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Julian Assange granted permission to appeal against extradition to US

theguardian.com

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

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is absurd, he should be on a flight right now. For the crime of reporting information that embarrassed the US government.

Wrecklessly and without simple redaction, in such a way that very well might have resulted in the deaths of US officials. And highly questionable selective publishing. I think the guy is getting fucked over in this unfairly, but let's not pretend he has released information to a reasonable standard.

> very well might have resulted in the deaths of US officials

US spies that knew the risks of their profession.

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

#92
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrecklessly and without simple redaction, in such a way that very well might have resulted in the deaths of US officials. And highly questionable selective publishing. I think the guy is getting fucked over in this unfairly, but let's not pretend he has released information to a reasonable standard.

Are there examples of that?

> Reporters Without Borders, a press freedom group which had been maintaining a backup version of the WikiLeaks site, revoked its support for the whistleblowing site in the wake of the decision.

> "Some of the new cables have reportedly not been redacted and show the names of informants in various countries, including Israel, Jordan, Iran and Afghanistan," it said in a statement. "While it has not been demonstrated that lives have so far been put in danger by these revelations, the repercussions they could have for informants, such as dismissal, physical attacks and other reprisals, cannot be neglected."

* https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/sep/02/wikileaks-publ...

> The letter from five human-rights groups sparked a tense exchange in which WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange issued a tart challenge for the organizations to help with the massive task of removing names from thousands of documents, according to several of the organizations that signed the letter. The exchange shows how WikiLeaks and Mr. Assange risk being isolated from some of their most natural allies in the wake of the documents' publication.

> The human-rights groups involved are Amnesty International; Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, or CIVIC; Open Society Institute, or OSI, the charitable organization funded by George Soros ; Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission; and the Kabul office of International Crisis Group, or ICG.

* https://archive.is/XPuki / https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/SB1000142405274870342860457...

> “We are deeply concerned that WikiLeaks decided to make public the names of diplomatic sources who may face reprisals by oppressive governments,” said Elisa Massimino, president of Human Rights First, an independent nonprofit organization.

* https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-xpm-2011-aug-30-la-fg-wiki...

Whether reprisals then occurred I do not know.

> "We fear the names could create new targets", Nader Nadery, the president of the AIHRC, told the French news agency AFP.

> The WikiLeaks editor, Julian Assange, replied to the letter by asking the groups concerned to help WikiLeaks redact the names. He also threatened to expose Amnesty if it refused to provide staff to help with the task, according to the Wall Street Journal.

* https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/10/afghanistan-wa...

Assange "threatened to expose Amnesty" International?

To me it seems that Assange was not pursuing some noble cause, but was on some kind of vendetta, given all the (collateral?) damage he was causing to others.

(Generally I knew of him, given he often made headlines, but have never really dug into the details.)

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

#93
post #51

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.

Arguably, the rest of the "free world" can be seen as provinces of an American Empire with their independence. From that perspective, the Assange extradition makes perfect sense. This isn't as crazy as it sounds because the Roman Empire had provinces which were technically "independent" monarchies aligned with Rome. Most famously, Egypt under Cleopatra and Judea under Herod.

> Arguably, the rest of the "free world" can be seen as provinces of an American Empire with their independence

Arguably, this is bullshit. The UK might be dangerously friendly with the US on multiple fronts, but e.g. France has refused to extradite Polanski forever, refuses to hand over control of their nukes to NATO, and pursues an independent but aligned foreign policy to the US.

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

#95
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…

"we better hand this guy over to the mafia before they kill him".

It’s amazing how flexible the law can be when powerful people need to to be.

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

#96
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then the US would not be able to extradite anyone from a country that requires assurances ever again. Given that the US still has the death penalty for many crimes this would cripple its ability to extradite.

Well that's unlikely to happen, US have enough leverage to extradite anyone they want

Polanski says hi.

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

#97
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrecklessly and without simple redaction, in such a way that very well might have resulted in the deaths of US officials. And highly questionable selective publishing. I think the guy is getting fucked over in this unfairly, but let's not pretend he has released information to a reasonable standard.

> very well might have resulted in the deaths of US officials US spies that knew the risks of their profession.

> US spies that knew the risks of their profession.

What about their sources?

Multiple human rights organizations criticized the underacted release of information:

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39827756

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

#99
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.

How is extradition a kidnapping plot?

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

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> It is absurd, he should be on a flight right now. For the crime of reporting information that embarrassed the US government.

Yes, it is considered a cardinal sin to discredit authority through embarrassment. It may not be an official crime, but they will make it feel that way. This isn't unique to governments. Try discrediting any authority figure with embarassment (parent, teacher, manager, police) and watch what happens. The result somewhat irrational and ego driven, but it's relatively consistent.
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