Julian Assange Loses Extradition Appeal 311
judgecorp writes "Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, has lost his appeal in the British High Court against extradition to Sweden on charges of rape. His team has 14 days to appeal to the Supreme Court — but would have to show a 'wider issue of public importance' to justify such an appeal. Meanwhile, WikiLeaks has suspended publication because it says a 'banking blockade' has cut off its sources of funding."
Re:Good. (Score:2, Interesting)
The problem is of course that he didn't do anything. It's exactly the same as what happened to Dominique Strauss-Kahn. He was accused of rape, lost his job and any prospects of a future career because of this, then sat in a courtroom for a few months until it was decided the evidence was too weak and the victim's story too incoherent for the court to reach a conclusion. So he was let go and now he has nothing. Which is exactly what the people who set up the "rape victim" intended to do.
Re:Good. (Score:5, Interesting)
Julian Assange has offered to be questioned over video or phone conference, which Sweden refused. That strongly suggests that Sweden wants him in physical custody more than it wants questions answered.
Re:One person's "justice" (Score:2, Interesting)
The justice system is based in the Western world on the belief that he will get a fair trial in Sweden and other similar countries - you should not be able to escape unpleasantries by crossing borders. It's not Iran he's being extradited too.
Right now the belief is that the Swedish justice system is being used as a mule to drag Mr. Assange into a country for which the United States has Extradition arrangements (unlike the UK, his current place of residence). The spectre of US political Manouvering combine with a charge that's somewhat specious has my BS meter go into the Red.
If Sweden were so concerned that "justice" was served, then they would publicly guarantee Mr. Assange's complete immunity from deportation to ANY country until after this affair is put to rest. It might be that he's investigated in Sweden and released; if so, he's released DIRECTLY back to the UK from whence he was taken. It might be that this case goes to trial. If he's found guilty and goes to jail, then when he's released it is arranged that he goes DIRECTLY back to the UK from whence he came. If he's found innocent then when he is released it is arranged that he goes DIRECTLY back to the UK from whence he came. I bet that the US could "place" some operative in a Swedish federal PMITA prison and/or have Mr. Assange shanked during any potential stay -- That would be cleaner I guess than having him choking on his Wheaties during a Sunny morning breakfast in the UK.
I'm not sure (nor am I speculating on it) if Mr. Assange did something illegal in Sweden. I am however, against the notion of the US staging a scenario where he can get extradited to the US because they took a black eye over the WikiLeaks situation.
I'm not even saying I agree or disagree with what happened with the US over Wikileaks. I AM however, saying that I'm against the US manipulating the sitation to get their way over this since they can't do it up front.
Re:The CIA and MI6 are wimping out (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually.... I decided this morning to do some reading up on the allegations. The stories sound fairly bad, and damning, and paint a picture of a rather strange and misogynistic individual.... as long as you ignore a few bits that don't make sense, like "Mrs A" indicating a paranoid fear that he purposefully "tore the condom", based on.... um.... huh what?
If you take the stories at face value, they paint the picture of a misogenistic womanizing individual, and casual rapist (im not sure how one properly categorizes rapists)
Then... there are also counter allegations of twitter posts (I didn't have time to get that far, I mean to look more later, but if anyone has any pointers on this... I would love to see) that contradict the stories and indication that neither Mrs A nor Mrs W came forward until they found out about eachother, and even that they may have a profit motive to have both come forward together.... and that things looked non-kosher enough that the initial prosecutor dismissed the whole case as not being strong enough to pursue.
So we are left with a third possibility... the women are independent actors trying to cash in, and intelligence agencies are running with it because all it takes is a little pressure.
Of course... who knows... maybe he did it? After reading some articles on the allegations tho.... it does seem to stink of sex and money fueled drama.
Of particular interest is the allegations made by the Assange defense team: "There are many more text and SMS messages from and to the complainants which have been shown by the assistant prosecutor to the Swedish defence lawyer, Bjorn Hurtig, which suggest motivations of malice and money in going to the police" (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/17/julian-assange-sweden )
So it sounds like which version is true is going to come down to the content of those messages.
If thats true, and the prosecution knows about it.... then.... well... it makes the international intrigue aspect of this look much more probable.