Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

591–600 of 784 posts

Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation

#591

Post by makomk »

zaarn wrote: post #278
Steer wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand you feel Swedish law is too harsh on this, but surely that is besides the point since Assange was in Sweden at the time of the alleged crime? It doesn't really matter if his actions qualifies as rape in any other country or not if they do in Sweden (which was for the courts to decide).

Generally a country will only extradite you if the crime alleged is also a crime in that country. Some countries also stipulate that the punishment must not be severely stronger than in the current country.

Generally that's the case. However, Sweden was trying to extradite him under a European Arrest Warrant which has no such requirement for the offence to be a crime in the country being extradited from and has much weaker safeguards in general. (This has caused some problems over the years.)

Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation

#592

Post by whatshisface »

magduf wrote: post #549
whatshisface wrote: post #516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people believe in their country and would rather fix it than leave it. If your car gets a flat, do you change the tire or buy a new car?

If your car gets a flat every other day, the driver's seat is stuck in the reclined position, it's constantly trying to steer you off the road, and the heater doesn't work, then maybe it's time to give up on fixing it and buy a new car.

It's pushing the analogy, but there are a finite amount of car materials in the world, and at some point you will have to start to recycle even the rusted out junkers if you want to drive. People fixing their country is something that's going to have to start happening eventually.

Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation

#593

Post by L_Rahman »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #379
DubiousPusher wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If she finds his treatment report worthy she should visit almost any county jail in America and write a report. I'm seriously not being flippant. If people genuinely find this kind of treatment disturbing and inhumane then they should know it is befalling daily many of their over 2 million incarcerated American brothers and sisters.

The United Nations has criticized the US for it's treatment of prisoners in the past, the US just ignores them. It is worth noting that the two million incarcerated are serving sentences for crimes they were convicted of, making it marginally less horrible than Assange's situation.

Assange's living conditions were entirely self inflicted. He could have surrendered himself to the Swedish authorities, undergone a trial and had he served time would have spent time in a prison system known for its humane treatment and low recidivism rates: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/26/prison-swede...

I am of course assuming that he wouldn't be extradited to the US, in which case not surrendering was the correct choice.

Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation

#594

Post by btilly »

jeffdavis wrote: post #560
blattimwind wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US justice system is possibly the most cruel justice system in the West, and by quite a margin, too. It is one of a few aspects in which the US is far closer to today's developing and third world countries than to the Western average. Also over many decades many organizations have called out the conditions in parts of the US justice system as torture(-like).

The US is a leader in many respects, due largely to our Constitutionally-protected rights. I'm not a fan of the US prison system. But are you seriously claiming that the whole justice system is worse than Venezuela or Honduras?

Our Constitutionally protected rights???

Amendment 1: Why is "In God We Trust" on our money?

Amendment 3: The only time it ever was litigated (in Engblom v. Carey) the government won because a bureaucrat cannot be faulted for not knowing such an obscure law.

Amendment 4: Have you seen what the NSA is doing? Also "unreasonable search and seizure" is, under the doctrine of civil forfeiture, perfectly permissible as long as it is your assets being sued and not you.

Amendment 6: Our out of control plea bargaining system makes a joke out of "fair trial".

Amendment 7: The point of a jury trial is that the jury can choose not to enforce a bad law. The legal system misinforms jurors about this to keep jury trial from being meaningful.

Amendment 8: The overuse of solitary confinement, recognized the world over as a form of torture, certainly qualifies as "cruel and unusual punishment". I don't see that the USA has kept the spirit of this one!

Amendment 10: I'm guessing that you are not familiar with the massive growth of power of the government due to the systemic misinterpretation of the Commerce Clause starting in the 1930s. But the ability of the federal government to regulate local workplaces was not intended by anyone.

It is easy to wave a phrase like "our Constitutionally protected rights" around and believe that things are OK. But if you actually pay attention, you'll find that that Constitution has been a lot less protection than most Americans believe it has.

Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation

#595

Post by pnw_hazor »

dominotw wrote: post #559
whamlastxmas wrote: post #545

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The women did not accuse him of rape. They described alleged sexual assault, wanted the police to contact him to ask him to take an STD test, and the police took it upon themselves to want Assange for questioning in regards to sexual assault.

why would the article say otherwise though? it literally says they accused him.

If they accused him of performing actions that, if true, meet all the elements of the crime rape, they have accused him of rape.

Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation

#596

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

Jamwinner wrote: post #216
injb wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's now safely in police custody and the US has already revealed its plans to extradite him, so there's no longer any need for the charges in Sweden. That's what's meant by this, imo.

Or they never had any strong charges to begin with and the whole plan was to hand over Assange to the US, just Assange said. This is a copy of a dead comment. Not mine.

To hand him over to the US they would, under EU law, need the UK's permission. So it would be harder to hand him over from Sweden than from the UK, and the latter is well-known for being America's lapdog. If the accausation is false, why did they not make it in the UK instead of Sweden and make things easier?

Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation

#597

Post by lostmyoldone »

dwoozle wrote: post #462

You mean it was just a pretext to exfiltrate him to the US, and that Sweden does not in fact have a long national track record of pursuing rapists across international boundaries without prejudice, using the full arsenal of state power?

I don't know if it was only a pretext, probably not only, but Sweden certainly doesn't have a track record of either pursuing rape suspects using the full arsenal of state powers, or of publicly announcing rape allegations as was done in this case.

The accusations might very well be true, but the Swedish prosecutions actions and statements has baffled me from day one.

His legal representation acted quite strange too. I read some court proceedings from some of the UK hearings, among other things the lawyer had called witnesses that had no business being there, it was rather embarrassing to read.

Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation

#598

Post by indemnity »

chrisco255 wrote: post #570
pixelbash wrote: post #548

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in New Zealand with family in the UK. I have spent the last 10 years flying the other way around the planet instead of via LA because the airports are worse than places like Malaysia. I can't speak to living in the USA but I have lived in Milawe and Fiji, and honestly being poor is definitely bad but some of the stuff happening in the US is a whole other kind of dystopian terrifying.

Is LAX really that bad? I haven't been there in years, but this seems a bit egregious. What terrifies you? The long lines at the bathroom? The food court selection? The lack of charging ports?

How about having to check out your luggage, go through security, and check it back in, even when you are just transiting on the way to Europe.

Fly through a big Asian hub and you have none of that BS, modern clean efficient airports with working toilets that can actually flush and better food.

Not a hard decision.

Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation

#599

Post by sachdevap »

shadowgovt wrote: post #588
sachdevap wrote: post #546

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your world view is terribly idealistic from a govt perspective. We are in the midst of a whistle-blower leak right now where an army colonel no less is being threatened to the extent that the US military is looking to take that person to a secure location. This after having the US congress AND the army on his side. Imagine being a contractor and having no established procedures to go to, and when you blow the whistle…

Without going too far off into these weeds: it's the government's task to deal with greys because the world is grey. I'll acknowledge it any time. The State Department keeps secrets, and keeps more secrets than it needs to. The NSA's full-time job is generating and keeping secrets. The fact secrets exist (and some secrets should be publicized) doesn't imply unbridled leaking of those secrets is objectively good, and…

And if those secrets are all there are, what good is a democracy. A democracy can't function in the darkness. What restraint would you advocate in not leaking all secrets? Where would you draw the line? Who should be vetting these papers under such strictly pressured timelines?

On the other end of the spectrum, would you draw the line with Scooter Libby? Would you draw the line with Trump revealing state secrets to Russians behind closed doors?

The double standard between those in power and whistle blowers is out for everyone to see, and there is little that can be done by whistle-blowers to be "careful".

Re: Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation

#600

Post by [deleted] »

seirl wrote: post #396
blattimwind wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US justice system is possibly the most cruel justice system in the West, and by quite a margin, too. It is one of a few aspects in which the US is far closer to today's developing and third world countries than to the Western average. Also over many decades many organizations have called out the conditions in parts of the US justice system as torture(-like).

Yeah, the "few aspects" like the prison system, healthcare, inequality, corruption, homelessness rates, freedom of the press, air pollution, crime rates, discrimination, police violence, homicide rates, unemployment benefits, social nets...

[deleted]
Post reply on HN