/394036-How-Comey-int... Though it is also the narrative on russia propaganda sites https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201806271065837436-comey-as...

> Interesting, as the current narrative (on thehill.com, a left-center bias news source no less)

TheHill is solid right (or maybe center-right if one views the neoliberal faction of the Democratic Party as center-left instead of center-right.) It's not “left-center” in any case.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#875

Post by [deleted] »

rjf72 wrote: post #769
village-idiot wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Grand Juries have a very high indict rate, especially federal ones, but there’s arguments about why that is. One argument is obviously that grand juries are pushovers and indeed would literally indict a ham sandwich. The other argument, hinted above, is that prosecutors only move to indict if they think they have a chance to win at trial. Since the evidentiary standards are much higher for conviction, that means they…

It's not just that they're pushovers, it's a completely one-sided affair. They only hear from the prosecution (the defendant is not present, let alone granted legal representation) and the prosecution is allowed extensive leeway in attempting to gain the indictment including offering evidence that would not be allowed in trial, such as hearsay [1]. And whether a case can be won or not at trial is a secondary consider…

[deleted]

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#876

Post by danso »

mothsonasloth wrote: post #272
sorenjan wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know to what you're referring, but the facts of the matter are: 1. He was wanted for questioning for rape and sexual misconduct in Sweden. According to police records, he had sex with a woman who demanded that he wore a condom, which he did at first. Then next morning she wakes up by him penetrating her without consent. She then asks "are you wearing anything", to which he replies "I'm wearing you". The sexua…

They haven't promoted conspiracies like Pizzagate or Qanon, they just leaked Podesta's emails etc. What conclusions people draw from those leaks is on them, not wikileaks.

That’s debatable: https://twitter.com/natsecgeek/status/1012399750220599301

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#877

Post by mrkstu »

torkins wrote: post #870
d0ugie wrote: post #678

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whenever the government Al Capones someone, which ought to be a verb, it's a reminder to me that due to a legislative and prosecutorial discretion excesses combined with politics that those of us who aren't 100% squeaky clean are unjustly vulnerable to judicial creativity run amuck. If you've got a Snowden or an Assange you want to lock up with all keys thrown away, stick to charges along the lines of espionage etc;…

The alternative to prosecutorial discretion is 100% enforcement of all crimes big and small. In either situation, the government would go after these people for their small crimes so the outcome for the targets you're mentioning is the same. Also, Capone was convicted by a jury on evading (in 2019 dollars) millions in taxes, so 'small' is relative only to massive corruption scheme and murdering he wasn't convicted on…

Or, once a bunch of elites go to jail, the laws get changed so that only serious crimes are indeed 'crimes' and the rest get civil penalties in proportion to the means of the offender.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#878

Post by sneak »

armitron wrote: post #573
foldr wrote: post #527

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The rape charges helped to chip away at his character, isolate him and erode popular support. It's not hard to believe that intelligence services could do something like that. That's their MO.

One point, for accuracy: There were no rape charges.

Re: Julian Assange arrested in London

#880

Post by M2Ys4U »

gnode wrote: post #871
pjc50 wrote: post #789

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why "breaking" news confuses as much as it informs. Has he been arrested for skipping bail on a UK court warrant? Yes. Has he been arrested on a US indictment for extradition? Also yes. These are two separate arrests. It just happens that one was once he was already at a police station. http://news.met.police.uk/news/update-arrest-of-julian-assan... Edit: apparently the Swedish extradition is spinning up as w…

What confused me most is that he was arrested twice. It seems non-nonsensical to arrest him a second time (rather than simply charge him), given that he was already in police custody. Does this signify something meaningful, such as a change of which legal basis the arrest is under, and thus a change to the rights he has?

Section 31 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act:

  Where—

    (a) a person—

      (i) has been arrested for an offence; and

      (ii) is at a police station in consequence of that arrest; and

    (b) it appears to a constable that, if he were released from that arrest, he would be liable to arrest for some other offence,

  he shall be arrested for that other offence.
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