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Wikileaks Founder Arrested In London
CuteSteveJobs writes "The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has been arrested by London police on behalf of Swedish authorities on allegation of rape. Assange has admitted that he is exhausted by the ongoing battle against authorities. The Swiss Government has confiscated $37K in his Swiss Bank account. PayPal and Mastercard have frozen Wikileak's accounts, hampering Wikileaks from raising any more funds."
Had submitter even bothered to read articles he has linked to? Government has not 'confiscated' Assange's money. Bank closed his account, but Julian is free to pick up his money and make deposit in another bank.
Time to decode that insurance file.
And, with what I assure you is no humor, I hope on behalf of all honest human beings, lovers of justice, haters of sniveling cowards, and believers in justice and truth whatever brand it carries, that what is in that file hurts the fuck out of the liars and thieves that stand in places of power.
Don't let Julian Assange be the last real man on earth.
See, that's the thing, I've heard conflicting "reports"...I've heard reports say that he savagely molested and raped two women, I've heard reports that they both decided to file against him once they both existed, I've heard "rape" in Sweden is not wearing a condom...
I don't think anyone in the public knows the full, true story. Hopefully, we will, but as of right now, I don't think anyone does.
Living With a Nerd
Read the story that OP posted. It agrees with the other stories I just read. It's not rape at all, what a bunch of BS. Every time I heard it before I was wondering if either it was the CIA or whoever trying to get him, or him taking advantage of his position, but it just sounds like he's a womaniser. He had consensual sex with 2 women, who are now complaining he didn't use a condom, which is apparently illegal in Sweden, but it's hardy rape by most people's definition. The charges have obviously been used as an excuse to try to catch the guy though, it's all very dodgy and basically wouldn't have happened to anyone else.
which is totally what she said
Right, because leaking more papers is just as bad as comitting mass murder, flying planes into buildings, bombing campaigns and the like. Blackmail? Sure.
SSC
No, not Osama Bin Laden. Don't be silly.
They moved heaven and earth to get this guy. I think that shows us all, where their priorities lie.
Stephens, told AOL News today that Swedish prosecutors told him that Assange is wanted not for allegations of rape, as previously reported, but for something called "sex by surprise," which he said involves a fine of 5,000 kronor or about $715.
***
"We don't even know what 'sex by surprise' even means, and they haven't told us," Stephens said, just hours after Sweden's Supreme Court rejected Assange's bid to prevent an arrest order from being issued against him on allegations of sex crimes.
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2010/12/sex-charges-and-arrest-warrant-against.html
If it damages the USA, who is solely responsible for maintaining peace and democracy in the world, then yes, yes it is.
As a Muslim, I honestly think you should STFU.
Being such a nutjob on public forums just gives bad publicity to our religion.
Seriously, "righfully stoned" & "Sharia in the US"??? Get lost, and please stop using our religion as an excuse to be a prick.
Thank you.
Assage's Defense Laywer: Your Honor, I move to dismiss this evidence based on the latest rebuttal posted by a Slashdot AC
Judge: Irrefutable! Evidence dismissed!
meep
He had consensual sex with 2 women, who are now complaining he didn't use a condom, which is apparently illegal in Sweden, but it's hardy rape by most people's definition.
Actually, according to an editorial penned by Assange's lawyer last week, he started having sex with each woman with a condom on, with their consent. At some point, the condom either came off or broke. The women then withdrew consent, appealing to him to stop. Assange did not stop.
That certainly isn't in the referenced article - where do you find that she appealed to him to stop and he did not?
Assange's actions provide aid and comfort to terrorists. He has, therefore, committed treason against those who oppose terrorism.
Emotive, but completely wrong. Polito-grade bullshit, in fact. You cannot commit "treason" against someone to whom you have no allegiance. He may have embarrassed organizations who claim to oppose terrorism, but guess what: even in the US, that isn't a crime.
He's also breached the sanctity of diplomatic communications and compromised the US' intelligence-gathering capability, having, just as one example, released a cable that contains more than enough information to identify an Iranian intelligence source.
"Sanctity of diplomatic communications?" Are you shitting me? Congratulations, you've managed to find an abuse of the word "sanctity" even MORE utterly ridiculous than "sanctity of marriage."
Bottom line: Assange is an enemy of humanity and I hope he's made an example of so that others who are thinking of following in his footsteps think again.
Bottom line: Subjugated lapdogs like yourself are enemies of humanity and I hope your made an example of so maybe people will stop with the bullshit "bend over and take it" attitude.
The "crime" is not RAPE. It is something else. Call it what it is or you are perpetuating the problem.
The Swiss account was CLOSED but the money in it is NOT confiscated.
Assange TURNED HIMSELF IN. To say he was arrested is technically accurate but does not depict the reality of the situation.
The media is strangely against Assange. He stands for everything the media is supposed to stand for. So not only has the media forgotten itself, it seems to actually combat its own principles.
Some might say that these are merely inaccuracies. When repeated in this way, it becomes lies. This stuff has got to stop.
If it damages the USA, who is solely responsible for maintaining peace and democracy in the world, then yes, yes it is.
LOL
Consent in law is a very complicated subject in law. Depending on circumstances the withdrawal of consent for a activity that is in-progress may be void. For example, if you consent to be operated on but your anaesthetic wore off and woke up, you cannot suddenly withdraw consent.
On the other hand, private activities between consenting adults may be deemed to be against the public good and the consent found to be void. See the case of R v Brown.
The idea of consent being a legal defence, or if it actually negates the actus reus is often debated subject in law. There is more to it than just, "was there consent?", which is what people here seem to be so preoccupied with. The lack of quality in the Slashdot army of armchair legal scholars is a bit disappointing.
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It's not procrastination. Putting together flat-pack furniture is an essential part of the Swedish courtship ritual.
If you value democracy then you should understand that the backlash from the WL episode will be a push for laws and technology to control communications at the direct expense of democratic ideals which require free speech. Anonymity and secure peer-to-peer communications, already at risk, will be further threatened under the premise of terrorism. If you want to help ensure that democracy prevails in the face of reactionary politics, then run a TOR server ( http://www.torproject.org/ ) now, and consider any of these alternatives.
Well considering they just robbed him of the money he would need to defend himself how EXACTLY is supposed to "fight the charges"? I don't know how it is in Sweden but here in the USA if you don't have money for a lawyer you get a "public pretender" which last I looked the odds of conviction with a public pretender is something like 98%. Hell you got better odds of winning $1000 with a scratch off ticket than winning with a public pretender.
Lets be honest here folks: the second he pissed of the PTB his ass was grass. Threatening to release all those banker records just sped up the time table, that's all. Hell look at how quick our MSM like CNN tripped all over themselves to practically label the guy an enemy combatant. The days of Woodward and Bernstein are long gone and instead what we have is puppets of the powerful in its place. Honestly it doesn't even matter if the guy is guilty or not, they will keep his ass tied up in court for the next decade or so, while making damned sure he has no access to any way he could communicate that password on that encrypted "insurance file" he released not too long ago. They will make sure he can't raise a penny for defense, any lawyer that touches him will be investigated, basically his life will be made an example of what happens when you fuck with the money men.
You can call me paranoid ALL you want, but what we are seeing is propaganda in action. Just look at how many here without knowing the facts assume he is guilty? Notice how damned near ALL the MSM has done NOTHING but talk about what an irresponsible evil bastard he is? You tell people a lie long enough it becomes truth, it is just that simple. They will make damned sure for the next decade ALL you hear is "alleged rapist" before his name, while downplaying Wikileaks or acting like it is a terrorist organization. Sadly the PTBs have turned propaganda into a way of life.Just look at how few of the public had a fit about the republicans cheering for shooting down tax breaks for those making less than a million a year? That is the power of propaganda, and Assange is about to find out about it the hard way. If he was cleared of all charges tomorrow they'd just say "formerly accused of rape". And if the fact that they sent Interpol for a "he said/she said" AND froze all his money doesn't convince you, nothing will.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
He did ask permission from the Swedish prosecutor to leave the country - and that permission was granted.
(heard it from his lawyer on a bbc interview)
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The story certainly is more complicated than that. Especially with the women continuing a positive relation with him for several days, and the alleged tweets that happened after the fact.
But it gets more tricky. Sweden reports four times as many rapes (per capita) as other european countries. This is not because they actually happen, but because of the way the law treats and counts those. Basically, swedish rape laws are weird. You can be charged for raping someone who explicitly and repeatedly said "yes" and never once "no", due to a construct of "power difference" that voids their consent. That is one of the attack angles the prosecution is using in this case. Another example is that the girl can call in the next day and call it rape if she was really drunk. She can claim she was too drunk to know what she was doing, again voiding the consent even if it was explicitly given (and let's face it, how often does that occur? In most ONS you never really ask the question, or if you do you don't record the answer, it just happens if both parties want it). So a voided consent means no consent and sex without consent equals rape. Whoops. You fucked a girl who went with you all the way, enjoyed it a ton, even encouraged you - and the next day you're a rapist because she had a few drinks and now regrets it.
Don't get me wrong, rapists are right up there with child molesters, torturers and priests in my personal list of highly despicable people. But there is a huge difference between a guy who grabs a woman from the street, rips off her clothes and forces his dick into her while she's struggling for her life - and a guy who doesn't notice that the woman has had a few too many and may think differently in the morning.
And a law that doesn't acknowledge that difference is an unjust law.
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That's bullshit and whoever it was that modded you up is an idiot.
He did deal with the charges when he was still in Sweden. He offered on multiple occasions to come in for interrogation and asked if he was free to leave the country before he left.
Shy of confessing to questionable accusations, I'm not really sure how much more he could've done.
That interpretation contradicts the factual record. The article made it very clear that a condom was not even used in the second liaison with Jessica, therefore it would have been impossible for it to "come off or break."
From my reading of the article, it appears that consent wasn't actually withdrawn until the two women found out about each other. When Assange's 40-something feminist activist lover discovered that Assange had some enjoyed a hot 20-something piece of ass on the side, then both the encounters retroactively became "rape".
When in Rome! You have to deal with the laws where you reside.
In short: Do not do anything in any country if you are not 100% sure that it is legal to do so.
Pffft. Don't believe this "when in rome" crap. Hey, fellow Texan, did you know it's illegal to masturbate, women can't own more than 6 sex toys (intent to distribute obscene devices), and dildos are outright banned in Texas?
Ridiculous laws are ridiculous. Face it: Law does not reflect the actual public opinion or values. Since its hard to remove old laws it's easy for the past to hold us prisoners. This is why we should only pass those laws that we really must have forever.
The problem with the Texas law is that it requires "the average person" to apply their own "standards" (read: right wing christians dictate what's decent; Clearly a loophole bypassing Church/State separation).
IMO, non enforcement should be grounds for removal. The Swedish law of latter day rape is largely unenforced as well.
If the governments actually actively and aggressively enforced all the laws of the lands, laws like these would be much easier to overturn.
Unfortunately, law making branches are there to make new laws, they can't be bothered to audit the old ones -- If there are no lobbyists against the old laws, they stay on the books.
How to create a Police State:
1. Create laws that no one obeys.
2. Do not enforce said laws.
3. Wait for someone to do something you don't like.
4. Toss them in jail for breaking one of the laws you don't normally enforce.
5. Oppress!
That certainly isn't in the referenced article - where do you find that she appealed to him to stop and he did not?
Sweden Issues Warrant for WikiLeaks Founder
By JOHN F. BURNS and RAVI SOMAIYA
Published: November 18, 2010
The money quote:
According to accounts the women gave to the police and friends, they each had consensual sexual encounters with Mr. Assange that became nonconsensual. One woman said that Mr. Assange had ignored her appeals to stop after a condom broke. The other woman said that she and Mr. Assange had begun a sexual encounter using a condom, but that Mr. Assange did not comply with her appeals to stop when it was no longer in use.
The big problem that I see is that there's some media right now whose "reporting" is basically repeating Assange's lawyers' statements at length.
Are you adequate?
BTWI am American and live in Texas.
Well you're certainly not native to Texas. Most folk I know from there claim to be "Texans living in America".
Never ask anyone if they're from Texas. If they are, they'll tell you. And if they aren't, there's no need to embarrass them by asking.
All of what you say is true, and you've laid it out in perhaps the clearest and most rational way I've seen. But you do miss out a few of the other facts.
The man is wanted for questioning for a relatively minor personal crime against two people. Why, then, have Visa and MasterCard refused to do business with the (still completely legal, as far as I'm aware) website for whom he acts as a spokesperson? Why have bank accounts been frozen? Why have PayPal cut off their account? Why have their web hosts and DNS provider given them the cold shoulder? Why do leading US politicians advocate cold blooded murder by government troops? Why are US legislators promising to change the law to make his journalistic, first amendment protected actions retroactively against the law?
It all seems very out of proportion for a journalist who may or may not have committed some minor personal crime.
If I were the subject of such focused vitriol, I'd be nervous about being in custody too.