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Julian Assange Appears in Court for U.S. Extradition Hearing

nytimes.com

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Re: Julian Assange Appears in Court for U.S. Extradition Hearing

#81

Post by justinmchase »

umvi wrote: post #65
ezoe wrote: post #20

I guess this news gives Assange a valid reason for his bail-jumping. He was suspected of raping in Sweden. That was what he was bail-jumping for. But the real reason is the threat of his extradition to US for... what? revealing the war crime of the US? That shall never be a crime. War crime shall not be hidden. US shall be punished for obstructing the information of war crime.

Most nations don't take too kindly to people that assist in the illegal acquisition and publishing of their classified documents. If you did a similar thing to China or Russia, they would probably do everything in their power to secretly execute/assassinate you. Even if you did it to a highly progressive European nation like UK, the government probably wouldn't celebrate you as a hero but would rather do everything i…

Its not illegal to publish classified documents, even if they were illegally acquired.

But that doesn't mean you're wrong or that whats legal or moral or right even matters at this level. The powerful are immune to the law, we can all see it plainly these days.

Re: Julian Assange Appears in Court for U.S. Extradition Hearing

#82

Post by kermitismyhero »

atemerev wrote: post #35
resters wrote: post #3

Keep in mind all the crimes by US officials that Assange revealed. In my view many of those crimes committed by officials are treason, yet all have been swept under the rug.

Which of his crimes looks like treason? He didn’t hack anything, his only “crime” is providing a publishing outlet. (And yes, Assange is highly biased and anti-American, which is not good, but publishing leaks shouldn’t be a crime.)

I would argue that Assange only really became hostile to the American government after senior politicians and officials started calling publicly for his murder. If a US Secretary of State repeatedly and publicly commented about how it would be fantastic if you could be killed in a drone strike, wouldn't that make you rather unfriendly towards them?

Re: Julian Assange Appears in Court for U.S. Extradition Hearing

#83

Post by atemerev »

resters wrote: post #66
atemerev wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which of his crimes looks like treason? He didn’t hack anything, his only “crime” is providing a publishing outlet. (And yes, Assange is highly biased and anti-American, which is not good, but publishing leaks shouldn’t be a crime.)

My earlier comment was unclear. Assange revealed serious crimes by US officials.

OK, thank you for the clarification!

Re: Julian Assange Appears in Court for U.S. Extradition Hearing

#85

Post by danso »

eof wrote: post #10

I wonder if the current political reputation of USA and Trump will play into Assange dodging extradition.

It might. Part of Ecuador's public justification for kicking Assange out was that it had received a "verbal" pledge [0] from the U.S. and the UK that the U.S. would not be seeking the death penalty. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who apparently agreed to this, is resigning. In 2010 [1], Trump commented that "there should be like death penalty or something" for Wikileaks. But obviously things have changed since then, and he wasn't a public official at the time.

[0] https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-gave-verbal-pledge-death-...

[1] https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/04/politics/kfile-trump-wikileak...

Re: Julian Assange Appears in Court for U.S. Extradition Hearing

#86

Post by HashThis »

ezoe wrote: post #20

I guess this news gives Assange a valid reason for his bail-jumping. He was suspected of raping in Sweden. That was what he was bail-jumping for. But the real reason is the threat of his extradition to US for... what? revealing the war crime of the US? That shall never be a crime. War crime shall not be hidden. US shall be punished for obstructing the information of war crime.

Please don't say rape. That is spreading rumors. It was consensual sex without protection

Re: Julian Assange Appears in Court for U.S. Extradition Hearing

#87

Post by coldtea »

Veen wrote: post #17
resters wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d have no problem with Assange being punished if the other journalists were, or if the government officials were.

Assange is accused of a crime. Should he be forgiven because some other people are also accused of crimes?

If all those other people are let go, then yes.

Doubly so, if they have done much more important crimes.

Triply so, if he helped unveil them.

Else it's not even justice anymore, it's courts used as an arbitrary instrument of coercion yield this or that power's convenience.

Re: Julian Assange Appears in Court for U.S. Extradition Hearing

#88

Post by coldtea »

Veen wrote: post #45
TremendousJudge wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this case there's a bit of a conflict of interest, considering that he was the one who showed that the government accusing him committed crimes

That's why the judiciary and the executive are independent of each other.

If they belong to the same country, and care for the same country's "national interests" they're not really independent of each other.

How about he gets tried to some global court?

Re: Julian Assange Appears in Court for U.S. Extradition Hearing

#89

Post by danso »

gcb0 wrote: post #69
danso wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sweden didn't produce a single evidence of the crime This seems to be false. There was a hearing, and a judge believed there was probable cause. From the Wikipedia page, under "Review of detention order": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assange_v_Swedish_Prosecution_... > On 16 July 2014, the Stockholm District Court reviewed the detention order on request by Assange. During the course of the proceedings, Assange's d…

2014... after that they did go to London to interview him and did DNA testing and found nothing too.

This is where you do us the courtesy of citing a source.

edit: I'll do some of the work for you:

In March 2015, news reports said that Swedish prosecutors were negotiating a deal to question Assange in London, and that the visit could include taking a DNA sample [0]. The visit happened in Nov. 2016, though the only articles I've seen do not conclusively say whether Assange agreed to give a DNA sample [1]. In any case, prosecutors getting a DNA sample from him does not have anything to do with whether the prosecutors have their own evidence from their investigation, nevermind your baseless charge of "Sweden didn't produce a single evidence of the crime."

It's possible you're conflating Assange's 2016 London interview and potential DNA test with the 2012 reports that, according to Assange's lawyers, Swedish police did not find conclusive evidence of Assange's DNA on a torn condom -- although they did find DNA believed to be Assange's on a condom from a second accuser [2]. In any case, these reports happened in 2012; 2 years later, a Swedish judge apparently considered the same evidence and decided it was enough to uphold the arrest warrant [3]. So unless you care to share the source of your information, it looks like you've either confused your timestamps about the events, or are just making things up.

[0] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/wikileaks-founder-assange...

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/nov/14/julian-assange...

[2] https://www.smh.com.au/world/no-assange-dna-on-torn-condom--...

[3] https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/16/julian-assange...

Re: Julian Assange Appears in Court for U.S. Extradition Hearing

#90

Post by coldtea »

idlewords wrote: post #16
resters wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d have no problem with Assange being punished if the other journalists were, or if the government officials were.

Nonsense is not a rebuttal!

One-liner slogans are not rebuttals either.
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