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USA vs. Julian Assange Judgment

judiciary.uk

71–80 of 646 posts

Re: USA vs. Julian Assange Judgment

#71
I actually don't think this is such great news for him.

Extradition was specifically blocked on the grounds of a particular regime he might be subjected to (to be fair, probably the only legal grounds on which he had any chance of succeeding). That leaves the US with a way out if they want to proceed with the extradition - guarantee a different set of circumstances.

If the judge had found on more substantive grounds, those would have been much more resistant to that. For instance, all the claims based on language in the extradition treaty and other international agreements failed and they failed for pretty fundamental legal reasons. English courts only have regard for domestic law and it is for parliament to pass laws consistent with the treaties that have been signed, therefore claims based on treaty language won't work.

That means that none of the claims on the political nature of his activities were upheld and those would have provided a much more robust and durable bar to extradition.

Re: USA vs. Julian Assange Judgment

#72
post #30
post #6

Quite surprised by that verdict. Reading the commentary from Craig Murray [1] I thought it likely he would be extradited. Maybe Trump will pardon him and Snowdon on his way out as well. [1] EG: https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/10/your-man-in-...

Some of us did try to say that Murray is a fucking idiot and should not be listened to.

Assange supporting bloggers/writers including Murray have been alleging extreme bias on the part of the judge for the entirety of the extradition trial.

Pretty standard things that happen in a criminal trial in England (putting defendants in the dock etc.) have been interpreted as unique forms of victimisation reserved solely for Assange.

I won't hold my breath for a mea culpa.

Re: USA vs. Julian Assange Judgment

#73
post #46
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an awful ruling overall, from what I can tell from skimming it. It's great Assange won, but this ruling is not at all support for freedom of expression. This is the one part the judge agreed with the defense on as far as I can tell: > 363. I find that the mental condition of Mr. Assange is such that it would be oppressive to extradite him to the United States of America. For anyone not suffering from severe ment…

You might be able to argue that Assange crossed the line between "journalism" and "hacking", for example when he attempted to assist with cracking a hash. The UK has other history about journalists hacking (see the phone hacking scandal). It's one thing to receive the contents of a hack, and quite another to offer active assistance to exploit systems.

I’m not convinced by your implied equivalence of, on the one hand, phone hacking celebrities and murder victims to generate tabloid clickbait, and on the other, helping protect an intelligence source whose leaked material shows human rights abuses and the death of innocent civilians.

Re: USA vs. Julian Assange Judgment

#74

How will this affect US and UK relations? They are brother/sister countries. Snowden and Assange are 2 Americans most wanted, US would do anything to get them. Btw I'm not in favor of US Gov. spying but what Snowden and Assange did (leak state secrets) is criminal and they need to face justice.

Justice for thee but not justice for me. - Some US politician, probably

Re: USA vs. Julian Assange Judgment

#75
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really don't get it why the UK is even allowed to extradite a citizen of Australia to the US. Shame on Australia too for not protecting it's citizens.

Because Julian Assange was on UK territory, not Australian.

Yes and? Australia should have asked the UK that he is extradited to them (and prosecuted under Australian Law) and not to a third party (with a possible death sentence).

Espionage:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_by_the_Unit...

Re: USA vs. Julian Assange Judgment

#76
post #56

Quite unexpected! Like many HNers who followed Craig Murray's reporting of the trial (see below), I thought Judge Baraitser was a compliant puppet and the extradition to the US was preordained. Will be interesting to see his take on this. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=fal...

Given the apartment disconnect between the reality Murray describes in his reports and the reality we can observe today, do you think you'll read his content with a higher degree of skepticism in the future? His headlines are all calibrated for maximum outrage, that alone turns me off from reading them. Edit to eat crow: only one article has a sensational headline

It was blatantly obvious where his sympathies lay, so I read them with a grain of salt from day one. But florid (and occasionally hilarious) writing style aside, I have no reason to doubt the factual content of his reports, which repeatedly demonstrated that the whole process was a mockery of justice and the scales were stacked against Assange.

Re: USA vs. Julian Assange Judgment

#77
post #25
post #11

Reading the judgement the key points are on pages 116 onwards and the extradition is denied under section 91(3) of the EA 2003 which reads: > The condition is that the physical or mental condition of the person is such that it would be unjust or oppressive to extradite him. The judge states: > it is my judgment that there is a real risk that he will be kept in the near isolated conditions imposed by the harshest SAMs…

I have never come across the use of satisfied for "persuaded by argument or evidence" before. (yes, I had to look it up, not a native speaker) Is this usage common or just some kind of legalese?

Its normal - its even used in Computer Science, eg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_satisfiability_problem

Re: USA vs. Julian Assange Judgment

#78

Time for Australia to step up and own this one. Take your citizen home.

No way, let the lad go to France. He'll be protected there.

Asasnge is not a french citizen, so France will refuse to extradite him for the same reasons as the UK : health problems.

The extradition treaty between France and the United States allows France to deny extradition when the extradited party faces serious consequences related to health or age. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Mastro#Attempted_extra...

Re: USA vs. Julian Assange Judgment

#80
post #57

The UK is in a precarious situation, with COVID and Brexit in full effect. I think that for the sake of the UK-US relationship and future trade talks, the government wants to appear aligned with the US as much as possible on this issue, while not actually extraditing Julian Assange.

This is nonsense conspiracy theorism. There is unlikely to be any possibility of the judicial decision in this case being influenced by the UK government's policies on UK-US trade deals.

It is pretty far reaching, but I wouldn't say that it is 'unlikely to be any possibility' that the UK government would want to influence a high profile case, which is highly likely to impact the UK-US relationship.
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