131–140 of 784 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't want to defend Lamo, but he surely got pressure from the government and some kind of deal.
That makes it worse, not better. Take the punishment for the shit you did and say nothing about what someone else did if what they did saved lives and served the public good.
So sick seeing how UK judges listen to US.
? They were responding to a valid extradition request by Sweden. How does the US factor in here?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assange_v_Swedish_Prosecution_...
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Melzer was asked about that. He responded: "Mr. Assange was about as free to leave as someone sitting on a rubber boat in a shark pool." - https://twitter.com/NilsMelzer/status/1134400849097220102
Generally people accused of serious crimes are not as free as the rest of us. He has always been free to face his accusers.
Worth mentioning that Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, visited Assange and described his treatment as psychological torture: > “It was obvious that Mr. Assange’s health has been seriously affected by the extremely hostile and arbitrary environment he has been exposed to for many years,” the expert said. “Most importantly, in addition to physical ailments, Mr. Assange showed all symptoms typical for…
It's something, but i'm not sure I agree with calling that torture.
Title should really be 'US takes hand out of Swedish puppet now that its free to extradite Assange' The take away here is stay anonymous when whistle blowing or handling leaks. Don't talk to anyone, don't say anything just take a USB stick to an Internet cafe while disguised and host a torrent. Then email the press the magnet link using a throw away email service.
Er, Assange himself was the press, here. Chelsea Manning was the anonymous whistleblower who tried to keep her identity safe until Adrian Lamo (may God have mercy on his soul, because I sure won't) reported her to US authorities.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes(+), but that has nothing to do with statute of limitations - if something's going to the extreme of retroactive criminal law, there will be a clause which says "and the statute of limitations does not apply". (+) arguably it isn't, in ECHR juristictions
Wait, in the US criminal laws can be retroactive?
"No Bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_One_of_the_United_Stat...
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And they probably shouldn’t. Statute of limitations should only be to protect against fast changes to the law that apply retroactively.
The notion that a new law does NOT retroactively apply to acts done before the law was enacted is not called a 'statute of limitations'. A statue of limitations serves a few purposes. 1. At some point closure is better than justice, or at least, that's a theory. Better to get a crime on record because the committer of it confesses to it than not. The idea being that after, say, 10 years, the odds that the criminal wo…
Correct, it’s called ex post facto.
So he still gets almost another full year in a UK jail. After that, where can he go? Let's just say he's somehow successful at avoiding US extradition (unlikely), he's not going to be able to stay in the UK (unless he has dual citizenship or can somehow claim dual citizenship through a relative). He'd have to request asylum from another European nation that he can safety get to without flying. Australia did little to…
If he is released from UK jail he can hop onto a ferry and go to mainland EU. There he could travel to anywhere within the Shengen zone. I'm not sure about western countries, but Poland(as well as other eastern countries I believe) will not extradite anyone anywhere unless the crime is also considered a crime here, there is no possibility of death penalty, and there is strong evidence submitted that makes a convictio…
The hard truth is that Assange won't be free nor safe anywhere in Europe. The tactical and propagandistic value of detaining and punishing him is so high, the US won't have any qualms black-opping him out of any EU country like they did with Abu Omar in Italy; and his freedom is not valued highly enough by any EU country to stop this from happening.
The only places where he could safely stay in the long term, at the moment, are Russia and Venezuela. Even Cuba has enough problems that they won't dare adding another one to the pile just out of spite; and that goes for most South-American states in general. China stands for everything he despises, so that's another hard no. Places like Japan or South Korea, so deeply embedded in the US military stance, are extremely unlikely too.
Assange must hope the current administration is replaced by someone so firebrand-y, s/he'd be willing to make a grand gesture of reconciliation. Snowden comes before him in the list though, and doesn't carry the baggage that Julian does, so chances of that are very low too.
Sadly, this is a round that the Galactic Empire has won. The only satisfaction Julian might get, will come from history books.
It's not torture if you can leave at any time. He wasn't being held in the embassy, he was hiding there.
Ah, the old “he was free to leave anytime” argument. No. He wasn’t. Yes, technically, he was free to leave, but arguing that is ignoring the fact that leaving would mean jail. It’s victim blaming. Would you say a victim of Stockholm Syndrome is “free to leave at any time”? No, because that’s a ridiculous argument. Would you say Snowden is “free to leave [Russia] at any time”? No! So why is it an acceptable argument w…
It's not torture if you can leave at any time. He wasn't being held in the embassy, he was hiding there.
Ah, the old “he was free to leave anytime” argument. No. He wasn’t. Yes, technically, he was free to leave, but arguing that is ignoring the fact that leaving would mean jail. It’s victim blaming. Would you say a victim of Stockholm Syndrome is “free to leave at any time”? No, because that’s a ridiculous argument. Would you say Snowden is “free to leave [Russia] at any time”? No! So why is it an acceptable argument w…