Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder jailed over bail breach • Hacker News Board

Re: Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder jailed over bail breach

#31

Post by lucideer » Wed, May 01, 2019, 2:03 PM UTC

PaulRobinson wrote: post #19

yasp wrote: post #8

Craig Murray's reaction is worth reading [1]. I realize he does not respond to the bail breach directly, but rather to what precipitated this chain of events. > If the Swedish allegations against Julian Assange were genuine and not simply a ruse to arrest him for extradition to the United States, where is the arrest warrant now from Sweden and what are the charges? > Only the more minor allegation has passed the stat…

Referring to "Blairite MPs" in this context is so laughable it undermines this person as a serious political commentator.

It's a common term in UK politics—he's not coining.

Re: Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder jailed over bail breach

#32

Post by wybiral » Wed, May 01, 2019, 2:04 PM UTC

netcan wrote: post #11

sschueller wrote: post #2

While I am saddened by this decision I hope he now is able to get proper medical care and fight the case against extradition. As long as he is not on London streets the US can't just snatch him up. [1] [2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_El-Masri [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Omar_case

There may not be and extradition case. It doesn't seem like Sweden is still keen, and on balance, the US mightn't want him either at this point. It's not a guaranteed conviction. The president has an embarrassing YouTube reel where he "loves WikiLeaks" 50 times. It'll drag the contents of contentious leaks back into the spotlight. It could be more convenient to let it go.

> The president has an embarrassing YouTube reel where he "loves WikiLeaks" 50 times. It'll drag the contents of contentious leaks back into the spotlight. It could be more convenient to let it go.

But America isn't a dictatorship so the decision isn't exactly up to him. There's a whole legal system operating under their own framework that the president doesn't have much control over.

Re: Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder jailed over bail breach

#33

Post by mothsonasloth » Wed, May 01, 2019, 2:04 PM UTC

guitarbill wrote: post #7

> His continued residence at the embassy and bringing him to justice had cost taxpayers £16m, she [Judge Deborah Taylor] added. Disgracefully dishonest in multiple ways. Not to mention, the police force's continued incompetence should have no bearing (maybe it didn't).

Yea, £16m for a lucrative posting for a bobby just to stand around.

The courts could have been forward thinking and left his bail-skipping as a misdemeanor.

Re: Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder jailed over bail breach

#34

Post by dleslie » Wed, May 01, 2019, 2:05 PM UTC

I suspect that the USA isn't keen to make him a martyr, and that key players recognize the minimal value in prosecuting him now. It will be interesting to see how they utilize this nearly year-long reprieve from Assange's political posturing.

Re: Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder jailed over bail breach

#35

Post by contingencies » Wed, May 01, 2019, 2:05 PM UTC

sneak wrote: post #12

Reminder: (the following in quote marks are direct quotes from the alleged victims.) On 17 August, SW wrote "JA did not want to use a condom". On 20 August, while at the police station, SW wrote that she "did not want to put any charges on Julian Assange" but that "the police were keen on getting their hands on him". According to the statement she was "chocked (sic shocked) when they arrested him" because she "only w…

Re: Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder jailed over bail breach

#36

Post by leereeves » Wed, May 01, 2019, 2:06 PM UTC

_petronius wrote: post #24

yasp wrote: post #8

Craig Murray's reaction is worth reading [1]. I realize he does not respond to the bail breach directly, but rather to what precipitated this chain of events. > If the Swedish allegations against Julian Assange were genuine and not simply a ruse to arrest him for extradition to the United States, where is the arrest warrant now from Sweden and what are the charges? > Only the more minor allegation has passed the stat…

This whole "if the accusation is real then why hasn't he been charged?" pseudo-fact relies on a rather stubborn misunderstanding of the difference between the Swedish legal system and the UK one. Assange can't be "charged" in the sense that the Anglosphere thinks of it until he is physically present for trail; that doesn't mean that the charges haven't been put to him or that Sweden isn't actively pursuing the invest…

> that Sweden isn't actively pursuing the investigation.

Ecuador started arranging for him to leave the embassy at least five months ago.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/dec/06/ecuador-says-u...

Why didn't Sweden have an extradition request ready? They had at least five months to prepare one.

Re: Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder jailed over bail breach

#37

Post by JoeSmithson » Wed, May 01, 2019, 2:07 PM UTC

yasp wrote: post #21

PaulRobinson wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Referring to "Blairite MPs" in this context is so laughable it undermines this person as a serious political commentator.

Craig Murray is a former British ambassador.

And current nutjob. Check out his tweets/blogs around the time of the attempted Skripal assassination.

His questioning here is clearly in bad faith. Assange successfully evaded justice on most of his charges in Sweden because they have a statute of limitations. It's not something to celebrate.

The situation with Assange is all public record. Obama DoJ didn't pursue extradition, Trump DoJ did.

Separately to this, Assange was suspected of sexual offences in Sweden, most of which have now expired. Connected to those charges, he committed an offence under the Bail Act in the UK for which he has now been convicted.

Anyone arguing that USA was intending to extradite Assange in 2010 is misinformed or arguing in bad faith. Only Sweden wanted to extradite him in 2010 because they had strong evidence he had committed a sexual offence in their jurisdiction.

---

Downvoters - did I get something wrong?

Re: Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder jailed over bail breach

#38

Post by OldFatCactus » Wed, May 01, 2019, 2:09 PM UTC

lucideer wrote: post #29

akvadrako wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, this seems like a dishonest account of the situation. My understanding is that being "charged" in Sweden normally happens later in the process than in the USA/UK, so the fact that he wasn't "charged" isn't meaningful.

To be fair, you've nitpicked one minor detail in the above quote. The subtantive point still hands. Why is Assange not now wanted for questioning in Sweden?

isn't he?

Re: Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder jailed over bail breach

#39

Post by wybiral » Wed, May 01, 2019, 2:11 PM UTC

yasp wrote: post #25

akvadrako wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not the US, so US legal customs are irrelevant.

Right. So OP may kindly cite Swedish legal process or refrain from expressing an opinion.

Opinions are allowed but that doesn't mean they aren't just opinions.

Re: Julian Assange: Wikileaks co-founder jailed over bail breach

#40

Post by droithomme » Wed, May 01, 2019, 2:11 PM UTC

yasp wrote: post #8

Craig Murray's reaction is worth reading [1]. I realize he does not respond to the bail breach directly, but rather to what precipitated this chain of events. > If the Swedish allegations against Julian Assange were genuine and not simply a ruse to arrest him for extradition to the United States, where is the arrest warrant now from Sweden and what are the charges? > Only the more minor allegation has passed the stat…

> In the case of the allegation in Sweden that did fall through the statute of limitation, the accusation was that during the act of consensual sex Julian Assange deliberately split the condom with his fingers, without consent. ... But the split condom given to Swedish police as evidence had none of Assange’s DNA on it – a physical impossibility if he had worn it during sex. And the person making the accusation had previously been expelled from Cuba as working for the CIA.

Interesting, this is the first I heard about the DNA evidence, which is compelling. The prosecutor's dropping of this charge is reasonable given the lack of any DNA present on the sabotaged condom.

Also should mention that Craig Murray is a personal friend of Julian Assange, something his blog readers are well aware of. Murray is the one who testified he personally collected the DNC email leak from a disgruntled DNC employee in Washington DC and hand couriered it across the Atlantic where he handed it over to Assange. This leak origin account contradicts the Russian hacker narrative regarding the DNC email leak.