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Supreme Court Rules Julian Assange May Be Extradited
sirlark writes with an update on the protracted legal proceedings regarding Julian Assange's extradition to Sweden: "Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has lost his Supreme Court fight against extradition to Sweden to face accusations of sex offenses. The judgement was reached by a majority of five to two, the court's president, Lord Phillips, told the hearing. Mr Assange's legal team was given 14 days to consider the ruling before a final decision is made, leaving the possibility the case could be reheard."
This may, however, not be the end. From the article: "Lord Phillips said five of the justices agreed the warrant had been lawful because the Swedish prosecutor behind the warrant could be considered a proper 'judicial authority' even it they were not specifically mentioned in legislation or international agreements. This point of law had not been simple to resolve, said Lord Phillips, and two of the justices, Lady Hale and Lord Mance, had disagreed with the decision. But Ms Rose immediately indicated she could challenge the judgement saying that it relied on a 1969 convention relating to how treaties should be implemented. She said this convention had not been raised during the hearing. " This led to the court staying the order until June 13th to give Assange's lawyers time to argue this avenue.
What are they extraditing him for? Is he charged with any crime? This smells like bullshit to me.
It's total bullshit. The entire point here is that the United States wants to get him out of the UK so that he'll be easier to legally extradite back to the US so he can be tortured.... err, prosecuted, to the fullest extent of the law.
"to the fullest extent of law."
Really?? since when does the extent of law matter in post-9/11 US ?
Probably just to draw attention to how ridiculous, trumped-up and politically-motivated these nasty allegations against him are. Assange knows that the people behind this are hugely powerful and are not fighting fair, his only weapon is publicity. Fighting every little thing tooth and nail, with press releases all along the way, is about all he can do.
So...why can't he answer the questions from the UK - as he's offered to do since the very beginning?
Extradition is for serious crimes, not "questioning".
No sig today...
I'm really not sure what they were going for, other than just a delaying tactic.
If you fear for your life, delaying is what you would do too.
Assange and his lawyers are probably not that scared of the crimes he could potentially be charged with in Sweden. It is more likely that he is afraid that Sweden will in turn find a way to export him to the U.S., where he could be accused of being some sort of terrorist. We have recently seen somewhat too close ties between the U.S. embassy and the judges here, when the case about The Pirate Bay took place, so I don't think one has to be too paranoid to fear such a chain of events.
c++;
This alleged rape case has meant that rape is what people think about when they hear about wikileaks - rather than the crimes/... that wikileaks has exposed. Wikileaks itself has also taken its eyes off the ball.
As a way of diverting attention from the real issues the rape case & extradition has been very successful.
"Rape" in Sweden is not the same as rape elsewhere.
What Julian did was have *consensual sex* with two different women. Neither woman was angry with him, until several days later when they met one another and discovered he was a two-timer. THEN they decided to accuse him of "not wearing a condom" during the consensual sex. THAT'S what Julian is being charged with, and it's a bunch of bullshit.
I don't even know how you're supposed to prove such a thing. How do you prove the guy, over a year ago, had sex without a condom? You can't go by the two women's word, because they could be lying. It's an unprovable case.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
Since Julian is not a UK citizen, those caveats don't apply. There's nothing to stop the Swedes from handing-over Julian to the United Soviet States as soon as they get him into a prison.
Frankly I'm surprised Obama didn't just order him assasinated. He's done it before with other criminals (including American citizens and a 16-year-old boy).
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
It's conspiratorial thinking AND slut shaming AND rape apologetics
Right...any suggestion that a woman who files dubious rape charges did so at the behest of someone who is trying to smear someone is "slut shaming" and "rape apologetics." It is crazy think that there could be any sort of conspiracy against Wikileaks or Assange; it is not as if they have been publishing information that some of the most powerful organizations in the world were trying to keep secret, right?
In case you have forgotten, the charges against Julian Assange were already dropped by the original prosecutor in the case, due to a lack of evidence, and new charges have not even been filed. He is being extradited for an interrogation by a different prosecutor who is trying to revive the case, but who cannot even find enough evidence to do so. One of the "victims" threw a party in Assange's honor within 24 hours of supposedly being raped, and sang his praise on her Twitter account during that party. The two "victims" both publicly bragged about having spent a night with Assange after supposedly being raped. How many rape victims go around bragging about having had sex with their attacker?
I know it is hard, but feminists have to accept the fact that sometimes rape accusations are false and are made for the purpose of attacking a man's reputation.
Palm trees and 8
It will be more like this:
Extradite to Sweden to interview him on allegations of rape and decide whether to press charges.
"Oh, I guess the accusations were baseless."
While still in custody, Justice Department requests extradition to the U.S.
They won't have to wait long.