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WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Sues Ecuador For 'Violating His Rights' (sky.com)

Posted by msmash on from the worst-houseguests dept.

Julian Assange is suing Ecuador's government for violating his "fundamental rights and freedoms," despite the fact he is still being sheltered in the country's UK embassy. From a report: It comes after Ecuador cut off communications for Mr Assange, who has been living inside the country's London embassy for more than six years. Baltasar Garzon, a lawyer for WikiLeaks, has arrived in Ecuador to launch the case, which is expected to be heard next week in a domestic court. WikiLeaks claims Mr Assange's access to the outside world has been "summarily cut off" and says Ecuador has threatened to remove the protection he has had since being given political asylum. The site said Ecuador's government has refused to allow a visit by Human Rights Watch general counsel Dinah PoKempner and prevented several meetings with Mr Assange's lawyers. A statement said: "Ecuador's measures against Julian Assange have been widely condemned by the human rights community."

33 of 225 comments (clear)

  1. Sue him back over treatment of his cat by jfdavis668 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ecuador should sue him back over the way he is mistreating his cat.

    1. Re:Sue him back over treatment of his cat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      #MeowToo

    2. Re:Sue him back over treatment of his cat by whoever57 · · Score: 2

      Equador should sue the producers of the awful comedy Asylum for crimes against humanity.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  2. It's stupid by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    At this point it's unlikely he would be killed. He's now effectively been locked up. Why not just go to court and get it over with? He basically imprisoned himself and may end up still having to serve time if he leaves. What's the point?

    1. Re:It's stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What's the point?

      The point is that he can't be wrong. If he goes to Swedish court, gets fined (or even a couple years in jail) and doesn't "disappear", then that would suggest his panic was unjustified paranoia. Assange has built his life and social image on the assumption that the USA (among a long list) sees him as too dangerous to ignore, but that he's been outsmarting everyone. If he submits to authority (already a big no-no in his view) and they do not do anything beyond their obligations according to the law of the nation, that proves Assange a liar.

      The most effective thing any government can do to diminish Assange's influence is to treat him like they would anyone else. His own hyperbole will do the rest.

    2. Re:It's stupid by HarrySquatter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So his solution is to be annoying and to antagonize the people giving him sanctuary? Yeah, that sounds like a smart move...

    3. Re:It's stupid by Megol · · Score: 2

      No there were no such plans. Getting an extradition from Sweden would prove difficult anyway.

    4. Re:It's stupid by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

      There is even a cliche for this:

      Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

    5. Re:It's stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      He pissed his principles down the drain the minute he became partisan and started working for the Russia, that turned him from whistleblower to foreign agent.

      As a foreign agent, trapped in a foreign country, he now needs to accept the consequences.

      At this point, Assange is about the least unprincipled person out there. His whole "thing" was leaking against America because of it's human rights abuses in Iraq, Afghanistan et. al. That was a reasonable thing to argue for, until he decided to become a puppet of Russia who is doing the EXACT same things in Syria that he was bitching about the US for in Iraq/Afghanistan. Furthermore, Russia routinely violates human rights, from murdering journalists, to beating people for being gay, to jailing opposition politicians, to carrying out nuclear and chemical assassinations on foreign soil.

      If he had principles, he'd be leaking about that shit, because the US has largely withdrawn from the world stage under Trump exactly as Assange wanted, so the idea that it's the great evil spreading it's tentacles no longer applies, that title firmly now belongs to Russia, so why isn't he leaking about that other than the fact he takes money from the Russian state for his RT show and such?

      Principled people don't take hush money to keep quiet about the causes they profess to care about.

    6. Re:It's stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      He's in the Ecuador embassy in London. He was "hunted" there by the the British police for skipping a court date related to his sexual misconduct charges in Sweden.

      Do any of you zealots bother to learn anything?

    7. Re:It's stupid by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, that was done by Saudi Arabia, not Sweden. Easy to confuse them, I know, one's a liberal democracy with no substantial record of abusing human rights, the other a theocratic dictatorship that chops the hands off people for stealing apples. I mean, they're almost the same when you put it like that, but no, they're not actually the same.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    8. Re:It's stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yes and the "hunted" you speak of was them not looking for him at all, until he didn't turn up at court. No one was looking for him until after he was actually holed up there.

      These fantasy squads people have hunting him down, making him mysteriously disappear between the UK and Sweden etc. are all hopelessly impotent because there was a gap of a couple of year where everyone knew where he was, not under any sort of protection and could have simply been seized by these bad actors.

    9. Re:It's stupid by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The point is to stand up for principles.

      That's fine but Ecuador is not doing anything wrong here. If he wants to meet these people is he free to leave the embassy and meet them outside. Being a house guest does not mean you automatically get to invite whomever you want into the house as well. He should be grateful that Ecuador is sheltering him and frankly they deserve some sort of medal for sheltering this ungrateful git from what probably would be significant violation of his human rights.

    10. Re:It's stupid by jeff4747 · · Score: 2

      No, he would have been extradited to the US.

      For what? He hasn't broken any US laws. If you do not have a security clearance, it is legal to publish classified information that is leaked to you.

      Also, the UK and US are extremely close allies with nearly-identical legal systems. It would be far, far, easier to extradite Assange from the UK.

    11. Re:It's stupid by jeff4747 · · Score: 2

      Well other than being plainly false, common root sure, but massively diverged in many many aspects, what has closeness of the systems got to do with if extradition is possible?

      Take a look at the complications of extraditing him to Sweden. The UK's High Court had to decide that the particular step in Swedish laws (interview suspect just prior to arrest) is the same as a post-arrest interview in the UK and thus it was appropriate to extradite.

      The "common root" means very similar pre-trial procedures for arrest, interview and incarceration before trial, which makes extradition simpler.

    12. Re:It's stupid by jeremyp · · Score: 2

      Np this is not true. If what he did were legal in the UK, he would not be extradited to Sweden. However, the British court ruled that what he was accused of would be considered a crime in the UK which is why he is holed up in the Ecuador Embassy instead of living in freedom.

      Frankly, I think he did the rape. If you are trying to avoid extradition to the USA, Sweden is a better place to be than Britain.

      --
      All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
    13. Re:It's stupid by RockDoctor · · Score: 2
      At this point it's unlikely he would be killed.You can write this after the cock-sucking that Trump has been giving to Saudi Arabia over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul? A problematic fucker like Assange is going to have the life expectancy of a snowflake in hell if the American get hold of him. Or one of their stooges, like the Swedes. He is completely justified in his expectation of death for being politically inconvenient.

      Or did you, for some deluded reason, think that "America is better than that"? Oh, man, that's such an Obama-era "alternative fact".

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  3. No More Free WiFi by Only+Time+Will+Tell · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ecuador can show him the exits to the embassy and how to use them if Mr. Assange believes his proverbial 'living in his parent's basement without free wifi' is tantamount to human rights violations. He's more than free to walk out the door and find out what real prison looks like.

    1. Re:No More Free WiFi by hey! · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You know, it's hard to say whether Ecuador has the legal right to expel Assange. Ecuador (like the United States), is a signatory to a number of treaties which govern the treatment of asylum seekers, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), and the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951).

      These treaties establish a right of a foreign national to seek asylum in a signatory country if he genuinely faces persecution, and imposes duties upon signatory countries, such as various forms of non-discrimination and provision of administrative support. So while it is bad manners for Assange to be a political PITA to Ecuador, that's not legally sufficient grounds for expelling a refugee admitted under these treaties. Ecuador would have to find that Assange does not face persecution, except for conditions spelled out under Article 14 of the UDHR.

      This puts Ecuador in a bind: unless something has substantively changed, it can't expel Assange without either (a) admitting that it violated the sovereignty of the UK by granting him bogus asylum in the first place or (b) apparently violating Assange's rights as a legitimate refugee under conventions that Ecuador is signatory to.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  4. It's almost like... by NecroPuppy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He's trying to get thrown out.

    If I were the ambassador there, my response to this would be contact the London Met police, say he's coming out in 30 minutes, and then have the two burliest members of staff toss his arse into the street.

    There is, I suspect, a reason I'm not an ambassador.

    --
    I like you, Stuart. You're not like everyone else, here, at Slashdot.
  5. So that's the answer! by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 2

    When you are caught between a rock and a hard place, sue the hard place! ;)

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  6. Re:My oh my by Theaetetus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Glenn Greenwald has been one of the most ardent Assange supporters from the get-go. I wonder what he is going to have to say about this.

    Assange used to be someone to admire but those days seem long over. It is one thing to have principles but had he just given himself up, gone to Sweden (likely), got tried for bad sex (less likely), convicted (even less likely) spent time in prison (totally unlikely) at the maximum sentence he would have been free and clear for over two years now.

    Prone to bad decisions.

    Yes, except characterizing penetration of an unconscious person after she had repeatedly told him no while awake as "bad sex" is more than a bit misleading.

  7. He's an ingrate. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Assange is an ungrateful prick. He never acknowledges the price Ecuador is paying for him; he just constantly gives them a black eye for their pains.
    It sucks when you have to defend assholes.

  8. Assange and Snowden... by ole_timer · · Score: 2

    ...aught to be put in the same cell together and they can tell each other how great thy are...

    --
    nothing to see here - move along
  9. I don't understand why by oldgraybeard · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Ecuador has not given him the boot after all this time.

    Just my 2 cents ;)

  10. This shall not stand by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Funny

    As a show of solidarity with Julian Assange, I will be suing my mother for violating my rights by insisting that I get a job and move out.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  11. Re:Sucks by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The real problem is Assange is a prisoner of his own paranoia.
    While the Wikileaks annoyed countries, they care more about the people who leaked the information to him, more then him being the one who posted it. Heck after it was posted on Wikileaks the main stream media picked it up and publicly rebroadcasted it.

    In terms of US Freedom he helped out Trump so he is good.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  12. Assange is a narcissist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Assange is like a bad referee in sports. When a referee does their job properly, few know their name. The game recap focuses on how the players and coaches performed.

    When a referee does an excessively poor job (e.g., bringing unnecessary attention to themselves), the game recap becomes about the ref. The performance of the players becomes secondary.

    Assange is/was a bad referee for Wikileaks. He made the focus all about him, not the confidential information. Seems Ecuador is finally learning how much Assange desires the spotlight.

  13. Re:My oh my by Megol · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No, he _claimed_ that's why he hid. Anybody with intelligence can do some research and find out how likely that scenario is compared to the scenario he didn't even mention - that the UK could extradite him to the US. Why he would choose to go to prison of his own choice? Mental illness? Wanting to become some kind of (living) martyr? Realizing that a guilty verdict for rape could be a problem?

    None of those makes sense, but him being afraid of extradition to (and sentenced to death in) the USA makes the least sense of them all. Absolute bullshit!

  14. Re:Is it truly a rights violation? by Locke2005 · · Score: 2

    I suspect accessing PornHub via sending and receiving physical letters is somewhat cumbersome...

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  15. Re:My oh my by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    Except what you just repeated is propaganda based on false allegations. It's not like false flags have ever occured.

    Yeah because you were there are no exactly what happened right? Or are you just taking it on faith of the great god Assange that his word is holy and true and any disbeliever is a heretic?

    That's why we have a judicial system, you get tried, rather than just declaring yourself innocent and running away like a crying kid.

    Of course I'm forgetting these mysterious powers who would somehow salt him away through the real process, despite their failures to do so when they could easily have done during the many times when it's been pretty publicly known where he was, they chose some massive international ruse relying on multiple countries, countless officials etc. A theory worthy of David Icke.

  16. Re:What a terrible idea. by jeff4747 · · Score: 2

    Either Assange gets his weekly pizza and free wifi back, he's booted out and nobody really cares, or he's booted out and becomes a martyr.

    All three are superior to sittin' watchin' the paint peel

    There is nothing preventing him from simply walking out the door. If he wants to wrap this up somehow and do it now, then he really doesn't need a lawsuit or anyone's permission.

  17. Re:My oh my by blahplusplus · · Score: 2

    Yeah because you were there are no exactly what happened right?

    Anyone with an inkling of the history of america knows it's true, people like you are laughable morons. Most of todays slashdot commentariat proves americans are gullible idiots. It was obvious to anyone with half a clue you piss off and do a data dump on the war crimes of the biggest empire on the planet, that's going to piss a lot of people at the top the fuck off enough to come after your ass.

    You don't see the world as it is see the science:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...