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Julian Assange granted permission to appeal against extradition to US

theguardian.com

41–50 of 225 posts

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

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would the alternative be? Expats can commit cyber crimes risk-free? Just don't be a citizen of the country you reside in or the country you're attacking and you're immune! They can extradite him because Australia says that they can. Most of our countries at the highest levels agreed to this. It's called international law and it's messy.

> Expats can commit cyber crimes risk-free? Not an expat. Julian Assange is not a US citizen, not on US ground, does not work for a US company. He can’t be committing “espionage” because he’s not inside; at most he can be committing “reporting” upon US practices. Same question arose when EU wrote the GDPR: It was a debate at the time that a US company with no activity in EU could be trialled in EU for misdemeanor aga…

I think the case against Assange is a bit flimsy. But this argument doesn’t hold. If you hire a hitman and kill someone in the US, you commit a crime in the US. Even if you are not a US citizen of, have never been to the US and don’t work for a US company.

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

#42
post #40
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.

You think he'll spend 175 years in UK prison?

No.

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

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Expats can commit cyber crimes risk-free? Not an expat. Julian Assange is not a US citizen, not on US ground, does not work for a US company. He can’t be committing “espionage” because he’s not inside; at most he can be committing “reporting” upon US practices. Same question arose when EU wrote the GDPR: It was a debate at the time that a US company with no activity in EU could be trialled in EU for misdemeanor aga…

How is he not an expat of Australia?

Only Americans get to be expats, everyone else has to be immigrants.

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

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is he not an expat of Australia?

Only Americans get to be expats, everyone else has to be immigrants.

He came to UK. He’s not an Australian expat in USA.

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

#45
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.

[flagged]

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

#46
post #23

Court documents can be found here: https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/assange-v-government-of-t... Paragraph 210 of the judgment argues why the US's kidnapping/assassination plot is not a valid ground for refusing the extradition: > [...] On the face of the allegations (on the evidence before the judge and the fresh evidence) the contemplation of extreme measures against the applicant (whether poisoning for example o…

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.

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

#47
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…

Given that the US has turned itself into an unreliable defense partner, not sure why they wouldn't stick to German law in Germany, not like the government can just bypass the courts. Also, if a hypothetical US pipeline had been attacked by a large nuclear armed adversary, pretty sure that country would still be on the map...

> Also, if a hypothetical US pipeline had been attacked by a large nuclear armed adversary, pretty sure that country would still be on the map...

Doesn't have to be the same country. There is a bit of history in recent times; US went in to Afghanistan to find Osama and Iraq to find WMD. Turned out both were only to be found in Pakistan.

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

#48

I still don't understand how a country can grant extradition of a non US citizen to the USA for "espionage". Every country is potentially spying on every other country and it doesn't even matter if they are supposed to be allies or enemies. The only limits are resources.

It's a complex legal matter and nobody involved is in any rush to make hasty decisions, because they may impact future extradition requests. Speaking of the future, intentional or not, Assange's case has a freezing effect on people who might be thinking of sharing secrets. That's already a win for those who don't want secrets to be shared with the public.

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

#49
Given that the US is not a signatory to several international treaties and regularly employs solitary confinement, which is internationally considered as a form of torture, there is a humanitarian argument against the extradition. The desire to comply with the extradition request seems to be more about politics (i.e. maintaining good relationships with the US) than the rule of law.

The treatment of Manning should be sufficient evidence to deny the claim that Assange would receive a fair trial and treatment as a prisoner that is compatible with human rights (i.e. that excludes torture). But given that the judgement argues that even the plans to assassinate him were justified, I doubt this will be given any consideration.

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

#50

I saw that they were considering giving him a plea deal. If the Biden admins give Assange a plea deal similar to Manning it will be a good thing because the crimes were similar and motivated similarly.

What a catastrophe. This is the ultimate evidence that there is no such thing as a free press; People are only allowed to report what their masters allow them to. The day you cross a line and in Assange's case, the day you report the crimes commited by The Empire, they crush you.

Insert "Always has been" meme.
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