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Assange Says Harrods Assisting Metro Police in 'Round-the-Clock Vigil'
The Daily Mail reports that Julian Assange seems to have yet another foe (or at least friend of a foe) watching persistently while he stays put in the Ecuadorean embassy in London: Harrod's Department Store. The Metro Police, according to Assange, have developed a relationship with the store, and are using that relationship to facilitate their full-time observation of his roosting place in the embassy. When the founder of Wikileaks says, "We have obtained documents from Harrods [saying that] police have people stationed 24 hours a day in some of the opposing buildings Harrods controls," it seems likely that those documents actually exist.
It may be unusual that its going on for such a long period of time but police (in the UK and elsewhere) regularly work with building owners to get access to vantage points overlooking suspect properties to observe what is going on.
..is the effort they spend for Jesus Assange. They must be really scared of the truth.
I thought the swedish statute of limitations had expired. Doesn't that mean the arrest warrant is moot and he is free to leave?
@Anonymous Coward: "Why is this shit even on Slashdot?"
.. Collateral Murder - Wikileaks - Iraq
Maybe because of this
"Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."
This is a suprise? People should be outraged? Not so much.
Adds he's paranoia got the best of him years ago. Not his well founded paranoia about the USA Three Letter Agencies, but his paranoia about his place of power in The Cult of Assange.
Most of his personal issues could have been resolved years ago, his current situation are of his own making.
He needs to fly to Sweeden and take care of his personal business, you know: "man up".
The chances of him being extradited to the U.S. are slim to none at this point.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Of course they are using local resources to keep an eye on him. He's a criminal hiding in an embassy, they aren't just going to forget about it.
Backup Singers, You must have backup singers.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Worse still for Assange is the knowledge that this news story only acts to promote Herrods...
If you are a tourist in London and have any interest in Julian Assange, he's easy enough to find across the street from Herrod's!
Now they are using him as a commercial billboard, which really adds insult to injury.
A highly-edited video, with deceptive commentary, that shows how several 'journalists' embedded in a terrorist group that was in the middle of an attack on US troops were killed when the terrorist group received air bombardment?
THAT video?
Julian Assange is getting sad nobody is mentioning him in the media anymore.
Don't worry, more documents have been leaked! The cops are still keeping an eye on him!
Don't we have enough with this drama queen? Let him be forgotten by all of us. He is just trying to keep is popularity indicator to the highest mark he can. That is the only thing he can deal to get some money.
Achille Talon
Hop!
"he's wondering why you're wearing those GAWDAWFUL shirts and can't take care of your hair."
To be careful, nobody from Harrod's should pass judgment on anyone else's sense of style. The store is absolutely garish.
The thing is, as beneficial as some of the things Assange has done are, on a personal level he is prone to wild and clearly false conspiracy theories and completely untrustworthy unless he is disclosing (unedited) documentary evidence of whatever he's talking about.
A lot of US government shills in the comments today. Did you think you wouldn't be noticed?
The validity of the charges in Sweden aren't his only problem. They could drop the case, he'd still be in trouble with the UK because he fled bail. Bail is an agreement between you and the court. You agree to appear as ordered, and they let you out of jail. Often there is also a monetary component to try and ensure your compliance. However regardless of the details, you are legally required to present yourself in court when ordered.
So when Sweden said they wanted him, the UK arrested him. In the EU there's some pretty strong extradition rules so even though the UK had no issue with him, their extradition treaty with Sweden required them to arrest him. He was granted bail, and the monetary component was paid for by supporters. At the point, he had to wait for a court date when the UK courts would determine if the extradition request was valid. At that point if they did, they'd hand him off to Sweden, give back his bail money, and would be all done as far as they were concerned.
They did find it was a valid request, he challenged that finding, and so on up to the UK's high court. They ruled that yes, it was a valid request. Remember this has nothing to do with guilt, they are not interested in that. Their only interest is if the extradition request is a valid one per the treaty. It was, so they said "Ok, you have to turn yourself in and we'll ship you off to Sweden." He decided not to, and instead fled.
Well at that point he become a criminal in the UK. They now had a criminal interest in him since he'd broken UK law by skipping bail. Doesn't matter anything about the original charges. This is a separate crime, and it is an ongoing one, so no statute of limitations.
That's how it works basically everywhere. If the court says you have to how up, and you don't, that by itself is a crime.
His claims that if he went to Sweden they'd send him to the US. Ummmm, really? Because if there were a nation I would be worried about handing me off to the US clandestinely, it would be the UK. The UK and US cooperate to a ridiculous extent on international matters. So I have trouble believing that you could go there and feel like they'd protect you, but be worried about Sweden handing you over.
They could easily expunge the embassy legally. Maybe move it to another property. Assange couldn't follow and they could legally then go in after him.
That if Assange were to go outside a drone would most likely take him out.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/...
I know it's all groovy and exciting to think of this whole story as a conspiracy led by the US intelligence agencies. But why don't you document yourself before taking sides?
The guy *sold* most of these cables to the newspapers and other media (including stuff that sent OTHER people to prison). Just the copy he sold to Al-Jazeera brought in $1.3 million. How much do you think the New-York Times or Guardian paid? While he's promoting "information without border", releasing private documents that endangered the lives of informants (and selling them to countless news organizations), he's making his employees sign NDA that include a clause saying they'll get sued for millions if they release information about what is going on inside WikiLeaks.
That guy is a total fraud, a self-centered megalomaniac that consistently threw his allies and collaborators under the bus. I can tell you the next chapter in his story. As it happened with previous people who helped him, he will turn against the Ecuadorian ambassy (or country as a whole) when they stop treating him like royalty (the pig doesn't even pick after himself being too busy being a rockstar), and he will come out with outrageous accusations that probably involve the Ecuadorian ambassador having his mind infected by American propaganda and by Scotland Yard or some other ludicrous bullshit. And yet again idiots who have no clue what a fucking fraud he is will defend him on message boards and promotes the lies and bullshit that he built his fortune on.
I know it's hard to admit that your emperor has no clothes but really, move on.
lucm, indeed.
You did worse than a spelling mistake, you misunderstood a common colloquialism as actually being a rule. But no, using a shorthand other than your preferred system is not an "innacuracy." Or an inaccuracy either. Perhaps freedom of speech is too American a concept, but I think choosing your own neutral colloquialism would be a recognized liberty anywhere.
It isn't exactly Finnegan's Wake.
Can you provide one link to support your "facts"? Of course not. You just rehash the same bullshit and when you get called on it you try to spin things around.
Did you read this account from the guy that was supposed to help him write his autobiography?
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n05/a...
And as expected Assange already started to turn against his last allies.
He told me about a failed siege by the police and about some projects they were getting off the ground, but quickly, as always, turned to demolishing one of his supporters. He continued with his habit of biting the hand that fed him, satirising or undermining those who came to his aid. He said the Ecuadorian ambassador was mad and ‘stalked the corridor’. He said she thought she was fat and went on a ludicrous diet because she didn’t like the way she looked in the photographs taken by the Daily Mail.
But of course this is yet another plant by the CIA or something.
lucm, indeed.
I'm sure. But anyway ..... The US doesn't operate by a parliamentary system in which members of parliament become ministers in charge of government ministries after their faction is able for form a government. The executive and legislative branches are completely separate. In the US if the chairman of the House agriculture committee thinks you should be captured or killed I doubt there is much to worry about since he or she has essentially no means to enforce that. Not even the head of the armed services committee could do anything by order. That can't be said if it is the head of the FBI or CIA that says it. And in either case there is always a question of legality. Making war against al Qaeda is one thing, dealing with Assange is completely different. There is zero chance he'll be attacked with a drone by the US government or sent to Gitmo, unless he wants to join al Qaeda or ISIS.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
If he dies now, he becomes a martyr. Even his critics do not want that. They'd much rather see him discredited. A rape conviction would be ideal for that.
Don't leave your house for the next five years because you have every reason to fear you will be made a political prisoner, and tell us how awesome it was.
You mean this tired historical revisionism? The helicopter crew straight up murdered a bunch of civilians minding their own business. There is nothing in the unedited video that gave them cause to open fire on people who weren't posing a threat to anyone, much less those who tried to help the dying.
The UK has rules against deporting people to regimes that practice torture and the death penalty. Regimes like....the United States. Just ask Chelsey Manning, who was subjected to torture for a year and a half before being dragged into a kangaroo court. If this were a black bag operation with plausible deniability, MI-5 would hand him over without a heartbeat - but for a well known dissident in the middle of the country, not so much.
Whereas Sweden participated in the kidnapping of two men, to send them off to be tortured. The Sweden that pointedly refuses to promise not to hand Assange over to the U.S., despite Assange's offer to return to Sweden if such a promise was made.
Any more Concerns?
Of the USA. They have no qualms about getting "international effort" into prosecuting people for their own gain, but refuse to abide by international law themselves. Because they have guns. And are mad enough to use them.
"Major retailer offers surveillance location and co-operates with law-enforcement to help bring known fugitive to justice."
Fuck off trying to discredit everyone, Assange, and come out of your hole and stop costing me money (or, at least, cost me money by being in jail until the UK has finished all ITS business with you).
Why? How much did we spend to pick up the teacher who run off with his over-the-age-of-consent and consenting student throughout Europe? How much have we spent chasing beds-in-sheds or anything else? How much on securing the UK border at Calais?
It's not a matter of cost. It's a matter of principle. If all you have to do to avoid the law when you skip bail is find a friendly embassy and camp there until the government decides it's costing too much to watch you, then that's what EVERY criminal (and Assange is a criminal in the UK at the very least, no matter what Sweden want to do or what silly "statute of limitation" laws they have) will do to escape justice.
Given that it's a high-profile case, that's amplified.
Given that they are handing over to an allied nation, that's amplified again.
Given that all the appeals and paperwork have gone through EVERY possible avenue to "save" him, and he still needed to appear but instead ran, that's amplified again.
Given that it's an obstruction of justice charge, effectively, that's amplified again.
Given that he is clearly baiting the law system, playing up to the media and doing it deliberately, that's amplified again.
All he's managed to show is that skipping bail means that the police will happily camp outside for years and not leave you alone, and that you'll STILL face court at the end of the day, and all it does for you to run is make the problem worse, that's doing exactly what it should.
The alternative is that he'd be in South America crowing about the crap UK justice system that didn't care about criminals skipping bail, while every person seeking asylum, or escaping the law, or anything would use every embassy in London as a bolt-hole until the law was changed so that they couldn't but - in the meantime - showing the law system to be toothless.
He needs to be caught, and face justice, and we know where he is but international diplomacy (note... not diplomatic law) prevents us from arresting him. But like a kid in trouble, the longer he hides there, the worse the problem will get for him, and he's not going to be allowed to escape without facing some justice.
Sweden doesn't even figure. We honestly don't give a shit, that's someone else's problem. But you made a vow to a UK court and broke it. That means we'll screw you to the wall so you know you can't do that to the UK. If, after we've dealt with you, the Swedes can't charge him after all - not our problem, and not our embarassment to deal with. But, fuck, you aren't going to try to skip UK bail after that.
In effect, Assange has put himself in prison voluntarily and - when he comes out - is going to spend some real time in a much more real prison. That's hardly attractive to people who want to follow suit, and that's how it SHOULD be.
From now on, I'm going to buy my towel at Marks and Spencer. Because I'm one of those guys who really knows where his towel is.
Dropped? Where is there any indication the charges were dropped?
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
counts for something...
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Technically, charges weren't dropped as there haven't been any charges (Swiss law works somewhat differently with regards to charging), but the original arrest warrant (for two allegations - rape and molestation) was withdrawn on 21st August 2010.
However, on 20th November 2010 an international arrest warrant was issued and was upheld by the Swedish appeals court on 20th November 2014. The prosecutors were criticised for not moving the investigation forward and then on 13th August 2015 they dropped the investigations into molestation and coercion as the time limit for those were due to expire (18th August). The rape investigation has until 2020 due to it being a more serious crime, so this story can carry on for a while yet.
Here's where I pulled this info from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11949341/
You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe
Why doesn't Assange escape? He could disguise himself as a dark skinned person, and just walk out!
So they are spending 1 officer per 8 hour shift, 3 times a day, 7 days a week,52 weeks a yr. PLUS I,m sure they are paying rent for the space they are using to watch him. Wonder just how much that costs. For someone who may/maynot be guilty?
Jack of all trades,master of none
you manipulative piece of government-paid scum
I'm thinking about submitting a patent to the USPO: "detecting Asperger syndrome and/or autism in Slashdot contributors by looking if they accuse the other party to be a paid agent for the government, Microsoft or another organization perceived as evil by the said contributors."
lucm, indeed.
"Their buddies?" You mean people living in the same country who look like them? Your racism is noted.
WTF? People minding their own business in their own country have to paint "neutral symbols" to drive? It wouldn't matter if they had, anyway, because then you would have just said it could have been an Al Queda trick, or some other BS.
Go home tonight and dig out your Bluray copy of Red Dawn to watch it again, only this time remember the kids were "insurgents" and "terrorists", and anyone within 200 meters of them could have been gunned down by a Soviet helicopter.
Mafia.
Russian assassins.
These people are operating in London. If all they need to do is murder someone (Litvinenko) and rush to the nearest embassy to get themselves LEGALLY extracted / sheltered from the host country despite being a criminal, that's what will happen.
As it is, the Litvinenko killers got away with it, because they couldn't be tracked in time. But if all they needed to do was drive to the Russian embassy, get asylum and then be "untouchable" until people got bored of it or it cost to much, there would be a lot more of that kind of thing.
You're assuming pickpockets and thieves. Who cares? I'm assuming murderers, spies, assassins, etc.