Wikileaks' Julian Assange Loses Extradition Appeal

[Hissyspit]

Source: BBC News

2 November 2011 Last updated at 05:49 ET

Wikileaks' Julian Assange Loses Extradition Appeal

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has failed in his appeal against extradition from the UK to Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Two judges at the High Court in London said that a ruling in favour of extradition must be upheld.

Swedish authorities want him to answer accusations of raping one woman and sexually molesting and coercing another in Stockholm last year.

Mr Assange denies the allegations and says they are politically motivated.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15549985

---

@Robert_Booth
Robert Booth
#assange side to take 14 days to decide if to seek right to appeal to Supreme Court

[dipsydoodle]

1. Link here for you.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has failed in his appeal against extradition from the UK to Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Two judges at the High Court in London said that a ruling in favour of extradition must be upheld.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15549985

[pam4water]

2. That's terrible. :( I thought they might not grant extradition.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Appeal will be in 14 days time

Meanwhile he stays here in the UK.

[CrackersMcGee]

3. He's a distraction.

Hard work is still being done...and overlooked by the circus Julian Assange© has made of his case, his name, 'his' site, etc etc.
I support Wikileaks, but at this point Julian has become a liability, not an asset.

Let's just say I won't be buying his book or watching any made-for-tv
(or otherwise) movies that come out of this.

[Robb]

5. More than reasonable. The man is a sideshow. (nt)

[Matilda]

7. The issue is not the man's personality,

or even whether he's guilty of the rape charge. It has everything to do with whether the United States would push for his extradition from Sweden on a trumped-up espionage charge. And as we know from past history, if they can't find anything, it wouldn't stop them locking him up in Gitmo until they can find something. And that something could, at worst, result in the death penalty.

And all because he got up the noses of various governments by showing what hypocrites and liars they really are.

[TorchTheWitch]

11. the US could even more easily extradite him from the UK

on a trumped up espionage charge. In all this time the US hasn't done jack shit about Assange, and if they wanted him on any kind of charge - trumped up or otherwise - they would have had his ass before sundown the day they decided they wanted him. This US trumped up charge excuse was cooked up by the paranoid ego of Assange himself as for why he was fighting extradition to Sweden so hard, and it never made a lick of sense. Hell, even here where he's worshiped like a saint everyone but a scant handful of people have long since forgotten he exists at all.

[msanthrope]

15. Don't bring facts into this. After all, we all know that the CIA is behind this!!!!!

At least, that's the latest conspiracy, right???? Or is he still blaming 'the Jews.'

It never ceases to amaze me how people simply fail to consider the most logical and possible reasons for Assange's problems---Assange himself.

[No Elephants]

45. Actually, the post stated opinion and speculation, not facts.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, especially on a message board.

But, IMO, something is wrong with confusing facts and opinion.

[Beacool]

16. Hear, hear!!

If the US really wanted him, Assange would have already been sent here or worse.

;)

[EFerrari]

31. That's right. This justice department is as corrupt as Bush's.

But apparently Holder has decided to try to starve Wikileaks rather than be saddled with yet another prisoner held on dubious grounds. He's going to lose.

[TorchTheWitch]

34. lose WHAT?

You can't lose when you aren't playing. It's obvious as the day is long that the US simply doesn't give a rat's butt about Assange or they would have had him already ages ago. Assange is not Wikileaks, and if he were to drop dead tomorrow Wikileaks would go on just fine without him - probably a lot better without him. The US has no REASON to want Assange - they can't prove any espionage on his part and/or bringing any trumped up espionage charges against him doesn't DO anything. Actually, what it WOULD do is open the whole Assange can of worms again just when nearly everyone has forgotten all about it and no longer gives a crap about what's in the documents... and they WANT everyone to forget all about it.

The US already had (and still has) the perpetrator they want. Assange was the only one crying all over the place that he was a wanted man over the whole incident as it was his excuse for why he was fighting the Swedish extradition so hard (which never even made any sense). It was also a very clever and convenient way to suck in donations to pay for his fat fees concerning the Swedish charges. HOW ELSE was he going to get that needed money??? The ONLY way he could use donation money to Wikileaks was to convince people that the charges in Sweden and his need to fight the extradition was because of his connection to Wikileaks... hence the trumped up excuse as to why he needed to fight the Swedish extradition. And it worked, too.

[EFerrari]

40. Bookmark this thread. nt

[No Elephants]

44. LOL!

[fascisthunter]

21. yup... and the suck-up authoritarians don't like him for it

[valerief]

6. I wonder how much those judges cost. nt

[midnight]

8. Julian Assange loses appeal against extradition

Source: The Guardian

The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has lost his high court appeal against extradition to Sweden to face rape allegations.

Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Ouseley on Wednesday handed down their judgment in the 40-year-old Australian's appeal against a European arrest warrant issued by Swedish prosecutors after rape and sexual assault accusations made by two Swedish women following his visit to Stockholm in August 2010.

Assange, who was wearing a navy blue suit, pale blue tie and a Remembrance Day poppy, remains on bail pending a decision on a further appeal. The judges ruled the issuing of the warrant and subsequent proceedings were "proportionate" and dismissed arguments that the warrant had been invalid and descriptions of the alleged offences unfair and inaccurate.

Assange gave no sign of emotion as the judges gave reasons for the decision.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/nov/02/julian-assange-loses-appeal-extradition?newsfeed=true

---

Assange's attorney's have 14 days to appeal this supreme court decision.

[xchrom]

9. Recommend

[JJW]

10. He was framed by the CIA

The woman invited him into their homes, willingly had intercourse and then claimed they were raped.

[TorchTheWitch]

12. Pfffttt...

If he was framed by the CIA he would have been arrested in Sweden immediately after the alleged incidents and they wouldn't have done such a ludicrous and totally incompetent job of it.

[midnight]

13. I'm wondering if they had a problem with their facts.... Some of them were so flimsy....

[TorchTheWitch]

18. they?

Who is the "they" you are talking about, and considering the allegations how is it possible for anyone but the two women and Assange to know what the facts are? The "facts" are for the judicial system to decide as best it is able, and given any he said/she said case, the only people who are EVER going to really know what the facts are are the people directly involved. Common. Fucking. Sense... all of which flew out the window and halfway to China here on DU at the time this story was in the news and SOLELY because Assange had been anointed here as saintly in all things.

[msanthrope]

17. You've got to keep up with the conspiracies--Assange is now claiming it was the Jews....

http://www.salon.com/2011/03/01/assange_jewish_conspiracy_guardian_wikileaks/

The honeypot allegation came from a guy named Israel Shamir, and was broadcast internationally by Counterpunch. Mr. Shamir is famous in Europe for claiming that all the Jews in the WTC got texts telling them to leave before the planes hit.

"Jermas/Shamir himself is no stranger to conspiracy theories. When he visited Norway in 2001, he made the laughable claim in the mainstream newspaper Adresseavisa that many Jews received text messages warning them to get out of the World Trade Centre in New York before the terror attacks of 11 September."

http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/index.php?link=template&story=6

Nice bunch of anti-Semites defending Julian....

[TorchTheWitch]

19. DU went around this dog track at the time

All common sense flew out the window to a truly depraved yet laughable degree.

[msanthrope]

29. I can't wait to hear how it wasn't 'rape-rape.' Nt

[EFerrari]

32. You've posted this 100 times. And it's still bullshit this time. nt

[msanthrope]

14. Good. He can answer for the rape charges in Sweden. nt

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hissyspit]

24. "answer for," instead of "answer?"

Interesting misuse of words.

[msanthrope]

30. I think Julian has more problems than a preposition, no? nt

[Hissyspit]

35. One of his problems is being railroaded by people who presume guilt.

Or don't care whether he is guilty of anything at all.

[TorchTheWitch]

36. how about that railroading of the two women presumed guilty?

Interesting double standard, that.

I don't recall a single person here that presumed Assange guilty, only that he MIGHT be and that if Sweden finds it reasonable to extradite him for questioning or even charge him how is it that his perceived sainthood in all things evidenced here is somehow MORE reasonable than that? I've lost count of how many times I and others were practically SCREAMING on here over and over and over again that NOBODY CAN KNOW IF HE'S GUILTY OR NOT but that it is perfectly reasonable that he MIGHT be.

Oh, but over and over and over again there were scads of people here presuming guilt on the part of the two women even going so far as to make outrageously absurd claims that at least one of them was CIA and set him up on a false rape charge. Yet here you are making the bizarre claim that it was people here who were presuming him guilty and chastising us for "railroading" him in such a way when it was and STILL IS the two women here were perpetually presumed guilty of lying and even more outrageous accusations.

That kind of hypocrisy belongs to the Repubs, and it's sickening to see it so openly and shamelessly here.

[Hissyspit]

37. No double standard from me.

OP wasn't talking about them; was referring to Assange.

[avaistheone1]

25. Bullshit charges.

If there every was a setup this is one, and so thinly veiled at that.

[MineralMan]

20. Well, that's not really unexpected.

Perhaps he'll eventually get his day in court. He seems to have dropped out of the news lately, so this should boost his visibility again.

[fascisthunter]

23. Political Witch Hunt.... he'll win in the end

and I will enjoy seeing it rubbed in the right winger's faces.

[harvey007]

26. He will be vindicated in the end

He was set up, no question about it.

[Nye Bevan]

27. Why is he so afraid of the Swedish justice system?

Don't these women deserve to have their allegations investigated?

[EFerrari]

33. There is actually a good answer to that

but it's been so long, I'm afraid I'd garble it. It has to do with US political influence in Sweden and with the relationship between one of the complainants and the prosecutor. Plus, in Sweden, the trial would be held in secret. If I can remember a good run down, I'll post it here.

[Matilda]

41. The odd thing about the charges

was that both women were seen with Assange after the event/s and seemed to be perfectly at ease. One even cooked him dinner.

Then they discovered that he'd had sex with both of them, and that's when things got nasty. That's when complaints were made. It looks very like simple jealousy, but then things got out of control. The first prosecutor rejected the case, but it was taken up later by another one.

And meanwhile in the U.S., Bradley Manning is being subjected to all sorts of mental torture in order to make him break down and admit a direct link to Assange, which he has so far refused to do.

Sweden has a history of playing ball with the U.S. on extraditions, and it could be that the U.S. just wants to get him to Sweden where it will be easier to get an extradition order than it would be in Britain. Assange may well be arrogant and self-serving, but I wouldn't wish to see him extradited to the U.S. where politicians have made open death threats against him. His chances of getting justice would be next to zero. He's released evidence that makes politicians looks like liars and hypocrites, and they won't forgive him for that.

It begins to look like a vendetta, and I mean that in the full Italian sense of a destructive blood feud, one that usually ends in death.

[Little Tich]

43. From what I have learned from the gossip on Flashback ( a swedish internet forum),

the charges are not that solid. The Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny wants to interrogate Assange and then make the decision if he should be charged or not. Actually it's not about rape at all, it's rather about sexual misconduct in the form of unprotected, consensual sex.

[Matilda]

46. Apparently the charge is "minor rape" under Swedish law.

Well, rape is rape and it's dreadful, so sounds like "minor rape" is a euphemism for "not really rape, but we can't come up with anything else right now".

[alp227]

28. So conservatives are right: women either DESERVE rape or lie about it

:sarcasm:

but this is disappointing, and there's got to be a setup factor somewhere, and Assange should appeal to the UK Supreme Court

[proverbialwisdom]

38. GREAT reporting at http://www.democracynow.org .

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/11/2/wikileaks_founder_julian_assange_loses_appeal

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/26/glenn_greenwald_on_occupy_wall_street

Greenwald also discusses the possible shutdown of the online whistleblower website WikiLeaks due to a "financial blockade" led by MasterCard, Visa and PayPal. "The reason why all these companies cut off funds is because the government pressured and demanded that they do so," Greenwald says. "So, no due process, no accusation of criminal activity. You could never charge WikiLeaks with a crime. They’re engaged in First Amendment activity. And the government has destroyed them through their pressure and influence over the private sector... WikiLeaks has shed more light on the world’s most powerful factions than all media outlets combined, easily, over the last year, and that’s the reason why they’re so hated."

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/24/glenn_greenwald_on_the_assange_extradition?gclid=CJL0raX9l6wCFUKo4AodWhBdPw

Glenn Greenwald on the Assange Extradition Ruling, the Jailing of Bradley Manning, and the Campaign to Target WikiLeaks Supporters
CHILLING/UNACCEPTABLE

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2011/11/1/exclusive_julian_assanges_attorney_gareth_peirce_speaks_about_imminent_british_decision_on_whether_or_not_to_extradite_assange_to_sweden

AMY GOODMAN: You’re representing Julian Assange, and I wanted to ask how you’ve gone from representing Guantánamo prisoners to representing Julian Assange, as the Swedish government attempts to extradite him from Britain, where you’re based, where Julian Assange is right now, to Sweden.

GARETH PEIRCE: It’s a pretty easy trajectory, I think. If one is to make an equivalency between circumstances, there are individuals, over the decades and the centuries, who stand up to be counted, who are vocal, who do brave things to talk about what is uncomfortable and what others don’t want to hear. And history tells us that those individuals will, by the states who consider their voices should not be heard, be in some way attacked. And it’s part of the narrative that’s perpetuated, the false narrative that makes people an enemy, makes whatever the state remove their protections under due process, because they say, "This is an exception. This is an exceptionalist crime, of such severity that we can—it’s right that we take away what restricts us in confining them." And it’s not a million miles from men who were taken to Guantánamo or men who are being silenced by translating a text from Arabic into English, to people who think the world should know the dark secrets that are hidden and put them out on the internet. These are not enormous differences, but the way the state reacts, whether it’s your state or mine—the way the state reacts is actually identical in each case. It’s to perceive the person as the enemy and try to take them out.

AMY GOODMAN: Julian Assange has talked about being fearful that if he was extradited to Sweden, he could be extradited to the United States, and that he could be sent to Guantánamo. Is this a real fear?

GARETH PEIRCE: I think it’s not a real fear that he will be sent to Guantánamo. I think it is more than a real fear he will be subjected to extreme isolation and extreme punitive sentences, if convicted. And we have observed the situation of Bradley Manning and how he was confined and the extremities of the isolation he was subjected to. But we’ve also observed how there was something of an outcry about him, a protest, and that appeared to register, and his circumstances seem, just slightly, to have improved. And that informs us that it is right and appropriate to keep saying what is happening here is quite, quite wrong, intolerable, that people are punished as they attempt to assert a defense, attempt to argue back.

And I just gave as a comparator a case just starting of a man prosecuted in England now for translating texts and putting them out. But he’s on bail. He’s going each day himself to his trial on bail. And if convicted, his sentence would not be what he’d want. But it would be very, very, very much smaller than what will be imposed on Tarek .

AMY GOODMAN: And what is the latest in Julian Assange’s case?

GARETH PEIRCE: We wait for a High Court judgment.

AMY GOODMAN: When do you expect to hear that?

GARETH PEIRCE: We wait and wait.

AMY GOODMAN: And what would it mean if Julian Assange were isolated? What would it mean for WikiLeaks? What would it mean for what you think is important?

GARETH PEIRCE: I think all one can say about the infliction of isolation is it’s an attempt to destroy the human spirit and a human being, and therefore, however resilient the individual, and whoever that person is, then, in itself—it is being categorized, at this very moment, by the U.N. special rapporteur on torture, who just published a report—extended extreme isolation is itself a form of torture and is prohibited.

Guest: Gareth Peirce, British human rights attorney

[proverbialwisdom]

39. I also read http://wlcentral.org/ regularly.

RECOMMENDED: http://wlcentral.org/node/2321

Statement on the banking blockade: http://www.wikileaks.org/Banking-Blockade.html

[Matilda]

42. The Australian Greens' Senator Scott Ludlam

poses two very good questions in an article for "New Matilda", together with the simple answer:

"Why have the other legitimate levers described in a UK-Sweden treaty agreement been leapfrogged, with prosecutors launching straight into a bid for extradition?

And why isn’t the widespread epidemic of violence against women not being recognised or prosecuted anywhere quite as athletically as in this particular case?

The obvious answer to each of these questions is: Because of Wikileaks, stupid. "

http://newmatilda.com/2011/11/03/why-julian-assange-could-be-you


Good questions, and a good answer. Because this isn't really about sex or so-called "minor rape" in Swedish law (what the hell is minor rape, anyway? Rape is rape, or it isn't). It's about Wikileaks publishing articles damaging to politicians in love with their own images, now severely dented.

[No Elephants]

47. I wish him well, but the outcome of his prosecution has nothing to do with the revelations of

wikileaks.

The latter is internationally significant.

[proverbialwisdom]

48. That's likely naive and silly.

Browse through the slogans printed on hoodies and shirts at the Wikileaks store: http://wikileaks.spreadshirt.com .

Here, I'll post some:

http://wikileaks.spreadshirt.com/shop/designs

Information is the currency of democracy.
- Thomas Jefferson

Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light.
- George Washington

During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
- George Orwell
- Wikileaks

Courage Is Contagious / Biohazard with Wikileaks Symbol

The Truth Is Not Treason

Opening governments

Don't Shoot The Messenger

Got Truth?

What does censorship reveal?
It reveals fear.
- Julian Assange

Wikileaks - First Intelligence Agency of the People

Free Assange

[unionworks]

49. If the U.S. gets him

He will spend eternity in a cell next to Manning. They waited for the furor to quiet down, and now they are going to quietly dissappear him.