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

Julian Assange granted permission to appeal against extradition to US

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 225 posts

Re: Julian Assange granted permission to appeal against extradition to US

#101

Post by mminer237 »

bondarchuk wrote: post #70
tptacek wrote: post #38

It's becoming increasingly pointless for the US and UK to litigate this as the time Assange spends in formal custody accrues, mooting any likely potential sentence he'd receive in the US. The WSJ has Assange close to a plea deal that would avoid US custody altogether.

Certainly the difference between a normal UK jail and indefinite solitary confinement with possibility for "enhanced interrogation" in the US is not pointless.

We still have the 8th and 14th Amendments. He's not going to get tortured.

Re: Julian Assange granted permission to appeal against extradition to US

#102

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

sofixa wrote: post #91
Lord-Jobo wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrecklessly and without simple redaction, in such a way that very well might have resulted in the deaths of US officials. And highly questionable selective publishing. I think the guy is getting fucked over in this unfairly, but let's not pretend he has released information to a reasonable standard.

> very well might have resulted in the deaths of US officials US spies that knew the risks of their profession.

It also leaked the identity of informants.

When I served in Afghanistan the locals would tip us off about ambushes or IEDs. Should those people be killed for warning us and potentially saving my life?

Re: Julian Assange granted permission to appeal against extradition to US

#103

Post by simiones »

austin-cheney wrote: post #99
SkeuomorphicBee wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What an utterly absurd judgment, that should have no place on a free society. They have a literal kidnapping/assassination plot, and yet the Judge considers it all above board and that it doesn't show any prejudice.

How is extradition a kidnapping plot?

Assange's team brought evidence that the USA had a kidnapping/assassination plot in case he attempted to flee to Russia. They brought this as obvious evidence that he will not be safe in US custody - they were already willing to kidnap or kill him without a trial. This should prevent his extradition from the UK to the USA, as the UK in principle doesn't extradite prisoners to countries where their safety and UK judicial rights are not guaranteed.

Re: Julian Assange granted permission to appeal against extradition to US

#104

Post by illithid0 »

bsjaux628 wrote: post #94

[flagged]

While there are bits of truth in this comment, much of it is exaggerated and unsubstantiated, namely:

- Being a verified Russian asset

- Working with Russia to specifically help elect Trump to the office of president

- Specifically seeking to weaken US democracy

Going to need sources and supporting evidence proportionate to the extent of your claims.

Re: Julian Assange granted permission to appeal against extradition to US

#105

Post by FpUser »

K0balt wrote: post #53
graemep wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect part of the answer is that most or all countries regard leading information to the the public to be far worse than leaking it to other countries. > Every country is potentially spying on every other country and it doesn't even matter if they are supposed to be allies or enemies. Very true. The UK spying on Belgium and the US spying on Germany come to mind., but that is "business as usual" and no one expects…

Espionage and disclosure are two different things. Espionage is expected and deterred as possible but because everyone has spies everyone tends to play nice when they get caught, because they don’t want their own agents mistreated. Disclosure, on the other hand, threatens the power structure of all players. People need to understand that the every person is meant to be firmly under the foot of the ruling class, and u…

>"everyone has spies everyone tends to play nice when they get caught"

Nope. "Nice" only comes if they are exchanged. Otherwise just rot in jail.

Re: Julian Assange granted permission to appeal against extradition to US

#106

Post by devsda »

api wrote: post #82
bdw5204 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arguably, the rest of the "free world" can be seen as provinces of an American Empire with their independence. From that perspective, the Assange extradition makes perfect sense. This isn't as crazy as it sounds because the Roman Empire had provinces which were technically "independent" monarchies aligned with Rome. Most famously, Egypt under Cleopatra and Judea under Herod.

If you believe “free world” should be in quotes you need to travel more or talk to more expats. Maybe we really do need a little dance with authoritarianism here to remind people what that is.

I think the "free world" here is not a reference to the people's freedom but a reference to the sovereignty & freedom of national governments themselves w.r.t to certain policies on the global stage.

Re: Julian Assange granted permission to appeal against extradition to US

#107

Post by hylaride »

lll-o-lll wrote: post #66
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> It is absurd, he should be on a flight right now. For the crime of reporting information that embarrassed the US government.

Knowingly handling stolen (secret) property is still a crime. It's not about the embarrassment. If he only released the infamous helicopter attack or specific "criminal" documents, that'd be one thing. However, he dumped the entire diplomatic communications (among other stuff) that literally put people's jobs, careers, and even lives in jeopardy who were doing nothing illegal, immoral, or wrong. Most of the dumped data was mundane, but still classified.

Embarrassing leaks have happened many times (pentagon papers*, watergate, Iran–Contra affair among others) and the leakers didn't go to jail

Even worse his ego took over and wikileaks became the julian assange show; he reminded me of every cult leader I've ever seen. He's now experiencing FAFO for his arrogance.

*Though the gov't tried to charge Ellsberg with stealing/releasing classified data, the fact that he was highly selective is what saved him from jail time.

Re: Julian Assange granted permission to appeal against extradition to US

#108

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

austin-cheney wrote: post #99
SkeuomorphicBee wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What an utterly absurd judgment, that should have no place on a free society. They have a literal kidnapping/assassination plot, and yet the Judge considers it all above board and that it doesn't show any prejudice.

How is extradition a kidnapping plot?

> How is extradition a kidnapping plot?

Extradition is not a kidnapping plot.

Administrations and agencies actively+eagerly seeking methods to deliver revenge to Assange in the form of kidnapping and assassination - this is also not extradition.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=plot+to+kidnap+assange

Re: Julian Assange granted permission to appeal against extradition to US

#109

Post by roenxi »

Tomte wrote: post #73
roenxi wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Would" is a strong word. "Might" seems a bit more reasonable. There is currently an escalating war in Europe and Germany has already rolled over and accepted the Nord Stream pipe as an act of God. Well, I don't actually know where their investigation is up to, but they're not acting like their infrastructure was attacked by a military. They're just taking it on the chin, probably some strongly worded diplomatic prot…

You don‘t seem to be aware of the concept of an independent judiciary.

I dunno, is the German judiciary powerful enough to be independent of the US? In theory the entire country has independent sovereignty but it doesn't isn't in a position to exercise it to full effect. It doesn't come up very often, but in physical reality the judiciary's independence rests on the beliefs of a country's police chiefs and generals.

The US has a history of just doing what it wants in Europe when it comes to renditions (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition [0]). It isn't out of the question that they just grab these people and the judiciary can go sort itself out. There were reports that they were considering assassinating Assange and being done with it. I assume the fact he isn't much of a threat going forward and that his miserable existence is an object lesson in defying the US stood him in good stead against those ideas.

[0] I liked the 2006 resolution that called on that the US to stop doing these things and apologise. The good old fashioned sternly worded letter is one of my favourite parts of politics.

Re: Julian Assange granted permission to appeal against extradition to US

#110

Post by mnau »

vaylian wrote: post #71
mnau wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insert "Always has been" meme.

Doesn't mean that it always has to stay that way.

People tried and kind-of succeeded. It's being eroded, but it still mostly works.

US generally doesn't persecute it's citizens for reporting. See Pentagon papers.

Assange is not US citizen. Guantanamo bay detainees weren't US citizens. They are free targets.

Post reply on HN