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WikiLeaks Calls For Assange To Step Down

Posted by Soulskill on from the clean-out-your-desk dept.

Stoobalou writes "A member of Iceland's parliament and prominent organizer for whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks has turned on the site's spokesman, Julian Assange, urging him to step down over rape allegations made against him in Sweden. Birgitta Jonsdottir told news site The Daily Beast that she did not believe Assange's repeated assertion that the allegations of rape and molestation made against him were part of a US-backed smear campaign to distract attention from documents posted on the site laying bare US involvement in the war in Afghanistan and further promised revelations."

5 of 565 comments (clear)

  1. Comment from Birgitta Facebook page... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Birgitta Jónsdóttir
    things are being very seriously taken out of context... i think it is important to note that i am not suggesting that julian steps aside except as a spokesperson for wikileaks while this case is ongoing - it is important the messenger wont ...become the message - as it seems then it is obvious that weaving together personal matters of this nature with wikileaks is not justifiable - as someone that has put effort into better support for rape victims and battered women i feel it would be out of character to write the allegations off in this case as a conspiracy - if people find me to be a traitor for not taking sides on such serious matter then so be it. i do not claim that Julian or the women are guilty or innocent until we have all the facts.

    So she's saying that Assange should temporarily step aside as spokesman for Wikileaks until the facts of the case have been sorted out. Not quite the earth-shattering denunciation the media has hyped, huh? Of course, I don't see how she couldn't anticipate this kind of reaction from all of Wikileaks detractors in the media. That was just naive.

  2. Re:Does the US-backed smear campaign include /.? by mml · · Score: 5, Informative

    It sounds like you've missed the latest turn in the sequence of the prosecutor flip flopping. Here's a recap:

        20. August 2010: Duty prosecutor Maria Häljebo Kjellstrand decides it looks like rape
        21. August 2010: Higher ranking prosecutor Eva Finné decides it doesn't
          1. September 2010: Chief prosecutor Marianne Ny decides actually it does look like rape

    Source #1: http://www.thelocal.se/28704/20100901/
    Source #2: http://www.aklagare.se/In-English/

  3. Re:Not enough info by Scrameustache · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is a bit of a problem with not enough information about this case, so I'll try to summary what I know so far.

    1: Two women who had sex with Assange went to the police and were adviced to file charges of rape
    2: A prosecutor releases the accusations publicly to the press (not a common thing here in Sweden afaik)
    3: The case is withdrawn because they realize Assange cannot be nailed for rape. The remaining charge is something akin to sexual harassment.
    4: The rape charges are revived
    5: ...
    6: Profit?

    No seriously I'm starting to wonder what the fuck is up with the swedish legal system.

    ftfa: "He acknowledges that the allegations might complicate his plans to obtain a residency permit to remain in Sweden, which has broad press freedom laws that could be used to shield WikiLeaks from American prosecutors. "

    You want to have legal protection in Sweden? We'll give you legal TROUBLES in Sweden! Your move, skinny boy.

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  4. Re:*Everybody* is guilty of something ... by base_chakra · · Score: 5, Informative

    Having read the article, I see a significant discrepancy between the headline and the text.

    Jonsdottir is doing more than "commenting as an... activist". She presumes to speak in behalf of the WikiLeaks network, although her assertions are not corroborated on wikileaks.org.

    Wikileaks.org is the mouthpiece of the organization. In the WikiLeaks spirit of full disclosure of primary documents, see the WikiLeaks blog post dated 21 August, 2010 (which, at this writing, remains the most recent).

    Also, Jonsdottir cites no empirical "reason to think" the accusation is plausible. When evaluating statements in the media, we must all think critically rather than prejudicially. Look beyond the claims to the evidence.

  5. Re:*Everybody* is guilty of something ... by tmmagee · · Score: 5, Informative

    The police report was leaked.