Efforts to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from the UK to the US have gone on for years. Here’s what’s been going on and what might happen in court this time.
I wonder when legacy media journalists are going to start being jailed for doing investigative journalism…
There he faces multiple counts of computer misuse and espionage stemming from his work with WikiLeaks, publishing sensitive US government documents provided by Chelsea Manning. The US government has repeatedly claimed that Assange’s actions risked its national security.
For the High Court appeal, it is expected Assange’s legal team will once again argue the extradition would be oppressive and that the American assurances are inadequate. A recent statement by Alice Edwards, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, supports their argument that extradition could lead to treatment “amounting to torture or other forms of ill-treatment or punishment”. She rejected the adequacy of American assurances, saying:
They are not legally binding, are limited in their scope, and the person the assurances aim to protect may have no recourse if they are violated.
I don’t believe you read the case carefully or understood it thoroughly. The issue doesn’t arise from his profession of being a journalist, as he is considered a publisher. The problem lies in the fact that he assisted Manning with an illegal hack rather than simply publishing the material. If he were just a publisher, would he have fled and sought refuge in an embassy?
Why does the US have any jurisdiction at all? This isn’t an American citizen. He didn’t do any of his supposed crimes in the USA. What right do they have?
A country’s laws can be violated by a foreign national, from outside the country.
When this happens within the country, there are plenty of examples of people being convicted for violating local law when visiting. When this happens they get arrested and trialed according to local law.
When it happens from outside or if the perpetrator leaves the country, the country can ask the country that the perpetrator is in for extradition. That can be their home country, or simply another country that they happen to be in.
It is then up to that country’s legal system whether to grant that extradition. Most countries will have laws and policies around when extradition can be granted, and if it is, they will then arrest the individual and hand them over to the country requesting their extradition for trial.
So, by default, they have every right as long as a person is within their borders. And when they aren’t, they can ask for the right. And they are. The government of the other country can then give them the right to uphold their rule of law over this one specific individual.
Assanges whole ordeal has been about whether the countries harbouring him will grant the extradition requested by the US, or properly grant him asylum instead. Ecuador did for a while, but withdrew that and allowed him to be arrested by UK law enforcement. Which they could do because he breached bail on the EU arrest warrant issued by Sweden, valid in the UK due to their membership at the time.
Whether he’d be in the clear within the borders of his home country, isn’t relevant, because that’s not where he is.
Oh my god, you’ve figured out how spies can avoid prosecution in countries they spy in: don’t be a citizen! Now when they get arrested they can say that they aren’t citizens and so jurisdiction falls to a different country! Police hate this one trick.
That’s an extremely dangerous line of thought. I’m certain that I do things every day, both IRL and online, that are against the laws of many countries. Easy examples would be Iran, China, Russia, Israel, and many others. However, I am not (and have never been) within their borders, and their laws do not apply to me.
Is the only thing stopping them from enforcing their laws upon me, that my own government does not want to appease them? What if there are diplomatic/policy shifts? Do we end up in a situation where the most awful countries have ruling power over everyone?
You don’t live in the EU, do you? Hack into the government of Germany’s computer system and tell the FBI they can’t extradite you there because you are a US citizen and Germany has no jurisdiction.
I get it. You’re not reading what was done. The conspiracy was helping him access the computer. Do you think Assange ran and sought asylum for shits and giggles?
So I actually read it, manning provided classified documents, including a hashed password which passage couldn’t crack.
No hack actually happened, though assange did try (according to the dod, very trustworthy source, they never lie)
The illegal hack charge was dropped, due to no evidence of said hack…
That is why they are going after him for “sensitive information” and risk of “national security”.
would he have fled and sought refuge in an embassy
Once the US military industrial complex wants you they will do anything to hurt you, Edward Snowden had to go to Russia since the US military and their lackeys made it really difficult for him from going anywhere else aside from Russia…
Instead, federal officials accused Assange of violating a very different law when he allegedly conspired with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to try to break the password of a government computer and gain access to its secrets. It is unclear from the indictment whether Assange succeeded in breaking the password.
He’s charged with conspiracy, not actually helping her.
Ok then, I guess he never accessed the government computer or put any of those accessed documents on WikiLeaks. Thanks for figuring the case out. Please notify the proper authorities and everyone can go home now. Guess Assange didn’t have to go run and hide.
I don’t believe you understand that imprisonment in the US would be considered torture in test if the world, because it would. There are no laws are policies that protect anyone in federal prison.
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report on the Federal Bureau of Prisons released earlier this month found that 344 inmates died, the majority due to suicide or homicide, in federal institutions between 2014 and 2021. Other deaths were categorized as accidental or unknown, many of which involved drug overdoses, according to the report.
As of October, about 12,000 people were placed in restrictive housing across all federal prisons. People placed in restrictive housing typically spend at least 22 hours a day in a locked cell.
According to GAO’s report, as of October 2023, BOP was housing about eight percent of its prison population in restrictive housing, or “solitary confinement.” In some cases, this includes isolating people in cells for up to 23 hours per day.
I mean, he is wrong about there not being things in place to protect prisoners, but he’s not wrong that it’s still dangerous and the conditions aren’t great. Guards have killed inmates before with no real consequences.
I wonder when legacy media journalists are going to start being jailed for doing investigative journalism…
I don’t believe you read the case carefully or understood it thoroughly. The issue doesn’t arise from his profession of being a journalist, as he is considered a publisher. The problem lies in the fact that he assisted Manning with an illegal hack rather than simply publishing the material. If he were just a publisher, would he have fled and sought refuge in an embassy?
Why does the US have any jurisdiction at all? This isn’t an American citizen. He didn’t do any of his supposed crimes in the USA. What right do they have?
A country’s laws can be violated by a foreign national, from outside the country.
When this happens within the country, there are plenty of examples of people being convicted for violating local law when visiting. When this happens they get arrested and trialed according to local law.
When it happens from outside or if the perpetrator leaves the country, the country can ask the country that the perpetrator is in for extradition. That can be their home country, or simply another country that they happen to be in.
It is then up to that country’s legal system whether to grant that extradition. Most countries will have laws and policies around when extradition can be granted, and if it is, they will then arrest the individual and hand them over to the country requesting their extradition for trial.
So, by default, they have every right as long as a person is within their borders. And when they aren’t, they can ask for the right. And they are. The government of the other country can then give them the right to uphold their rule of law over this one specific individual.
Assanges whole ordeal has been about whether the countries harbouring him will grant the extradition requested by the US, or properly grant him asylum instead. Ecuador did for a while, but withdrew that and allowed him to be arrested by UK law enforcement. Which they could do because he breached bail on the EU arrest warrant issued by Sweden, valid in the UK due to their membership at the time.
Whether he’d be in the clear within the borders of his home country, isn’t relevant, because that’s not where he is.
Thanks for taking the time to explain this well.
Oh my god, you’ve figured out how spies can avoid prosecution in countries they spy in: don’t be a citizen! Now when they get arrested they can say that they aren’t citizens and so jurisdiction falls to a different country! Police hate this one trick.
Removed by mod
That’s an extremely dangerous line of thought. I’m certain that I do things every day, both IRL and online, that are against the laws of many countries. Easy examples would be Iran, China, Russia, Israel, and many others. However, I am not (and have never been) within their borders, and their laws do not apply to me.
Is the only thing stopping them from enforcing their laws upon me, that my own government does not want to appease them? What if there are diplomatic/policy shifts? Do we end up in a situation where the most awful countries have ruling power over everyone?
You don’t live in the EU, do you? Hack into the government of Germany’s computer system and tell the FBI they can’t extradite you there because you are a US citizen and Germany has no jurisdiction.
You clearly misunderstood what I said.
Removed by mod
That’s simply not true. He’s not even charged with helping her, he’s charged with conspiracy.
I posted the indictment, you should read it.
I just linked you to the indictment.
I get it. You’re not reading what was done. The conspiracy was helping him access the computer. Do you think Assange ran and sought asylum for shits and giggles?
He sought Asylum because America is a Fascist state that jails journalists which show the truth.
For more info here’s Journalists telling you the same
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
For more info here’s Journalists telling you the same
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
So I actually read it, manning provided classified documents, including a hashed password which passage couldn’t crack. No hack actually happened, though assange did try (according to the dod, very trustworthy source, they never lie)
The illegal hack charge was dropped, due to no evidence of said hack…
That is why they are going after him for “sensitive information” and risk of “national security”.
Once the US military industrial complex wants you they will do anything to hurt you, Edward Snowden had to go to Russia since the US military and their lackeys made it really difficult for him from going anywhere else aside from Russia…
You are thinking of the case dropped by Obama back in 2009. however, you are completely and totally wrong. Read this. And here is the indictment.
Per the link you just posted, emphasis mine:
He’s charged with conspiracy, not actually helping her.
Ok then, I guess he never accessed the government computer or put any of those accessed documents on WikiLeaks. Thanks for figuring the case out. Please notify the proper authorities and everyone can go home now. Guess Assange didn’t have to go run and hide.
He was originally fleeing rape charges in Sweden so yeah, he still would have had to hide.
And he’s such a sack of garbage that even the embassy got tired of him. Seems he was noisy, dirty, rude, and would not clean up after his cat.
That should be irrelevant.
I don’t believe you understand that imprisonment in the US would be considered torture in test if the world, because it would. There are no laws are policies that protect anyone in federal prison.
This list is not intended to be exhaustive.
https://www.gao.gov/blog/federal-prisons-havent-addressed-longstanding-concerns-about-overuse-solitary-confinement
From a decade ago https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/new-report-confirms-solitary-confinement-federal-prisons-largely-unchecked
From Dick Durbin
This is most ridiculous hot take of the day.
I mean, he is wrong about there not being things in place to protect prisoners, but he’s not wrong that it’s still dangerous and the conditions aren’t great. Guards have killed inmates before with no real consequences.
Already happening…sadly