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RIP Julian Assange

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I wonder if there was a phone call from some US official shortly before this decision.

I think it is very likely the US got in contact with Sweden.

The US has an extradition treaty with Sweden since the 1960s, when the nations agreed to "make more effective the co-operation of the two countries in the repression of crime".

GUARDIAN LINK

Also I read somewhere that due to the nature of the European Arrest Warrant, the UK courts have little say in how the process is dealt with.

He's also just been sent to Wandsworth prison.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 41

v-zero

America desperately needs a witch to hunt, the country is crawling from failure to failure, the mask is cracking, and the people are beginning to notice. Assange is the witch they need, the great Red White and Blue will cheer proudly as their man is lynched, and they will call it a victory for Freedom, for Democracy, and the cogs of the blind and stupid USA will turn once more, and it will be like nothing bad was ever said of the Red, White and Blue.

Reply 42

Empire08

In a synical twisted way, I want the Americans to get him, so I can see what's inside the insurance files. That said, I wouldn't want Wikileaks to be censored from the internet.

Reply 43

Joluk

They won't assassinate him, he has lots of embarrassing files still under his sleeves that would be released upon his death.

Reply 44

insignificant

This may be a silly question, but can't they just make copies and copies and copies of the files and just hand them around the world and then it would be everywhere on the internet and the US couldn't stop it?

Reply 45

Jacktri

and so the people rise up and defeat their oppressors bringing a new golden age to planet Earth and they all lived happily ever after.

Reply 46

Empire08

Original post by insignificant

That's what they have already done.

Reply 47

*Lollo*

Nobody believes the rape stuff. Nothing upsets me more than women falsely accusing men of rape. It's like they're pissing all over those who have actually experienced something that horrible, and contributing to actual victims not being believed.

I wouldn't be surprised if Sweden had contact with the US. "Most democratic country in the world" blabla - they've always been sell-outs.
He'll never get convicted (Scandinavia is strict about rape - nobody ever gets sentenced unless there is actual proof, which there practically never is), and the girls know that - they only did this to give him a bad name. So people can hate him for having sex or something. They probably hope they can keep him occupied while the US is trying to make something up which they can accuse him of.

Reply 48

Aphotic Cosmos

Original post by Aj12

Couple of questions.

Why would Sweden cooperate with the US in a case like this? Sweden is hardly a likely partner for this kind of a case.

Getting rid of him does not stop the leaks. The US know that any attempt on his life will always look like it was them.

Tbh I really cannot see this being a government attempt to smear him or whatever.

Because Sweden's intelligence agency was threatened with being cut off from the US intelligence sharing community at a time when the threat of domestic terrorism in Sweden is seen as rising. About a week after this threat, the first warrant was issued for Assange.

Of course, the US government won't kill him because that just makes him a martyr and then they'll never win. Not that they can win against a few million widely dispersed individuals across most free countries in the world anyway - I and many others have copies of both their publicly released archive and the remaining 240,000 cables that have yet to be published, and 100,000 more have an encrypted dataset that acts as Assange's insurance policy.

If Assange is extradited out of Europe, then I think that signals the end of freedom of the press in the Western world; today many prominent Americans - republicans and democrats alike - have been calling for his execution, prosecution and/or for the law to be changed so that he committed a "crime" retroactively (a tacit acknowledgement that he did no such thing). How has it come to this?

Of course, Wikileaks is not just Assange and I daresay that international persecution of Assange will lead to more people leaking documents from more organisations, but Assange does not deserve to be persecuted.

Reply 49

Dijipo

Original post by lukejoshjedi

He's not dead yet, the resistance is alive.

He'll probably escape custody and fail to show up for his next courtdate, going indefinetely 'missing' while the US launch a worldwide manhunt for him with all of their secret agencies. 2022, the US has still been searching for Julian for 12 years now with no results, they send an exterminator into the past, to 1985 - to assasinate him, before he creates the website itself. This is the story

wtf this isn't Terminator

Reply 50

Srxjer

Original post by Aphotic Cosmos

It's so embarrassingly obvious, especially when you consider that this is the first international warrant Sweden has ever issued for 'sex crimes', which aren't watertight at all anyway.

Reply 51

wabbajack123

to put a even more conspiracy twist on things... who thinks he raped/molested those girls knowing that when he released the cables any charge brought against them would look petty and vindictive. Therefore he could have his sick thrill whilst being protected by his "freedom of speech" act, which is quite ironic since he presumably did stuff that prevented the nice ladies from speaking...

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 52

xXxiKillxXx

Lol fail conspiracy theories. He is NOT gonna get killed, hes part of the government, theyre playing your mind haha suckers

Reply 53

Aphotic Cosmos

Original post by Srxjer

It's so embarrassingly obvious, especially when you consider that this is the first international warrant Sweden has ever issued for 'sex crimes', which aren't watertight at all anyway.

Exactly.

This gets me so damn angry. I don't care about tuition fees, but if there's a march in support of Assange I'm there.

Reply 54

ANARCHY__

Insurance file anyone? Highly doubt he's going to get killed. Also, just to be fair, his son did say the women knew Assange so I'm not sure whether it would be rape, just based on a guess.

Reply 55

callum9999

Original post by Dude Where's My Username

Why did that nerd hand himself in for a crime he didn't commit. What an IDIOT!!!!

Also he's not dead :eyeball:

Firstly, although I doubt he's guilty, he's not necessarily innocent. You've come to that conclusion just because governments want to pin something on him, but that doesn't stop him actually committing crimes.

Also, regardless of innocence, living on the run would be a terrible life and assuming he is innocent, he can go and clear his name and be free again (well, as free as someone certain members of the US government want to see dead can be...).

Reply 56

michael321

I don't like everything wikileaks is doing, but clearly he's been politically victimised. I doubt he'll turn up dead, but he'll probably be languishing in prison for a very long time, which sucks. If you want to prosecute anyone here, get the guy who downloaded the files in the first place. Assange is basically just a pretty brave, misguided (if you ask me) journalist, who is motivated more by upholding freedom of information etc. than money. I don't think he deserves this.

Reply 57

username156343

An international search warrant for not wearing a condom? SRSLY?

Reply 58

Sushidelight

Free Julian Assange!!! :ninja:

Reply 59

Do Chickens Fly

To those thinking that the US isn't considering killing him because it would look bad - think again. All forgotten about your good friend David Kelly? If you spin an assassination well enough, you'd have everyone convinced of suicide. How many more 'David Kellys' have there been since that man apparently slit his wrists in a countryside - probably one of the special few who have ever actually succeeded from commiting suicide in that fashion! None - the David Kelly's are all dead.

Sorry to tell it to you straight, but if he winds up dead, it WOULD detract people from becoming public supporters of his cause, especially when people see an international cover-up describing the case as suicide. Would you like to disappear or be found dead in some woods with a suicide note saying how much you love America? You could be lucky too :wink: