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Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

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Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#41

Post by tobyjsullivan »

tptacek wrote: post #7

[flagged]

> In May, two judges on the High Court said he could have a full hearing on whether he would be discriminated against in the U.S. because he is a foreign national. A hearing on the issue of Assange's free speech rights had been scheduled for July 9-10.

At the risk of sounding a tad conspiratorial, it's possible the U.S. agreed to this deal specifically to avoid the upcoming trial. As I understand it, there remains an open question of whether (or to what extent) the US constitution applies to non-citizens and it's conceivably in the government's interests if that thread isn't pulled by foreign courts and in such a public fashion.

To clarify: I don't believe the US was ever going to "disappear" him or whatever he and others hypothesized. Even outside that context, there's an interesting question of why the US suddenly decided to wrap this up after a decade of seemingly-relentless pursuit.

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#43

Post by ein0p »

wmf wrote: post #29
ein0p wrote: post #23

[flagged]

Fellas, is it "based" to become a mouthpiece for Russia?

Is Snowden a “mouthpiece for Russia”? I don’t think he is. I don’t see why Assange would be either. I just don’t see how he’d be able to continue his work _anywhere_ in the West. We have so much “freedom” these days that we imprison foreign citizens on foreign soil and fabricate rape accusations against them.

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#44

Post by tptacek »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #38

How do plea deals work for precedent? As despite the constant claim that he was only being charged for assisting in hacking US computers, the plea deal is over violations of the Espionage Act specifically about receiving and publishing classified documents. Or basically his acts as a journalist. Can this be used to indict other journalists who receive and publish classified information? As if so, this feels like a hu…

They don't. Generally: lower court decisions don't create binding precedent.

Further: Assange wasn't simply charged with "receiving and publishing classified information"; he was charged with being instrumental in that information being exfiltrated in the first place.

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#45

Post by esnard »

JULIAN ASSANGE IS FREE

Julian Assange is free. He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1901 days there. He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stanstead airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK.

This is the result of a global campaign that spanned grass-roots organisers, press freedom campaigners, legislators and leaders from across the political spectrum, all the way to the United Nations. This created the space for a long period of negotiations with the US Department of Justice, leading to a deal that has not yet been formally finalised. We will provide more information as soon as possible.

After more than five years in a 2x3 metre cell, isolated 23 hours a day, he will soon reunite with his wife Stella Assange, and their children, who have only known their father from behind bars.

WikiLeaks published groundbreaking stories of government corruption and human rights abuses, holding the powerful accountable for their actions. As editor-in-chief, Julian paid severely for these principles,and for the people's right to know.

As he returns to Australia, we thank all who stood by us, fought for us, and remained utterly committed in the fight for his freedom.

Julian's freedom is our freedom.

[More details to follow]

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#47

Post by Culonavirus »

wmf wrote: post #29
ein0p wrote: post #23

[flagged]

Fellas, is it "based" to become a mouthpiece for Russia?

The real question you should be asking is if it's "based" to persecute your political opponents and whistleblowers to such a degree that they can only turn to the most ideologically opposed (and nuclear armed) country there is for "safety". I'm sure Snowden is REALLY HAPPY to live in Russia. Dare I say positively glowing. Ahem...

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#49

Post by adolph »

Assange was charged by criminal information — which typically signifies a plea deal — with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information, the court documents say.

What a waste of a life over a pointless and vindictive prosecution. Here’s hoping all prosecutors involved go the way of Stevens’

https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedeta...

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#50

Post by faeriechangling »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #22
tptacek wrote: post #7

[flagged]

[flagged]

Assange was blatantly targeted by a US intelligence conspiracy against him and it's blindingly obvious that Sweden wouldn't have had an arrest warrant against him without their meddling. The US also brazenly suspended the writ of habeas corpus in the GWOT and was absolutely indefinitely detaining people. The secret CIA black sites that were part of the same GWOT were also very well covered. Beyond what others have said, it's already public knowledge that the possibility of assassinating Assange was discussed by US officials.

I'm not saying this would have been Assange's fate, I would expect things to play out more like the Manning case. Still if somebody makes themselves an extremely prominent enemy of US intelligence, regardless of if you're an islamic terrorist or a whistleblowing journalist, it's very reasonable to theorise that there might be a conspiracy against them.

Usually the problem with conspiracy theories and why they're so mad is they presume thousands of actors act in concert with no clear motive to do so and all can keep a secret. This is a conspiracy which didn't really need to be kept all that secret, with a pretty blatant unifying motive - taking down Assange meant stemming leaks both directly and by making an example of him.

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