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Crime The Media

Interpol Issues Wanted Notice For Julian Assange 1020

chrb writes "Interpol have issued a wanted notice for Julian Paul Assange for alleged sex crimes. The Guardian and Wired both have commentary."
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Interpol Issues Wanted Notice For Julian Assange

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  • Bullshit (Score:3, Insightful)

    by cinderellamanson ( 1850702 ) <cinderellamanson @ g m a il.com> on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @08:09PM (#34398086) Homepage

    This seems to be blatant character assassination and should be beneath an international political body.

  • "Sex crimes" (Score:5, Informative)

    by JohnFluxx ( 413620 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @08:09PM (#34398100)

    Just in case some reads the comments and not the article..

    The women themselves said they were not afraid of him, and he did not force them.

    • by Starteck81 ( 917280 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @08:13PM (#34398136)
      You have to see it from the governments point of view. They see him having any sex as a crime because they don't want him to reproduce.
    • Re:"Sex crimes" (Score:5, Informative)

      by shop S Mart ( 755311 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @08:18PM (#34398196)
      lol no QFTA "The investigation stems from separate encounters Assange had with two women during his August visit to Sweden, where he was applying for Swedish residency and attempting to secure the protection of Swedish free-press laws for his secret-spilling website. According to local news reports, the women told investigators the sexual encounters began as consensual, but turned non-consensual. One woman said Assange ignored her appeals to stop when the condom broke."
      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by makomk ( 752139 )

        That's interesting. Previous reports claimed he didn't use a condom at all.

      • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @08:44PM (#34398540)

        One woman said Assange ignored her appeals to stop when the condom broke.

        You could say she was afraid of his wiki leaking.

      • Re:"Sex crimes" (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Jah-Wren Ryel ( 80510 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @09:25PM (#34399060)

        One woman said Assange ignored her appeals to stop when the condom broke.

        I'd like to hear a better explanation for that one. Maybe all the girls I've been with have been completely out of touch with their bodies, but there is no way any of them could tell if the condom broke until afterwards.

      • Re:"Sex crimes" (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Charliemopps ( 1157495 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @10:26PM (#34399632)
        Wait what? This happened TWICE while he was in Sweden? Was it 2 women in a single encounter? Or 2 women at separate times? How huge is this mans penis that he's breaking condoms left and right? And how on earth is this even remotely provable? "Hey, we were having consensual sex and half way through I changed my mind. Throw that guy in jail!" Finally, they charge him 2 DAYS AFTER HE RELEASES THE LARGEST GOVERNMENT LEAK IN HISTORY?!?!? Is that not even remotely fishy?

        I HATE Conspiracy theories, but this is just a little to ridiculous for even me to fall for.
  • Out of curiousity... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by g4c ( 919548 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @08:12PM (#34398124)
    How often does Interpol get involved in sex crimes cases? Specifically, I'm wondering if this is common practice, or if it's only common practice when the suspect is as famous/meddling/troublesome-to-xyz-government as Julian Assange.
    • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @08:17PM (#34398186)

      You can tell from the progress against human trafficking ... rare to never.

    • by SilverHatHacker ( 1381259 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @08:20PM (#34398218)
      That's exactly what I was wondering. According to Wikipedia, Interpol:

      focuses primarily on public safety, terrorism, organized crime, crimes against humanity, environmental crime, genocide, war crimes, piracy, illicit drug production, drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, human trafficking, money laundering, child pornography, white-collar crime, computer crime, intellectual property crime and corruption.

      Seems a little below their level, unless it falls under public safety or crimes against humanity?

    • by chrb ( 1083577 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @08:52PM (#34398642)

      Good question. The whole situation is very unusual. Even if you assume that Assange did suddenly decide, during consensual sex, to carry out a non-consensual act, the issue of prosecution is on shaky ground. The vast majority of rape accusations never make it to court, and the vast majority of those are found "not guilty" (the figure is something like 95% of accused either do not get to court, or walk away free). For a successful prosecution there has to be more evidence than "she says she didn't consent, he says she did". The whole legal issue of being able to predicate consent and retroactively withdraw consent (e.g. consent based on unstated predicate of shared ethnicity [guardian.co.uk]) is fraught with difficulties for a successful prosecution. For a prosecutor to pursue a case, based only on the allegation, is unusual enough. For a prosecutor to issue a request for Interpol intervention, with a view to extraditing a foreigner from a 3rd party country, is highly unusual. For a prosecutor to do this, after the Chief Prosecutor has already stated that the alleged suspect is "no longer wanted" and "is not suspected of rape" and is free to leave the country, is very odd indeed.

      Note also that the Interpol notice is apparently not an international arrest warrant - it is just a request for information: "The Interpol notice is not an international arrest warrant but the public is asked to contact police with any information about Mr Assange's whereabouts." [bbc.co.uk]. Putting out such a notice is bizarre, given that the Prosecutor is in contact with Assange's legal counsel in London, and that Assange has agreed to meet at either the Swedish Embassy or Scotland Yard. The prosecutor wants "more information" about him, but is already in contact, and can arrange a meeting in person or via video conference at the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police in London, but instead chooses the Interpol route? This is not normal for a sex crimes case with only alleged victim testimony and no other evidence. If you or I had unprotected sex with a girl, and she subsequently said her consent had been predicated on use of a condom, the case would never go to court. Certainly it would never become an international police issue. There is the issue of there maybe being two alleged victims, but apparently only one actually complained to the police? I guess we will find out what really happened - if the case ever makes it to court.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by chrb ( 1083577 )

        As an aside, I find it amusing that Interpol don't have a photo of Assange [google.com] for the Wanted Notice. I can't turn on the news without seeing his face, but they list his image as "Not Available".

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by guruevi ( 827432 )

      Look up the local rape/crime statistics in your neighborhood. How much of those investigations do you think lead to a SUSPECT that has left the area? How many do you see on the FBI or Interpol wanted list? How many SUSPECTS do you see on the local wanted list at your police office? Unless you killed somebody or a suspected serial rapist you simply don't end up on those lists.

  • I applaud Assange (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bogaboga ( 793279 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @08:19PM (#34398214)

    One thing I respect that dude for, is his ambition. Not even the 'strongest' nation on earth could derail him. Think about that for a second.

    A quote I remember in one interview he had with the BBC...

    "I get personal satisfaction when I expose what governments have denied the citizens they represent and will continue to do so till the very end."

    This dude is one hell of a dude. I wonder what governments really fear if all they are doing is 'doing good' as they say.

    One thing for sure: We now know what many governments were thinking despite the public rhetoric. I personally cannot wait for the financial documents to be exposed. My hunch...BoA.

    • by offrdbandit ( 1331649 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @08:21PM (#34398248)
      Our Justice Department is lead by a cowardly ideologue.
      • by Darkness404 ( 1287218 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @08:26PM (#34398286)
        I applaud the government for not going after Assange. Any remotely free government should have first off released all the info that Assange has released first off, and secondly should admit to being wrong when it does break out. The only person that should be punished should be the US government.
      • Ultimately the DoJ is lead by the President as the head of the executive branch. And only some sort of right wing nut job would describe him as an ideologue of any sort. Given the degree he's been willing to bend over backwards to compromise with those ideologues on the right. You know the ones that have been arrogantly behaving like they won an election. Not the most recent one mind you, but the one in 2008 where they won basically nothing.
  • could be dangerous (Score:5, Interesting)

    by cool_arrow ( 881921 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @08:31PM (#34398340)
    I'll bet even money that if they throw him in a cell that he unexpectedly and mysteriously hangs himself when nobody is looking. ;D
  • This is scary (Score:4, Informative)

    by Post-O-Matron ( 1273882 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @08:31PM (#34398350)

    Got modded Troll for saying this which I'm not sure why.

    Anyway I think the chances of these accusations against Assange being completely unrelated to the leak and the timing being coincidental are pretty slim. It's kinda obvious that higher powers have targetted him. It's even more scary because it seems that these days the easiest way to hurt someone is by accusations of sexual assault. Who would dare hint that it might be untrue? I mean even on Slashdot one gets modded down -1 as Troll for raising this option...

    Here's a quote from the article:

    According to local news reports, the women told investigators the sexual encounters began as consensual, but turned non-consensual. One woman said Assange ignored her appeals to stop when the condom broke.

    I don't understand - the condom broke in the middle so she asked him to stop, he didn't - and that's rape?

  • by santax ( 1541065 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @08:37PM (#34398442)
    This would be a good moment to release it! http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5723136/WikiLeaks_insurance [thepiratebay.org]
  • Sweden (Score:4, Insightful)

    by oldhack ( 1037484 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @08:43PM (#34398512)

    Well, that answers the question of Sweden being the US stooge.

    I was gonna write "our stooge", but I'm ambivalent on this one, as I am ambivalent about the disclosure of secret diplomatic cables.

    Assange might be an asshole, but I want this guy protected.

  • by erroneus ( 253617 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @08:50PM (#34398614) Homepage

    It's one thing to poke at governments. No one is ever happy with their government. In fact, it's pretty standard to have something bad to say about government and it all gets washed away and forgotten in a short time because there's always a fresh new stink pile being created to distract us from the previous stink pile we all got pissed off about. It's almost fun at times. But when Wikileaks says it is releasing secret data from banks? Well, THOSE are the people who run this planet. There are no election turn-overs or parties to choose from. It's just a bunch of men in dark suits controlling the money supply for the whole world. I think it's about time Assange seeks asylum in China. The bankers are a LOT more serious than governments and politics.

  • Sex Crimes? (Lame) (Score:3, Insightful)

    by LifesABeach ( 234436 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @09:12PM (#34398888) Homepage
    With all the resources of this planet available, and this is the best law enforcement can come up with? Ah, the good old days when the justice department could rationalise the rhetoric of, "it's for the children", or my personal favorite, "doing ... helps terrorists."
  • by pdcull ( 469825 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @09:14PM (#34398926) Homepage
    Brazil could be a good place for him to hide out at the moment - they have currently have a Federal Congressman [camara.gov.br] who is wanted by Interpol [interpol.int] for financial crimes.
  • by Anachragnome ( 1008495 ) on Tuesday November 30, 2010 @09:51PM (#34399326)

    We're old hands at this shit. Last I checked, the US was on pretty good terms with Sweden, too.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_Sex_scandals_of_the_United_States [wikipedia.org]

  • is an anagram for

    Iguanas Anal Juleps

    and

    Japans Sealing Luau

    Which means a couple of things: the Japanese need to learn that the harming of marine wildlife is NOT a party. And iguanas should not be given anything rectally. But most importantly, the anagrams show that Julian Paul Assange is obviously a CIA agent.

  • by Builder ( 103701 ) on Wednesday December 01, 2010 @06:46AM (#34402628)

    I've read through all of the comments on here, and I'm really sad. I don't visit here for up to date news, I can get that elsewhere; I come here for the discussions. But so many of the commenters here are scarily uninformed. And where they're not informed, many of them seem poisoned.

    This is a geek site - we're supposed to be able to view information objectively and without being tainted by unrelated information. This reads more like a political forum :(

    Firstly, these accusations stem from months ago, so this has nothing to do with the most leak. Sweden have been pursuing the interviews and warrants for a number of weeks now.

    Secondly, what's with all of the conspiracy nuts here ? Why is everyone second guessing his reasons for not wanting to go in and talk to the police ?

    He offered to go in repeatedly when he was still in the country. When his residence claim was denied, he asked if there was any reason he had to stay in the country and he was told that he was free to leave. So he did. Now he's in another country, and he's _still_ offering to talk to them but he's not prepared to schlepp back there - that's not unreasonable, is it?

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